Channel 4
Hayley Squires as Jolene in Adult Material
Porn unwrapped
F
or a show that feels so now, Adult Material has been a long time in the making. It is nearly a decade since writer Lucy Kirkwood first thought of penning a story that would pull back the curtain on the mysterious world of the British pornography industry. Now, her vision has been fully realised as a four-part drama series. Adult Material has a lot riding on it, in every sense. Belief in Kirkwood’s work is such that the show has become the flagship programme of Channel 4’s highly anticipated 2020 autumn season, a gaudy gem in its crown. But those tuning in to see a lascivious romp will be wrong-footed; after the first episode aired earlier this month, several viewers expressed surprise at the darkness immediately on show, with intense scenes featuring rape and even a murder. Carry On, it ain’t. Instead, what Kirkwood has created, alongside director Dawn Shadforth and an ensemble cast led by
Television www.rts.org.uk October 2020
Channel 4’s powerful drama Adult Material was created by an all-female team. Moya Lothian-McLean reveals how they did it Hayley Squires as Jolene Dollar – an adult actor at the “top of her game” – is an uncomfortable, probing and darkly funny examination of power dynamics and consent. Some people will not be ready for it. Many thousands more will. “Adult Material on Channel 4,” a friend texted me, as the first episode drew to a close. “AMAZING.” “We don’t give people answers,” Hayley Squires tells me, of her role in the series, which has already been deemed “career-making”. “We give them viewpoints. We allow them to make their own mind up”. Fate brought Squires and Jolene together: Sheridan Smith was
originally lined up to take on the role but was forced to exit the series due to scheduling conflicts, so Squires stepped up. What drew her to the show, I ask? Complexity, apparently. Kirkwood sent her some scripts and a giant research treatment containing nine years’ worth of investigations into the porn industry and the storylines that had been born out of it. “It was a huge document,” Squires remembers. “It talked about all the complexities of the show and her research and the character arc of everyone in it. “It was the complexity of the character, the humour of her, the very detailed and complex ways Lucy had told this story without being in any way prescriptive or a mouthpiece for her own opinion [that made me want the part].” While Squires remains tight-lipped about the exact ins and outs (forgive me) of Adult Material’s plot line, she is happy to share a broad-brush sketch of the bigger picture. “When you first meet Jolene in episodes 1 and 2, she’s �
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