The First Lady star Gillian Anderson on why being in the White House would be ‘hell’!

“They each had to define the role to suit themselves. Michelle Obama hadn’t seen herself in that role, she was an accomplished lawyer. Yet Eleanor embraced it and made the most of it. But they all had individual challenges based on the decade they were in. They were constantly overcoming hurdles and preconceptions and people trying to silence or squash their power or their voices.”

“She dedicated her life to duty and service and was prolific in her good works with civil rights and soldiers and women. She was also incredibly good natured and kind and gentle. But she talks in her autobiography about a darkness that we might describe as depression and she also had a complicated relationship with her daughter. She's three-dimensional.”

“He'd been having an affair and she wanted a divorce but they found their way into a productive, respect-filled working relationship. She was always saying to him, ‘You have to do this for these people.’ And he would tell her to do the things she wanted, but not to tell him about it because he'd get in trouble. He accepted her value but sometimes she was infuriating! And I think he was very hurt by her relationship at the beginning with Hick [journalist Lorena ‘Hick’ Hickok, with whom she grows close in the series, as played by Lily Rabe].”

“He's wonderful! There were some moving scenes between us because there were fears and challenges that all the couples went through. It’s not just what happened in the White House, but what happened in the bedroom and around their dining tables. It's a slice of their lives.”

“Yes, it almost feels like she was the first First Lady and she defined what the potential of that role could be. Since then, following First Ladies have defined it for themselves in different ways, but there was a structure that she set up and the voice that she gave the role. Before it was quite a silent, background role and she moved it further to the front. She defined the modern First Lady.”

“Quite a lot. There's a lot of audio, and a lot of seemingly archaic television interviews, mostly actually talking about her husband, not necessarily about her, but still you get a sense of her. There's some fantastic books out there. And we had Blanche Wiesen Cook, a biographer who did a triptych of books, spanning her life, and she was an advisor on the series and so I was able to talk to her.”

“Challenging. When one thinks of Eleanor Roosevelt, you think of her teeth, and you think of her height, as well as the positive impact that she had around the world. Eleanor was six foot tall and I’m five foot three, so I knew I’d have to let go of the height thing, we weren’t building ramps! But I wore prosthetic teeth because Eleanor’s teeth defined her look and getting used to those was a challenge. But I'm pleased that we did that. And I had six different wigs for different periods of time and I think about 62 costume changes.” 

“No! It would be hell. To have to make difficult decisions, to negotiate and behave as an adult is too much. Not that, as we have learned recently, all presidents for instance behave as adults! And I wouldn't be able to wear my pyjamas half the time, which is what I like!”