Anna Maxwell Martin admits she frightens herself when playing Line Of Duty’s Patricia Carmichael – and that she based the “top bitch” on showbiz people she has worked with.
The 43-year-old stole the show on Sunday night, with acid comments to Ted Hastings and her takeover of AC-12.
Anna said of the “passive-aggressive” DCS: “I know people now like Patricia, people in the industry like Patricia.
“She’s dead nasty but they are the easiest people to play. I love it.
“I’m not socially confident or anything. When you play those people you have to come into a room and be like the top bitch... it’s quite frightening.”
But she added of Carmichael: “Pat wants a cuddle but there’s no one... to give her one.”
The Motherland star says Carmichael’s icy stare comes in handy for parenting though.
She and her ex Roger Michell, a director, share Maggie, 11, and Nancy, eight. Anna said: “I do give them ‘the face’ occasionally... I save ‘the face’ for very special occasions.”
Speaking on the Obsessed With Line Of Duty podcast, Anna claimed not to know any secrets of LoD’s convoluted plot.
But she quashed a theory that her tapping out H in Morse code with a pen means Carmichael is H.
She said she was “just bored” filming an interrogation scene.
*The Line Of Duty finale is on Sunday night at 9pm. Hear Anna on the Obsessed With Line Of Duty podcast, out now.
