Olivia Colman reveals ‘awkward’ mix-up with child actor

Olivia Colman recently recalled an emotional moment from the set of the 2019 series Les Misérables, sharing how difficult it was to film a scene with a child star.

The 51-year-old actress, who played Madame Thénardier in the BBC drama series, opened up about filming an emotional scene with a young co-star.

In an exclusive conversation, she recalled, “I was meant to hit this little girl. She had padding down her back and I had a belt. I hit her once, half-heartedly, and I burst into tears, ‘I can’t do it, I can’t hit her.’ She was like, ‘No, do it, look, do it,’ and she was hitting herself. There was also one little girl, who was the younger version [of the character], who didn’t speak English. She started to look like she was crying, and I went, ‘Oh, shut up’ because I thought she was acting. But she actually started to cry. I went, ‘I’m so sorry!’ It was awful.”

Meanwhile, Colman is also gearing up for Netflix’s limited series Pride and Prejudice, slated for release in late 2025 or early 2026.

For the unversed, Tom Shankland’s Les Misérables aired its final episode on February 3, 2019.