Traitors star Cara Horgan on why the post-Second World War drama has parallels with Brexit

Traitors might be a spy thriller series set in the aftermath of the Second World War, but star Cara Horgan believes theres parallels with the current political climate.

The Channel 4 six-part drama follows Feef Symonds (Emma Appleton), a young woman who joins the Civil Service in 1945 after Clement Attlees Labour Party defeats wartime leader Winston Churchill in a surprise landslide.

What unfolds is a spy drama which charts tensions on many fronts, paranoia between UK and US governments, the beginnings of the Cold War, and even anti-Semitism in post-war Britain, as channelled through Cara Horgans character Rae Savitt.

The latter is a Jewish typist for the Home Office who is forced to hide her religion due to the level of anti-Semitism in Britain, something which the actress wasnt aware of until she researched the role.

There was a lot of anti-Semitism in Britain at that time, Cara told Metro.co.uk. With the Oswald Moseley riots and there was the Blackshirts.

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My character is having to walk to work and see pro-Nazi propaganda around and people doing anti-Jewish protests. It was a really stressful time to be a Jewish person in Britain.

With a nation divided by politics and the future uncertain after the war, theres certainly a whiff of the current political confusion and disarray surrounding Brexit.

I do think its very topical right now just because of everything going on with Brexit, and the uncertainty in the government, Cara said.

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It feels like were in another time in history where people who are not originally from Britain are now having to question and redefine the place they thought was home, suddenly might not be home.

No one knew what was going to happen next and how things were going to be rebuilt. I feel like thats not too dissimilar what were in now with the current state of things.

The show, however, isnt really focused on the political allegory. Its mainly a show about personal relationships, with Savitt dealing with her son, who was evacuated during the war to an orthodox family, returning as someone entirely different with a set of rules outside her norms.

Research into the Jewish experience, and that of women after the war following the demobilisation of armed forces, proved an insightful, if bleak, journey for Cara, adding: After the war meant that women had to step away from jobs they had been doing for the past four years to open employment for the men that had been on the front, so they could come back and work effectively.

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For a lot of women it was quite a major thing because it had been the first time in their lives they had been given autonomy and independence, and they were expected to be like, “Okay, you have your job back and Ill go back to the household now.” A lot of women lost their partners and they were the main breadwinner for their household, so the idea that there was a law that meant they had to give that up, thats part of the story really.

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