(Newswire.net — January 12, 2015) Thomson, Illinois — Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt won her first Golden Globe award Sunday for her portrayal of a rape victim in the popular show’s fourth season.
Froggatt plays Anna Bates on the series that is broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States. She won Best Supporting Actress.
During her acceptance speech she called it the “most shocking moment of my life” and said she had received letters from rape victims after the show aired.
“One woman summed up the thoughts of many by saying she wasn’t sure why she had written, but she just felt in some way she wanted to be heard,” Froggatt said. “I’d just like to say: I heard you, and I hope saying this so publicly means in some way you feel the world hears you.”
Downtown Abbey writer Julian Fellowes had defended the storyline, telling the Independent it wasn’t done “gratuitously” and was meant to “explore the resultant emotions and the effect these things have on people.”
She told the Mirror newspaper she “had no idea the impact it would have.”
“Although we figured it would be controversial, my overwhelming responsibility was to make it as convincing as possible, to do it to the best of my ability,” she said. “I was trying to put myself in the place of this girl at a time when she couldn’t even tell people what had happened for fear of losing her job, perhaps her husband.”
It was a busy year for Froggatt. She also starred in a new audio theater production, In Freedom’s Cause, which tells the true story of 14th-century Scottish hero William Wallace and his fight for independence from Britain. She plays Lady Marjory, a determined and independent young woman who wants to see her people free.
The CDs are based on G.A. Henty books and recorded in the same genre of Adventures In Odyssey.
Actress Chris Anthony – who hosted Adventures In Odyssey on radio – was impressed.
“I haven’t been this excited since the beginning of Adventures In Odyssey,” Anthony said.
For information on In Freedom’s Cause, visit InFreedomsCause.com.