Annabel Scholey: The Couple Next Door

Photography By Katherine Needles

This summer Channel 4 welcomes back The Couple Next Door for a second series inviting viewers to venture back into the claustrophobic world of the cul-de-sac and explore the fallout of taking fantasies and making them reality.

This time a new high-flying couple, brilliant heart surgeon Charlotte Roberts played by Annabel Scholey and her consultant anaesthetist husband Jacob (Sam Palladio) find their lives turned upside down when their mysterious new hospital colleague Mia (Aggy K Adams) rents out the house next door.

Working her way into Charlotte and Jacob’s confidence and eventually their bed, Mia also quickly befriends cul-de-sac outcast Alan (Hugh Dennis) whilst Charlotte has to handle the reappearance of a past flame. Mia’s past soon comes back to haunt her, leading Charlotte and Jacob to question who she really is, especially when patients at the hospital mysteriously start dying. But one thing is clear, giving into desires can have deadly consequences…

Darkus met Annabel to find out more about this gripping new 6 part series and immediately asked why playing Charlotte appealed to her,

"When I first saw the script and the character of Charlotte, I was really excited because I identified with her so much. For a start, we're both from West Yorkshire. We're both 41.

Charlotte is very focused, ambitious and a control freak. I'm probably all of those things. It's a really interesting story to tell about a 41-year-old woman who is  going through what seems like a mid-life crisis. It's rare to have those stories on screen. Charlotte unravels and when I read it I thought "Yes! I have to do this!"

We are lucky to have viewed a couple of episodes and are already hooked... We can't wait to see what happens next and asked Annabel to give us a little more spoiler free intel about what happens to Charlotte.

"Charlotte's begins in what we think is a very steady place. She has the "perfect life". She is brilliant at her job as head of cardio at the hospital. She's happily married to Jacob, who's also top of his game. They've got lots of money. She seems to have it all. And then quite quickly, you start to see cracks appearing.

Two encounters with two characters from the past and the present cause huge waves for Charlotte, emotionally and physically, and lead to a rediscovery of herself.

We go on that journey with her, and it's a journey of many twists and turns."

Photography By Katherine Needles

And it is a journey we all want to take as viewers but for an actor - what parts of Annabel's journey have been her famous,

My favourite scenes to film have been, without question, those in the operating theatre.

As part of the process and getting into the role, we got to see a live heart surgery. To step into an operating theatre and then film in our purpose built one was a real privilege.To have the closest experience I can to being a cardiac surgeon without the years of medical school was mind blowing. It was a really incredible week. I felt quite emotional at the end of it all. I got to meet and watch an amazing cardiac surgeon and learn from him. I was transported into a completely different world. This is my favourite part of being an actor. Exploring other people's realities and different universes."

We can't wait to watch those scenes for sure but wondered if Annabel had any scenes she'd rather not have played. She says:

"I genuinely do enjoy most scenes. I have to say the most challenging would be the surgery again because I was so out of my comfort zone. I had the surgeon’s light on my head with the mask so I had to work out how to act with just my eyes. However, my eyes were behind the goggles meaning I didn't have a lot to use!

Also, the medical language was challenging as I had to find a way of embedding that in my memory without really understanding."

Photography By Katherine Needles

Season One was a big hit for Channel 4 and starred Eleanor Tomlinson and Sam Heughan as the titular couple next door.  We wondered if Annabel felt like she was joining an existing show or a completely new one?

"In series two I felt that we were picking up the baton from series one. And there are some lovely threads in series two. We do refer back to some of the characters from series one. I feel that we've joined a family that was set up in series one, however, I think it does feel new. It feels like we're in our world and the other world could still be happening across the road, through the blinds.  In our world,the characters are slightly older and at a different point in their lives so that brings a different energy. It definitely still has that juicy thriller, fast paced, addictive quality. I think that's the common denominator between series 1 and 2. t felt like we were stepping into a book that we'd read before. It was really lovely to stand there and think these guys were here. We are carrying on the thread for them.

So finally we asked Annabel why she thinks viewers should visit this Couple Next Door.

"I think people should watch series two because I watched series one and I was completely gripped. It's got such a great pace. It's a relationship thriller and it's a real page turner.The characters are all brilliantly flawed. You don't know who to like or who to hate…!

And that is precisely why we should all make time to tune in to Channel 4 this summer. Meeting Annabel has made us all the more certain that we need to pay a visit to Charlotte and Jacob in not so sedate suburbia....

Photography By Katherine Needles

Article By Iain McCallum