Anita Dobson looks unrecognisable in new ITV series

Detective drama The Long Call begins tonight on ITV featuring Anita Dobson - although you may struggle to recognise her.

The four-part murder ITV mystery series is based on Ann Cleves’ bestselling book and will play out over the course of this week.

Ben Aldridge plays the main character, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn, who has recently returned to North Devon with his husband Jonathan (Declan Bennett), after being rejected by his family due to his sexuality 20 years ago.

READ MORE: EastEnders icon Anita Dobson looks stunning in photos shared by husband Brian May on her birthday

His old Evangelical church has also outcast Matthew along with most people in the village he once loved.

The DI is thrown straight into the horrors of a murder case after a man is stabbed on the beach.

Venn and his team have to get to the bottom of the intricate case which also brings up old wounds and a deadly secret in order to expose the killer.

Anita plays Grace Stephenson in the show, a woman in her 60s who is a member of the Barum Brethren and is manipulative church elder Dennis Stephenson’s wife.

At 19, Grace ran away to Devon, only to fall into the clutches of Dennis. Her character is relatively timid but strong in faith and extremely compassionate.

She suffers from attacks of anxiety which we start to realise are a result of being trapped in a controlling marriage.

As the story progresses, we see Grace find her voice and stand up for those who are disempowered.

About her character, Anita said: “Grace is a sad, wretched woman whose life has dribbled away from her.

“She is so beaten down and repressed and, possibly, chronically abused – not physically, but mentally - by her husband, Dennis, that she doesn’t really know how she even feels about anything and she doesn’t know how to form proper relationships because she’s never had the opportunity to do so.

“All those endless years of being without a proper voice, without being able to express yourself either verbally or physically - I mean, those clothes, for a start! - it does something to a person.”

The emotional baggage her character has is presented in her tired appearance, making Anita completely unrecognisable.

She said: “Grace and I are very different kinds of women, with very different lives and yet I felt a deep empathy for her, in fact, I fell completely and utterly in love with her and I found I could access her very quickly.

“I think there are a lot of women out there who will identify with her too. After all, as a woman, you don’t have to be part of a repressive, evangelical community to feel trapped, unhappy, stuck in limbo and unable to express yourself.

“I found myself protecting Grace very strongly and, if I could, I’d have grabbed hold of her and said, ‘It’s alright. We’ll find a way through it.”

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She will be most famously remembered for playing Angie Watts in EastEnders and on Christmas Day in 1986, 30.15 million viewers tuned in to witness on-screen husband Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) handing her divorce papers, giving the soap its highest ever episode rating.

In more recent years, she was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for the National Theatre production of Frozen and took part in 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing with Robin Windsor.

Some fans of the actress may also be interested to know Anita is married to none other than Queen music legend, Brian May, with the pair having tied the knot in 2000.

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