In last year’s release of Netflix series Geek Girl, Jemima Rooper plays Annabel Manners – the stepmother of lead character Harriet, played by Emily Carey and the wife of Richard, played by Tim Downie, with Geek Girl recently announced for a second series, and Jemima played Angela Clutterback in the recent The Famous Five release, having originally played George in the 1995 series for her first regular role on screen. Jemima worked on two feature films last year – Here as Virginia, which was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and Joy as Ruth Edwards, where she worked alongside James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie. For the Channel 5 series The Inheritance, Jemima played Chloe, and she played Laura in the independent horror film Matriarch, which released on Disney+ in the UK, and in the prequel series of Flowers in the Attic called Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, she played Olivia Winfield Foxworth. Further screen roles for Jemima include Medusa in Atlantis, Amanda Price in Lost in Austen, Nicki Sutton in As If, Nicola in the 2005 film Kinky Boots, and she played Bobbie in The Railway Children near the start of her career, with Jenny Agutter playing her on-screen mother (who played Bobbie in the original 1970 film). As an established theatre actor, Jemima recently finished playing Suzanne Abetz in the London premiere of Farewell Mister Haffmann at the Park Theatre, was in the revival of Little Shop of Horrors at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre as Audrey, and she played Elvira in Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End and on the North American Tour with Angela Lansbury. Amongst her further theatre projects, Jemima appeared in the National Theatre’s production of One Man, Two Guvnors in London and New York, Her Naked Skin, The Great Game (where she met her partner and father of her children), and she was in the cast of Breeders, which was written by her partner. We found out from Jemima about her recent screen work including Geek Girl and The Famous Five, playing Olivia Winfield Foxworth in Flowers in the Attic: The Origin and her theatre projects such as Farewell Mister Haffmann, Little Shop of Horrors and Blithe Spirit.

It has just been announced that Netflix has renewed Geek Girl for a second series, how was it hearing the news and what are you looking forward to for reprising your role of Annabel Manners?

I’d had a little ‘inkling’ for a while but it’s never really real until it’s official so it was a big fat relief! I have a nasty habit of getting a bit cavalier with my spending, which would have been awkward if it didn’t happen…

And I’m mainly looking forward to getting the band back together. For me, the joy is with the people you make the thing with and this particular project, I think because it’s such a celebration of individuality and has such heart, is just filled with the most joyous beings. Because of its subject matter, I have never been on such a gentle, supported set. And the gorgeous actors. The ‘kids’ in the show are such incredible young people, I’m so bowled over by them, and then comedy genius Tim Downie is the perfect partner in acting crime.

In the Mystery at the Prospect Hotel episode of CBBC’s new series of The Famous Five, you could be seen as Angela Clutterback; how was it filming your episode and returning to the franchise for a new generation?

It’s very bizarre when you used to be the kid on set and now you’re the old hack. It all just made me feel very, very old. I did have such a lovely time, it was a lovely group of actors again (shout out to Rita (Tushingham), who played my mum), the kids are brilliant and because they are new stories it felt fresh and not like a remake, which would have felt more strange.

What are some of your favourite memories from playing George in the 1995 series of The Famous Five for your first regular role on screen?

It was just the most exciting and happy time for me. Probably because that was when I knew this is what I wanted and needed to do with my life. We also got the chance to work with loads of animals, obvs my favourite being Connal, who played Timmy, but I also remember washing a baby elephant with a broom and the squirrel monkey who would do something unmentionable on people’s shoulders in shot.

Also last year, you were in the casts of the feature films Here (directed by Robert Zemeckis) as Virginia and Joy (alongside James Norton) as Ruth Edwards, can you tell us about working on both projects?

I was gutted on Here as I lost doing a scene as I had COVID! But adored being a part of it for the short time I was there. I mean, it’s Zemeckis. And Hanks. And I assumed Tom Hanks and Robin Wright wouldn’t even be there but there they were! Terrifying and thrilling! Also, Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly are both actors I admire so much and it was a total privilege to get to be on set with them.

