Maxine Peake has spoken of her sadness at Silk coming to an end earlier this year, but is adamant that it was not axed.
The actress, who played passionate QC Martha Costello in the BBC1 legal drama, has told TV & Satellite Week that she felt it was a shame that the series had drawn to a close after three series, but that it was the right time to bow out.
"People said that the BBC axed it, but it wasn't axed. I always said I was going to do three series and Peter Moffat, the writer, has so much on too," says the actress, who appears in the second series of Peter's BBC1 period drama The Village from Sunday, August 10.
"I was sad though, especially because the response to the last series was great, and people kept stopping me in the street to ask about it so I won't get people saying nice things to me any more! It is a shame too because Martha was a great female character and a bit of a role model because she was going out and doing her job and was bright, intelligent and driven."
The series ended on a cliffhanger as Martha appeared to vanish into thin air as she walked away from Shoe Lane Chambers, leaving her terminally ill friend and clerk Billy Lamb (Neil Stuke) behind, but Maxine has her own theory about what might have happened next.
"People kept saying to me, 'She wouldn't have walked away from Billy and left him', so I think maybe she crossed the road further down and came back!"
