Why making a thriller 脅すd me to death! Comedy legend Jennifer Saunders tells of the emotional whirl when she changed tack to appear in 急速な／放蕩な-paced chiller The Stranger

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A tea room in Bolton town centre doesn’t seem like Jennifer Saunders’ natural milieu.?

Even いっそう少なく so is the 事業／計画（する） she’s working on, a 急速な／放蕩な-paced Netflix thriller dripping with 殺人, suspense and intrigue and with barely a joke in sight.?

It’s the first major serious 役割 in her career.

No wonder then that Jennifer, one of Britain’s best-loved comedy 星／主役にするs, appears nervous when she sits 負かす／撃墜する to 雑談（する） during a break in filming.?

She might have been a 星／主役にする for four １０年間s but, she 収容する／認めるs, she still has that nagging little 発言する／表明する on her shoulder telling her she’s not やめる up to it.

Jennifer Saunders (pictured) 明らかにする／漏らすd she was nervous for her first major serious 役割, as Heidi in?Netflix's eight-part series The Stranger

‘The whole thing is terrifying,’ she almost whispers as she sits 負かす／撃墜する for tea.?

‘I was thrilled to be asked to do this, if not surprised, but I’m worried people are going to see me and think, “Look at that big talking 長，率いる. Talking and talking... stupid person.”?

'My first scene was with Siobhan F inneran, who it turns out is just about my favourite actress to work with, but I could barely breathe I was so nervous.?

'I had to sit 負かす／撃墜する to 回復する.’

Jennifer plays caf? owner Heidi in the thrilling eight-part adaptation of Harlan Coben’s 2015 novel The Stranger, yet 生産者s were so 納得させるd she would turn 負かす／撃墜する the 役割 that Harlan wrote her a personal letter begging her to do it.?

It worked, but perhaps it was unnecessary.

‘I was just thrilled to be asked,’ says Jennifer.

‘It’s やめる a 出発 for me but the story was so amazing and gripping, why wouldn’t I want to do it?’

You can see why 生産者s took a punt on her. Heidi is warm and larger than life, much like Jennifer herself.?

Jennifer, pictured 存在 直面するd by the Stranger (Hannah JohnKamen) in the show, said it was strange not to be playing for laughs

‘At first everything seems perfect for Heidi. She has this lovely life running a caf? and she has these enormous dogs ? wolfhounds who have been a lot fun to work with ? and an adored daughter who’s at university,’ she says.?

‘The Stranger of the story is someone who appears out of nowhere and 減少（する）s a 爆弾 of a secret into someone’s life and then disappears.?

HARLAN COBEN: THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE

Harlan Coben is one of the world’s best-selling thriller writers with more than 70 million copies of his 32 調書をとる／予約するs sold.?

A father of four, with a paediatrician wife, the New Jersey-born author 始める，決めるs his stories in the suburbia he knows and 令状s in the coffee 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and delis 近づく his home to keep his tales authentic.

His clout meant the show was, 異常に, able to 安全な・保証する the 権利s to a Bruce Springsteen song.

The Stranger is an adaptation of a 調書をとる／予約する (pictured) by Harlan Coben

?‘I wrote to him in a way that I knew would 控訴，上告 to him,’ 解任するs Harlan. ‘I said, “The kids hate your music” and he 明白に thought that was funny because he said yes.’

This is Harlan’s third 共同 with Red 生産／産物s, the company behind Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax, after mystery series The Five on Sky and 安全な on Netflix, and he co-令状s with Shameless writer Danny Brocklehurst.

?The Stranger is an adaptation of one of his own 調書をとる／予約するs though, while the other two shows were 特に written for TV.?

‘I love the idea of my 調書をとる／予約するs 存在 adapted and becoming something new,’ says Harlan.?

‘I know a lot of writers don’t like to let go, but I love it if I 信用 the people I’m working with. The 調書をとる／予約する is a separate （独立の）存在, and the actors breathe a different life into my characters.’

Moving the 活動／戦闘 to the north of England meant they had to get rid of Americanisms in the story.?

‘Danny likes to put a line in every show we’ve done where he has someone joking, “Don’t be all American” and you’ll see that in The Stranger,’ says Harlan.

?‘We’ve changed lacrosse for football and Danny has also 追加するd some 言及／関連s to Take That and One Direction. We also had to take all the guns out ? that makes the story やめる different.’

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'That’s what happens to Heidi, and it throws her 完全に off-kilter.

‘The 利益／興味ing thing about the story is that someone can come in, 減少（する） a truth 爆弾, and then disappear.?

'It makes you think about all the secrets out there, and what would happen if someone （機の）カム and dropped a truth 爆弾 on you.?

'Would you rather not know? Because いつかs it’s easier not knowing things. Is it easier living a 嘘（をつく）?’

While Jennifer is famous for playing over-the-最高の，を越す 役割s such as Edina 季節風 in 絶対 Fabulous and a host of outrageous characters in her sketch show with 夜明け French, she’s 現実に surprisingly shy ? and as amazed as everyone else that she’s here on the 始める，決める of a 罪，犯罪 演劇.?

‘It was strange at first not to be playing for laughs,’ she 収容する／認めるs.

‘一般に I do comedy and I like doing comedy, I find it nice and fun and 平易な. This is やめる different.

'And there are an awful lot of good actresses out there who could do it, which is maybe why I 港／避難所’t been asked to do 演劇 before.

