Claire Rushbrook was 'walloped round the head' with Rivals death news
Rivals star Claire Rushbrook has revealed that it came as a huge shock to learn that her character Lady Monica Baddingham was being killed off on the Disney+ show.
Claire Rushbrook was "walloped round the head" with the news that her Rivals character was being killed off.
The 55-year-old star's alter ego Lady Monica Baddingham died in a car crash in the most recent episode of the Disney+ series based on Dame Jilly Cooper's raunchy Rutshire Chronicles novels, and has recalled her shock at being informed that her character was meeting her maker by producers Alex Lamb and Dominic Treadwell-Collins.
Claire told the Radio Times magazine: "I thought it was just a lovely champagne lunch. Then they walloped me round the head with it.
"They were incredibly gracious but you know when you fall over and very quickly get up and style it out? It felt like that.
"They reassured me about the quality of the death scene and how impactful the storyline would be, so it was hard to feel entirely sad, because there was also great excitement.
"I have big, different feelings: immense pride at incredible scenes to play, and the tangible reaction from the audience. But it's absolutely gutting. Gutting and glorious."
Rushbrook explained that she tried not to overplay the death scene – which came just after Lady Monica left her philandering husband Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant).
The Sherwood actress said: "I haven't played many deaths.
"You feel acutely responsible to bring a believable version of it, but if I'd prepped for weeks and stayed up all night worrying, I wouldn't have given a truthful performance.
"She's dying, she's weak, there's no room for anything other than simple honesty."
Meanwhile, Claire revealed that she studied the late TV chef Clarissa Dickson Wright – one half of The Two Fat Ladies cooking duo – to perfect Monica's upper-class accent.
She explained: "I felt intimidated.
"I was keen for it not to be a caricature. Sometimes, in Waitrose particularly, people almost give a little curtsy: a demure, discreet acknowledgement.
"They don't look in my trolley, though, otherwise they'd see wine and Wotsits, not pheasant and grouse!"
Claire appears as Monica in flashback scenes when season two of Rivals resumes next week and says it has been a "privilege" to play the role.
She said: "It's been a privilege to play a woman discovering herself. The complexity and truthfulness of that has made a painful exit very nourishing and rewarding."
