Mary Durrant
The first adopted child of Leo and Rachel Argyll. Neurotic yet poised, she is the picture of tension. Mary channels the spirit of her mother, a substitute for the attention she desperately craves from her.
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Eleanor Tomlinson on Mary
What drew you to playing Mary Durrant?
Mary just desperately wants to be loved by Rachel. She wants to be her and she models herself on her mother
The character of Mary is so different to anything I’ve played before. I’m probably most known for my character Demelza in Poldark and Mary is probably the polar opposite of her. She’s a relatively weak woman and fractured, worried about people’s opinion of her and she’s desperate to be loved. Having been adopted she seeks love and is very competitive when it comes to being her mother’s favourite. I was really drawn to this very sad girl and I wanted to explore that and push myself to the limit with different twitches and addictions that she has.
What are her addictions?
She is an incredibly nervous person and Mary turns to smoking and drinking, which at the time was popular but she sees that as a moment of relaxation for her. She spends her life looking after Philip and trying to make him as comfortable as possible. There is also a huge amount of guilt there too, and the time she has to herself is time spent really exploring her damaged side and we see that come out in her addiction to smoking and these uneasy twitches that she has.
Despite dedicating her life to looking after Philip following his accident their relationship seems tragic?
Philip and Mary’s relationship is incredibly sad. He has had this awful accident, which has left him somewhat at her mercy. He relies on her not only for her dowry but she does everything for him which puts a huge strain on their relationship, and he’s not particularly nice to her. She was a relatively weak person to begin with so the last thing she needed was someone who was going to abuse that. She hasn’t come from a past that has been loving and beautiful and she’s come from an upsetting relationship with her mother and father and a desperate need to be loved. The last thing she needed was a man who had his own insecurities.
What is Mary’s relationship like with her mother?
Mary just desperately wants to be loved by Rachel. She wants to be her and she models herself on her mother; caking make up on her relatively young face which is so sad when you think about it. She has this need to be noticed which is so exciting for me to play because she is so different to my previous roles. She clings on to Rachel all the time and is actually driving her mother mad by doing that.
How does Mary react to her future stepmother Gwenda?
Mary finds Gwenda incredibly irritating and she’s everything that Rachel wasn’t. Alice Eve is doing such a tremendous job of playing Gwenda. She is so sexy and shoves that right in Mary’s face and Mary is so prim she finds her grotesque. I think Mary is jealous of Gwenda for the attention and respect she gets from her father.
