The quintessential romcom of the festive season is here – new TV series Smothered is sexy, hilarious and completely chaotic. It’s everything you want out of a modern love story, and Danielle Vitalis is the star.
Having previously appeared in Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You as a Young Arabella, an episode of Black Mirror as well as a Netflix hit The Bubble from comedy director Judd Apatow, Danielle has been around the block. But Smothered is her time to shine.
The series follows the story of Danielle’s character Sammy, who is burned out from love and protective of her heart. She meets kind, sweet but kind of square Tom and they embark on an exciting, casual “affair” with no strings attached. But then they both catch feelings. As they try to work out if they are “right” or “compatible” together, Sammy discovers a shocker: Tom is a single dad. The script came from none other than Schitts Creek writer and bestselling author of “divorce comedy” novel Really Good Actually, Monica Heisey. “I love Monica and her writing,” Danielle tells GLAMOUR. “She creates such colourful, layered characters. I enjoy characters that are not one dimensional.”
Obsessed.
One of the best things about Really, Good Actually is that the entire novel adds a sharply comedic edge to the most mundane and devastating parts of a divorce or a break up. Monica brings this same element to the writing for Smothered.
“I read the pilot and I laughed,” Danielle said, who was impressed by its warmth. “You don’t often laugh when you read comedy, it’s normally in the playing of it that you find the laughter.”
We see Sammy and Tom navigate the intricacies of compatibility in modern dating – what are we looking for? When are we willing to make ourselves vulnerable? It’s a masterful demonstration of how easy it can be to fall in love, and how difficult it can be to trust yourself in those feelings.
One of the duo’s first scenes is in a karaoke bar, where they meet for the first time – spoiler: things get steamy in a booth. "We had an amazing intimacy coordinator,” Danielle recalls, likening intimate scenes to dance choreography. “Initially, it felt like this big, heavy thing I'm gonna have to do,” she recalled. “We had some rehearsals and some chats about it. And [the team] were like, ‘okay, what are you comfortable with? What do you want? When we got there to do it, it felt quite empowering actually.”
For her, it wasn’t just the sex scenes that needed to feel intimate: “it was the scenes where he was oiling my hair, moments where you’re laid bare with that person”. Smothered does a really good job of conveying those intimate moments that appear in most relationships, but perhaps don't get proper representation on screen.
“The notion of intimacy is not just about sex,” Danielle insists as something she personally believes, but it also feels like one of the show’s mantras. Smothered also underlines the importance of throwing away the rulebook when it comes to romance (and romcoms) and doing what feels natural and right in a relationship.
“I think Smothered highlights the way that you can set your own rules about things,” Danielle says, adding that we should question why society tries to dictate this part of our lives. “It just allows you to remember that if something is feels okay to you, that's okay – you can do that.”
When it comes to her own romantic life, Danielle is quick to tell GLAMOUR that dating apps aren’t for her. When asked why not, she has a rather philosophical answer. “I grew up in St. Lucia, a very small Caribbean island, and then I moved to Hackney when I was nine… I just found it hard to assimilate – not just with technology, but I grew up with my great grandparents. They were old. And I just feel old sometimes. I feel like an old soul navigating metropolitan London.”
She speaks of the overwhelm she’s experienced from appearing on gossip sites after promoting her work, with personal online comments stooping to whether her voice is “too nasal”. Danielle is concerned that these sites, and the Internet, “perpetuate the nature of opinion”. “I don't know if we're supposed to be listening to so many opinions,” she says. “Visibility wise, I think it's a bit much. I see why people limit like their children or young people when it comes to the intake they have.”
When it comes to opinions of her life and work being broadcast online, Danielle thinks there’s a clear difference between professional and personal critique. "I do sometimes feel quite overwhelmed… I don't think people's opinions of me is my business. She adds that often criticisms cross over from her “art” into herself personally, which is where the problems lie.
Danielle feels it is part of her job, though, to provide valuable criticism and feedback on projects to ensure representation of the Black community is achieved authentically.
“I don't think this role was written for a Black person,” she says of her role as Sammy in Smothered. And so it was interesting coming into it because I would see lines like, “she turns red” and I’m like ‘how am I supposed to do that?’ I don't know. I don't know how they gonna get makeup to do that.”
Luckily, she recalls feeling comfortable going to the writers and director to point out things that would be noticed and perhaps not resonate with Black members of the show’s audience. “I feel like Monica and George our director cultivated a good space to have those kinds of discussions,” she explained. “It wasn't very often, but I know my community. And I know I'm a representation of that, whether I want to be or not. It's important to me to say when something isn’t authentic.”
While she feels more empowered to speak up now that she is a more experienced actor, Danielle points out that others don’t always feel this way. “It's sometimes encouraged not to [speak up] because of what the industry is or that you should be grateful for something,” Danielle says.“But the more authenticity we can have in those spaces, the better viewing that we get.”
Another area that Smothered explores beautifully is motherhood, as well as non motherhood and potential stepmotherhood as Sammy navigates her relationship with Tom’s young daughter Ellie. Danielle feels proud of the work the show does in the “humanising of mothers” and shining a light on the pressures that society places on motherhood and women, to have all the answers for the next generation that they carry.
“Imagine if I just became a mum now,” she asks. “What am I supposed to do, just suddenly know everything? No. I love that Smothered shows that.”
Danielle is candid about the impact that burnout has had on her mental health, and the ability to do her job well. She describes reaching a point where she wasn’t feeling the validation from acting because she hadn’t taken enough time away, with herself, to recharge. This discovery was revolutionary for her. “I just realised how much therapy is to just sit with yourself and be quiet. It’s important to me now as the work, because I can't work if I haven't done that. And I also need to experience life to be able to portray [it on screen].”
She also has a fantastic take on the harsh nature of the entertainment industry: “I try to congratulate myself on rejection,” she says. “It’s all about accepting it and being like, ‘well done!’”.
When it comes to other ways of taking care of her body and mind, Danielle has tried out “no social media Sundays”, often practicing boundaries with her phone. “I like to put my phone on aeroplane mode or do not disturb, and I don't feel any way about that,” she says, adding that it’s all about “trying not to feel the expectation” from others.
Danielle also describes getting into a gym routine after spending so much time on set as a “cathartic experience”. When you’re filming, she says, “you’re not free to have autonomy over your body.” After months of makeup being applied by someone else and her outfits being Sammy’s costume, she found that strength training in the gym “allowed me to come back to my body”, as well as giving her the gratification of seeing her own progression and physical results.
While joking that she’d love to star in The White Lotus next, Danielle is also in the process of writing projects with BBC Studios, where she’s been given the opportunity (and encouraged) to write the stories and roles she’d want to star in.
She tells GLAMOUR that above all, she’s interested in telling stories about characters that convey “the human experience, rather than isolating race and gender and being confined to those things”.
Having said in the past that her work is political, Danielle explains that above all, her priority with each role and project is to provoke conversation – like Smothered most certainly will. “I just want to make people feel things,” she says. “And I want to be the space where [these] uncomfortable conversations are had. That’s my politics, and I hope I continue to be able to do that.”
Smothered is available to watch now on Sky Comedy and NOW TV.
