ITV<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\nHer story obviously has a happy ending. After a few more years of struggle, McCoy\u2019s fortunes were finally transformed in 2014, when she landed the leading role of the scheming, seductive\u00a0 Milady de Winter<\/a>\u00a0in BBC1\u2019s The Musketeers. Portraying the most charismatic woman in 17^{th<\/sup> Century Paris proved a game changer.<\/p>\n}
It was also on The Musketeers that McCoy first worked with Marc Warren, now her co-star in Van der Valk. She got to know him especially well, as his character, the dastardly Comte de Rochefort, attempted to strangle Milady several times.<\/p>\n
McCoy, who hails from Yorkshire, where her parents own a pub, is talking from her home in North London. She makes for entertaining, engaging company, chuckling that, \u201cMarc definitely doesn\u2019t strangle me in Van der Valk \u2013 his character barely gives me any eye contact!\u201d<\/p>\n
In ITV\u2019s reworking of the 1970\u2019s detective drama, McCoy plays Lucienne Hassell, the title character\u2019s lively and loyal sidekick. She expands on the relationship between the two detectives: \u201cBecause Van der Valk\u2018s always staring off into the distance with his sharp jawline, looking all moody, his colleagues have got to give him a bit of a poke from time to time! Lucienne\u2019s certainly the one person who can pull him up, take the mick out of him and wind him up.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for all that, she truly cares for him. She and Van der Valk are two lost souls who are able to challenge each other. It is very much like what Marc and I have off screen. A lot of it is unsaid. There is just a very deep understanding of each other, which I can trace back to us meeting all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series, which is filmed entirely on location in Holland, returns this week for a second series, and in the two years in which it has been off our screens, it has got darker; in the opening episode Van der Valk and Lucienne have to investigate the grisly murder of a solicitor whose mutilated body is found hanging on a windfarm with a cryptic note hidden in her coat. All Creatures, it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
$\"""\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
ITV<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
McCoy emphasises that this darkness is necessary; it would be wrong for the series to shy away from the trauma that crime inflicts on a victim, as well the investigating detective. \u201cWe look at the toll crime takes on a police officer, the emotional cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to just be in these crime scenes and be totally cold. It\u2019s important that we really show a connection between the victim and the detective. That gives the police officer a real emotional investment in the crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is not to say that filming \u201cVan Der Valk\u201d has been a relentlessly gruelling process. McCoy reveals that there have been many light-hearted moments during the shoot. She recalls the day things did not go entirely to plan in the production\u2019s mobile toilet, known on set as a \u201choney wagon\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was desperate for the loo, and so as soon as we broke for lunch, I ran to the honey wagon and bolted the door. Then, just as I was pulling my trousers up, I felt the truck shake and pull away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shouting, \u2018No, no!\u2019 and banging on the wall. As the truck went round a corner, the door flew open and I thought I was going to fall out. But luckily, the driver saw it and stopped the truck. He apologised to me every day after that!\u201d She laughs that her autobiography could now be entitled \u201cThe Day I Went for a Drive in a Honey Wagon\u201d.<\/p>
McCoy wasn\u2019t quite so amused when for one scene she had to lie in an Amsterdam back alley and a huge rat emerged from the darkness and scuttled across her face. \u201cIt was two in the morning and I felt this creature run over my face. Marc was horrified. If that had happened to him, he would have gone to hospital and had a tetanus injection!\u201d But, as a tough Yorkshire woman and single mother to a young daughter, McCoy simply carried on.<\/p>\n
Despite the \u201choney wagons\u201d and rats, the actress has adored filming in Amsterdam. \u201cIt\u2019s got this sexy vibe.\u201d The one drawback has been juggling a major role with the demands of being a single parent.<\/p>\n
One night, McCoy had to stay up for six hours removing nits from her daughter\u2019s hair. \u201cAnother time, my daughter fell out of bed and we had to find an A&E in the middle of the night and still had to get up at six the next morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents tried to come out to Amsterdam to help during the pandemic but they got sent back from the airport because the authorities didn\u2019t think providing childcare was a good enough reason to come into the country. I had a massive schedule and lots of lines to learn, and I was suddenly left without childcare for 10 days.\u201d<\/p>\n
$\"""\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
ITV<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Fortunately, McCoy\u2019s cast mates came to the rescue. \u201cThe boys were brilliant. They swooped in to provide childcare. It shows you need a village to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Childcare crises aside, Lucienne is the sort of meaty TV role that actresses in their 40s have long been crying out for. McCoy cautions that there is still work to be done, though. \u201cThings are changing and I\u2019m doing well in my early 40s, but I do worry about the range of roles for later in this decade. I have friends actively writing roles and campaigning for women not to disappear from the screen. My life is so much richer and more interesting than it\u2019s ever been, and I want to really see that reflected. I want us to be allowed to age on screen and to celebrate that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t want to sound like I\u2019m complaining. I\u2019ve got a brilliant job. I\u2019m getting paid very well\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
If ever she feels in danger of moaning, \u201cI always have a word with myself and say, \u2018Don\u2019t forget how lucky you are. You\u2019re not working down a coal mine\u2019.\u201d Which really is the icing on the cake\u2026<\/p>\n
\n
Van der Valk season 2 will air from Sunday 7th August at 8pm on ITV. For more, c<\/strong>heck out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our dedicated\u00a0 Drama<\/a>\u00a0hub.<\/strong><\/p>\n
This feature was originally published in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, which is on sale now \u2013 subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0 Radio Times podcast<\/a> with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By James Rampton Published: Sunday, 07 August 2022 at 12:00 am We very nearly lost her to baking. After leading roles in much-loved series like The Musketeers, All Creatures Great and Small, A Confession, DCI Banks and Van Der Valk, the actress Maimie McCoy is an established TV name. But she has not always been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19865,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/van-der-valks-maimie-mccoy-i-want-us-to-be-allowed-to-age-on-screen-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Rampton Published: Sunday, 07 August 2022 at 12:00 am We very nearly lost her to baking. After leading roles in much-loved series like The Musketeers, All Creatures Great and Small, A Confession, DCI Banks and Van Der Valk, the actress Maimie McCoy is an established TV name. But she has not always been…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}