Anna Chancellor, widely recognized for her myriad roles in costume dramas, recently revealed her unconventional approach to portraying Lady Frances Grey in the new series “My Lady Jane.” Speaking over a video call from the picturesque island of Crete, Chancellor confided that she did not delve into extensive research for her character. “I knew a little bit about Tudor England,” she began, acknowledging a basic awareness of the era’s notorious figures like Henry VIII and the iconic Hampton Court. Her understanding extended to the period’s notorious penchant for beheading young women and queens, a grim reality indicative of Tudor England’s dichotomy.
“Tudor England had a strange dichotomy,” Chancellor noted. “They were incredibly sophisticated, wore fantastic clothes, were big traders, and had this love of art, and yet were extremely violent.” Her words paint a vivid picture of an era marked by a stark contrast between culture and brutality.
“My Lady Jane” is an eight-episode series that stars an ensemble cast including Dominic Cooper and Jim Broadbent. Based on the bestselling novels by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, the series reimagines the life of the Nine Days’ Queen, Lady Jane Grey, with Chancellor taking on the role of Lady Frances, Jane’s controlling and power-driven mother.
Reflecting on her involvement in the project, Chancellor shared that her selection for the role followed a fairly standard process. “I got sent the script, auditioned, put my two or three scenes on tape, and sent it. That was that, there was no big drama,” she explained with a hint of nonchalance.
Although the series takes a creative license with historical events, Chancellor pointed out that it does not entirely stray from the truth. “The historical Lady Frances and the one in ‘My Lady Jane’ are quite similar. There are historical accounts of Lady Frances pinching her daughter, so that aspect isn’t entirely fabricated.”
Lady Frances has often been depicted in history as an unpleasant woman. Chancellor referenced Lady Jane Grey’s diary, suggesting it highlighted her mother’s mean streak. “From the diary that Lady Jane Grey wrote, it seemed like her mother could have been a little mean, and that’s how she has been viewed in history. I don’t know how accurate that is. In many versions of the story, she is the domineering, scheming, power-crazed mother. And that is what the makers have stuck to in this version.
.”
The dramatic nature of Henry VIII’s reign, Chancellor continued, accounts for the endless fascination with this period in history. The tension between the English monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church, particularly Henry VIII’s break from the church to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, provides a narrative rich with both historical significance and domestic intrigue. “It is such a mixture of history and the domestic. If somebody wants to leave the Church of Rome to make an alliance with Spain or for complex treaties, the audiences might have slightly lost it,” she remarked. “At one level, this is such an easy story to understand. There is this king who has six wives and publicly executes two of them. It is drama, isn’t it?”
With a career peppered with roles in costume dramas like “Pride and Prejudice,” “Downton Abbey,” and “The Crown,” Chancellor is well-versed in the perks and pitfalls of historical series. She emphasized the delight in having custom-made costumes crafted by top dressmakers. “You can bring in paintings to show what you would like, what you think would be good. I love clothes, history, and paintings. It is all great and they even make your own shoes and underwear — corsets that fit you. It gives you an insight into what it would have been like for people living then.”
However, these luxuries come with their set of challenges. “The difficult bit is being in your corset, your dress, and trying to go to the toilet!” Chancellor exclaimed. She recounted amusing anecdotes of dealing with cumbersome costumes and intricate mike setups, which sometimes led to mishaps in tight spaces like porter cabins. “The grander you are, the posher your character is, the more stuff you’ve got on.”
Chancellor’s favorite costume in “My Lady Jane” is a red and gold brocade ensemble she wears towards the show’s end. She shared an intriguing tidbit about the material used in these productions: “A lot of fabric for costume dramas comes from India because they are still making beautiful, handmade, embroidered material. There’s still a very intense interest in color in India.”
“My Lady Jane” is set to premiere on Prime Video on June 27, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in a vibrant yet tumultuous era of English history through a fresh, fictional lens.
