Rivals' Emily Atack reveals what shows she's watching and what she hopes to teach her son

Years ago, I was skint and had a tiny telly in my flat. The guy I was dating then said, “Emily, for someone who’s on TV, you should have a bigger TV.” I was mortified so I overcompensated and now I have this ridiculously massive, over-the-top television that’s half in the kitchen, half in the living room.

What have you watched recently?

I’m quite late to the party but I’m really into Grey’s Anatomy right now. Since becoming a mother [to one-year-old son Barney with her fiancé Dr Alistair Garner], TV time is even more sacred.

Who controls the remote at home?

Al and I usually find a drama we want to watch together – if we see an episode without each other, it’s like cheating. We’ve been watching The Perfect Couple and Unforgivable, and we’re about to start Alien: Earth. I’m obsessed with aliens and UFOs. I’m a believer – who’s to say there isn’t life elsewhere? Al is a scientist, so you might think he’d not believe in all that, but he does.

What do you watch with Barney?

We love Bluey, In the Night Garden and Mr Tumble. I’m really good at sign language now because CBeebies features Makaton and BSL. Barney has even started to sign! There are so many lovely inclusive, diverse programmes that are teaching him positive messages. The CBeebies presenters are brilliant – I’d be really starstruck if I met them.

What’s your first TV memory?

My mum [Kate Robbins] has always been on TV. My late uncle Simon [Shelton] played Tinky Winky in Teletubbies, so my childhood was spent going to Teletubbyland and to the studios where my mum was working, seeing behind the scenes, but it kind of destroyed my childhood. I saw Barney the dinosaur with his head off. Mum was on Spitting Image and kept some of the puppets in the house. If my siblings and I were naughty, she’d say, “You have to sit in the room with the Margaret Thatcher puppet,” which I was really scared of. So really, I should hate TV!

In The Rumour, a convicted child killer is suspected to be living in a small town. Did being a new mum help you work with your on-screen son?

I’d given birth ten weeks before filming, so I was exhausted, emotional and still in agony from my caesarean, but it was really about getting back on the horse. Before, I’d be like, “How do I play a mum? How do I make it look believable that I love this child?” In The Rumour, my fake son Liam was so sweet. I did even the tiny things, like getting him off to school, putting his bag on and adjusting his coat, with heartfelt emotion, because they really mean something now I have my own son.

What do you hope to teach Barney?

I want to raise him to know how to treat women and know his own worth, so he doesn’t feel he has to follow awful men online that are preying on vulnerable boys. Adolescence exposed the truth of what is going on in so many homes. We’re a very open book in this family. I want Barney to know he can talk to me about anything – that’s the mother I want to be.

In 2023, you presented Emily Atack: Asking for It?, which was about online sexual harassment. Would you like to do another documentary?

Yes, I want to do one on intimacy coordinators, and I’m going to start having conversations about it soon. I’ve seen people roll their eyes about them and say, “I don’t need one.” There’s a defensiveness about it, because they feel like they’re being accused of something they haven’t even done yet. Intimacy coordinators are there for support if you feel uncomfortable, whether you’re a man or a woman.

I’ve been sexually assaulted at work throughout my career, whether it’s on the actual set, or at a wrap party – and since the #MeToo movement, it shows that people are listening and that there has to be a shift in behaviour on sets.

What’s it like working with intimacy coordinators on Rivals?

I’m really proud of the Rivals gang because, throughout my life, I haven’t felt safe all the time, and we’re all so respectful of each other. We have to do a lot of sexual scenes and we’re very looked after. It’s a really positive thing.

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