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A writer who ‘dabbles’ in TV Mike Bartlett explains to Caroline Frost why the characters in the Doctor Foster spin-off, Life, are an antidote to social divisions Mike Bartlett
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hen Mike Bartlett sent actress Vic toria Hamilton the script for his latest television series, Life, she felt a bit confused at first. “I was read ing this wonderful character Belle, and I suddenly thought, I know this woman! I emailed Mike and told him she really reminded me of Anna, my character in Doctor Foster. Mike sent me back a very short email, ‘Yes, it is Anna. Anna Belle.’” And that is how viewers will jump from the claustrophobic, bitter world that Bartlett created for two series of Doctor Foster, to the far broader canvas of Life. The freshly named Belle is one of the main characters. The series follows the lives of the residents of a large house in Manchester divided into four flats. The good news is that, for the tiny number of drama fans who didn’t tune in for the battles, betrayals and devas tating denouement of Doctor Foster, Life offers a completely unique universe that they will understand and enjoy. There won’t be many of them, of course. Doctor Foster, with the Bafta winning Suranne Jones at its centre, increasingly batty decision-making by all its protagonists and that dinner party, became must-see viewing for
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audiences of more of than 10 million by the second series, a phenomenon that surprised even its creator. “As a writer or showrunner, you like to think you have things within your control but, when that happens, it’s all luck – that people loved the character, in terms of Suranne doing it, that it hit a moment,” Bartlett remembers. “It’s one of the reasons that I wanted to do television, to draw in all sorts of differ ent people, from teenage girls to older men. It was amazing that it happened.” Why then, out of all the memorable characters he has created, did he choose Anna-turned-Belle to take us all on another dramatic turn? “In the second series, Anna suddenly says, ‘I’m leaving’, and that surprised
‘THERE’S A HUGE AMOUNT OF “SNARK” ON TV AT THE MOMENT… GETTING LAUGHS FROM HOW AWFUL PEOPLE CAN BE TO EACH OTHER’
me,” he explains. “I thought, who does that? She seemed to be starting a new story and I wondered about a woman in a marriage for 15 years with a big drink ing problem, who suddenly breaks out of her marriage and her suburban life and starts again, at that age. What does that mean for her? It left a big question mark that I wanted to explore. That felt like a really exciting story that I wanted to investigate. “Plus, I wanted to write more for Victoria Hamilton in that part. I’ve worked with her a few times and I wanted to write something she could get her teeth into on-screen.” The house’s other residents include Alison Steadman as Gail, taking stock of her life on the eve of her 70th birth day in the shadow of her hectoring hus band, Henry, played perfectly by Peter Davison. There’s also Adrian Lester as David, happily married to Kelly (Rachael Stirling) but troubled by the attentions of his student Saira (Saira Choudhry). Meanwhile, on the ground floor, Melissa Johns plays heavily pregnant Hannah, navigating the attentions of safe and stable Liam (Joshua James) with the return to the scene of the baby’s father, Andy, played by Calvin Demba. The idea for such a narrative set-up had been bubbling inside Bartlett for the past three years, inspired by his
