Obsession hit Netflix a few weeks ago and landed itself immediately on the streaming platform’s Top 10 list as word spread that this miniseries lays itself bare, quite literally. Based on Josephine Hart’s book Damage, the series follows the story of renowned surgeon William Farrow’s (Richard Armitage) fall from grace as he embroils himself in an obsessive and inappropriate affair with his son’s girlfriend, Anna (Charlie Murphy), the result of which leads to a much-less metaphorical fall and a family destroyed.
Outside of the intense sexual relationship between William and Anna, we also meet William’s family. Though we don’t learn as much about them as we might like, we get an idea of what William is risking with this sordid affair — a loving wife (Indira Varma), supportive father-in-law (Anil Goutam), and bubbly, smart children in the form of Jay (Rish Shah) and Sally — the latter, of course, played by Sonera Angel.
Angel is a British Indian actor, who has starred in productions including BBC’s Casualty, The Haunting of Borley Rectory, and HBO’s The Third Day starring Jude Law. Now they have found themselves thrust into the limelight with Obsession, and We Got This Covered recently had a chance to speak with them.
You star in Obsession, one of the raunchier and steamier shows to hit Netflix for a while and one that has sat in the platform’s Top 10 chart since it was released two weeks ago.
It’s mind-blowing the reach it’s had. I’m amazed by how well it’s done. I’m so glad.
So how have the last few weeks been for you since the show’s release?
Really busy, I didn’t really expect it. I think it’s that thing, you know, you believe that this thing you’ve worked on is going to be amazing and everyone’s gonna love it, but part of you thinks that there’ll only be a small niche that is really into it, you never expect it to be worldwide like this. In the lead-up, we were watching it together and we were like, “Oh, yeah, this is really great, people are gonna like it,” but seeing this reception has been amazing and then it’s been so busy because everyone wants to talk about it. It’s been a bit of a scandal! It’s kind of the marmite of shows: you either love it or you hate it.
Yes, and I think there are some people who might feel a bit of both about it. So what was the casting process like for you to end up with the role of Sally?
I did some self-tapes and then they were talking about bringing us in for a recall, but we were still under sort of COVID procedures, so they weren’t really sure what they could do and it ended up being a Zoom recall, which is awkward because I felt like lines were coming through at a delay, then I could be trying to jump in quickly and we’d be overlapping each other. Then the production got pushed back actually, by a whole month because they really wanted to film everything on location as much as possible but that meant that they had to get all the schedules for everything sorted. I waited in suspense for an entire month after my recall just like “Did they hate me? Did I get it?” Then my agent called me and was like “You have the role. Can you come in tomorrow for hair and makeup?”
Wow, that’s a quick turnaround. So when you got the role, did you know exactly who you were going to be acting across from when you were in the auditioning process?
Not at all. I had no idea who had been put together. They sent across information like “the character is mixed Indian and white British. Please do an RP accent.” So I did an RP accent for all the tapes and the recall and even when we were just chatting. It was really funny because the director Lisa (Barros D’Sa) is Irish and when I showed up for the first time to actually chat with her, I came out with my own accent and she was like “Do you not have an RP accent?” and I said, “No, not at all!”
I had no idea who was gonna be playing anything and I don’t think that they had secured Richard yet. They had done chemistry tests with him, and Charlie and Lisa were talking about this amazing chemistry test they’d done and they were like, “Yeah, I think we really want to get him, he was really good,” and I asked, “Oh, who is this guy?” and they were like, “Oh, Richard Armitage. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him… ” Yeah, Guy of Gisborne! The one who rocked the guyliner and leather pants first!
So how does it feel then to work alongside these legends of British acting — Richard Armitage and Indira Varma?
Oh, my goodness, it’s actually mind-blowing. I mean, Rish and I, both of us grew up looking at Indira as this incredible icon. She was doing the RP accent in all of it — English films and TV — when I think every other Indian that was in stuff was doing a broken Indian hammed-up comedy accent and she was just this beautiful force of acting prowess. So both of us were there like “She is our idol!” It was really funny because we were both like, “I can’t believe she’s playing our mom. Be normal!” We love her. She was so warm and affectionate that I think, you know, we created this really lovely, like, close dynamic. I mean, both of them were — it was wonderful.
And what was it like acting alongside Rish Shah? He is one of the biggest rising stars right now and has just been knocking it out of the park.
He’s doing amazing. It’s fantastic. I’m really glad to see it, you know, but we actually didn’t get that much time together. We have the big family scenes, but I was like, “Why don’t we ever have like a chat — brother-sister chat on screen?” Maybe ask him, “So this Anna… how are you feeling?”
How was it playing very much the teasing sister role with him?
