When I hopped on the phone with Julia Brown, the actress who plays Lois Bennett in the Masterpiece PBS series World on Fire, to talk about the show's season finale, she had just arrived back in the UK. France was starting to close its borders because of the coronavirus pandemic. "It felt like a good time to get home," she says. "It was slightly doom impending."
The series premiered in Europe last fall, but it has been airing in the US this spring—at a particularly poignant time. Few people alive remember WWII, the setting of the show, but we're going through our own once-in-a-generation crisis, when everyone must do their part, even if that means simply staying at home (and maybe binge-watching television, while practicing social distancing).
"There's not been anything like this, so people have to stay in their homes and think about stockpiling food. And it probably makes people think that what generations had to go through during the war. But we don't seem quite as prepared, I don't think," Brown says.
Sean Bean plays a shell-shocked veteran and a pacifist in World on Fire.
The World on Fire season finale ends with England on the brink of the Blitz, but as it's a show focused on normal people—a Churchill biopic this is not—it's also filled with personal life milestones for Lois, the biggest of which is the birth of her daughter.
"It's a really, really beautiful sequence in the series, because you see her with her best friend Connie, who's played by the brilliant Yrsa Daley-Ward. And to film with her, we had such a laugh—I was groaning in her ear and bending over in the costume and they kept running in and adding sweat to my head," Brown says, remembering filming the birth scene.
"We had this baby who was only four days old who played my newborn. He was playing a girl, but he was so sweet. He's so tiny. And then, it was really special doing the scene with Sean, as well. Because we shot it quite near the end of the series and I think we were all quite emotionally exhausted. And there's a little bit where Sean comes in and he's got tears in his eyes and he strokes the baby's head. And I think I cried in response to Sean, because he just looked so heart-warmed by the tiny little baby."
"I think Lois is a bit of a broken person, in a way."
Brown calls the birth of her daughter a real "coming of age moment" for Lois. "Before, she was very maternal, looking after her father and brother, but she was also allowed to go off and sing and follow her dreams. Now her child's is her number one priority."
And Brown thinks her character will always have feelings for Harry, despite saying yes to Vernon's proposal.
"I think Lois is a bit of a broken person, in a way. She puts on a very strong front and I think she'll always hold a candle for Harry, especially as he's the father of her child and was her first love. But I think she's also very practical and headstrong and she's seen desperate times. She thinks about who can support her, and Vernon is offering security," Brown says.
Harry and Lois in World on Fire.
But there is a real connection there, too.
"Vernon's got this heartbreaking line that I always think about where he says, 'You don't have to love me, you just have to let me love you.' And I think so much of it must resonate with her. Because she must look at him and think, 'Why on Earth does he want to love me and look after me?'" Brown says.
"He's just one person breaks through her walls, because he just shows her genuine kindness and patience. And so, who knows? Who knows? We've got a season two, so that we'll have to see whether she holds her decision or not."
World on Fire has already been renewed for a second season, but Brown was tight-lipped about what's to come for her character.
"It's all under lock and key, but I know Pete has been busy writing," she tells me."We're going to start production in September, but with the current global situation you never know if that's going to be pushed back. I'm just excited to reunite with everyone and do it all again. It's been a dream of a job."
World on Fire is available to stream through the PBS Passport app, or on Amazon Prime.
Caroline Hallemann
Digital Director
As the digital director for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers culture, entertainment, and a range of other subjects