Emily Atack, best known for her role as Charlotte 'Big Jugs' Hinchcliffe in The Inbetweeners, has spoken about the brutal online abuse she has faced over the years. The 34-year-old actress, who now stars in the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Rivals, said she was often reduced to 'the bit of totty' by tabloids and trolls.
Atack, who gave birth to a baby boy three months ago, described her new role in Rivals as 'the best job I've ever done in my life'. She plays Sarah Stratton, a young woman who has an affair with a Tory MP. Atack noted that women like her character are often 'villainised' as sluts or thick, but that Cooper's writing avoids such mockery.
The actress grew up in Bedfordshire in a showbiz family; her mother Kate Robbins is a singer and actor, and her father Keith Atack was in the band Child. She attended a regular state school despite her family's initial wealth, which she described as 'classless'. However, her parents' 'really awful divorce' when she was 16 led to them losing everything.
Atack reflected on the difficulty of discussing sexual harassment with older generations, saying her mother's peers often normalised being groped. She emphasised the importance of handling period dramas like Rivals carefully to avoid glorifying problematic behaviour.
