Interview: Pippa Bennett-Warner
Get insider insights on the gripping Moonflower Murders finale from British actor Pippa Bennett-Warner. In her interview with MASTERPIECE, she shared revelations about her slightly kooky character Madeline Cain and the Episode 6 shocker. Learn all this, plus her thoughts on obsession, audiobooks, Guinness, and Madeline’s wig…named after a certain ’80s pop superstar.
Note: This interview contains significant plot spoilers for Moonflower Murders Episode 6!
What it was like to play Atticus Pünd’s delightful, smart, somewhat kooky, and slightly funny—even though murder is very serious business—girl Friday, Madeline Cain?
Well, when I first read her, I fell completely in love. It was like one of those moments when you just have a complete synergy with a character. Like you said, she’s absolutely serious—we are in a world of murder and solving murder—and she works for Mr. Pünd, so it’s a big deal. But because it’s such a big deal, it then triggers this kookiness, which was so delightful to play. It was all there on the page, and then I just stretched it out and filled it and made it a bit bigger. And when you think back at the way that she’s behaved…As I was reading the episodes and finding all these different layers that she had, I was like, “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!”
It was really fun. I think I’m still quite obsessed with her, and I’m interested to see what people think of her, because I don’t think anybody’s going to see it coming…Well, I hope they don’t! Because at the end of the day, she’s a murderer.
It’s funny because you’re slightly obsessed with her, and she’s totally obsessed with Melissa.
Yes. I got obsessed. Even the wig I wore, which we nicknamed Whitney, for Whitney Houston…We’d tried on a couple of wigs for the hair, and the first one, which we went with, our genius hair designer had dyed red, because Madeline was so obsessed with Melissa that she had dyed her hair red to look like her idol, which is just such a brilliant bit of detail.
I love how you describe stretching the character out and making it bigger. How did you approach that?
I think it was finding her mannerisms and her walk. There was one day when I was wondering, “Have I gone too far with this?” And I was like, “Well, no one’s saying anything, so I’m just going to keep doing it.” It was finding her tics and the way she might hold her bag, and I did quite a lot of head stuff and eye stuff. It was finding a way that she might register information visually, if that makes any sense. Those were the things that I really enjoyed bringing to life. You just keep adding stuff to the pot when you’re developing a character—everything just goes in and then you start getting the dough and the dough starts taking shape. And then you put it in the oven and then: the bread.
Can you tell me about Madeline’s scream and the big reveal in the finale?
Well, that scream is so contrived, because she [stabbed John Spencer] and then she has to slip back into character. Our director Rebecca Gatword and I spoke about this quite a lot, that Madeline has a persona and underneath it is actually a murderer. So when I killed John Spencer, Rebecca was like, “Remember in that split second, I need to see the murderer. And as soon as you’ve done it and you’re all downstairs, you put back on the [mask]…” Which was really lovely because you see a glimpse of it in the final episode—it’s under there the whole time but I’m playing against it to sell the character and to take everybody on this journey of people not thinking that she did it. But then you see it when I kill him and then I turn around and I look evil. And then I go back into character.
How do you imagine she ended up working for Atticus Pünd?
I think she sometimes thinks she’s sort of an amateur sleuth, as well. I remember when we were doing all those scenes, when Tim [McMullan, Pünd] and Danny [Mays, Locke] are questioning Leonard and Samantha Collins. I think I’m right at the back of the shot, not really involved in the action, because she has no horses in the race. But I just remember feeling that this is what she wants—she wants to be front row, because she finds it all really exciting. She feels very happy that she’s landed on her feet working for Mr. Pünd.
I find her obsessiveness and absolute love for Melissa completely fascinating. Being an actress, I just find idolizing actresses, that kind of thing, really interesting. And she’s a super fan. I remember going into the house and seeing all the amazing film posters of Melissa, and I was like, “Oh my God!” Madeline was just cockatoo to be in the presence of it all.
Did you ever feel like, “I love Madeline, but I wish that I had a contemporary role, too” as so many other actors in Moonflower Murders did?
Kind of, but then no, because I was so happy in Madeline’s company that I think if I was playing somebody else, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so aligned with her. I was really happy just to be Madeline. And actually, by the time I was wrapping, I was like, “I’ll do anything—I will be a tree in the back of shops just to continue being on the job!” because we did the ‘50s stuff first and then everybody else carried on.
Had you watched Magpie Murders before playing Madeline or read either of the books?
I haven’t read either of the books, and I did that on purpose because I didn’t want to be influenced in any way beyond the script. But I had seen the first season because Lesley is a really good friend of mine and she’s just a goddess. We worked together on River and on Harlots. I watch everything that she does and just thought it was brilliant.
Lesley Manville narrates the audiobooks of Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, and you’ve narrated a lot of audio books. Do you love doing that work?
I do, actually, because I haven’t been on stage for a while, and it makes me feel like I’m doing a play, doing all the different characters. It’s really hard work and you have to do a lot of prep, and it’s days in the studio, but I really enjoy it. I’m getting ready to do the James Bond book Diamonds are Forever—I’m doing all the Bond books. I love them.
Is there an audiobook that you’ve done that you think viewers of this show might particularly enjoy? A Bond one obviously, even more so because Anthony Horowitz has been writing the newer Bonds…
Yeah. Well, people quite like one I did, Zadie Smith’s Swing Time. And I did her novel White Teeth, too.
Wonderful! We had a White Teeth adaptation on MASTERPIECE in 2003 so those will definitely be enticing listens for our viewers. So last of all, do you have a favorite moment, either on or off screen, from your time making Moonflower Murders?
I do—Tim and Danny took me for my first Guinness in Dublin. I think it was after our first week of shooting. I’d never had a Guinness before, and they took me to a pub and I had my first one with them. There were loads of favorite moments, but that’s definitely up there.
