Coronation Street star Stephanie Coleplays a busybody elderly passenger on an eventful steam train journey through Europe in BBC1’s remake of the Hitchcock classic The Lady Vanishes (BBC1, Sunday). Here Stephanie tells What’s On TV about this stunning one-off drama...
Were you a fan of the original 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film?
“This isn’t actually a full-on Hitchcock remake. The story was from a best-selling book of the early 1930s called The Wheel Spins, and he took it and made it the basis for this wonderful film. What the BBC has done is take things back to the book so there’s quite a lot that’s different. The main storyline – the thriller – is the same, but a lot of it is different. Of course, I’d seen the film a couple of times before, but when I was asked to do this I watched it again and of course, it’s an absolute masterpiece. Having said that I think this is going to be well worth a watch but for different reasons. First, the thriller aspect and that keeps you watching because you think, is this girl going mad or is it true? Constant questions, rather like Homeland keeps you guessing. Is that person who’s behaving oddly a suspect? Or are they completely innocent.”
So is it similar to an Agatha Christie mystery?
“I have to tell you I’m not a fan of Agatha Christie. I think her plots are OK, but her dialogue is breathtakingly bad. I will probably get nasty letters from your readers now because I don’t actually rate her as a writer.”
This version of Lady Vanishes is still set in the early 1930s isn’t it? And the train journey starts in the Balkans as per the film?
“Oh yes, it’s before the Second World War when all the Balkan countries and, indeed, eastern Europe, were in a ferment and nobody knew what was going to happen.”
So it features all the steam trains and railway paraphernalia of that era?
“Yes, of course, that’s very much a part of it.”
Can you tell us about your character, Evelyn Flood-Porter?
“There are two sisters - Rose and Evelyn – and Rose is played by the wonderful Gemma Jones. We got on terribly well. We knew each other’s work and admired it. We play two of the passengers on the train and also, two of the guests at the same hotel as the main protagonist, Iris. They were great fun to play and very much of their time. Gemma and I get on very well so we managed to rack up a sort of rapport. There wasn’t that much in the script that was particularly exciting, but in fact, what we were able to do with the director was work them up so they become really fun to watch.”
So are they a sort comedy double act within the mystery?
“Well, it’s not just comedy because there’s also something slightly sinister going on when Iris believes a passenger Miss Froy has gone missing. There’s just a degree of comedy from the sisters in our scenes.”
Are the sisters witnesses to what goes on aboard the steam train?
“Yes, they witness a certain amount. They’re all at the hotel at first and they see things going on that they disapprove of, as you can imagine – the gay young things having a merry old time. Then when they’re on the train, there’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing through carriages which, of course, upsets them greatly.”
What are your costumes like in this period drama?
“Oh they’re absolutely beautiful. It’s an era that was very flattering for women, whatever their size. Gemma is of course very petite and I’m quite tall and quite large. We both had costumes that were lovely – I’d have loved my costume for everyday wear. They were a bit long, but beautiful material, and very flattering. Nowadays, unless you can afford very expensive clothes, which very few people can, the stuff you find in shops is all a bit samey, a bit boring. Not the young ones, but if you’re over a certain age. You don’t want to be striding around in tweeds. Us older women want things that are flattering, feminine, but easy to wear. They had that in the 1930s.”
Did you have a dramatic hat?
“I did have a hat, but it wasn’t that dramatic. There was still the hangover from the 1920s so you were just one on from the cloche hat.”
You have a history of playing strong women with eccentricities – like Dr Beatrice Mason in Tenko...
“Yes and that’s one of the things I count myself very lucky for. Up until I was 40 I was working away in theatre and TV and then of course Tenko came along and Open All Hours and all of a sudden, things happened. I always played older than myself, but now of course I’m playing my own age. Because of that I always had wonderful characters to play. Now writers are writing for younger women in a much more exciting way, but when I was young it was boring…so that’s why I welcomed playing older than myself.”
This was filmed in Budapest. That must have been exciting?
“I’d never been to Hungary before, so it was lovely. I’ve only travelled abroad a few times for work because I haven’t done many films. Tenko was filmed in Singapore and Malaysia for months on end which was wonderful. But being in Hungary was fabulous and Budapest is the most beautiful city, I really would recommend it. The Danube in the middle of it, plus the most amazing cakes and ice-cream. We got to see a bit of the countryside as well.”
Budapest often doubles up as ‘olde worlde’ England in dramas these days doesn’t it?
“Yes but most of the filming was done on the train and at the station. But we had quite a lovely location shoot at what stood in for the hotel. Interestingly it had been the summer house of the last Communist leader of Hungary and when the Communists fell it was left as it was. Nobody wanted to touch it because it had very nasty memories, but it was a wonderful place to film. Our props dept tidied it up a bit.”
What were the train scenes like to film?
“Amazing. The actual train in the station was of the period. Being in Hungary it had not been done up. This was absolutely as it would be. We were filming in the station at night, steam was coming out of the train and all the extras looked wonderful. It was like stepping back into the early 1930s. Then we had the set of the train – the interior – which was wonderful and very interesting, although slightly hot to film in. Us actors sometimes had to shake ourselves about a bit to show the jumpy journey. It was great fun.”
Were you at the Imperial War Museum for the launch of the new book Remembering Tenko by Andy Priestner?
“I couldn’t get there – I had trouble with my gall bladder and had it taken out so I couldn’t go. Was such a shame. I know Andy, and I’ve heard from all the Tenko girls that it was a marvellous event. The book is absolutely stunning, it’s called Remembering Tenko and it’s jam-packed with interviews, anecdotes, more photographs than you can wave a stick at, including photographs we all took while filming. Such a huge amount of info, and fans will adore it.”
Everyone from Tenko – actresses like Stephanie Beacham and Louise Jameson - say how special it was to have a cast of women leading in a drama. It was groundbreaking wasn’t it?
“What is interesting – it was 1981 – and I think it was a very important piece of television because for the first time ever it was a hugely successful series all about women. There was Bert Kwok and a few others, but we were surprised at the positive impact it had and that’s over 30 years ago now. I suppose we’re no longer just wives, daughters, mothers, but we’re still not reflected enough on television.”
