Life After Life is joyful, relentless and magical

Tuesday:Life After Life; (BBC2, 9pm)
Ursula will die and be reborn multiple timesUrsula will die and be reborn multiple times
Ursula will die and be reborn multiple times

Thomasin McKenzie is definitely one to watch.

Since grabbing the critics attention in the 2018 film Leave No Trace, the New Zealand actress has gone on to appear in Oscar-winners Jojo Rabbit and The Power of the Dog and take a lead role in director Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho.

So, signing her up for this new four-part adaption of Kate Atkinson’s bestselling novel Life After Life was something of a coup for the BBC. However, it’s easy to see why Thomasin wanted to be involved, as she’s taking on the role of several lifetimes.

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She plays Ursula who is born for the first time in 1910 to Sylvie (Fleabag’s Sian Clifford) and Hugh Todd (James McArdle). She dies at birth, but then on the same night she is born for the second time – and this time she lives.

Over the course of the series, Ursula will die and be reborn multiple times, and her different lives will see her experience tumultuous changes and two world wars.

It’s such an unusual role Thomasin admits she struggles to sum up the drama, saying: “It’s hard to explain but Life After Life is basically centred around reincarnation and we follow a young girl called Ursula from the moment she’s born up until the moment she dies.

“She goes through life multiple times and we see how each of her lives changes depending on specific events or moments in her life, and the decisions she makes based off her instincts.”

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While it may be an unusual story, it’s one that has struck a chord with a lot of readers, as Thomasin discovered.

She says: “I learnt when we were filming that a lot of people have read the book and really love it…

“I think it’s the idea of reincarnation in general as it’s interesting – the idea that it opens up the possibility of reliving or fixing past mistakes or living your happiest moments again.

“The reason I responded to it so strongly is that I’m always someone who lives in the past; constantly regretting things and cringing at things I’ve done and wish I hadn’t!”

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So, despite the period setting, Thomasin can clearly relate to her character, and thinks the series will resonate with viewers.

However, she stops short of describing Ursula as a modern woman.

Thomasin says: “I think in some of her lives she is and in some lives, she isn’t.

“In some of her lives, she really struggles with the idea of what it is to be a mum and what it is to be a wife and whether that’s something she wants or not.

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“Back then, that was something that was expected and maybe if she was born now, it wouldn’t have been (although still is) as much pressure for that to have been her life.”

Life After Life won’t be shying away from big themes, not just about the role of women but also about whether it is ever possible to lead the perfect life. Luckily, that doesn’t mean it will be a slog.

Asked to sum up the series in three words, Thomasin says: “Joyful, relentless and magical.”

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