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plays Matron in The Royal. Sundays @ 8.00pm on ITV1
Matron has run the hospital for twenty years under Mr
Middleditch. How does she find life at The Royal under Mr Carnegie’s regime?
I think she misses Mr Middleditch very much, as they had a good working relationship. With Carnegie her relationship is uncomfortable, because she doesn’t really trust him and she’s not sure if he has the hospital’s best interests at heart. He’s the new boy on the block and she misses her old friend. In terms of the hospital’s success, she’s not confident about the way he goes about things. She doesn’t understand his manner or ways.
Can you tell us about Mr Middleditch’s return to The Royal?
Carnegie seems to have some rather new and misconstrued ideas about how to raise funds and I think we begin to mistrust him.
Theres an awful lot of money going out of the hospital funds and not very much coming back in, in fact very little. He says
hes using it to soften up the wealthy people in the area so they will invest in the hospital. He takes them out to dinner, wines and dines them at the hospital’s expense, but so far not a lot has come in. I think Matron is a bit unsure as to whether money has come in, and whether he has misappropriated it, and as a result seeks Mr Middleditch’s advice.
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Matron is quite maternal towards
her nurses. How does she react when she finds out that Catherine is pregnant and that Stella has been raped?
Matron is actually very shocked but understanding and quite kind to them. She helps all her girls and is particularly caring towards Stella. She’s quite motherly actually for an unmarried lady with no children. She offers support to both of them.
Matrons life is shaken up a bit when her niece arrives in Elinsby. Tell us a bit about their relationship?
She’s very fond of her, as she was present when her niece was born. She thinks Susie has a bright future, she’s intelligent, she’s beautiful and has charm. At the moment though she’s behaving like a rather silly teenager and Matron really can’t cope with her behaviour. Although she does her best, she doesn’t get any feedback from the girl, so in the end I’m afraid she finds it an uphill struggle with her. If it had been one of her girls then she would be on the next train home, but of course she can’t do that with her own niece. I think it’s hard for Matron because she’s really not allowed to have any one stay in her flat and Matron is always one for rules and regulations. I think she enjoys the company but in the end Matron is exasperated with Susie.
What part of the new series stands out for you and what do you hope for the future?
I do think that the relationship with my niece is strong and I really enjoyed working on the scenes with Sarah Beck Mather. She’s a very talented young actress. For the future, I’d like to see Matron carrying on making a success of the hospital and involved with the patients. I do think Matron’s in those days did have quite a lot of input in the rehabilitation of patients, and I’d like that for Matron.
Picture Credit: Copyright
© ITV 2007. All rights reserved.
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