Curfew star Alexandra Burke asked for distressing scene to be cut
The former X Factor star breaks down taking on her gritty new role – and admits some scenes were too much for her.
Curfew star Alexandra Burke has admitted that some scenes were so dark, she refused to film them.
The singer, who first shot to fame as the winner of The X Factor in 2008, stars in the Paramount Plus drama as Helen, a high school teacher in a world governed by a newly-imposed Women's Safety Act, which forces men to be electronically tagged and remain at home from 7pm to 7am every day.
But when a woman's body is found outside the Women's Safety Centre after being murdered during curfew hours, it's up to DI Pamela Green (Sarah Parish) to find the culprit... and she's certain a man is responsible.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Burke admitted that she found some of the scenes distressing to shoot, and on one occasion even requested that a particular incident be removed from the scripts.
She told us: "I remember reading it and then finding out, like, a certain thing about Helen, which I don't want to say, but you find out that certain thing about her and I remember thinking to myself, 'God, this is going to be the most challenging role I've ever done.'"
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Revealing she wasn't fully aware of what the role demanded until after she got the part, Burke added: "They gave me more detail about Helen [and] I was like, 'There's some things I don't think I can do.'
"So I had to speak to the producer, because I was like, 'I don't think I can do that with morals, and I don't think that's something that should be on TV.'
"They agreed, and they took something out. I was like, 'Thank you, because I don't think I could act that. And you've already shot some scenes with me, hun, so the contract's done!'"
Despite the refusal, Burke praised writer Joasia Goldyn for being open to making edits and the collaborative environment encouraged behind the scenes.
"It was just interesting that you could bring your thoughts to the table and be heard," she said. "I didn't even know that's a thing that could happen."
Best friend to Sarah (played by Doctor Who's Mandip Gill), Helen finds herself regularly dealing with frustrated teens in class as they try to rebel against the government sanction.
She is instructed to educate her students on the benefits of the curfew rules, but given that she doesn't entirely believe in the policy herself, it's easier said than done.
"It's difficult for her as a teacher to want to give such an opinion to these students and stuff, because she's like, 'Well, actually, in some ways it works, but some ways it doesn't,'" Burke said.
"But how do you say that? So she's got to be all for it, regardless of how she feels, because she's a teacher and she's a woman."
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