The Wind in The Willows

The BBC Press Office has released a press pack on The Wind Of The Willows.

Anna Maxwell Martin found it hard to stop laughing while filming The Wind in the Willows.
"I didn't know Matt Lucas before but he is truly hilarious and so creative and talented. I found it hard to keep a straight face and corpsed with him all the time. I am quite naughty anyhow, but being around Matt gave me licence to misbehave! Also comically he is the most brilliant person to bounce off."

Anna plays the Gaoler's Daughter, who meets Toad after he has been sent to prison.
"She is simple and sweet and she has a bit of a glint in her eye. That was the fun thing about playing her. You wonder if she is going to be a bit evil, like Stephen King's Misery. I had great fun playing the scenes where you wonder whether she will let Toad out.

"She wears a little cap, which made me look unattractive, and rags. I am used to bonnets and corsets, but hers had seen better days. I was given yellowy, browning teeth – lovely!"
Anna heard about the role after her success in Bleak House, for which she won a BAFTA for her portrayal of Esther Summerson.

"It was the day after the BAFTAs and I was a little high on emotions from the night before, and feeling a bit fragile, so I was giddy and relaxed at the audition. It's always nice going to a meeting and having something to talk about. It's not every day you win a BAFTA.
"I was shocked by the reaction I got for Bleak House. It was very intensive but one of the best jobs of my life. It was a chance to play a character that grows and develops and I was very enmeshed in it. But I didn't realise how stylish it was and how much people would love it."

Anna jumped at the opportunity to appear in The Wind in the Willows.

"The book was one of my childhood favourites and it gets a response from every generation, even the little ones. All my friends remembered the Gaoler's Daughter. Having Matt in it brings it up-to-date for kids because he's massive with them. It brings the story into a contemporary forum. It'll be great for Christmas.
"It's a good thing for me to do some comedy. You get pigeonholed very quickly so it's nice to break away from it. I absolutely revelled in it."

Anna trained at LAMDA and her roles include an Olivier-nominated performance as Lyra in the stage adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. On television, she has appeared in Doctor Who, North & South and Midsomer Murders.
"I was very lucky early on and had three years of doing every job I wanted to do, and found them fascinating and challenging. That's a dream for an actor. After Bleak House, things went quiet for six months but I relished the break because I was exhausted."

Anna appears in two new films I Really Hate My Job with Neve Campbell and Becoming Jane, about Jane Austen, with Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy.


She recently made her musical theatre debut as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. "It's a role I have dreamed about doing all my life and you can't get further away from Bleak House," says Anna.

Airs: Monday 1 January, 6.20pm on BBC One


I for one is looking forward to this I'm a big fan of Matt Lucas from Little Britain.