Suranne Jones as prime minister Abigail Dalton in Hostage

There’s no question that Netflix’s new thriller Hostage is the show that’s got everyone talking right now.

After premiering on Thursday, the five-part British drama was immediately hailed as ideal one-sitting binge-viewing by critics, and quickly shot to the top of Netflix’s most-watched chart in the UK, ahead of other recent hits like Wednesday and Love Is Blind.

Led by Suranne Jones, Hostage centres around a British prime minister who is already walking the difficult line between staying true to her values amid a national crisis, when she’s backed into a corner after her husband is kidnapped and held at ransom.

Complicating matters even further is the arrival of the French president, played by Oscar nominee Julie Delpy, who has some baggage of her own that quickly begs pulled into the whirlwind around the British PM.

To coincide with the release, HuffPost UK spoke to both Suranne and Julie about putting together their two very different characters, the power that drives their fictitious leaders and comparisons with real-world politicians…

Suranne, you play Abigail Dalton in Hostage, the newly-elected British prime minister. How has your work in Hostage changed how you view the role of the prime minister, or the job?

Suranne Jones: I’ve played a lot of strong female characters, but with this, the stakes are so high, and the balancing is so interesting. As a person, she’s so different to Toussaint [played by Delpy], as well. But I feel like she’s got hope. She’s a hopeful prime minister. And I feel like I would vote for her. Would you?

I would, especially at the beginning when we first meet her, she’s very easy to root for

SJ: Yeah, until she meets [Toussaint].

Julie Delpy: [Dalton is] an idealist. I mean, [Toussaint] is kind of the opposite. [She] married, not for love, but for business. For power.

Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy in the first episode of The Hostage

Suranne, you mentioned the strong female characters you’ve played before, but with Abigail, it’s about more than strength, it’s about power…

SJ: That is the difference, yeah. Power is… you fight to get in a position like this, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime situation, and so, there is something........

© HuffPost