Some stars might have a problem with being typecast, but not Emily Atack who says she’ll ‘carry on playing sexy women for as long as they will have me.’
The actress shot to fame playing Charlotte Hinchcliffe in The Inbetweeners and has more recently portrayed blonde bombshell Sarah Stratton in Rivals, the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s book.
Sarah is the mistress-turned-second-wife of MP Paul Stratton, who goes on to have an affair with Rupert Campbell-Black, and Emily says she's no qualms with playing characters who have long been ‘demonised’ as being ‘home wreckers.'
Emily, 35, who recently got engaged to her scientist boyfriend, Dr Alistair Garner, told the Edinburgh Television Festival: ‘I’ve been typecast my whole life, and I’ve loved every single minute of it. I will carry on playing sexy women for as long as they will have me.’
‘Women like Sarah Stratton, they’ve never been written with nuance, they’ve always been certain types of women, these demonised types of women – the home wreckers. I think people have been quite scared to admit that they identify with characters like Sarah,’ she added.
She continued to say she wasn’t ‘afraid’ to identify with her character, because: ‘I completely am her. I’m a very flawed woman. I’ve made terrible decisions in my love life.
'I used all of that completely. It was completely genuine. These so-called demonised women, they’re not being celebrated for that behaviour but they’re being understood better.’
Emily will play Sarah again in season two of Rivals and it was recently announced that her real-life mum Kate Robbins is joining the cast of the Disney+ show.
Kate, who used to be in Crossroads and sang on Eurovision, told BBC Three Counties Radio that she had already filmed two episodes with her daughter, saying the show was ‘amazing.’
Also joining the cast for season two is Mission: Impossible actress Hayley Atwell, 43, and An Ideal Husband star Rupert Everett, 66. We can’t wait!
