Jenny Seagrove on animal rights, acting, and why retirement is not an option

While some people might choose to retreat from the spotlight after losing a partner, Jenny Seagrove did just the opposite. After the death of Bill Kenwright aged 78 in October 2023, the acclaimed theatrical impresario and film producer with whom the 68-year-old actress shared her life for 29 years, she took on a massive new career challenge… as the chairperson of Bill’s company.  

“To say it was a learning curve is an understatement,” says Jenny today as we chat over zoom. “I was consumed by grief after Bill died but taking on this huge new challenge while also keeping his legacy alive felt very positive.”

“That’s not to say it made his loss any less but it kept me so busy and was just all-encompassing. I do wonder how people cope when they lose a long-term partner or spouse and they have nothing to do but stare at four walls once the business of organising the funeral is over. I needed to do something, to totally throw myself into something. I’m an actor but I just didn’t have the capacity for that after I lost Bill.”

Happily, her thespian headspace has returned. This month Jenny stars in My Sister’s Bones, the eponymous adaptation of Nelly H. Hutchinson’s psychological thriller. She plays Kate, a woman drawn back to her estranged family home after years away only to find herself pulled into a web of buried secrets and disturbing memories surrounding a family member’s death. As past and present collide, tensions rise and Kate begins to question everything she thought she knew. Dark, atmospheric and packed with twists, the film explores grief, betrayal and the chilling consequences of long-hidden truths.

“It’s a wonderful role – and one I have to thank Bill for,” smiles Jenny. “He’d read the book, thought it would make a great movie and bought the film rights.

“He also thought Kate would be a wonderful role for me and contacted the author to ask if she’d mind if the character was made a bit older. Nelly didn’t mind at all and said she thought it actually worked better.”

Having seen the film, I have to say that there are times when you wonder if Kate is, well, to put it bluntly, a bit bonkers.

“I know,” chuckles Jenny. “It wasn’t easy to film because so much of what happens is in her head. While there’s something of me in every role I play, I’m happy to say that Kate’s dysfunctional life is nothing like mine – past or present.

“Look, we all have complex lives. I defy you to find one human who doesn't have a complex life. I mean, what is ‘normal’ – especially when it comes to families?

“Playing Kate was very intense and I do tend to take roles home with me. Bill used to laugh at me because he knew, when I was filming something, that I’d become a bit like the person I was playing. ‘Oh God’, he might say to our friends. ‘She’s been playing an alcoholic for six months!’”

Presumably this ‘taking the role home” mode was the case when, in 1985, Jenny played Emma Harte in the original TV adaptation of ‘A Woman of Substance’ – the Barbara Taylor Bradford heroine from the 1979 novel of the same name who went from lowly housemaid to high-flying business woman running a retail empire through sheer grit and determination.

Jenny’s fierce yet luminous performance captured the nation’s attention and made her an overnight star. A remake of A Woman of Substance broadcasts on Channel Four this spring with Vera actress Brenda Blethyn as the older Emma – played in the original by Hollywood star Deborah Kerr. I have to ask… wouldn’t Jenny have liked to play that part?

“Oh, I had my ‘Woman of Substance’ moment,” she replies decisively. “And what a wonderful moment it was. Now it’s time for someone else to have theirs.”

But isn’t she a bit concerned that this new adaptation might come across as a trifle wokey – it is being filmed in these uber politically correct times and all? Diplomatically, she refuses to be drawn on this. 

“It is a new adaptation for a new generation,” she says. “I just think ‘Jolly good luck’ and I’m sure it will be wonderful. The most important thing is that Barbara Taylor Bradford’s fabulous story is being retold for a modern world. Hurrah to that! 

“I know from the feedback I got that our version gave many women in the 1980s and beyond the courage and determination to change their own lives. Hopefully this adaptation will do the same.’

Jenny laughs when I asked her if Brenda or Jessica Reynold, who plays the young Emma Harte in the remake, have been in touch to ask her for tips.

“No,” she exclaims. “It doesn’t work like that. I have great memories of our A Woman of Substance. We filmed it on a shoestring and we worked very, very long days – including weekends. 

“One thing that sticks in my mind is that in the morning, I might be playing the very young Emma while in the afternoon, I’d suddenly be Emma in her 30s. I still think I actually only got the part because I looked a bit like Deborah Kerr who’d already been cast to play the older Emma.”

She’s being modest but it’s clear she wants to talk now rather than then. When it comes to acting, in addition to My Sister’s Bones, she has a short film in the works plus an upcoming theatre tour in autumn playing the woman who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, in the acclaimed play The Anastasia File. 

“Acting is still what defines me and I’m ready to do more of it – but only stuff I really want to do,” she says. 

The dedicated animal rights campaigner continues: “I know I’m not just an actor now, though. There’s the company plus my work at The Mane Chance sanctuary which I founded in 2011. We rescue abandoned and abused horses. I like wearing lots of hats, though. I like the challenge and excitement of it all.”

So I imagine retirement isn’t on the agenda, then? Jenny looks horrified at the thought.

“Oh, my goodness, no! Not the ‘R’ word! No, no, no, no, no. You’d have to shoot me first! I mean, obviously, I'll have to retire if my mind stops working but at the moment, I think we're all right. 

“What's lovely about taking on new things is how good it is for us more mature people. It's a bit like when you learn a new language later on in life. Apparently, it's meant to help all those brain cells and neurons. I couldn't bear the idea of retiring. Heck, there's lots more mischief to make.”

Would that “mischief” include finding romance, per chance? She smiles and shakes her head. “Never say never but I’m really not looking. I share my life with my adorable springer spaniel Georgie who’s almost eight. Every morning, no matter what time my day is supposed to start, I get up an hour earlier and go for a walk in nature with Georgie. 

“Nature is one of my passions. I firmly believe in its healing powers – the exercise of it but also the mental wellbeing that comes with it. It’s a joy to be able to lose myself in nature and to notice the little things. It’s an hour of respite.”

“I get a similar feeling from reading and going to the cinema. Like most people, I also love spending time with friends. But I am genuinely at peace in my own company – and there was a time when I didn’t know if that would ever be the case.”

• My Sister’s Bones is available to rent and buy on all digital platforms from February 23