FANS of Happy Valley will be hard pushed to forget the sight of a lifeless Joanna Hepworth folded into a suitcase.
It was a moment that shocked millions of viewers of the BBC One hit, with actress Mollie Winnard winning praise for portraying her dramatic storyline with sensitivity.
And the 25-year-old hopes the breakthrough role will catapult her all the way from Halifax to Hollywood.
She said: “America would be incredible.
“I’d love to try everything, from fantasy to period dramas.
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“But I don’t think you need to strip off to be sexy.
“It would take a part I was really passionate about for me to do that.”
In our exclusive photoshoot, the glamorous star is worlds away from her troubled character, who was broken by domestic violence and struggled with an addiction to diazepam.
To research the role, Mollie spoke to psychotherapist Sarie Taylor and read blogs about addiction “to understand what it was like to feel as trapped like Jo”.
And the commitment paid off, with her portrayal winning praise from campaigners against domestic abuse.
Former Spice Girl Mel B — herself a victim of domestic violence — wrote that some of Mollie’s scenes were so “unbelievably real” they made her “blood run cold”.
Mollie said: “I was tagged in a post someone had put up sharing Mel B’s article.
“When I re-shared it, I said that she was an inspirational woman.
“She wrote back to say that I was an amazing actress and she thanked me for my work.
“Messages like that make everything worth it, because then you know you’ve done the storyline justice.”
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But sometimes people online can be less kind.
Of playing scheming Kayla Clifton on Coronation Street in 2018, she said: “A very few people made nasty comments about my appearance, saying I’d had work done on my bum and my lips, when I hadn’t.
“That stuck in my brain a bit but then I forgot about it because the vast majority of people are positive.”
She added: “Last week I was stopped by a bloke in Aldi when I was on the phone.
“I thought he wanted my trolley. But he recognised me as Joanna and congratulated me on the part.”
Despite her modesty, Mollie oozed confidence on our Manchester shoot — taking a break to scoff a breakfast bap and cringing about the heart inking on her ankle.
With a laugh, she said: “That was a drunken tattoo from a holiday in Magaluf.”
And when it comes to her celebrity crush, she is attracted to Jason Momoa, the long-haired hunk from Game Of Thrones.
She was also a fan of Happy Valley psychopath Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton.
Mollie said: “I met James very briefly in the make-up truck when he was having a tester for his hair extensions.
“He suited them, but I’ve always been into long hair.”
Mollie grew up in Chorley, Lancs, and began performing aged two when her devoted gran, Norma Winnard, enrolled her for dance classes.
Earlier this year Mollie was heartbroken after Norma died of bowel cancer aged 77.
She said: “My nan was my everything.
“She got to see the first episode of Happy Valley before she died, which I’m thankful for.”
Her parents, letting agent Darren Winnard and bookkeeper Joanne McKenna, who split when Mollie was a toddler, have always been huge supporters.
After her A-levels, Mollie worked hard to fund her studies at the Manchester School of Acting.
She said: “At one point I had six jobs to pay for weekly classes.
“I was waitressing, working for my dad’s letting agents, cleaning houses for him.
“I was doing odd acting and presenting jobs and I was even a shot girl in a nightclub for about six months.”
Her big break, in 2017, was a bit part in BBC drama series Love, Lies And Records, starring After Life’s Ashley Jensen.
A year later, Mollie played deceitful Kayla in Corrie, for which she won an Inside Soap Best Bad Girl award.
She says her down-to-earth demeanour is thanks to her close family and long-term boyfriend Jordan Murphy.
Mollie and the DJ/music producer live together in Chorley, with cockapoos Maverick and Mavis.
‘Dream come true’
She said: “Staying grounded is a lot about who you are as a person, but coming from a huge family definitely helps with that.
“When my agent told me I’d got the part in Happy Valley I thought they’d made a mistake.
“I used to watch it religiously with my mum and step-dad and was such a fan.
“I believe in the laws of attraction.
“Before I’d even started professional acting work, when I was about 18, I’d written my goals in a diary.
“I wrote that I wanted to work with Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran, so I feel I’ve actually manifested that in some way.
“Happy Valley really has been a dream come true.”
And she didn’t have to wait long to film alongside Sarah, who plays Sgt Catherine Cawood, with Siobhan as Catherine’s troubled sister Clare.
Mollie said: “One of the first scenes I shot was where Catherine comes to the house to arrest me, so the first time we’re shooting she’s in her police uniform.
“I’m supposed to be panicky and I really was.
“I was so nervous.
“She was captivating — the way she could switch from Sarah to Catherine in a second.
“We spoke very briefly about how we’d both also played roles in Corrie and I bought her and the rest of the crew cake, on what I thought was my last day of filming, only I then got called back the next week.
“Watching her was like a masterclass in acting.
“I would love to have even half of Sarah’s success.
“I’d love to be respected the way Sarah is.”
Recalling the tense scene in which Joanna’s body is discovered, Mollie said there have thankfully been lighter moments too.
Meet a grisly end
Around nine million people tuned in to the the shocking episode last Sunday, with fans taking to Twitter in dismay at the sight of her lifeless body squeezed into a suitcase.
But the flexible star had no trouble with the scene.
She said: “It was actually comfortable in there. I had air holes.
“The hardest part was not blinking. Dead people don’t blink.”
Now, with murderous show villain Tommy on the run, fans suspect the show’s leading lady could also meet a grisly end.
But the series finale is a closely guarded secret.
Mollie said: “I believe the ending was redacted for everyone but the cast involved.”
In tonight’s penultimate episode, fans predict Joanna’s abusive husband, PE teacher Rob [Mark Stanley] might take the fall for her murder, if the body is discovered.
Also in the frame for the crime is pharmacist Faisal Bhatti [Amit Shah], who beat Joanna around the head with a rolling pin during a row.
But in real-life, both Mark and Amit could not have been nicer.
Mollie said: “When Mark was pushing me on the bed in the first episode, we had an intimacy co-ordinator and a stunt co-ordinator so it was very safe. But he kept asking, ‘Are you OK?’.
“Amit is such a laugh, too. We’d do the floss dance in between takes.
“The rolling pin he hit me with was foam but lots of people joked we should do Bake Off after that.”
So should they?
Mollie said: “If Bake Off want us, I’m up for it.
“I can’t cook but I’ll give it my best shot.”
- Happy Valley continues on BBC One at 9pm tonight.
