Q&A Lydia Leonard who plays Olivia Wainwright

What were your first impressions of the script?

I knew of Barbara Taylor Bradford. The script was instantly interesting, and it was this complicated, morally dubious, nuanced love triangle between Olivia, Adam and Adele that drew me in. But at first I struggled to see how the audience would have any sympathy for Olivia, or how I could play her in this deep, black hole of a family life. But as I got further into it I did actually have a lot of sympathy for her, which is important because you need to have compassion for any character you’re playing. 

How would you describe Olivia’s relationship with her sister, Adele?

Olivia has grown up watching Adele’s decline – they know each other so well but they also know how to be cruel to each other, and so easily. I think Olivia's love for Adele is genuine, and she has been the most wonderful, caring sister looking after such a difficult character, but she does fall in love with Adam, and that’s the contradiction. It’s not the same as it would be now though – Olivia is an unmarried woman, which would have left her in a very vulnerable position. I feel so sorry for her in lots of ways, particularly because Adele uses Olivia’s position against her with cruel jibes. Olivia is carrying around so much pain, and even as circumstances shift, it's not a relief, it just brings more guilt, it all just gets worse for her.

Is Olivia really in love with Adam?

Adam is the only man available to Olivia, and they're forced into this trauma bond – they’ve both been looking after Adele, and you can see how they would be each other's life raft in such a depressing, difficult situation. But it's a very complicated love story, it’s not an easy situation where you're rooting for them, and ultimately Adam is still in love with Adele, which I think just makes you feel even more sorry for Olivia. I don't think she's ever pathetic, but she's just extremely vulnerable and makes some very questionable choices. You see her heart open and then slam shut, there’s so much cruelty around her. 

You can’t help but think that in a different life, with a different partner, Olivia could have really soared, because she's so bright and kind and she wants to love. That’s what really appeals to Adam – the basis of their relationship isn't carnal on his part, it’s more that she's genuinely useful to him because of her business acumen. There’s a very useful place for her within the household, not just looking after her sister, but also helping Adam with the business. Barbara Taylor Bradford has written quite ground-breaking female characters for the time, and Olivia does serve as inspiration to Emma Harte. Emma sees that Olivia has lived alone, unmarried, so she’s had to develop skills in a way that other women just wouldn't have done.

How did you cope with filming such emotional and intense scenes?

It was hard stepping into Olivia’s shoes because of everything she goes through in this series, and it was quite nice to shake off the strain at the end of the filming day, but I still enjoyed stepping into the world. I hadn’t worked with either Leanne [Best] or Emmett [J. Scanlan] before, but we’re used to throwing ourselves in at the deep end, and we got on really well. 

It’s a weird job, because you can be shooting a really heavy storyline, like their love triangle, but it’s only when you see the finished episode put together that you see all the other worlds that make up the story. Of course, there are so many other flavours in A Woman of Substance, there’s lightness and humour, it’s just that we were filming very intense, heightened drama in our scenes. The viewers will be very relieved that there's lots of other lovely stuff in the series!

Period dramas come with lavish sets and fancy costumes – do you enjoy that?

Yes it's great fun to film with the horse and carriages, and all the beautiful costumes. It was a glorious summer up in Skipton in the sunny Yorkshire countryside. Olivia’s was a walk in the park compared to a Victorian or Tudor one! 

We filmed at Broughton Hall, which is beautiful. It’s one of my favourite places to shoot, and we used different bits of it this time. It adds so much to the piece because the house becomes almost like another character in its own right. I love the incredible locations you get to work in on period dramas, and we were staying just round the corner, spending the summer in Yorkshire, it was lovely. It’s always fun to be part of a big ensemble piece with such good camaraderie too. There was lots of laughter and we got a couple of takeaway curries all together, which was really fun. 

What do you hope audiences will most love about A Woman of Substance?

Emma Harte is an extremely inspiring character for viewers of any age or time. She is driven by her ambition, her unapologetic desire for revenge and her need to settle scores. The drama is filled with passion and lust and sex, but it’s not love that drives Emma, it’s her need for success, and that feels very unusual and refreshing for a period drama. There’s also a lot of lightness to enjoy – even though Olivia’s love triangle is intense, it’s not a dark series. It’s a big story – Emma is dreaming big and we cross large time frames with grand feelings and epic landscapes, from early 20th century Yorkshire to 1970s New York.