Sophie Rundle discusses Joanna's drive in After the Flood

You know Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders. Now it’s time to take on the lead of her own series in a very different role. Rundle plays PC Joanna Marshall in After the Flood on BritBox.

The first two episodes of the British series are now available to stream. The series will drop two episodes each week, giving us time to work out the case with Joanna.

This case is a tricky one. There’s a body in an underground car park after a serious flood in the town. At first, it looks like this man was likely caught up in the flooding, but it’s soon clear that there is something more suspicious about this death. Joanna is determined to crack the case.

Sophie Rundle talks After the Flood, playing different roles, and more

We sat down with Rundle to discuss what it’s like playing different types of roles. After all, Jo is very different to Ada Thorne, who you certainly don’t want to cross in Peaky Blinders. We talked about how rewarding it is to play different types of roles.

"It’s really fun when you get to be someone very different to who you’ve been before or been recently…You always want to mix it up a little bit, so it was really good fun to play someone like Jo."

While discussing how modern Jo is in After the Flood (especially compared to Ada), we also talked about how heroic she is. Yes, she is the hero of the story, but she doesn’t always make the right choices. She owns the mistakes that she does make.

"I think that’s why she’s likable, because her heart’s in the right place. Her intentions are good. She’s just trying to figure this thing out, and she kid of becomes blinded and blinkered by this need, but you understand why she feels that way."

We went onto discuss the type of character Jo is. What is driving her throughout this case, and why is she so determined to solve it?

"She’s pregnant, and there’s this impending thing coming towards her of motherhood and she just wants to prove herself before that arrives. Time is running out."

While pregnancy is certainly a driving force, there’s more to Jo’s character to explore throughout the series.

"I think part of it is that she just really does have those whip smart instincts to be a great detective…She put pieces together that other people aren’t seeing, perhaps, but I do think [pregnancy] is a motivator. I think that was she not pregnant, she might not feel the need to go as far as she does, as quickly as she does."

Discussing the realistic flood scenes and Sophie Rundle filming with her real partner

The set was created to look as real as possible. No, a town wasn’t actually flooded. Those aren’t real houses that have water up to their windows! However, that didn’t take away from the reality of flood water, which made it for some interesting filming.

"It was so fascinating to see them put it together, because when I first spoke to them and the team behind it, there was a lot of ‘yeah, we haven’t quite figured out how we’re gonna do that, but we’ll figure it out on the day.’"

Well, figuring it out on the day certainly happened. The cast got to do some training with the emergency services to figure out how some action scenes would be shot, and there were consultants around to help.

"It was like a sort of school field trip. It was really good fun."

One thing you may not know is that Joanna’s husband in the series is actually Sophie Rundle’s real-life partner. What was that like filming scenes together, especially when it comes to arguments that you have to leave at work?

"I think there was one time…we filmed this big argument scene and we came home and apparently I was feeling really stroppy, and he said ‘you know we didn’t have a row today.’ I was like ‘Oh, okay, yeah, I think I am maybe a little bit annoyed.’"

Take a look at the full interview with Sophie Rundle below and get BritBox to watch After the Flood. You will not be disappointed.