What was it like working with Gillian Anderson, who plays your wife in the film?
She’s so in demand, but she’s tremendously focused with a great sense of humour. And like with all actors trying to play someone who existed, you’re trying to get the right tone in spirit. And I think, having talked with the family, both Edwina’s daughter and grandson, and having read up on the Mountbattens and seen footage from that era, I think Gillian completely immersed herself in the role.
We associate her so closely with the US series The X-Files, but she’s British. Do you still do a double take when she speaks in an English accent?
[Laughs]. I sort of do and I don’t. I think every since I saw her in Bleak House, when you suddenly realize ‘my god, she is a Brit’.
Don’t forget the Mountbatten era was again a different sort of English accent – incredibly cut glass and Gillian nailed it fantastically. It can sound a bit peculiar to us these days. Think of the Queen x10.
Just Holding Hands 