Esther Smith and Rafe Spall are a couple attempting to adopt a child in the Apple TV+ show.
“It’s not as easy as they thought.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you click immediately as an onscreen couple?
Credit: Apple TV +
ESTHER SMITH: We had a chemistry read.
I thought it was a science thing when I was much younger.
We met up beforehand just to have a chat and to suss each other out.
[Laughs] Luckily, yeah, me and Rafe just really got on.
You both appeared in the same episode ofBlack Mirror.
Did you not meet then?
SMITH:No, we didn’t meet then.
I haveoneline, Clark.
I play an anaesthetist called Madge and I hop in and I hop out again.
But it must be very important.
I flicked back through and I saw this one line.
What are you going to do?
I was like, “I’ll take it.”
Have you received feedback from people who are going through the adoption process?
SMITH: I’ve had such gorgeous messages from people.
You tend to get stories after the fact rather than during the actual process of it.
So, that’s been really lovely just to get that feedback and response from people.
That was part of the impetus for him writing the show.
Imelda Staunton plays a social worker who is helping your characters.
Did she make you treat her differently after being cast as the Queen onThe Crown?
SMITH: Yeah, she sits on a throne and insists we have to bow to her.
It’s very strange, but we do it.
Is it nice to be in something where you’re not being menaced by aliens or dinosaurs?
What else can you say about season 2?
Did you shoot the season after the start of the pandemic?
SPALL:We did.
We were one of the first shows back, because we started shooting this last summer.
What was it like?
And expensive, I imagine, because of all of the testing.
You sort of get used to it after a while.
The big MO is that it doesn’t become aboutnotgetting COVID.
Because it’s possible for you to get consumed by that when you’re on set.
It sort of exists in this utopian non-COVID world.
It was quite nice between “Action!”
and “Cut!”
to pretend that COVID didn’t exist.
Tryingseason 2 premieres on Apple TV+ on May 21.
Watch the trailer above.
