Interview with Sanditon’s Mary Parker, Kate Ashfield
In Sanditon‘s final season, Mary Parker—everyone’s quiet protector, surrogate mom, and calm comfort—finds her voice and gets a big storyline. In her interview with MASTERPIECE, actor Kate Ashfield discusses Mary’s arc, making Sanditon, and what it must have been like to be married to Tom Parker!
In Season 3, it’s gratifying to see Mary have an independent storyline and some agency. What are your thoughts about her changes over the years, and what was it like for you as an actor to see this side of her?
Yeah, I think she has definitely gained in strength and confidence, and I think that’s from having these young women around, like Charlotte and Georgiana, who are forthright and know their own minds and have their own paths that they want to follow. Mary is a generation before, and that she married someone who was entrepreneurial, so he wasn’t boring, and then moved to Sanditon—it was a big risk for her. So we always kind of thought they were pretty rock and roll in those days as a couple. But I think it’s taken a toll on Mary, putting up with all of Tom’s failings. And he’s so lovable and he has a good heart, but he does get things wrong, and she’s never really been able to get involved. So this is the first time where she really does get involved because she just can’t keep quiet about it. She just thinks it’s so morally wrong that she has to say something. So it was really great to do it. I loved all those bits.
It’s nice to have, in our pantheon of Austen women, a Season 3 Mary Parker.
Yeah, it’s lovely. Because she’s a real protector, isn’t she? She’s been really quite quiet, mainly, for a lot of it, just observing, taking things in. She knows what’s going on more than other people.
Is there any Mary Parker in you?
Ooh, that’s a good question. I think in some ways. I suppose it depends who you ask, but in some ways I’m quite quiet. I like to sit back and watch what’s going on. Maybe not in all situations, but definitely a bit of me is like that. I think you can get your own way quite quietly without really causing a fuss. I think I’m a bit like that. There’s other ways to make things happen.
What do you imagine it would have been like to be married to Tom Parker?
I think he would’ve been great fun—I don’t think there’d be a dull moment. But I think it would be exhausting as well, because I think he gets himself into trouble all the time. And he’s really…what’s the right word for it? Persuadable. He’s really malleable. He’s very susceptible to other people telling him that’s a good idea. And also to a pound note—to succeed and into becoming wealthy. He can’t help himself when he sees things like that. And I think Sidney was such a great influence. He seemed to keep him on the straight and narrow. And I think Arthur’s a great support, but I don’t think he’s quite the same. I think that Tom’s his own worst enemy in a way.
I must admit, I’ve had moments as a fan where I’ve wondered, “Is Tom the real villain of Sanditon?”
Yeah, but then I literally watched Episode 3 the other day—I hadn’t seen those scenes, because they weren’t with me filming them—and you see, he really tries, doesn’t he? He really tries to do the right thing, and then he just gets his head turned at the last second. And you think, “Oh, he really is making an effort.” He does want to, but then, yeah, it all falls apart in the end.
Did you have a favorite moment or experience during the making of the show?
Goodness, I enjoyed so much of it, I have to say. I think what I enjoyed the most was getting to know—because we filmed the two seasons together, you’re getting to know the cast, and the crew, particularly, really well, and just work working with the same people every day. We stayed in Bristol to shoot the show, and I really like Bristol. It’s a really lovely place. It’s not that far from London, but it’s a very different feel to it because it’s much smaller than London. So I enjoyed being there. I enjoyed the whole process, I have to say.
And the longer went on, the more you felt connected to everybody, because we’re all in the same jobs—it’s a real community. And watching them build the sets! You’re arriving there and you see Sanditon going up and there’s so many people involved. And because we’d just come out of [lockdown], it was really special that we got to do it, because all the rules were in place  but you just had no idea whether it would be able to get through six months of filming without it falling apart. But we did, which was great.
What was it like to when you learned that Sanditon was coming back?
That was amazing because we’d all had such a great time doing the first season, and it was such a shame that it wasn’t going to come back. I remember it was around Christmastime and I had a call from my agent saying that it might happen again. I immediately called Annie Reid, who plays Lady Denham, “Have you heard?” And she was like, “Oh darling, I’d be delighted.” So I waited to hear more—I think first of all, they wanted to check our interests because they were going to start writing all the storylines and make sure people were free and could be involved. And then it was that summer that we all got back together and started making it. It was lovely as well, lovely to have each season have a new cast. I really enjoyed the whole job.
What about Sanditon do you miss the most?
I think I miss the people the most. We had such great fun. I really liked working with them all.
As you reflect back on the experience, what did working on Sanditon mean to you?
Well, it was a fascinating experience. I learned a lot. I hadn’t really done a period drama like that before, and certainly hadn’t done a long running show like that. I really enjoyed it because the longer you do it, the more you feel you inhabit the characters, you know what you’re doing. You don’t have to worry about that side of it. And you are all fascinated to find out what’s going to happen next. I was intrigued because the book wasn’t finished, so you kind of have no idea where they’re going to go, what’s going to happen. And then you get to work with new people all the time as well. So that was great.
As we close in on the series finale, we are wondering, do you believe in Happily Ever After?
Well, I don’t see why not. Obviously, it doesn’t always happen like that. And it seems slightly simplistic sometimes in those books, and they seem so naive in a way, don’t they? But I guess that was the time—people didn’t get out that much, and they weren’t well traveled, and they didn’t meet lots of people. They met the circle around them. So it was a much smaller community that they were involved in. But essentially, yes, I do believe in happy ever after. I do think it’s possible.
