The Accident: Interview with Sidse Babbett Knudsen (Harriet Paulsen)
Category: InterviewTell us a little about The Accident?
It’s a tragedy. It’s about this tragic event happening in a small Welsh town. A building collapses and young people die. It’s about how this affects the families of those young people and how they deal with it. It’s about how these human beings strive for justice, strive for revenge, for a release to this terrible accident. As human beings we need to blame someone. We need somewhere to direct our grief. It’s that pursuit of revenge slash justice and then at the same time dealing with one’s own responsibility in the situation. This is a drama where the characters involved are also dealing with personal themes of guilt and shame, they have complicated lives. On one level it’s a social drama about something very realistic in this world today and hopefully will be inspiring and people will talk about it. But on the other hand it’s also a very intimate drama about human beings and their complicated lives.
Tell us a bit about Harriet, the character you play.
Harriet is senior executive of Kallbridge Developments who are responsible for the construction of this building that collapses. It’s her project. She’s originally an architect and has worked with Kallbridge Developments for years and is very much a working woman. She’s very much a professional and loves her job. Other than that she’s a middle aged woman that lives alone. She’s got a grown up daughter, she’s divorced and has a relationship with a very young man.
I think it’s very surprising when he says, “I love you.” As an audience member you think, “What? I thought she was all business.”
Yeah exactly. It was so interesting because I was reading The Only Story by Julian Barnes which is this relationship between a very young man and a middle aged woman and I got really inspired to really go into the love story of that. In the show it’s a really complicated relationship. It’s very complicated feelings from Harriet towards this young man because she’s very shameful about it. It’s not supposed to be, he’s too young… it’s come as a surprise to her that it’s almost a relationship. She wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. It’s a secret but she also needs this secret. He adores her. She needs to be adored which of course is something you’re not very proud of when you reach a certain age. Do I still need to be adored? I think it’s super interesting.
What attracted you to the role and the character?
It was definitely the complexity of her. It was the fact that we see her privately and see all these complex sides of this woman. I remember thinking I don’t think I’ve actually seen that before. We have so much involvement in this community, these families that are very close and it’s very emotional and very connected. The easy choice would just be showing the other side as The Other Side and not going into that. The fact that we also see both, how it works, that it’s not just bad people sitting around grinning, being cynical, but that it’s realistic and constructive people. It seems like an abundance that we can afford to go into this woman’s personal life and it’s not just being married to someone that we will see in five seconds. We really go into a relationship that’s rarely explored as well.
Did you do any research for the role?
No research but I had to know what happened with that building. What went wrong? What do the different terms mean? Production sent me a very nice and dry technical description, so I knew what I was talking about. So, while shooting I knew everything about that building site and now it’s completely gone.
What was it like working with the rest of the cast? Had you worked with any of them before?
No. Well, actually, I’d worked with Joanna on Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams, but I didn’t realise because she was a pig. I hadn’t seen her without her pig ears. But other than that, no, everyone was new to me. I’m a big fan of Sarah Lancashire. I was very excited to meet her in person. It was an exceptionally wonderful cast. People were really, really lovely. I was so relieved when I met Nabhaan Rizwan who plays my assistant and lover, Tim, because he’s incredible. He’s such a lovely and easy person, very generous and fun. The most complicate scenes were definitely with him and I felt very safe. I could have felt very timid because I am shy. I think we collaborated really well.
Did you know of Jack’s work before The Accident?
I knew of him. But this is the first I’d ever really read and oh God, he’s brilliant. He’s so very good. And it’s also a relief, particularly in television it can be hard to find the voice of the author. It’s very often a set of people writing, a room of people, and there was a very personal voice which to me makes it feel like we’re doing cinema. It all comes from one place, from one storyteller who has definitely a vision that is very large and so you feel you’re walking into a universe that exists, not something that we shall make work. It exists already on the paper.
What was it like filming in Wales?
I’m from Denmark so there are no weather issues. It was really hot. We were filming in a police station for a few days which was very hot and they had these electric static carpets. I’m super dust allergic so that was very demanding. But the Welsh, I like the people. We filmed in quite different locations so every morning was really exciting. I loved the drives from the locations because I think the nature is just stunning. Very dramatic and alive and unpolished. I like that.
What was the atmosphere like on set? Was it sombre and serious or did you keep it light to combat the subject matter?
It was definitely not sombre but it was serious and it was concentrated and it was fun. But again, I think it also very much comes from the director. Sandra is very intelligent and concentrated and fun and quiet. So it wasn’t noisy. It was not a noisy set. Thoughtful, soulful. And I think that’s because it’s a serious piece and it’s tongue in cheek, you have to not become sentimental. It’s not political but it touches political subjects. I see that as a very horizontal, very concentrated. It’s in the dialogue, it’s what happens between these people. But I think Sandra and the DOP, there was an artistic level to it which was also vertical. The locations, you didn’t just see them flatly. There was their grandeur about it. So it’s not just the message. It was also artistic.