Horror Favourites – Eleanor Worthington-Cox

With series three on Sky now the bloody and brutal Britannia has gone from strength to strength just like the Celts who it follows kicking back against the evil Roman empire dedicated to destroying them. To celebrate the show one of its main stars Eleanor Worthington-Cox takes time out from kicking Roman butt to talk to us.

Throat-slashing, drugged-up-druids and plenty of romping ­– Britannia returns to rule TV with its third series from Olivier award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth and continues to merge fantasy and fact in his hallucinogenic historical series. The capricious Celts and ruthless Romans are back for Britannia Series III airing now on Sky and coming to DVD from Acorn Media International on 15 November 2021, alongside the Series I – III Box Set.

The fightback against the Roman Empire, which stands at its mightiest, is on the horizon. Aulus (David Morrissey–The Missing) is joined by his wife Hemple (Sophie Okonedo – His Dark Materials) who arrives to oversee his conquest of the Britons, bringing with her mysterious and dark forces. Cait (Eleanor Worthington-Cox–Gwen) continues her journey to becoming the prophesied “chosen one” and Mackenzie Crook’s 10,000-year-old Druid leader Veran is set to head down into the underworld for a glimpse of the future. As competing factions feud, whose prophecy will be fulfilled, and who edges closer to ruling Britannia.

Below the brilliant Britannia star Eleanor Worthington-Cox talks about her love of horror that includes not only watching but starring in scary movies:

“Picking my favourite horror film is almost impossible, but not “chances of Michael Myers finally dying” impossible. I’ve loved horror ever since I was a kid and my family quickly accepted there was no scaring me, I once even got them to agree to stay in a haunted Scottish castle for a week. I was six.

Despite playing Janet Hodgson in The Enfield Haunting at age thirteen, I like to think my first horror credit goes to my remake of The Sixth Sense, which I filmed on the family camcorder age 7. I followed that up with SAW, featuring my action figures, a cheese grater and half a bottle of ketchup, then a live action sequel with a lot more ketchup and my very patient brother.

Yet since I can’t credit any of my childhood masterpieces as my all time favourite horror film, if I have to choose, it’s “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death”.

While I love more mainstream recent films like “The Babadook”, “Us”, “Hereditary” and pushing a little further back, “The Blair Witch Project”, “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death” has a quality all of its own which surpasses any feeling of dread or fear a film has made me feel before. It may not have had the incredible commercial success of these more recent films, or become as much of a classic as one of my other favourites from the same era, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, but it promises a quality you can rarely find in film, which is that of perfect plausibility. The film has dated perfectly, so you’re simply immersed in the atmosphere of pure madness and suspense John Hancock creates, and with such flawlessly chilling performances from Zohra Lampert and Mariclare Costello, it’s hard to remember they’re acting at all.

You won’t want to go near lakes, beautiful ginger women or vast, old farm houses for a while after watching (or ever again for that matter), but it’s worth it if you love a truly spine chilling, eerie suspense building, indie cult classic, with the early 70’s aesthetic and its unique style of horror, as much as I do.”

Britannia Series 3 and Complete 1 – 3 Box set are available on DVD from 15 November (Acorn Media International)