On the Set of The Mayflower | Saints & Strangers

[Music] To create the scenes on the Mayflower interior and exterior, we used an existing ship and we built onto it to make it feel smaller. I knew that we were going to be shooting on a boat, obviously, but I didn't really think that it was going to be moving.

The first time it starts to move, your whole world gets rocked. I remember I went back to my trailer and I looked a little green, so you don't really have to act when you're actually holding on to your stomach. The boat is extraordinary; it's a great set, and it actually gives you masses in terms of the claustrophobic nature of that set.

The beds are lined up like hospital beds with sort of very, very thin curtains between them. The tween deck area, which is where the pilgrims spent most of their journey, is very chaotic. It's one of my favorite sets; it's very busy and full and very short.

"Don't lie to me! My boys do not steal! I saw it with my very own eyes. Look at them! They barely shed a tear since they've been on this."

Your words really set the tone for the start of their adventure or their journey. "Scurvy, Mrs. Carver, you are not alone."

They come out very ill and sick and tired and weary, and have to face life on a planet that they don't know anything about. This voyage took many more months than it was supposed to take because they left one time from the south of England and realized one of their boats was leaking.

'Cause originally there were two boats, so they had to go back and fix the boat, and then they took off again and they realized, "Oh, the boat was leaking again!" So they had to go back, and then they just abandoned that and they all packed into one boat which was supposed to just be for cargo.

In school when I was little, we had, you know, our own image of what the Mayflower looked like and how it was this sort of bright sunny, you know, it's got the name Mayflower and how beautiful it sounds. Then you realize that it was not built for people; it was a horrible place.

I think by the end, it stinks, you know? There's death all around you; people are sick and diseased, and there's nowhere to use the toilet. I would not have fared well on the Mayflower. My God, I don't fare well on like a 5-hour flight, you know? Like if the flight's delayed 20 minutes, I'm like, "Oh gosh, how dare they!"

I'm a very soft version of a human being, and I think people back then were so much stronger and so much more adaptable.