Remember me
Actress Mia McKenna-Bruce admits she “didn’t know much about The Beatles”, despite being cast as Sir Ringo Starr’s wife in the band’s upcoming biopic films.
During an interview with Tatler magazine, the 28-year-old said she couldn’t name the members of the band, and that their music “wasn’t my jam”, before being cast in The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event.
The award-winning actress will portray Starr’s first wife, Maureen Starkey, in the upcoming films, which will follow the lives of the Fab Four and are due to be released in April 2028.
Speaking about her role, the actress said: “Finally, I can talk about it. I’ve known for near-on-a year, but I couldn’t tell my family.
“I love them all but they have the biggest mouths in the world.”
McKenna-Bruce said she was never a fan of the best-selling band, and said: “We sang Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine at school, but it wasn’t my jam.
“On Seven Dials (her upcoming new Agatha Christie drama) Martin Freeman was asking me to name all the Beatles – I didn’t know.
“Then he’d ask me, ‘what band was Mick Jagger in?’ I was like, ‘I have no idea Martin’.
“Now, I’m like, Oh my God, The Beatles are underrated. This is good. It’s music I’d sit and listen to on the train.”
She will star in the upcoming films, which will follow the lives of the Fab Four and are due to be released in April 2028 (Ian West/PA) She will star alongside award-winning actresses Aimee Lou Wood, Saoirse Ronan and Anna Sawai in the films, which will be directed by British film-maker Sir Sam Mendes.
Formed in 1960, The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time and one of the most influential groups in the world, having achieved 18 UK number one singles and 16 UK number one albums.
Each biopic will tell its own story but intersect to form a portrait of The Beatles’ rise, relationships, and cultural impact.
McKenna-Bruce will also star in the upcoming adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel The Seven Dials Mystery, alongside Bafta-winning actors Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman, and Sex Education’s Ed Bluemel.
Set in the 1920s, the series will follow McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, finds herself having to unravel a deadly plot after a practical joke at a country house party appears to have gone wrong.
McKenna-Bruce said: “They set out to make something really cool and modern, but also really Agatha Christie-ish in tone – and they really managed it.
“You want to dive into that world and just have so much fun.”
The How To Have Sex star also reflected on her time on set with Bonham Carter, who plays her on-screen mother, and said they had “so much fun” working together.
She said: “We liked to say we were more sisters than mother-daughter. We have the same energy; we’re two very excitable humans.”
The series, written by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, will be available to watch on Netflix from January 15.
McKenna-Bruce and her partner, Tom Leach, welcomed their first child, Leo, in August 2023, and the couple tied the knot in August last year.
The actress described motherhood as a “new chapter of her life”, which she thinks helped her to be taken seriously in her career.
She said: “Before – because I look young and have an excitable nature – some people didn’t take me seriously. Now they view me as an adult.
“Being a mother gives you confidence, because now I have something to fight for. It’s propelled me into having a voice.”
The full interview with Mia McKenna-Bruce can be read in the February issue of Tatler magazine, available from January 8.
