Shardlake star Ruby Ashbourne Serkis has opened up about being one of the only women in the cast and crew for the new Disney+ drama, based on the novels by CJ Sansom.
Starring Arthur Hughes as the titular investigator, the four-part series uncovers a brutal murder in a monastery during the dissolution in the 16th Century.
The series, written by Stephen Butchard and directed by Justin Chadwick, also touches on the injustices of the era, including Matthew Shardlake’s experience as a “hunchback” in Tudor England.
Throughout the first season, Shardlake and his accomplice Jack Barak (Anthony Boyle) investigate the chilling murder and get to know Ruby’s character Alice, a young woman who lives at the monastery.
“I think she’s had to massively seclude herself from really everyone at the monastery,” she explained.
Read more: Watch all episodes of Shardlake as fans say Disney+ series ‘doesn’t disappoint’
“And empathy, given the fact she’s a woman on her own living in this monastery,” she added. “It’s a very solitary life.
“But, from the beginning, I felt that she was quite capable of taking care of herself.”
The daughter of The Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis has had small roles in The Hobbit series and broke out in the likes of The Greatest Beer Run Ever and TV series The Serpent and Becoming Elizabeth.
Other than Kimberley Nixon as Shardlake’s housekeeper Joan – who is not involved in the investigation at the monastery – Ruby is the only woman in the main cast and had a rather interesting experience filming the series in Hungary, Romania and Austria with a male-dominated team.
“It was kind of a bizarre experience,” she recalled. “All the leads are men. When I went out there, I was kind of like, ‘f***ing hell’.
“Not to be sexist, or anything, but especially when you’re in a foreign country and there’s that many men together it can get quite ego-y. It’s just how the energy is spread around.
“But I never felt that once with any of them. They’re the most gorgeous group of lads and I couldn’t have felt more included and at ease with everyone. Although I’d like to say life is imitating art, it really wasn’t, thank goodness!”
Thankful, Ruby also said “there were some brilliant, brilliant woman on it.
“Tatiana, who was our first AD, was just fantastic. And it’s so rare and so refreshing having a first who’s a woman.
“For all of us women we really appreciated and valued her. She was just fantastic.”
Shardlake is available to stream on Disney+.
