Killing Eve writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge says it's 'empowering' to see violent women on TV

Writer and actor said challenge of the show was to make it feel violent 'without actually showing anything'

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has spoken about the violence of the characters in her BBC series Killing Eve.

The writer and actor, who is also behind the popular drama Fleabag, spoke to Andrew Marr where she explained her belief that people are “slightly exhausted from seeing women being “brutalised” on screen.

“We’re being allowed to see women on slabs the whole time and being beaten up,” she said. “Seeing women be violent – the flipside of that – there’s something instantly refreshing and oddly empowering.”

She pointed out that the challenge for Killing Eve was “to make it feel very violent without actually showing anything”.

There is “hardly any” blood shown in the series, she said, so the violence that takes place is “a very different experience for an audience”.

Producers for Killing Eve have said the show could potentially run for “years”, as series two looks set to finally resolve the major cliffhanger that ended the first.

Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris said they have plenty of ideas on how to “refresh” the show.

“If you made it up in the first place, you can make it up again. So I think it can go on, and on, and on – you just have to refresh it all the time.”