Despite Angela’s disability, Sophie Winkleman is certain Angela has come out as one of the strongest:

"She turns out to be the most admirable of the lot. She has to survive in an age where looks were absolutely essential to get on in life, so instead she concentrated on her talent as a leading archaeologist as opposed to her image."

Angela’s disability is the result of her sister Caroline’s moment of rage:

"Angela was probably a nightmare child, and simply desperate for Caroline’s attention. The accident was clearly a moment of madness, and I think Angela plays on this and laps up the tenderness Caroline gives her."

Angela admits that the end of summer 1924 was the end of her childhood:

"It’s a tragedy, but Angela had to grow up really quickly following Amyas’s death. Caroline had always been there for her, and suddenly Angela’s support network was taken away."

In preparing for the role, Sophie spoke to a number of people to get a sense of how to play the role:

"‘One of the main points I garnered was that in Angela’s situation, she would have probably been treated at arms length, but in a sweet and charitable way, which is clearly a pretty condescending attitude." Interview continues below...

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Reading Five Little Pigs, was also a good source of research for Sophie:

"I started off with the script as a basis, and then I found reading the book a useful tool as it helped give me a sense of the characters. I certainly began to understand how in command Angela is of herself, compared to the others who were all slightly shattered people. She overcomes everything, and doesn’t let what happened to her affect her at all."

The transition of Sophie into Angela was a performance in itself:

"In a sense it was fairly repulsive! I had white contact lenses fitted and the whole process took hours to complete by a number of make-up artists - and they had a bit of a nightmare with me, as I was a bit squeamish! I actually couldn’t see when they were in, which was terrifying."

Having previously worked in America, it was refreshing for Sophie to play a character not obsessed with her appearance:

"I was also intrigued by the fact that although she could be a victim, she’s actually very strong."