Gillian Anderson made her name as an FBI agent probing the paranormal, but in The Fall she plays a British detective hunting a serial killer. She tells Albertina Lloyd why she took the part

IN the first episode of new BBC1 drama The Fall, Gillian Anderson’s police investigator Stella Gibbons is a woman on a mission. After spotting a handsome police officer she likes the look of, she demands to be introduced – and then purposefully tells him which hotel room she is staying in.

It’s a far cry from prim FBI agent Dana Scully, who spent years in The X-Files refusing to get too close to her partner Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) before she finally gave in to her feelings.

“When I’ve been asked about the differences between the two of them, suddenly it occurred to me that Scully was quite square,” says Anderson.

“She was quite prudish and wouldn’t necessarily be wearing lace panties. In comparison, Stella is quite comfortable with herself, comfortable in her skin, is a lot more feminine than Scully ever was.

“For a long time, Scully felt quite childlike, and part of that was because I was a child when I started to play her and audiences got to see me grow up and grow into her. But whenever I see her, she seems like a 12-year-old pretending to be an agent.”

Stella isn’t the only sexual predator in the Belfast-set The Fall, the story of a serial killer (played by Jamie Dornan). In a twist, the audience know Dornan’s character for what he is from the start, while Stella is the investigating officer trying to pin down her man.

Viewers are often left feeling like voyeurs. As well as watching Dornan’s victims, we see Stella alone, reading in bed, cleaning her bath and swimming, which is her escape from the unpleasantness of her job.

“I’m actually not a swimmer. I don’t like water that much,” confesses Anderson. “I thought I was going to tire of it. But I enjoyed it.”

She seems more comfortable with the sex scenes than the swimming. “There are always funny moments in sex scenes, just with all the tension and bits falling off and not protecting you properly.

They’re very technical and both parties get undoubtedly nervous,” she says.

The actress admits she’s a big fan of Prime Suspect, the award-winning crime drama starring Helen Mirren as the hard-as-nails DCI Jane Tennison.

“I had read other attempts at recreating that and always found them lacking. There is something about this that felt like it had the depth and complexity, and yet simplicity, of that series.

“The thing I found really fascinating about Tennison, she was quite self-centred and certainly had ego.”

The Fall was shot on location in Belfast, but Anderson admits she didn’t see much of the city or socialise much with the rest of the cast. “I’m a bit of hermit anyway,” she says. “But I become more of a hermit when I’m working, and even if I have a few days off, I generally just stay in my hotel room.

I don’t know if that’s necessarily keeping in character, it’s more keeping my mind on it. I’ve worked with actors who keep in character all the time and I don’t do that.”

She spent her early childhood in London while her father, a film producer, attended London Film School. Around the time The X-Files ended in 2002 she returned to Britain to live and bring up her family.

She’s been divorced twice and has a teenage daughter from her first marriage and two young sons, aged six and five, from her second.

SHE’S appeared in UK TV series such as Great Expectations, The Crimson Petal And The White and Bleak House, being nominated for several TV Baftas. Back in the US, shaking off the ghost of Scully has been hard. “I get people going, ‘So what have you been up to?’ I’m not really on the big screen over there and a lot of the small screen things they might not have seen.”

Anderson is appearing in new US crime drama Hannibal which stars Mads Mikkelsen as Dr Hannibal Lecter. But with a young family in the UK, Anderson has to both support them and be there for them. “Schedule is everything,” she declares.

“I’m very picky about dates and the kids are the most important thing.”

She also admits she’s extremely choosy about the type of scripts she’ll accept. “My daughter always says, ‘God mum!’ Game Of Thrones, Downton Abbey or whatever it is. She cannot believe I’ve turned things down that she loves to watch.” she says.

“But if I’m going to spend that amount of time then I’d prefer to be working with Scorsese, do you know what I mean?”

  • The Fall begins on BBC1, Monday, 9pm