In Season 2 of Sanditon, which airs on Masterpiece on PBS, Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) returns to the coastal resort with her effervescent sister (Rosie Graham) at the same time a company of Army officers takes up temporary residence in town. Even though Charlotte feels disillusioned with love, new romantic opportunities present themselves, and she embarks on a journey of discovery that will not only teach her about herself but open her up to the possibility of sharing her life with someone else.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Ben Lloyd-Hughes (who plays Alexander Colbourne, a reclusive man that hires Charlotte as governess for his daughter and his niece) talked about his own ambition to play a Jane Austen character, missing out on being cast in Season 1, initially auditioning for the role of Colonel Lennox for Season 2, what his first day on set was like, the relationship between Colbourne and Charlotte, and the similarities between Sanditon and The Great British Baking Show.

Collider: How did you get involved with this show? Jane Austen is a very specific world, so did you know what the show was when it came your way?

BEN LLOYD-HUGHES: I originally heard about it when they were auditioning for Series 1. I don’t know if it’s a controversial thing to say or not, but I auditioned for two different characters in Series 1, and I remember, at the time, being hugely excited about the show. I thought it was a really exciting premise, a great idea, and a huge scope. I was really excited about all the different characters and the world. And then, sadly, I didn’t get either of those parts, so like any bitter actor, I didn’t watch the first series out of spite. And then, when Series 2 came along, I suddenly heard from agent that they were looking for these new characters. It came at a time when I thought I was gonna be doing another job. That quite dramatically all fell through overnight. It was quite dramatic at the time.

Sanditon very quickly came around and picked me up and saved everything. I actually originally auditioned for Lennox. I put Lennox on tape, and then they said, “Oh, we think maybe he’s actually more suited for Colbourne.” I was thrilled to get the part of Colbourne. Suddenly, I was a huge Sanditon fan again, after banishing it from my mind so bitterly, and was just so excited to play such an exciting role. I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, in all the different formats that she’s been produced over the years. It was certainly one of my ambitions to play a Jane Austen character. Colbourne, for me, just has everything great about a great Jane Austen character.

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Image via Masterpiece on PBS

RELATED: Tom Weston-Jones on 'Sanditon' Season 2 and the Relationship Between Lennox and Charlotte

It seems like there would be a certain sense of nervousness and responsibility when you take on a Jane Austen character like this, but does it take some of that pressure off that you’re playing one that hasn’t actually appeared in a Jane Austen book? Is there more of a sense of freedom in what you can do with the character?

LLOYD-HUGHES: It’s not something that had necessarily occurred to me, but there was a huge liberation, subconsciously, from the fact that I wasn’t playing a character that was specifically from one of the books. Inevitably, when you’re playing a character from a book, there’s a huge ownership that a lot of people feel and a huge vision that they have of these demigod-like characters that become immortalized and that people have very strong opinions about it. So, it was so exciting to play undoubtedly and unequivocally a Jane Austen character, but one that had never been played by anyone. I had the complete freedom of basically creating the role and defining it, until in 20 years' time they remake Sanditon and there will be someone playing Alexander Colbourne.

What was your first day like on this set? What was it like to walk onto this show? Did it feel like you were living in your own bubble?

LLOYD-HUGHES: Because we were double-banking, they were filming two directors' units at the same time. They were going across all the episodes at the same time, essentially one to six. In the first couple of weeks, they were just doing Charles Sturridge’s bits because he was doing the first three episodes. Because my character doesn’t arrive until the end of episode one, I actually had a couple of weeks off, while everyone else was filming and becoming friends. And then, I came in as a bit of a stranger and very much felt like it was the first day of school, trying to get used to a film set that had already been set up and everyone was friends and used to working with each other, especially since there were a lot of people who had done Series 1 as well. But that was actually quite helpful for Colbourne.

I think my very first scene might have been from episode five, or something like that. It was daunting. I think the first scenes I did were in the girls’ study, so it was scenes of Colbourne coming into their land, and he’s a stranger who very rarely visited. It had that stranger vibe. But then, as soon as you film your first scene, you’re suddenly crushed by the sense of, “Oh fuck, I can’t now do something different. That’s how he walks. That’s how he looks. I can’t add a limp anymore. I can’t do anything different with my accent.” There’s that weird feeling of relief of, “Okay, we’ve got something in the can,” but then you’re suddenly like, “Oh my God, have I made the right choices?” And then, after a few more days, you get into the run of it and you feel a bit more comfortable in your skin.

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Image via Masterpiece on PBS

You can’t be a Jane Austen hero without a Jane Austen heroine, so what do you most enjoy about the relationship between Alexander and Charlotte? What have you most enjoyed about working with Rose Williams?

