Interview with Rakie Ayola who plays Muriel

What made you want to do Falling? 

I thought it was original. This is a gorgeous love story about a community I don't know much about, as I’m not Catholic. I know what church life is like, but I hadn't seen this community represented with this richness. I also got the chance to play somebody whose heart isn't breaking, so I could just have a nice time and everyone else could do the heavy lifting! 

What is going on in Muriel’s world? 

Her husband has left her, so she is dealing with stuff. When we meet her, she's pragmatic, getting used to being in that house by herself and holding it together - we don't catch her in a puddle on the floor. The chance to make a new friend in Anna (Keeley Hawes) is one she relishes, because there's a point in life where we think we have all the friends we're going to make unless we go and join a knitting circle or something. So, Muriel welcomes this new person into her home and her life and can't quite believe that this grown-up is like a child in so many ways. There's so much that this gorgeous, intelligent woman doesn't know, so Muriel’s fascinated by her. I get to play someone's friend, but not in a wisecracking know-it-all kind of way, more: let me show you how to shave your armpits. 

Muriel works long hours in hospital. Bringing more complication into that life might seem strange to some, but she sees it differently, doesn’t she?  

Yes, she's a beautiful person. Muriel is my idea of what a good person should be, the kind of human I aspire to be. She's not judgmental. Whatever she thinks about Anna’s relationship with David (Paapa Essiedu), she knows that people fall in love. She knows that people shouldn't want to be alone, even alone with their God. She's really pragmatic about it, open-hearted and generous, and she's got her house so there's every chance that, had Anna not turned up, she would have thought, “Can I give someone a home?” All she knows is, here's a person who needs somebody and Muriel wants to be needed, so they're perfect for each other.  

Does her Catholicism cause any conflict within Muriel, sheltering someone who has left a convent?  

Muriel recognises the rules of her particular church but feels that they are manmade. Her relationship with God is her relationship with God, but she understands that, somewhere in time, a bunch of guys went, “Shall we decide people mustn’t do that, but do this instead?” It’s that pragmatism you see with Anna’s situation that runs through Muriel’s life.  

How did you enjoy working with Keeley Hawes? 

I loved working with Keeley! We’re quite similar on set. We like talking to each other and to other people, but we also don't like a lot of noise. Muriel's house was very busy, and Keeley had the boxroom as her space, so very quickly, she’d be saying, “Come upstairs with me!” I love her way of working, I love her energy and we mostly just talked about our dogs, which was beautiful. 

What makes (series creator) Jack Thorne's scripts stand out? 

I did the second year of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and he has an extraordinary mind, to see the world through so many different windows. There are clearly lots of things that interest him. Even within the Catholic church, he's interested in different people and different experiences within that community, and he allows so many voices to be heard within that. There’s a real generosity in Falling, because churches are very easily lampooned and Jack’s saying that this whole world is interesting and romantic and dramatic and funny and curious. He looks at it with an open mind and heart. 

Has making Falling caused you to think about faith in a new way? 

My parents weren’t religious at all, but I decided I wanted to go to church aged eight. I went to the very High Anglican Church of the Resurrection up the road, joined the choir, wore the robes, learned the Eucharist. My mum died when I was 14 and, six months later, I remember being in the choir stalls one Sunday and we were praying for the sick of the parish. I suddenly thought, “We did all this for about three years for my mum, and it didn't work. What is the point if they die anyway?” So, I hung up my purple robes and never went back. I tried really hard to be an atheist for several years, then realised I wanted to believe in something so I decided to worship Greek gods but could never remember which one to pray to at any given moment. About ten years later, I became someone who takes the bits I like from every religion and leaves the rest. I especially love all the songs, so I loved the singalongs on the coach trip to Weston-Super-Mare in Falling. What I got from this series was the sense of community, even if the faith is secondary to you and it’s more about being allowed to be with people outside your own home. We all need community, to have company and feel accepted, because when we don't have places to have a cup of tea together or play some ping pong, we’ll look elsewhere – and you’d better hope it's in the good places, rather than the not-so-good places.  

What was the biggest challenge of making Falling? 

One of the challenges was practical. Television often gives characters massive houses because you want somewhere for all the crew to be when it's raining. Muriel’s house isn’t massive and it did rain, so it was a challenge for everybody to be in that small space, but I appreciated the fact that they hadn’t given her a small mansion, because that wouldn’t have been right for her. Other than that, it was lovely. I was even happy to don a bathing suit and run into the sea!