I’ve never played anybody who’s stuck in that place.”įroggatt herself doesn’t see Liar as a direct response to Downton Abbey after all, she was hired on for this series four years after that famous Downton scene. It’s a bitterness inside her, to a certain extent.

Froggatt has her foot down in the gas for most of the series, acting out of what she calls “unblinkered anger. Laura’s frustration and simmering rage in the exclusive clip below stands in stark contrast to Anna’s Edwardian repression on Downton.Īnd while Anna was largely concerned with putting her assault in the rearview, Laura is a character wholly unwilling to let her trauma go-as well she shouldn’t. Soon, Laura’s case is further complicated by a similar incident in her past which she shares with her supportive ex-boyfriend Tom ( Warren Brown)-who also happens to be a cop. Gruffudd’s easy charm and history of playing noble, upright heroes like Horatio Hornblower muddies the water as well. The first half of the series is a nuanced he said/she said that presents compelling evidence on both sides, making pointed commentary on social attitudes around gender and crimes that are committed without any witnesses. He is equally confused and convinced that he didn’t. But their first date takes a harrowing turn when a confused Laura wakes up the next morning, convinced that Andrew has sexually assaulted her.

The six-part series, which debuts Wednesday, September 27th, stars Froggatt as Laura, a teacher who strikes up a romance with the father of one of her studentsh-handsome, successful, charismatic doctor Andrew, played by Ioan Gruffudd. American audiences familiar only with Joanne Froggatt’s multiple Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning work as the mild-mannered Anna on Downton Abbey might be surprised by what they find in Liar, the latest Sundance TV import.

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