The Crown star Erin Doherty has spoken about the pressure of her newfound fame — saying the attention felt like “an overload”.
The actress, 27, plays Princess Anne in the third series of the hit Netflix drama alongside Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies, who play the Queen and Prince Philip, and Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret.
Doherty, from Crawley, has had roles in Call The Midwife and the BBC’s version of Les Misérables but was relatively unknown when she was cast.
The actress said she had a “minor meltdown” when she was given the role because of the pressure of playing a well known public figure.
She said: “I have hidden from a lot of it [press attention]. It is your thing for so long, and then it is released and people are suddenly aware of you.
“It was an overload for me. So I turned away from it. I got the job. And then I had a minor meltdown. I thought so many people will be like, ‘She wasn’t what I thought she would be.’ I had to be like, ‘You know what, this is my version of this woman.’
“Also, not a lot of people of our generation knew her. So in a way it was an introduction.”
Doherty spent hours watching footage of Anne on YouTube to prepare for her role and her portrayal has been well received by critics.
But she said her first few days on set were still intimidating. “The whole first week for me was like… Erin, calm down,’” she said. “My legs were shaking. I was shaking because there was Helena Bonham Carter, Olivia Colman. It was a lot.”
She has started to step into the limelight more in recent weeks, attending the SAG Awards in Hollywood earlier this month where she joined Colman and Bonham Carter on stage to accept the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble cast.
After the pressure of playing a real-life character, Doherty said she would like her next big role to be fictional. “I love new writing,” she said. “Now that I have done someone who is a person, I would like to create someone from scratch. And let people meet someone for the first time.”
Doherty was speaking at the Newport Beach Film Festival Awards, held at the Langham Hotel. The ceremony, held days before the Baftas, honoured the best of new talent, including Doherty, Sophie Cookson and Ncuti Gatwa.
