Suranne Jones breaks down tense Hostage finale confrontation scenes and how "being a woman plays into it"

The series centres on Suranne Jones's Prime Minister Abigail Dalton, who is faced with an impossible decision when her husband is kidnapped.

As well as the French president (Julie Delpy) also facing her own blackmail plot, the two leaders are thrust together in this set of tricky decisions as they must navigate how best to serve their countries and save the ones they love.

The finale reveals who was behind the plot in the first place, and it turns out that it was all because Abigail had been cutting the military budgets, leaving General Livingston (Mark Lewis Jones) embittered and out for revenge.

As the evidence starts to come together and Livington's leading role in the plot becomes apparent, Abigail and her team confront him at the Ministry of Defence in front of his team and the acting prime minister.

The scene itself leads to a tense confrontation between the two, with Livingston revealing that he doesn't think of Abigail as a leader fit for the country.

In an exclusive chat with RadioTimes.com, Jones breaks down the scene and how she interpreted it. Does the scene underline some of the background misogyny that Abigail has had to face being a female prime minister, we ask her.

Jones says: "By the time we get to that scene, we’ve seen what the decision was when she was a junior minister, the split decision that has so many repercussions. The fact that there’s other characters in her cabinet that aren’t serving her well, that don’t believe that she’s the right person to run the country, I do feel like being a woman plays into that.

"Being a woman who has a husband who has his own career, being a mother, all of those things. The fact that she is quite volatile in the way she expresses herself sometimes, which I love about her. She wants to remain truthful, and that’s very unusual in the political climate. I think the men around her find that very intimidating and unstabilising."

Jones added: "Mark’s an amazing actor, so I loved playing that."

As for the ultimate ending, with Sylvie (Isobel Akuwudike) shooting Shagan (Martin McCann), it is certainly a whirlwind of events.

Speaking about that, Jones said: "When you get to the very end, what happens with Sylvie is shocking because the cost of what Abigail and her family have had to go through for what she wants to achieve for the country and to not stand up to terrorists is huge.

"But she didn’t give in, she’s a fighter. I think we will judge her because she’s a woman and the choices that she makes in this, but I also think that’s really interesting."

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The series doesn't end on the same note for Delpy's Toussaint, but the pull of the central premise is very much down to the fact that Hostage is concerned with these two leading women.

Although they start off on a rocky note, things do start to get better between the pair as they're forced into this incredible situation with each other.

Explaining their dynamic, Jones said: "We’re in a very particular situation that only we know about, what that experience is like to be a woman in power, a leader of a country.

"I think when they first meet, there’s so many barriers that they put up between themselves and obviously their politics, the things they have to achieve.

"Then of course the hostage situation and what happens with you [Delpy]. I feel like the journey that they go on is finding the humanity in each other.

"Actually, sifting through all of the s**t and saying, 'Can we work together on this?' Because if they don’t see each other in that way, they’re never going to move on. I find that really touching."

Hostage is now available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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