The Flawless Antonia Thomas' Topman Interview and Photoshoot
The Misfits Actress Hangs Up Her Sexy Superpowers And Transforms For Our Vintage-Inspired Shoot
Antonia Thomas isn’t instantly recognisable when she arrives at our GENERATION shoot at an intimate retro cafe in Islington, North London. The tight head of curls that identify her as sassy teen Alicia in Channel 4’s Misfits has been straightened into a sleek bob, and the overall effect is completely transformative. With delicate doll-like features to match her diminutive size, Antonia is softly spoken, poised and intelligent, and none of Alicia’s fiery attitude or in-your-face confidence. A misconstrued expectation that is somewhat understandable considering Misfits, the show that thrust Antonia and her co-stars into the limelight three years ago, has since become such a stalwart of British youth television that its characters almost feel like old friends.
It is somewhat surprising that a sci-fi drama about young offenders-turned-superheroes, set on a London council estate, which can only be described as a cross between HBO’s Heroes and British movies like Kidulthood, should be such a runaway success and garner such a cult following. Now, with a BAFTA win and three successful series Thomas is venturing to fresh pastures, so GENERATION spoke to the actress about what it feels like to hang up the orange jumpsuit for good…
Topman GENERATION: Misfits kick started your television career. When you got the part did you have any idea the show would be this much of a success?
Antonia: I mean, we knew the writing was really good, and there was a lot of hype surrounding the part, but none of us had any idea it would be so huge. I was a bit scared when I got the part to be honest, especially as the character I was playing was pretty risqué. But it was just the most brilliant opportunity, and it completely started my career.
Topman GENERATION: The main characters were mainly unknown actors, but it just worked fantastically. Do you all get on?
Antonia: Yeah we do. And I think, we are all really different kinds of personalities, but for some reason we all worked really well together. We almost became a bit of a dysfunctional family because we spent so much time together.
Topman GENERATION: The show went on to win a BAFTA, which is quite the accolade. Were you expecting to win?
Antonia: God no. We couldn’t even believe that we had been nominated and just to go along was such an honour. I remember sitting down, I was wearing these ridiculous shoes, and I slipped the shoes off in the awards ceremony because I just didn’t believe we were going to win. Our category was first, and we won it! I was like ‘God, get me shoes on!’ It was completely amazing.
Topman GENERATION: You mentioned that Alisha is a risqué character, were you apprehensive about that? Did you worry about what your family would say?
Antonia: I was always going to take the job, but when I first found out I’d got it I called up my parents and was like ‘What am I going to do? I have to suck a bottle on television! Oh my God!’ And my parents were just like ‘Antonia, it’s a job, just do it. You’re an actress’. Of the two, my mum was surprisingly less relaxed about the whole thing. I mean she would sort of watch it, and then fast forward, essentially.
Topman GENERATION: What are you up to at the moment?
Antonia: I have a few things in the pipeline, a few movies. A film called Eight Minutes Idle, which is a really cute little Brit-Indie film set in a Bristol call centre with an awkward Brit rom-com vibe. The second one is a psychological thriller called Rearview, which is about a girl whose car breaks down on a creepy country lane, so that was fun to film, lots of running around the woods and screaming. The third one is really fun, it’s called Spike Island and it’s about a group of boys who are mad Stone Roses fans and they are desperately trying to get to their really famous gig on Spike Island, I loved making that.
Topman GENERATION: So, lots coming up. I read that you aren’t returning for the fourth series of the show, is it a bittersweet farewell?
Antonia: No, it’s not. I feel like three years was enough, I explored the character as much as I could. We had such a great time, but as an actor I want to explore other parts rather than just being known for the one part, so I made quite a conscious decision after I finished Misfits to do something completely different. At the moment I’m doing an ITV drama called Homefront which is about military wives and their families, which is completely different, which is nice.
Topman GENERATION: And finally, just because I have to, if you had to pick one superpower what would it be?
Antonia: We’d always fight over the powers we got when we were asked this question. I think mine would be shape shifting, I think that’s the best. Do you remember Penny Crayon, the cartoon character that drew things which became real? That one would be pretty amazing.
Antonia will be appearing in Homefront on ITV1 this Autumn.
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