Joy was a joy. Thomasin McKenzie is amazing and it was a total pleasure to be in her orbit. The whole production felt very special, and again, just felt a real privilege to be a part of something with so many fantastic people doing fantastic work.

Was there anything that drew you to the role of Chloe in the Channel 5 series The Inheritance and what was the character like to play?

I remember reading it and being very surprised at the plot twist as I usually guess it straight away. And a thriller with family politics is always a winner. Again, I loved working with the other actors. It was an intense, short shoot and complicated because we were all away from home but that also means you become a funny little family together. Chloe was fun to play because even though I knew what was going on with her, you have to tease the audience’s perception of her. Aku (Louhimies), our director, also got us to improvise bits which, when it goes well (and sadly those bits often don’t make the cut), feels very exciting.

How did you find the experience filming for the horror film Matriarch as Laura, which was released in the UK on Disney+?

I would love to do more independent film. It’s so exciting to work on someone’s vision for a piece and create something in a short space of time and it was such a brilliant part that Ben (Steiner), the writer/director, wrote. A brilliantly meaty role. And working with Kate Dickie was a career highlight for me. I adore her. She’s an incredible actor and person. But oh the dramas we had! We filmed over that second winter with COVID and the director had to direct from his car as he had to isolate himself in the first week, I got COVID and the shoot had to shut down halfway through… there was a lot going on!

How familiar were you with the Flowers in the Attic story before booking your role in Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, and how was it filming for the prequel miniseries as Olivia Winfield Foxworth?

The name rang a bell and I remember looking up the plot online and then being horrified by it! And wetting myself that this was the origin story of the worst grandmother in the history of grandmothers. I ended up reading all the scripts on my phone whilst walking my very young second child around in his carrier and just loving it. I’d never read such an epic part and we don’t really have this genre in the UK. It’s horror meets camp meets melodrama meets romance meets bonkers.

And filming was bonkers. We were in second lockdown. Me and my family relocated for two months to Romania and then my partner and eldest child returned leaving me and the baby there for another two months. It was kind of wonderful though because we were all just so grateful to be working and it was such a unique set of circumstances. My kids were also briefly in it at different times playing my kids at different ages and that will always, as well as it being a bit of a role of a lifetime, be special.

You have played lead roles in Atlantis as Medusa and Lost in Austen as Amanda Price, what did you enjoy most about these series and how was it taking on the roles?

Atlantis was produced by two people I once described in a press junket as “my weird uncles” who I adore. They have given me some of the best roles I’ve ever had and I love working for them. Atlantis was such a fun, brilliant cast to be a part of and it was always too fun working on it.

Lost in Austen will always be one of the best scripts I’ve ever read. And best parts I’ll ever play. My only wish is that I’d felt more confident being a leading lady and looked after myself slightly better whilst doing it. Not so many cocktails in Chino Latinos…

What was Nicola like to play in the 2005 film Kinky Boots, and how was it being part of telling the story?

I remember auditioning and really not feeling like a Nicola at all but was so in love with the project that I literally would have done anything to be a part of that story. I still have my very own pair of kinky boots we were given at the end.

What do you remember most from your time as Bobbie in the ITV film The Railway Children towards the start of your career?

Working with Catherine Morshead, for the second time, was a highlight. I remember seeing this tiny woman, with a huge bump as she was quite heavily pregnant with her third child, I think, just leading us all with such grace and guts. I didn’t realise at the time that that wasn’t the norm.

And Jenny Agutter (and it must have been so odd for her) was so supportive and generous with me, I’m incredibly grateful for that.

Also an established theatre actor, you have recently finished performing at Park Theatre in Farewell Mister Haffmann as Suzanne Abetz, how was it returning to the stage for the London premiere and how did the run go?

The run was fantastic. We were lead by such brilliant actors: Michael Fox, Jennifer Kirby and Alex Waldmann and then me and Nigel Harman would waltz on for the last portion of the play and have a blast. It was a really nice experience and since COVID and second baby, I’ve only done one other play and it’s really whet my appetite for more. Much more. Gimme more!