It was so fun, so easy. You rock up, you’re pissing about on set and then they say “Action” and then you just continue. Whereas poor Richard, he’s so goofy and so friendly and lovely and then he would have to go into this William character, so he’d be there like, messing around, and then he’d be like, withdraw… acting face. Whereas I kind of just got to be consistent.
We’ve seen a lot more diversity onscreen in recent years, as well as a more diverse representation of what roles Asian characters can embody nowadays, with Rish playing romantic interests, a role that a lot of male Asian stars haven’t really played in Western media for a very long time. Now, he’s done it in shows such as Obsession, and also Ms. Marvel and Netflix’s Do Revenge, and you yourself are here playing a queer character. As a nonbinary British Indian actor, how does it feel to be part of this expansion that we’re seeing onscreen?
It’s just amazing. I’m so glad that things are changing for the better in this way because I feel like we’re representing the human experience now instead of just one very small niche of a particularly rich, white, straight kind of existence, you know. I mean, I think what’s so wonderful about this show is that we are this mixed race, British Indian family, and there were so many of us Indian actors that got to do this job — and it’s fantastic and we’re just a normal British family.
You know, there are Sunday roasts! We go down to Surrey to hang out with Granddad on the weekends. There’s no othering and we don’t have to deal with racism in the show. It just lets us be people and I think the same is true with Sally — there’s the line where she talks about Kelly, there’s this clear background that she’s had this girlfriend and that’s an open subject that she just talks about, and there’s no coming out story. There’s no forced “I’m gay” kind of moment, you just get a normal human experience.
Sally brings a breath of fresh air into what is a very intense series. She is bubbly and enthusiastic, until, of course, the concern then grows, and obviously there’s a horrific tragedy at the end. How did you go about creating that?
Lisa and Glenn are really wonderful directors because they gave us some space to create depth for our characters and they asked us questions and they let us have this whole week of rehearsal periods where we got to chat with each other. Indira and Richard were wonderful because they were asking questions, you know, and being like, “So tell us about Kelly,” and “What degree do you think Sally did at university?” and “When do you think Sally came out, and how did that work?” We worked all of that stuff out so you can have all of this wonderful backstory, and then you just see the tip of the iceberg, but the rest of it there kind of helps you to create this very, I think grounded performance.
I think Sally has a really interesting arc in the show, like, it’s very subtle because it’s in the background, but it is that thing of “she starts to lose faith in her parents.” I think that’s something we all go through as people, you have a moment when suddenly, they aren’t these infallible creatures that you always looked up to, “Oh, they’re my parents. They’re perfect,” and you have that moment kind of, that actually, these are human people that can mess up and hurt me and hurt each other.
William certainly hurts. I think that’s where we go beyond, “Oh, he’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes,” to “This is someone that has very much damaged your entire life.”
“What have you done to us?” I think there was so much in that line. I really loved that Sally got to be present in that moment because in the novel, Sally’s a bit withdrawn in that whole fallout — you don’t really get her reaction to everything. Whereas it was wonderful that [in the show] they put Sally together with Ingrid for that moment of finding out. It was a brutal day on set.
Did you do anything afterward to help pull yourself out of it?
I ate two big chunks of chocolate cake.
So the series has gained a lot of attention for just how sexual it is. Now, your character isn’t in any of those scenes, but what did you make of it watching it back?
Well, we got to see a preview of the first two episodes including a certain scene with a pillow and Richard, and we were all watching it together — the cast and the crew in a big cinema — so a huge screen to see everything. There was definitely a lot of very nervous giggling. I think we actually worried the producer because she was talking afterward, saying, “It’s not supposed to be funny!” No, it’s uncomfortable giggling, it’s not “This is hilarious,” it’s “Oh, I’m watching Richard hump a pillow whilst he’s sat right there. Don’t look at him. Don’t make eye contact with anyone.”
It’s a very weird space. You’re just like, I have quite familial feelings towards you now because we’ve been pretending this for months, but now I’m watching you have simulated sex on the screen. There were a lot of jokes actually on set that Anna should try and go through the entire family.
And then it just becomes this big, polyamorous family. Oh, that’s a very different show! What are you currently watching at the moment or looking forward to watching that’s coming out soon?
I just watched The Haunting of Hill House again, because it’s an amazing show and because Theo was one of the first I think lead queer characters in something that wasn’t about just queer people. I was watching how her story was done and I was like, “Yeah, this is really cool.” I can’t believe how revolutionary it was to just have one of the family members be gay. And here I am playing this role now that is sort of a mirror of that. In terms of what I’m looking forward to, though, the Star Wars Ahsoka TV show. I really hope it’s good because I’ve named my cat after Ahsoka!
Obsession is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix right now.
Published: May 4, 2023 11:36 am