‘The read-through before we started was terrifying. There was this 抱擁する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a camera on it which was transmitting to Netflix in LA.?

'I think every actor feels, “Will I be any good in this?”, or at least, “Please don’t let me be the worst in it.” I definitely felt like that here.?

'But once we started filming and I’d done the first take, I realised it was just like normal filming, only I didn’t have to try to make people laugh.?

'With comedy you’re 普通は 長，率いるing for a joke, and when the director says, “削減（する）!” you hope the 乗組員 will laugh. Hopefully they won’t in this.’

The idea for the story, says Harlan, （機の）カム when he heard about 偽の pregnancy 道具s often bought online by women who are using a surrogate.?

They give you a 肯定的な reading even though you’re not 妊娠している, along with 偽の bumps for the different 行う／開催する／段階s of pregnancy.

‘I read about it and thought it was just incredible, and it 工場／植物d this seed in my 長，率いる about what might happen if you 偽のd a pregnancy and people 設立する out,’ he says.

The 活動／戦闘 has been relocated from New Jersey where Harlan lives to an upmarket town in the north of England and The Stranger, a male in the 調書をとる／予約する, is now played by young Ant Man And The Wasp 星／主役にする Hannah John-Kamen, who during the first few episodes visits unwitting people who are all mysteriously linked.

The first of them is solicitor Adam Price, played by The Hobbit actor Richard Armitage.

‘The Stranger comes into each of their lives and 工場／植物s a seed that germinates into something really ugly and 予期しない,’ says Richard.?

‘Adam is an ordinary guy who is told this secret about his wife [Dervla Kirwan], and by the end of the first episode she has disappeared and he goes on this 旅行 to discover what’s happened to her.’

The story is a real adventure for Adam, and Richard 収容する／認めるs it’s one of the few shows he’s appeared in that he would 現実に want to watch.?

Jennifer (pictured as Heidi) 明らかにする／漏らすd she's not one for binge watching, however all eight episodes of The Stranger will be 解放（する）d at the same time

‘I’ve been in lots of things where I’ve loved 事実上の／代理 in them but they’re not the 肉親，親類d of thing I would watch at home, but this is 正確に／まさに what I would watch,’ he says.?

‘It has a brilliant script, a brilliant cast and I get to do lots of 活動／戦闘 scenes. The whole thing was a no-brainer for me.’

Siobhan Finneran, best known for her 役割s in Downton Abbey and Happy Valley, plays DS Johanna Griffin, who’s 仕事d with piecing all the さまざまな 立ち往生させるs together.?

最初 asked to look into the strange 事例／患者 of an alpaca 存在 mutilated, she’s drawn into an 調査 that soon 伴う／関わるs Adam.

Johanna’s best friend is Heidi, who is in turn visited by the Stranger.

Just as Jennifer was excited to work with her, Siobhan 収容する／認めるs she was 圧倒するd to work with the comedy legend.?

‘Knowing I was going to be working with Jennifer Saunders turned me into a bit of a nervous 難破させる,’ she 収容する／認めるs.?

‘When I was younger I would do all her sketches with my mates, I knew them word for word. So the idea of working with her was scary.?

'But then we started filming and at one point I made her laugh. I nearly did a （競技場の）トラック一周 of honour at that point.?

'I thought, “I can probably die h appy now because I made Jennifer Saunders laugh.” She’s been 事実上の／代理 all her career so it didn’t surprise me that she would be in this.

'All that sketch stuff is proper 事実上の／代理, even if it’s good fun.’

Jennifer (pictured) said that she would love to do more 演劇, as she believes the?pendulum has swung in favour of 演劇 over comedy in today's television?

Jennifer’s move to serious 役割s follows in the footsteps of her husband Adrian Edmondson, 初めは renowned for his comedy, but who has appeared in gripping 演劇s War And Peace, Cheat and Summer Of ロケット／急騰するs in the past few years.

Although all eight episodes of The Stranger, like most Netflix 演劇s, will be 解放（する）d at the same time Jennifer 収容する／認めるs she isn’t one for binge watching.?

‘I think two at a time is enough,’ she says.?

‘Some people I know sit all day and watch something and I think, “How can you do that?” I’d feel 有罪の about not doing something else.

‘I 行方不明になる that whole idea of the big moment in TV that everyone is talking about. It’s so rare now .?

'I did like 護衛 because it was only one episode a week and everyone was talking about it all week.

'I think people do still enjoy the discipline of having to wait. It’s good for you.’

She thinks the pendulum has swung in favour of 演劇 over comedy when it comes to the TV programmes 存在 made today.?

‘There’s just not enough comedy 存在 （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限d so there’s not enough comedy around.?

'And because there’s not very much of it, everything that’s on television is over-analysed,’ she says,

‘They keep 説 they will make more sitcoms but they don’t. No one seems to want to make them and I think that’s partly because they have to be popular すぐに.?

'But that’s not always how it 作品. Lots of 攻撃する，衝突する comedies, which are now regarded as classics, might not have had a second chance in today’s world.?

'And once you get out of the comedy habit it’s very hard to get 支援する into it because there’s a whole (n)役員／(a)執行力のある level that doesn’t understand how a studio sitcom 作品. It’s really very sad.

‘So yes, I would happily do more 演劇. I just like to work. And making this show is 簡単に thrilling, I love it,’ she says.?

‘I have 支え（る）s and prosthetics, a good 激しい storyline and a fantastic director. I’d definitely do something like this again.’??

The Stranger begins on Netflix on Thursday.