“It was so cool to be a part of – but we were battered and bruised after”: Sophie Rundle, Matt Stokoe and Tripti Tripuraneni on After the Flood

This brand new six-part ITV drama series, After the Flood, written by Mick Ford and directed by Azhur Saleem, is a mystery thriller about a small town where a severe flash flooding has a devastating effect on the infrastructure of their local community. When the police step in to evacuate the residents to the local school, they also discover the body of an unidentified man trapped in a lift presumed to have drowned in the deluge.

After the investigation into his death gets underway, PC Joanna Marshall (Sophie Rundle) joins the team and is determined to find out his cause of death. Her obsession with the case starts to unravel secrets within this tight-knit neighbourhood and forces her to question the relationships around her and who she can trust.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to Rundle, Matt Stokoe and Tripti Tripuraneni about their roles in the thriller series, the challenges of working with water and how brilliant the ensemble cast and crew were.

With regards to the opening scenes, what were some of the tougher moments filming those?

Sophie Rundle: We were just saying how water doesn’t read on camera like it does in real life. For it to look like it’s raining heavily, they really do just whip out these massive hoses. We had guys on four hydrants on scaffolding and we’d see them coming and be like, “No not you”. They would pelt you with water to look like it’s raining. Then the water in the watercourse was so strong, I still can’t get over it. The bit where we are walking towards the car looks like you could run through it, but you could barely stand in it. It was so unsteady beneath your feet, so it was quite amazing to do it, but it was hardcore. Jonas was amazing for jumping in again and again, and he does deserve that credit, because it was so deep and it would just take you off. The strength of the current was immense, so it was so cool to be a part of this but we were battered and bruised after. It required a fair amount of stamina, you’re spending all day getting drenched. It was February so sometimes there was snow too; it took a lot of endurance.

What did you do in between takes? How did you warm up?

Tripti Tripuraneni: We had a really good costume [department] for that, they were so helpful. They would give us anything we wanted, these little hand warmers and warm towels.

SR: We learnt along the way that if you can stay dry, you can do it for longer. As soon as you’re wet, you’re out after a while because it’s so cold. By the end, we’d come out looking like Tellytubbies, with layers of chill cheaters and scuba socks.

Matt, can you talk to us about your role as Pat? You’re working alongside your pregnant wife in the police team, so it must have been a fine line between wanting to protect her and also let her carry on and do her job?

Matt Stokoe: Pat thinks he’s doing the right thing. He’s protecting her from danger and from the potential of getting hurt and being in risky scenarios. He thinks he’s doing what’s right. This is where it gets complicated because in his mind Jo is invading his professional world. Even in the first episode, you see he holds court. He’s very popular. People do favours for him. If he put the word out there that there’s something going on, everyone takes that at face value. Jo’s not only having to fight her way into a very male atmosphere, but also where her partner is one of the main characters in that world. I think all of that is a little bit lost on Pat, which is the grey area. In his mind, he’s thinking, “I know how horrible this lot can be.” I don’t think he’s dismissive and misogynistic enough to think, “Bless her, she wants to be a little detective.” I think he respects her, but in the process of trying to protect her, he’s gone a bit too far and it started to spill over into patronising and controlling, which is a fine line as you say. Throughout the show, he seems to fall either side of this. Sometimes you see professional Pat coming in and sometimes, paternal partner Pat takes over.

Sophie, can you speak about your character’s pregnancy and how that affects her professional journey?

SR: I think anyone who’s experienced pregnancy can relate to that sand-timer being turned over. You’ve always had total control and total autonomy, and suddenly you’re getting bigger and bigger and people’s attitudes are changing towards you. I think there can be an element of claustrophobia there, and also needing to set yourself up for a return to work. I really liked exploring that idea of pregnancy with her; her kind of reluctance. She is engaged with it, but then she also tries to cut it out a bit, ignore it. That’s partly because of her pregnancy and partly because of her character. It will be what makes her a good detective, but in the landscape of pregnancy, people start to question her as a mother and that’s hard for a woman.

MS: As a man, you’re taught to treat a pregnant woman kindly. Offer her a chair. Go out of your way to make things easy for them. If you get that ever so slightly wrong, you risk defining the woman by her pregnancy. So, with Jo’s character, there’s an issue with being suddenly defined by this one thing when you are so much more than that.

SR: Suddenly you become this vehicle for this baby. There is a point, which is understandable, especially for the father, to be like, “But that’s my child in there, and if you do something that puts my child at risk, then I do have a voice in this.” Then there’s a very murky line where you say the health and the well-being of the mother is as important as that.

What can you tell us about the relationship you have with Lee (Jonas Armstrong) and building that through the series?

SR: I met Mick, the writer, very early on, and he talked about this phenomenon when people have this extraordinary experience, like saving someone’s life, and how it can bond people together in a confusing but very real way. People who’ve shared this life-changing event do feel this connection, and that’s what Jo and Lee have. He represents this thing she cannot get over in a way, and he is the gatekeeper to the mystery that she wants to investigate. Because she also has this building pressure from Pat, her mum and everyone, defining her by her pregnancy, when Lee sees her in a different way because he met this woman who jumped in to save the baby as well. So he represents this different facet she is keen to hold on to and it makes her compelled towards him. There’s more secrecy there that makes things more complicated but he certainly starts to come into the story more.

Sophie and Tripti, how did you prepare for your roles as policewomen? What was it like to play these strong female roles and to show the friendship you had between your characters?

SR: We had Lisa our set adviser [help us prepare] and she was amazing. We did this scene and we’ve got these numbers on our lapels and mine was W2407, and I said “W” and she said it’s “Whisky”. She was very polite about it. She had so many stories as well, she’s worked on so many TV dramas. She steered us in the right direction when we were pretending to be police officers. The friendship: they’re funny with each other. I like seeing that you can just imagine what they’re like when they’re just out, doing their patrols.

TT: It was absolutely what drew me to the script. This massive set piece and two women at the front of it just going for it. On top of it, to have this wonderful relationship with Jo and to see the support there. The love between them is fantastic.

How about those scenes where you’re wading through all the water? What were some of those like to film?

TT: Well, I absolutely decked it! I was the first one to fall. It was so embarrassing.

SR: Mainly it was just us trying to look like we knew what we were doing.

Matt, what was it about the role that you liked and made you want to come on board with this?

MS: Reading the script and doing a part like this was slightly out of my comfort zone because there was nowhere to hide. There wasn’t any big pageantry fighting or scars, nothing like that. Just a normal guy, trying to appeal to his partner. I’m used to everything gearing around a huge set piece, but a lot of Pat’s stuff is in the smaller, more human moments, especially with Jo in their domestic life. I had to make this as real as possible.

Sophie, how did you find working with Lorraine Ashbourne as your mum Mollie?

SR: I love her. I kept saying, “Can you play my mum in everything?” She’s so infectious, natural and fun. She’s amazing.

What was it like collaborating with such a brilliant ensemble cast and with these incredible writers?

SR: In one of the scenes where we film in the hall where everyone’s been displaced, all the characters were in, and it was chaos. Poor Az, the director, was trying to wrangle all these hysterical children whilst there were also about 20 actors all giggling and telling stories. It was such a nice bunch, a really nice crew and cast.

Ezelle Alblas

After the Flood is released on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on 10^th January 2024.