Suranne Jones investigates the ancient witch trials (Image: Getty) Vigil: Suranne Jones stars in trailer for BBC drama series Former Corrie star Suranne Jones is known for her gusty, award-winning roles but she believes she would have been found guilty in the 17th century “witch trials” because of her anxiety issues and for “being perimenopausal”. Jones, more accustomed to acting out a taut thriller such as Doctor Foster, Gentleman Jack, or Vigil has done a two-part doc with her screenwriter-husband investigating the historical witch trials, in the UK, Germany and Salem. “No, I wouldn’t have survived!” she said.
“I have mental health issues and I'm perimenopausal, so that's not going to wash well because surely you're a witch if you're sweating too much or your hormones are all over the place and it's affecting you so you get angry. “Everything about me as a person would have made them think that they needed to get rid of me.” This is Jones’ first documentary series, and she makes many discoveries along the way while confessing, “I always wanted to play a witch when I was younger, rather than a princess.
” She added: “One of the big things that I thought I knew and that I found out isn't true, is that all the Pendle witches [in Lancashire] were midwives. This isn’t true, there was a few that were possible midwives, or like healing women, but most of them were just women.” There were surprises in Germany, too.
“Germany blew my mind,” she said.
