The new ITV series Until I Kill You has had viewers on the edge of their seats, recounting the chilling true tale of Delia Balmer and her brush with death at the hands of killer John Sweeney. Anna Maxwell Martin embodied the role of Delia, with Shaun Evans depicting the infamous murderer.
The show delves into Delia's terrifying experience with Sweeney, alongside the trauma she faced navigating law enforcement and the legal proceedings.
Maxwell Martin, known for Motherland, hadn't personally met Delia before filming. She shared: "I've played quite a few real people and I have never met them before. I don't choose to do that, that's how I work."
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As far as prep goes, she relied on footage from writer Nick's time with Delia: "Our writer, Nick, filmed a lot of footage of his meetings with Delia, which I had access to. I did meet her very briefly during filming, but only because she wanted to visit the set and of course I was respectful of that."
Her approach didn't include intense research into abusive relationships; instead, she concentrated solely on capturing Delia's essence. She said: "I just focussed on the character, on who she was, how she responded to things, and what I could gauge about how she interacted with people," reports the Mirror.
Anna explained her process for getting into character: "Then you go from there and you try to be as accurate as you can in terms of how that person would behave and respond."
While shooting the harrowing scenes proved challenging, Anna candidly admitted feeling "embarrassed" discussing the difficulty, as she could simply switch off post-shoot: "It's not like doing a 12-hour shift as a nurse, so I get embarrassed to say that," she reflected.
"It's not a nice headspace to be in, but of course I get to step away from it. You have to keep a firm grip on the fact that it is not your reality – very sadly it was someone else's reality and it was really difficult for her."
She continued: "It affects you a little bit in the day, you wouldn't be doing your job properly if it didn't, but then you've got to get a firm grip on yourself, go home and be very thankful that you're not actually living any of those things."
Anna emphasised the importance of telling the series from Delia's perspective, highlighting her resilience. She wanted to celebrate Delia's bravery and individuality rather than "showing more gratuitous violence against females on TV".
"I didn't really want to focus on the abuse. We're getting inside the mind of a woman who went through a lot of very complex things, not just to do with John Sweeney, and I'm very proud of the drama," she explained.
The actress also expressed her desire to shed light on the challenges Delia faced within the judicial system and how she maintained her strength throughout.
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