Mia McKenna-Bruce says Helena Bonham Carter taught her to ‘look after myself’

Actress Mia McKenna-Bruce has said her co-star Helena Bonham Carter taught her to “look after myself” while filming the upcoming Netflix series Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials.

The 28-year-old, who plays Lady Bundle Brent in the adaptation of Christie’s novel, which is due to be released on January 15, also said she had also learned a lot from co-star Martin Freeman, while speaking to the Press Association at the series’ premiere.

McKenna-Bruce said: “They are both incredible human beings that I adore with all my heart, and kind of taught me so much, particularly Helena really taught me to kind of look after myself and… advocate for myself and say when I need something.

“And Martin taught me a lot of random facts, because he loves random facts… and also to see people that have been doing it for such a long time and in so many incredible projects, still have such a love and care for what they do is really great.”

Bonham Carter, 59, who plays Lady Caterham in the series, said she joined the show due to former Doctor Who writer Chris Chibnall.

She told PA: “Chris Chibnall is a really clever writer, and it was the writing, it always is the writing for me, one you’re only as good as what’s on the page, and Caterham, the character I was playing, was actually invented by Chris.

“Caterham doesn’t exist in Agatha Christie’s original novel, she’s a man, she’s the father, but now they’ve made it into a woman.”

Christie’s original detective novel was released in 1929 and tells the story of a murder following a country house party.

Bonham Carter said she was a fan of the author and added: “I love the fact that, like so many interesting things about that amazing woman, the fact that the breakdown, which was the worst time in her life, actually probably made her as a writer, and gave this dimension of understanding of humanity that she put into her great stories.”

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials launches on Netflix on January 15.