London’s calling in the latest season of Netflix’s controversial, supremely addictive, hit series You.
Based on Caroline Kepnes’ series of novels, You's fourth outing will continue to follow protagonist, murderer-stalker Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he attempts to outrun his past, and violent impulses. He settles into London life as a professor of literature, trying to keep a low profile but finds himself caught up in an intriguing ‘whodunnit’, amongst a new social circle of socialites, full of privileged, rich and depraved characters.
One member of this new circle is rich, beautiful party girl Lady Phoebe, played by London-born actress and EastEnders alumni Tilly Keeper. There's so much more to Phoebe than the “rich bitch” and “party girl” stereotypes, and we see her bright, comic light darken as the fourth season of You unravels.
“There's definitely a pressure to meet expectations.”
Lady Phoebe encounters mental health issues and an abusive relationship, soon becoming a character we can truly root for – particularly as she's not a serial killer (a rarity on You), just a woman fighting her own heartbreaking battles.
GLAMOUR caught up with Tilly as part one of season four launches (the second instalment is coming to Netflix on March 9th) to get the lowdown on sex scenes, toxic love and internalised misogyny on the show.
Tell us about Lady Phoebe, what’s the most important thing we need to know about her?
On first look, Phoebe comes across as vapid, a bit of an airhead, materialistic, superficial… and she can be all those things. But the real core of this character is goodness, light and naivety. She has a lot of love to give – and she doesn't have a lot of love in her life, and I think that makes her quite a lonely individual. But it doesn't necessarily make her a jaded person. And I think that's really nice – she's very optimistic, despite the tone of the whole show.
She starts off as comic relief within the darker wider storylines, but she goes through her own trauma. What was that like to play, going from the light to the dark? Did you enjoy the range?
I think it rounds out the character a lot. It was a great challenge as well, to play that steadily and plant the seeds so that it makes sense.
The main note [from showrunner Sera Gamble] was that by the second half of the season we want to see the heart behind closed doors, when all the noise shuts off. Hopefully by that point, you've got to know Phoebe and you care about her when she is in danger.
We see her try to seduce Joe at one point – what was that like to film?
Filming that scene with Penn, he's such a sweetheart and he's so gracious and incredibly respectful and I was a bit more like, ‘oh, have a laugh with it, whatever!’.
I also woke up the morning that we filmed that scene with an optical migraine, so I think I could only see like the left half of Penn's face as I was filming it! It does end up being a really sweet scene, but you do still think: “is he going to kill her?”
Lady Phoebe definitely has an interesting relationship with Joe. No stalking or unhealthy attachment, though he is protective of her. Why do you think that is?
I think they have a little sister and big brother kind of relationship. [When she tries to seduce him] he sees a very desperate woman looking for validation in completely the wrong place… to kind of make her feel seen. He shares tidbits of information with her and it solidifies trust. She trusts Joe, which is very ironic.
We see Phoebe in a rather manipulative relationship with her partner Adam, with a touch of gaslighting in the mix, and she becomes isolated from her friends as a result. How did it make you feel to play this kind of dynamic in a relationship?
I found myself getting wound up in these scenes because I just thought, “you a***hole”, you know? There is just such a lack of respect – Adam has so little respect for anyone other than himself. It’s internalised misogyny, he has to be the man of the relationship and if she tries to step over that, then he has to put the woman in her place.
After immersing yourself in this storyline, what would you say to women who might be in a similar relationship or feel that certain elements of Lady Phoebe’s story resonates with them?
I think it's a shame that Phoebe always swallows her gut instinct. In the world we live in, we must trust our gut instincts. If you've got an icky feeling and you're unsure, definitely explore those thoughts before you just brush them to one side. Give yourself a minute to breathe.
Also, codependency is so unhealthy – love isn't just giving yourself completely to someone and just ignoring all the other red flags because your affection for them is so deep. One thing I would say to Phoebe is “listen to your brain, babe”.
Lady Phoebe has quite a big social media presence, and is constantly followed by paparazzi. This is a huge thing for women in the spotlight, in terms of harassment and objectification – how do you manage your relationship with social media?
I’ve had my issues with it. I don't particularly like it. But then again, I'm on it. So you know, I'm kind of my own worst enemy – you get FOMO. I've had to create boundaries… I've blocked swear words on my Instagram comments, because I had a lot of young followers when I was younger myself. My cousins were small at the time and they followed me on Instagram, and would be mortified if they’d seen comments sexualising me or whatever, when I'm just posting a photo of me in jeans and a T-shirt.
You’ve already been part of a huge show, EastEnders! A British institution. What was the biggest lesson you learned in those four years?
It was my drama school! I was there from 18 till 21 or 22 and I learned how to work with multiple directors. Not just over the years but over weeks because you have such a wide range of episodes to work across. It just taught me so many skills. It's a skill set that you can only learn by being on the kind of set where everything's fast paced and a huge ensemble. It was like a bootcamp – a really great learning experience and set me up so well.
When I came on to You, everyone kept saying “are you nervous?” and I said “I don't think I am because I know what to do. I'm just excited to play the part now.” So I'm really grateful that I learned [those] skills and learnt from a lot of actors as well.
You can thank us later…
Playing Phil Mitchell's daughter is nothing short of iconic, surely?
I actually say she's Peggy Mitchell's granddaughter – which is even better!
What was the biggest difference between soap life and working on a huge Netflix show like You?
The costumes! On EastEnders I just used to wear jeans and baggy jumpers. I used to pray for the day that I could wear something lovely, and now I feel like I’ve manifested it [on the You set]! But after four months I was like, "does she ever just wear jeans?"
What’s next for you? Are you aiming for films? More TV? Maybe the stage?
We shall see, we shall see. I think it’ll eventually be TV. But my most definite plan is on a certain day in July – no employer can have me because I’m going to see Bruce Springsteen in Hyde Park! I'm hoping I'm gonna be Courteney Cox and he pulls me up on stage for Dancing In The Dark.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
