Aimee Lou Wood has said her episode of Channel 4’s On the Edge tells “a really important story” that will remind those in the same “echo chamber” as her that there are still views out there that “need to be challenged”.
The BAFTA winner stars in Mincemeat – the first episode of anthology series On the Edge – as Jane, a young woman trying to cope with her mother (Rosie Cavaliero), who’s a controlling hoarder with hateful views, whilst falling for her former classmate Nish (Nikhil Parmar).
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com for next week’s Big RT Interview, the Sex Education star said that it was Jane’s journey throughout the episode that drew her to the series, which explores the impact of mental health in families.
“As an actor, you want any opportunity to play a character that is so nuanced and it’s always a gift when you read something and it’s a brilliant arc and Jane has such an arc and she has such growth, the full spectrum of being a human she goes through in that 25 minutes,” she said.
“I love the fact that it is a love story but you’ve got this character [in Jane’s mother] who I guess is a personification of an ideology that is hateful. She’s an embodiment of all these horrible systemic issues and within this story, she is the personification of all that.
“I think it’s just a really important story and I think that it’s important to be reminded in the kind of echo chamber that I’m in that people actually have those views still, that people actually still need to be challenged and systems need to be dismantled that are literally poison.
“And actually I think I find that because of my friends and the world that I’m in, I forget that but no, it’s still rife,” she added. “I think that’s an important story to tell and actually Jane is the younger generation but she has her own [prejudices], she doesn’t realise that she’s actually inherited so much of this from her mum.”
Read more from Aimee Lou Wood in her Big RT Interview next week. Mincemeat airs on Channel 4 at 10pm on Sunday 7th November. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV guide and visit our Drama hub for more news and features.