Dark and dangerous...

Laura Carmichael on why her Aussie psychological thriller will have us gripped

- Hannah Davies

Two heavily pregnant women, both hiding murky secrets, are at the heart of BBC1’s sinister Australian set thriller The Secrets She Keeps, inspired by a real-life hospital-kidnap incident.

Downton Abbey fans will know Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley, but for this six-parter, based on the bestselling novel by Michael Robotham, she swaps aristocratic glamour for greasy hair and jeans to play deeply troubled single-mum to-be Agatha Fyfe.

Right from the start, there’s something very troubling about Agatha, who works stacking shelves in a Sydney suburb while also developing an unhealthy fascination with the ‘perfect’ life of pregnant Instagram influencer Meghan Shaughnessy (The Crown’s Jessica De Gouw).

Meghan seems to have it all – a successful blog, a high-flying husband who works in TV, two gorgeous kids, and a stunning home. Meanwhile, Agatha lives in a dingy flat and is desperate for a family of her own following a heartbreaking stillbirth and the breakdown of her marriage.

But it’s when Agatha engineers a ‘chance’ meeting with Meghan and the pair bond over their pregnancies that both women’s lives come crashing down thanks to one horrifying act…

TV Times caught up with Laura, 33, for a lockdown Zoom chat to find out more about filming in Sydney and why playing Agatha was such a liberating experience…