'I'd never want to be Prime Minister!'
Take an exclusive first look at Suranne Jones as a British PM in Netflix's anticipated new thriller Hostage
Des Willie/Netflix
- Rosie Millard
Hostage will be on Netflix from 21 August. Fancy attending an exclusive screening in central London, followed by a Q&A with Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy and a drinks reception? We have a limited number of tickets to give away to RT readers for this Netflix event at the Ham Yard Hotel on Monday 18 August 2025 from 6.30pm to 10pm. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis (and a maximum of two per person). Click here.
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Mocking up 10 Downing Street was a crucial element to get right in the new Netflix thriller Hostage, in which Suranne Jones plays embattled Prime Minister Abigail Dalton.
Suranne Jones, Julie Delpy and members of the cast and crew on a mocked-up Downing Street during filming of Hostage. Netflix
When her husband is thrown into mortal peril abroad, Dalton has to cope with personal dramas as well as a Cabinet that is ranged against her, while at the same time keeping a doubtful nation on side with regular press appeals from the Downing Street podium, a perfect replica of which was recreated for filming.“That was thrilling to do,” says Jones, who also executive produced the five-part series. “We built the outside of Downing Street so that we could have that interaction. It was just great, being outside No 10 with all the press attention, coming in and going out, recognisable moments that have been in all our lives. Standing at the lectern! Thrilling!”
Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy take notes on set of Hostage. Netflix
Did it give her a taste of what it would be like to be PM? “I would never want to be prime minister, not even for a day. It’s hard. And harder for women, as it is in most areas. We looked at Nicola Sturgeon, Theresa May, Jacinda Ardern, how they managed and at what cost. Breaking down the patriarchy is not an easy task.”
The series features not one but two female world leaders, as it co-stars French film legend Julie Delpy as French President Vivienne Toussaint, who is on a state visit to London. So Delpy also gets to walk the most famous street in politics.
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Is the idea of a female French president realistic? “I think the French are possibly ready to elect a woman president,” says Delpy. Madame la president is, of course, extremely alluring. “Everyone thinks the French are very sexy, and having sex all the time. It’s not really true. The reality is that it’s not that we have more sex, it’s that we’re a little more relaxed about people having affairs.”
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And apparently that dates from an older leadership system. “Yes, it comes from our kings. They were all over the place with women. They would have up to 20 lovers at any one time, and didn’t want them to take showers. They were crazy!”
Authors
Rosie Millard
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