Hayley Atwell jumped at the opportunity to work on the miniseries “Howards End.” Written by “Manchester by the Sea’s” Kenneth Lonergan, “Howards End” is about as far away from Atwell’s previous roles as Peggy Carter in the Marvel TV series “Agent Carter” and as a lawyer in the courtroom drama “Conviction.” And judging by the comments Atwell has made about her time on those series, we now know why the actress hasn’t been interested in returning to TV until now.
READ MORE: First Look At Kenneth Lonergan’s ‘Howard’s End’ Miniseries With Hayley Atwell
In an interview with Vulture, the British actress was asked about her time in major network TV series. Marvel’s “Agent Carter” ran for two seasons on ABC before getting the axe, and her follow-up show, “Conviction,” got canceled only after 13 episodes. So, what was it like for Atwell, coming from a British acting background, to get thrown into the network TV machine?
“‘Conviction’ was a baptism of fire about how network television is. ‘Agent Carter’ had come from the film, so I had a little bit more of the feeling of that. The second season tended to feel like you were following the orders of the network; they were very concerned with ratings. We don’t do that in England, unless it’s episodical like ‘EastEnders’ and soap operas. The machine system of that, it’s frustrating from my background,” said Atwell.
It seems that the network interference is what really frustrated the actress. She went on to describe why she much prefers working with the British format of TV, where everything is written before filming.
“In Britain, when we do an adaptation, you have the script in its completion before you begin filming. You get to make choices, where you’re going to pitch emotionally the arcs in the character. You can better own it,” continues the actress. “I remember doing one job once, and towards the end of filming, they ended up changing a whole ton of it. You suddenly get a backstory to a character and you think, ‘God if I’d known that before I might be able to have done something with it.’”
With the model of how TV shows get produced changing constantly, with many prestige shows getting shorter seasons, Atwell might be tempted to come back to the small screen eventually. However, don’t expect the British actress to sign up for some sitcom or trashing legal drama anytime soon.