Jodie Turner-Smith plays Anne Boleyn, the legendary Queen of England and Henry VIII’s second wife, in Channel 5’s much-anticipated drama of the same name, which premieres on Tuesday night.

Jodie has faced a lot of controversy for portraying a historic white queen on television after her casting. She claims, however, that this part was tailor-made for her since she has more in common with the character than her detractors realize.

‘I had just become a mother and that was what really jumped out at me, the story of Anne as a mother,’ Jodie told Glamour of her first child, Janie, with husband Joshua Jackson.

‘I did know it would be something that people felt very passionately about, either in a positive or a negative way, because Anne is a human in history who people feel very strongly about.

‘More than anything, I wanted to tell the human story at the centre of all of this.’

Turner-Smith said that her daughter, whom she shares with Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson, was just 6 months old at the time Anne Boleyn was filmed and still breastfeeding. “So to have the experience of working with people that have so much compassion for where I was in my journey as a mother, as we were telling the story about a mother, I feel there was just so much more compassion in the storytelling,” she added.

Jodie is particularly excited about the fact that the production crew will be entirely made up of women, with the exception of one man.

“I do also enjoy working with men, and I’m not limiting myself in that way,” she said.

“But I think it’s important right now that women get to tell our own stories — in the same way I’ve relished the opportunity to work with Black filmmakers, because there’s a certain nuance to the storytelling that I don’t find when I work with white filmmakers.”

“When something’s helmed by female filmmakers, there’s so much power in that,” she remarked.

Turner-Smith says the all-female production staff contributed to “an element of being seen and your character being seen and feeling more alive. obviously we pay attention to different things and want to honour the fullness of an experience in a different way.”

The drama will follow Anne Boleyn’s final months as she fights to provide a future for her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and to confront the patriarchy that is closing in around her. “Anne Boleyn will depict the key moments that cause Anne to topple, unpicking her immense strength, her fatal vulnerabilities and her determination to be an equal among men.” according to the show’s synopsis.

Anne Boleyn will air on Channel 5 at 9 p.m. on June 1st.