Jodie Comer has spoken about an incident at a male-led acting workshop which left her feeling uncomfortable and frightened to speak up. ‘There was just an energy in the way he was leading the workshop that made us all feel a little uncomfortable,’ the actress recently told British GQ.

The 32-year-old didn’t go into too much detail about what happened, but she said she was ‘stunned’ by the inappropriate behaviour, and that it took a quarter of an hour for someone else in the class to finally take a stand. ‘We were all looking at each other as if to say, This doesn’t feel quite right, [but] it probably got to 15 minutes too long before someone said, “You know what, why don’t we leave this here?” We all felt like we’d muted ourselves. We were stunned by it.’

Even though it’s totally understandable why someone would be hesitant speaking up in a situation like that, Jodie says she feels she disappointed with the way she handled it. ‘It’s suppression,’ she continued. ‘Can I? Should I? Those little moments that show up where I think, Wow, I let myself down.’ She added that now she’s ‘just trying to honour myself a little bit more’.

It’s not the first time Jodie has spoken about feeling uncomfortable in her line of work, saying people often cross her boundaries. ‘I’ve had moments in my life where I don’t think you can under-estimate the lengths people will go to to invade that space,’ she’s previously told Elle. ‘I think it’s important as an actor that people connect with the work and not “Oh, did you know yesterday she had eggs for breakfast?”’ She also said she doesn’t enjoy ‘going to things for the sake of it and losing my anonymity – I really don’t enjoy that. In fact, it makes me incredibly anxious’.

Jodie’s next big on-screen role is in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, the sequel to 28 Days Later. And she says filming the zombie apocalypse film brought back memories of a time most of us would rather forget: the pandemic. (You might remember Jodie starred in 2021 drama Help, one of the first dramas to tackle Covid, where she played a young healthcare assistant working at a care home for the elderly.) Her character in 28 Years Later Isla is bedridden and ill, leading her to make a comparison to the pandemic. ‘Everyone knows Isla is unwell. And she’s been kind of ostracised, expected to stay in bed all day,’ she told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Nobody knows how to deal with her. And we know what it’s like just being confined within four walls – I think we got very familiar with everyone’s bedrooms over Zoom during the pandemic.’

28 Years Later is going to be scary, and filmed on remote island Lindisfarn (which is only accessible through a causeway during low tide), Jodie has said even being on set petrified her. ‘I was quite taken aback because I felt like I’d spent a lot of time outdoors in the beautiful locations and then all of a sudden, I’m being chased,’ she said in a featurette about the film. ‘I was scared – there is a kind of tension within it, you can’t fake it. When you’re in these high intensity situations, it’s exhilarating, it’s thrilling, it’s terrifying.’

You might remember the original 2002 film 28 Days Later starred Cillian Murphy, who’s character wakes up from a coma to discover the Rage virus has caused the world to fall apart. (You might be able to guess the plot of the second film from the title – it’s set 28 years later.) Cillian is also starring in the sequel – and as an executive producer – though a few months ago, the internet was set alight when people mistook one of the zombies for a version of Cillian’s character from the first film, Jim. (But it was later discovered this wasn’t the case, as an art dealer confirmed he was playing the zombie.)

Danny Boyle has said he’s uncertain whether there’s going to be a third film, but, regardless, Jodie has said she loved working with acclaimed director. ‘Being on a Danny Boyle set, I found it to be the most amazing experience,’ she continued. ‘The relationship that the camera seemed to be having with the characters and the story and seeing how that comes to life.’

Jodie – who has a Scouse accent – also had a slightly novel way of preparing for filming, by watching old episodes of X Factor. In the movie, Isla has a Geordie accent – so she decided to take inspiration from none other than Newcastle’s sweetheart, Cheryl Cole. ‘I’m excited to get the first day done,’ she told Elle before filming. ‘Danny just seems like such a confident, intuitive and intelligent director. The original was so loved, so I’m trying not to think of that too hard. I’m not putting too much expectation on myself.’