Former Coronation Street star Natalie Gumede has said it made a change for her to get cast in a glamorous role in new drama Jekyll And Hyde, and revealed how she had to avoid being a “fan girl” with the show’s creator Charlie Higson.
The 31-year-old actress plays Bella Charming, the owner of a seedy East End pub called The Empire – who also happens to run a criminal gang on the side, in ITV’s new 10-part series.
“As soon as I saw the script, I just went, ‘Yes, this is something to get my teeth into’,” she said.
“I never thought I’d be cast in a period drama like this, but the wonderful thing about Jekyll And Hyde is how diversely it’s been cast and the strength of the female roles.
“I didn’t know what Bella would be or what she would look like, but when I met with hair, make-up and costume and they said she’s going to be glamorous with jewels and lashes, I knew it was going to be great fun. I don’t usually get to play glamorous roles!”
Jekyll And Hyde is a new take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novel, first published in 1886, by acclaimed writer Higson.
It follows Robert Jekyll’s quest to discover his real identity, his true family history and the nature of his curse, whereby in moments of extreme anger or stress, the normally naive, sensitive Jekyll transforms into Hyde, a confident, risk-taking and ultimately self-destructive persona.
There’s also something of a love triangle between Jekyll (played by Tom Bateman), Sir Roger Bulstrode – the head of secret government MI0 known as “The Invisible Men”, portrayed by Richard E Grant – and Natalie’s Bella, the no-nonsense femme fatale.
A fan of The Fast Show, the 90s sketch show Higson co-created with Paul Whitehouse, the actress admitted it took all her restraint not to “be that person who’s quoting back all the different catchphrases to him”.
“He’s a genius and the humour is very important, because there’s a lot of high drama as well,” she added.
As the East End’s Queen Bee, Bella is physically, as well as mentally, tough, and the actress admitted she was a little nervous about the kick-boxing required for one sequence.
“I think the fight director had seen me on Strictly [Come Dancing; Natalie took part in the series in 2013] and thought I was still at that level of fitness, and of course, I haven’t tried to high kick for two years, so it wasn’t easy!”
Jekyll And Hyde begins at 6.30pm on ITV on October 25.
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