LLOYD-HUGHES: Playing any good Jane Austen scene is all about what’s not said. It’s all about the subtext and the ellipses and the unrequited aspects of it, and I really loved that. I love that dynamic. I love not having everything in the text that just spells it out, and having to almost tell one story with your eyes, and another with the words, and then another with your physicality, your body language, and you're interacting with that person. And Rose is just a powerhouse. She had such ownership of who Charlotte is. She’d already done a series, and then she had done a long time before coming back for the second series, and she was so knowledgeable on all the scripts and was opinionated on how to make everything better.

In so many ways, filming it, everything was so serendipitous with how easy it was for me to play Colbourne. The dynamics were so ingrained already on set with everyone’s status and energy. She was so great to work with because she always had a passion to make every scene brilliant. There was apathy or complacency. She really came, every day, to work, and that was both really inspiring, but also really Charlotte Heywood. She never took anything for granted and never took any scene as like, “I’m here. I’m the lead. All I have to do is show up.”

I was really inspired by her, and she always used to take the piss out of me for the fact that I’d never read the scripts or watched the first series. I would say to her that, sometimes as an actor, it can be quite helpful not to know everything about all the other characters. It was really important to me to play this loose, and that I wasn’t too clued-up on all the comings and goings of all the Sanditon characters and all their gossip. I didn’t want that to filter into my brain for how I interacted with them. The lack of knowledge that I had of Season 1, and even the other storylines in Season 2, was actually really helpful for me, apart from the fact that it meant, as a lazy actor, I could just read my bits.

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Image via Masterpiece on PBS

Because this is the kind of project where you are really creating your own world within a bubble, and you’re in these costumes, you’re using this style of speech, there’s a whole different posture required, and you’re riding around on a horse, is it ever weird to then readjust to the real world and the modern world again?

LLOYD-HUGHES: That’s a really interesting question. The really interesting thing about filming Sanditon was that I grew my own sideburns, so in a way, Colbourne followed me everywhere, wherever I was. Not only was I sometimes in a period costume holding a mobile phone, but I was also off set, looking in the mirror and Colbourne was right there staring at me with my sideburns and with my hair. I’ve done a lot of period stuff before, and it’s such a joy to wear these amazing costumes and walk around these amazing locations and sets. They do so much of the work for you. You don’t really need to use too much of your imagination, filming in these huge country houses or these amazing sets, surrounded by other people in costumes. It’s not too difficult to get lost in the world. We used the sets for our green rooms, so when we weren’t even filming scenes, we were still sitting around in these opulent, huge, high-ceiling rooms. We just were 24/7 living it, which was quite cool. It was really fun.

You come onto this show as a package deal, since your character has a daughter and a niece. What was it like to establish and play with that dynamic and to have those actresses to interact with?

LLOYD-HUGHES: Yeah, I like that phrase “package deal.” I hadn’t thought about that, but he is a package deal. I love the energy that the two girls brought. Eloise [Webb] and Flora [Mitchell] were so fun to work with. Every day that I was working with them, they just had such a glorious, uncynical, open, and enthusiastic energy, and that’s really infectious. When you’re working with actors from lots of different worlds and experiences, it can all get a bit lethargic and apathetic and be a bit, “Oh, here we are again.” I remember this myself, as a young actor, it’s just so exciting to be on a film set, in costume, playing in this magic world, and that’s such a useful thing to remember, as an actor and as a human being. They reminded me, every day, of how lucky I was to be doing that. When you’re really young, and it’s one of your first jobs, you really do relish it, and that’s something that I was able to do, even more so when I was working with them.

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Image via Masterpiece on PBS

Especially when it’s this full-on, and you’re all in the world together, in your elaborate wardrobe.

LLOYD-HUGHES: Yeah, it was amazing. It was genuinely amazing to see each person walk onto the set each day, almost like a catwalk. They’d get a little applause for what they were wearing that day. Everyone would compliment each other on their boots, their waistcoats, their ball gowns, and their hair. With the hairpieces and the hats and the wigs, like The Great British Baking Show, everyone had their new, fantastic masterpiece that they brought onto set every day.

I love that you threw in a reference to The Great British Baking Show, before the end of this interview. Thank you for that.

LLOYD-HUGHES: Every interview, I have to. That’s part of my contract, to make reference to The Great British Baking Show.

I’m obsessed with that show.

LLOYD-HUGHES: It’s got very similar setups, I suppose. Lady Denham is probably what would have been Mary Berry, but now is Prue. And Tom Parker is Paul Hollywood. They’re the King and Queen of Sanditon. And then, everyone else are the participants, desperately trying to win their approval.

Sanditon airs on Sunday nights on Masterpiece on PBS.