The actor made her mark in Jane Eyre after leaving college and hasn’t stopped working since. She talks about her role in Philip Pullman’s dark fantasy, her love for the stage – and her fear of commitment
On the set of His Dark Materials, the BBC’s arresting adaptation of Philip Pullman’s novels, the word is that Ruth Wilson, as Mrs Coulter, was genuinely frightening – when she dropped out of character to start chatting, the relief was palpable. Pullman’s villain starts this third season in a characteristically dark place: she has found a way to keep her daughter close, but only by drugging her.
“The relationship is so damaged,” Wilson says. “That is her only possibility of being able to act as a mother. And there’s some desire to keep Lyra young and innocent. Mrs Coulter’s desire, really throughout the whole series, is to prevent people from becoming adults.”
