Rebecca Liddiard loves “anything and everything that scares the crap out of me.”
And that’s a good attitude since she is starring in the decidedly eerie new 10-part series, Houdini & Doyle, premiering May 2 on Global.
Houdini & Doyle falls under the mystery-adventure-drama genre.
In the fictional show, two great men of the 20th century — Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) — join forces with Scotland Yard’s constable Adelaide Stratton (played by Liddiard) to investigate inexplicable, unsolved crimes that involve a supernatural slant.
“I love a good ghost story,” says the 25-year-old Liddiard, who has been compared to Kiera Knightley. “I also like to believe there’s a bit of magic in the world. It’s more fun that way.”
What wasn’t fun for Liddiard, who attended Ryerson University’s theatre performance program, was having to tell her parents that she wanted to try to make a profession out of acting.
“I led them on for a long time,” she explains. “I told them I was thinking of being a botanist or an architect. Then I had to say to them, ‘Surprise! I’m only applying to theatre schools.’ Of course they did support me, with a little reservation.”
But they needn’t have worried. Her star is definitely on the rise.
The St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood resident recently finished a lead role in the Tarragon Theatre production Mustard. She portrayed teenager Thai in the critically acclaimed play written by Kat Sandler.
She also starred as Ella in the web/TV series MsLabelled in 2015, and she was also in the TV series Between.
Houdini & Doyle may be her biggest gig to date. The series was created by writer and producer David Shore (House, NYPD Blue, Due South) and also stars Michael Weston as Houdini and Stephen Mangan as Doyle.
“The night before I first met Stephen, I binge watched Episodes [a British/American sitcom Mangan stars in], so I arrived at rehearsals star-struck,” says Liddiard.
“I was so nervous to meet him. He’s so good in that show and is such a lovely man who is also hilarious.”
Weston, on the other hand, “burst into the room,” she says. “He doesn’t waste time chit-chatting. He just automatically is your friend, and I knew right away that I was going to be OK.”
Liddiard was excited by the character of Adelaide Stratton, the first female constable to work for the City of London Police.
“When I first read the script, I realized right away what a fantastic female role this would be. I would spend so much time just imagining her in my head and asking what kind of woman she would have been to survive in that kind of environment.”
The series is set in 1901. The show’s plot revolves around Scotland Yard often working with Houdini and Doyle.
Liddiard studied up on that unique period, which wasn’t always kind to females embarking on male-dominated careers.
“I read what it meant to be a woman during that time and what it meant to be a woman with a career,” she says.
“It’s pretty cool, and I felt really daunted by the responsibility. You could see it on set. The set was mostly men.”
Liddiard was also daunted by the task of wearing period costumes.
“We got faster and faster with getting me dressed every day,” she says. “My hair was short, so I also had hair pieces put in, which took about an hour each day. And yes, oh yes, there was always a corset!”
Her costumes included “heavy wool skirts, tailored uniforms. It was significant to get dressed,” she says and laughs. “But it’s the kind of pain you relish.”
The tough female character who creates a buffer between the squabbling Houdini and Doyle — one of whom believes in the supernatural and one of whom only believes in science and facts — is the exact opposite of Liddiard.
“I’m shy. I’m not confrontational. If I see something confrontational happen, I’ll cross the street. So it was nice to be on the other side and to be a hard-ass and arrest people. Maybe that is why I like this character so much.”
Liddiard is a London native, but the one located two hours southwest of Toronto.
She filmed eight episodes in Manchester and Liverpool, U.K., before the production headed to Toronto and Hamilton.
“It’s funny, because we filmed in locations here I had no idea about,” she says. One was Black Creek Pioneer Village in North York.
“We would have to stop filming to let a train of eight-year-olds walk through, or some poor kid would get lost and end up on set,” she says.
Liddiard moved to Toronto when she was 18.
The shy actor lived in Cabbagetown for many years before moving to the St. Lawrence Market area to live with her partner. She also loves Kensington Market “for cheap beers” and is an avid cyclist.
“I love biking around town,” she explains. “And I can’t wait to start biking along Harbourfront. I missed it last summer.”
So will she watch the premier episode of Houdini & Doyle, featuring seances, escape artists and even psychic surgeries?
“My partner definitely will,” she says. “I’m going to probably sit watching with my eyes behind my hands.”