How was it being involved with the revival of Little Shop of Horrors at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre as Audrey?

Dream.

I had to fight my way in as I don’t really have much business being in a musical but a very long time ago I used to sing and I’m slowly trying to get myself back to some sort of level that I was once at. Audrey was a bucket list part and that particular production could not have been any more fabulous if it tried. Marc Antolin, who played Seymour, I would walk across hot coals for and Vicky Vox as Audrey II was iconic. My secret fantasy is we get to do it again.

How was your time playing Elvira in Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End and in America?

Angela Lansbury was a theatre rock star. It was such a buzz to be in such a well-known play with a well-known star and the response to her and it was just thrilling. I mostly remember trying not to corpse with Charlie Edwards and once replacing his prop fried egg with a tiny Haribo one and thinking it was the funniest thing I had ever done and he didn’t even notice. When we went off to do the North American tour, what was particularly special was that we actually got to spend proper time with Angela. She hosted us for Christmas and I was pregnant with my first child and she came to the baby shower that Charlie Parry organised (who was playing Ruth) and played Spit the Binky. Jobs away from home like that, you really need your theatre family and I have such special memories from that time.

Over your career so far, you have worked on many other projects on both screen and stage including Gold Digger as Della Day for BBC, Hex as Thelma Bates for Sky, As If as Nicki Sutton for E4/Channel 4, One Man, Two Guvnors as Rachel Crabbe for the National Theatre, and All My Sons as Ann Deever at the West End’s Apollo Theatre, can you tell us about some of your favourite highlights from your further career?

Writing all this, what’s really sticking out for me, is just how lucky I’ve been! To get the jobs I’ve gotten and work with the people I’ve worked with. It doesn’t feel like that most of the time. Most of the time you’re unemployed and picking your feet at home googling other careers.

Some other highlights would, of course, be One Man. Getting to be a part of such a successful show at its infancy and get to go to New York. We all spent a year and a half together. I love those nuts dearly.

As If changed things for me. It bridged the gap from child actor to adult. It was also where I met my “weird uncles” (Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy). Who then took me on to play Thelma in Hex, which was pure joy for me. Thelma was the perfect representation of ‘other’ and the character meant so much to so many people. I still now get recognised or approached about it. It was another job where I met friends for life too.

Another highlight was Her Naked Skin at the NT. I wasn’t seen for much theatre in those days as I’d done a lot of TV and hadn’t been to drama school. Her Naked Skin changed all that. I was opposite Lesley Manville in the first original play by a female writer (Rebecca Lenkiewicz) to go on in the Olivier. And the wonderful Howard Davies directed it. I remember him getting very emotional in the rehearsal room before press night saying “we know what we’ve made”.

I should probably mention The Great Game at the then Tricycle Theatre too. Where I met my partner and father of my kids. And some more beautiful friends. Oh blimey. And also Breeders at the St James! Written by said partner (nepo baby? Nepo lover? Nepo gf?) and starring beautiful pals Tamzin Outhwaite, Nick Burns and Angela Griffin, directed by the incomparable Tamara Harvey and where we found out in the last week we’d be parents for the first time!

Where does your love of acting come from and how did you originally get into it?

I can’t really remember! I did love watching films like Bugsy Malone, Annie, Oliver! and seeing kids performing really made me want to do it. And I first properly started when a casting director who lived locally saw me in my local drama group’s production of Oliver! when I played The Artful Dodger. She put me up for a semi-professional film made by The Children’s Film Unit. A few years later I joined Sylvia Young’s theatre school agency and booked The Famous Five.

How do you like to spend your time away from your career?

I’ve only started realising now that I can be happy as long as I can create something.

My kids are still young enough that life at home is pretty full of endless tidying, laundry, shopping, taking them to stuff, wiping stuff off other stuff but if I get the chance to crochet a bag or read or go for a long walk then I can be pretty content with unemployment. The odd delicious drink in a pub doesn’t hurt either.

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