Alice and Chris actors share their experience of creating Alice's dangerous bathroom detox
Future storylines in The Archers are heavily guarded and as actors you don’t always know what’s going to happen next to your character. What were your thoughts when you saw Alice’s drinking becoming unhealthy?
Hollie: They [The Archers production team] had actually sort of warned me she was going to develop a problem [with alcohol]. It built up over a long time. She got really drunk and outrageous at Nic’s wake and there were just small things like she’d fallen asleep with the oven on and things like that, that she’d mentioned. But it sort of built up over quite a long time to the point where I thought ‘maybe it’s not actually going to happen now, maybe they've pushed it aside’.
Then when we went into lockdown [earlier this year] they phoned me and said this is the perfect time to ramp it up a gear because she's isolated, she can't go anywhere. So, in terms of the storyline they had warned me. But it was still a surprise, I guess. A good surprise for us as actors.
This is a big storyline that focuses on Alice – what new things has it shown you about Alice and about Chris?
Hollie: It's actually been really nice for the both of us because they're [Alice and Chris] such a solid couple. They’re not insecure in their relationship as far as you can see, they’ve always been “honest”. So actually for the both of them it’s quite a big storyline, because he’s now realized he’s been lied to the whole time and he doesn’t trust her.
I've never really known that side of Alice before.Hollie Chapman
Wilf: It's the first time he's ever doubted the relationship and the first time their future is cast into doubt because he discovers that Alice has been lying for years and he never knew that, he never suspected anything.
I think it's really interesting having this storyline happen with a couple who are really sort of solid and they do love each other because it means you can focus purely on the problems that alcohol creates. For example, if the storyline was with a couple who had some underlying problems and who weren't as solid as Alice and Chris are, the storyline might focus on how it exacerbates some of those problems. It's a huge issue and it deserves exploring without tangents.
Hollie, you’ve played Alice since she was at school. How has she changed as she’s got older?
Hollie: I started to play Alice when I was 11 or 12 years old. She’s always appeared really confident, she’s outspoken, speaks her mind. I think she's always wanted to impress her dad, she’s a Daddy's girl and she has always been her dad's favourite and has known it.
[The scene] when they're in the bathroom, she says to Chris when I drink I feel more like me, I'm confident. Actually she probably isn't as confident and secure in herself as she seems. I've never really known that side of Alice before because she always has been career driven, ambitious and getting what she wants. It’s quite nice to see a different side of her and to know that's how she really feels. She has sort of always been from 11 [years old] quite ballsy really. She’s had a lot to take on, she's had to deal with her dad’s affair and his secret son.
What do you make of Chris’s reaction to Alice’s pregnancy and not picking up on cues from Alice that all is not well?
Wilf: He’s been quite blind to that fact, I think, and potentially sort of naive and short-sighted in his retrospect. I think the news that she's pregnant is something that he's wanted for so long he doesn't even look at how she feels about it and doesn't really ask her beyond the surface questions.
Hollie: I think he thinks she’s worried she’s not going to be a good mum, she’s nervous because that’s normal, that’s what most people feel when they find out they’re pregnant. And they hadn’t planned [to have a baby]. He’d broached the subject of children with her quite a lot and it was always “yeah, but not yet”.
Wilf: The doubts she tries to express he thinks are normal pregnancy doubts. The fact that it could be anything deeper goes completely over his head. He's very happy in his relationship and that can make you very short-sighted sometimes.
The episode on Wedneday 18th November is very powerful. What was it like recording this, particularly while following social distancing?
Wilf: Firstly, when I read it, I genuinely started crying, Tim Stimpson wrote the episode. The writing is just…
Hollie: Beautiful.
Wilf: Yeah, it's harrowing. And it's so easy to sort of over-do something like that but it's not at all, but it still manages to be incredibly powerful. So I sort of felt quite intimidated by that.
Hollie: I think we both did, didn’t we?
Wilf: Yeah, because you want to do it justice and because these characters have been going for so long and they’re such an integral part of Ambridge you want to be able to carry that. I suppose it's just doing your job at the end of the day, but if it's a storyline that deals with huge topics like this. You want to be able to do it properly.
Hollie: I agree, because what's happening to them [Alice and Chris] happens in real life to people, I think we felt quite honoured that we’d been trusted with this story and particularly this scene that's so powerful and heart-breaking. She has a huge problem and he doesn't really realise the extent of it until he has to see it. And to see somebody that you love in such a vulnerable state, it’s really sad.
We both turned up [to record] that day feeling like it was a big day for us!
Wilf: Yeah, we were a bit nervous.
Hollie: Marina [Caldarone] who directed that episode was so great because she was conscious that they were very heavy scenes. In terms of the whole Covid situation, a big part of the episode is she's in the bathroom and he's behind a door and they can't see each other, they can only hear each other. So, when we recorded it we actually did have big screens in front of us, didn't we, and I couldn’t actually see you and you couldn’t see me, which made it more realistic. In a way it went in our favour.
Wilf: Part of The Archers and voice work is to try and inject effort into your voice if you're having to do something which is accompanied by our wonderful spotters [spot sound effects creator] with the appropriate sound effect. So, Chris is cradling Alice at the end, there would be a bit of clothes rubbing and that sort of thing to make it sound realistic and to paint the picture for the listeners.
Hollie: We were sort of both on our knees, but Wilf has his microphone and then I have my own, 2 metres apart. Whereas we used to share a mic…
Wilf: Yeah, there were two microphone setups that day both quite far apart so that even when we were doing an intimate scene you as the actor get closer to the microphone to make it sound like you're closer to each other. But actually, in reality, we were still metres apart.
Do you think Alice and Chris will get through this or could it break them apart?
Hollie: I really hope they do [get through it]. They’re just the nicest couple. I just really want them to. I don’t want a new husband!
Wilf: Hahaha. Yeah, I hope they do. It's just such a huge issue, isn't it? There's so many things to work through there’s the addiction, there's the bond of trust that's been completed destroyed.
Hollie: There’s the baby as well.
Wilf: If the baby is harmed then they've got to live with that. He’s got to forgive all the lies and recognise that it's a problem that people can't control. There are a lot of issues to work through but I would hope that they do because they are such a sweet couple.
