How did a BBC period drama change her mind?
Gillian Anderson’s fan mail recently took on a pleading tone. Dear Gillian, implored the letters and cards from all over the world, when can we see you again on screen or on stage? Where have you been? The BBC, which wanted the 37-year-old actress badly for a plum role in a blockbuster serial, wasn’t even sure where she was. There were 85 parts to cast, pronto, and if Anderson was on another continent, ensconced within an overprotective cordon of publicists and minders, it might take too long to reach her. “We didn’t believe for one second we’d be able to get through to her,” says Nigel Stafford-Clark, the serial’s producer. “I thought she lived in Los Angeles. And it was our casting director, Kate Rhodes James, who said, ÔNo, she lives over here, in Britain.'” If she accepted the role, it could be her finest part since she became a pan-terrestrial superstar as Agent Dana Scully in The X Files. In common with that generation-defining TV show, this new BBC serial bristles with mystery,
