Thunderbirds Feature
Rosamund Pike talks
about being Lady Penelope
Creighton- Ward.
Can you tell us a bit about your
character?
Lady Penelope is the daughter of
Lord Creighton Ward, a political
figure who obviously has important
standing in society. She seems- to
the outside world- as a flighty
it-girl but she is far from it. Her
education, background and her
father’s network of high powered
contacts opens all the social
doors she needs them to, but
she has found a way to use these
keys for more interesting things
than merely furthering her own
standing in society. She has teamed
up with International Rescue,
who use her as their operative in
London. Lady Penelope often plays
up the frivolous elements of who
she is – a girl who loves clothes,
pink cars, little dogs – to blindside
people, and conceal what she is
really up to at any given point –
usually breaking in somewhere
she shouldn’t be, extracting
information from people, finding
out secrets in the most dangerous
of situations. She has a great ally in
Parker, her driver and bodyguard.
I like to think that Lady P perhaps
met Parker in prison when she
was doing prison visits as part of
her charity work! Now that Parker
has served his time, Penelope
often disapprovingly alludes to his
‘misspent youth’ but you sense that
she also rather enjoys the fact that
she runs with someone who has
been on the wrong side of the law
8 freecarmag.co.uk
– his safe-breaking, lockbreaking and of course get
away driving skills stand
them in very good stead.
What was it like working
with David Graham who
was in the original cast?
David Graham is so
charming and so funny –
his Parker is iconic and the
story behind his creation
of the character and how
he found the voice in a
waiter in an East End
restaurant is delicious.
I love working with him,
and the bond between
Parker and Penelope and
the humour that is batted
between them is really fun
to play. David is a gentleman
and I am extremely fond
of him. I am also so looking
forward to exploring more
Parker/Penelope dynamics in
the next series.
Why do you think Thunderbirds
has such an enduring appeal?
Thunderbirds empowers young
people in an incredibly exciting
way. International Rescue is
made up of five boys and a girl
and then of course there is
Lady Penelope, and they are all
entirely canny and she enjoys
living on the dangerous side of
life. Though, of course, she also
enjoys a nice cup of tea.