“I love riling an audience up”: The 2015 role that got Jodie Comer accosted in a pub toilet
Killing Eve might have been many audiences’ first introduction to Jodie Comer, her accent seamlessly shapeshifting, but she’d appeared in her fair share of successful British TV shows before she even made her breakthrough in the spy thriller.
The Liverpool-born actor secured her screen debut in 2008’s The Royal Today before doing the rounds of all the classic British TV staples for up-and-coming actors, such as Doctors, Holby City, Casualty, Law & Order: UK, but then came a major supporting role in the teen comedy-drama My Mad Fat Diary, playing the childhood best friend of lead character Rae, their complicated relationship forming a major part of the plot.
Often tackling some rather heavy themes, in the case of her character, teen pregnancy, Comer made a strong impression on audiences, and it wouldn’t be long before she’d be up for bigger parts. It’s been over ten years since she starred in the show, but despite subsequent roles in everything from Prima Facie to 28 Years Later, she’ll always be Chloe Gemell to me, embodying the part like a glove.
In 2015, as My Mad Fat Diary came to an end after three seasons, she bagged a supporting role in the BBC psychological thriller Doctor Foster, with Suranne Jones playing a woman who discovers that her husband is having an affair with a much younger woman, Comer’s 23-year-old Kate, a university student.
The show was a hit, winning various awards across its two seasons, and Comer’s star power started to rise even further. She knew she’d made an impact on viewers; however, when she was accosted in a pub toilet for her role. This only made Comer more confident in her ability to play complex characters, though, which she much prefers to a placid figure who doesn’t spur any conversation.
“I mean, everyone hated her,” Comer told The Guardian, revealing how several women approached her in a toilet, “They were like, ‘Are you that girl off Doctor Foster?’ I said, ‘Oh yeah’. And they said, ‘Oh, I hated you’.” Clearly, she left an impression, even if she admits that her attempts to suggest that her character isn’t the real villain but the husband is didn’t work.
“I love riling an audience up. I love seeing the impact a person can have on an audience. I’m like, ‘Well, at least I made you feel something. I’ve got you sat on the couch swearing at the TV’,” she said.
Comer isn’t joking; shortly after Doctor Foster came to an end, she took on the psychopathic role of Villanelle in Killing Eve, a mighty performance that won her a Bafta and an Emmy.
It seems like Comer thrives in these kinds of roles best, latching onto the characters that are a genuine challenge to play, yet ultimately become the most rewarding kind. It’s surely much more enjoyable or liberating even to sink into a role that’s far removed from yourself, one that allows you to tap into a darker side of yourself, thus giving you no choice but to embrace people’s hostile reactions.
