This is the episode of Ted Lasso where we learn quite a bit about the ominous Dr. Fieldstone and her life beyond the confines of AFC Richmond. Spoilers ahead: She cracks open, somewhat literally, after getting into a bicycle accident.
While dizzy from medication, she dials Ted from the hospital, summoning him as her emergency contact. No one is more surprised than her—and maybe Ted, too. The actress behind the good doctor, Sarah Niles (I May Destroy You and Catastrophe), has had to play it straight for seven episodes, but in conversation with Vanity Fair she was significantly warmer and more playful than her onscreen alter ego.
Now it’s time to reveal all about the creation of Sharon Fieldstone, and what the actress who brought her to life thinks about the brilliant, stoic, and mysterious woman who has helped the team find its mental footing.
I wondered if could start where you started with Dr. Fieldstone. She does not reveal a lot about herself, at least at the start. Tell me about those early episodes with her and what you wanted to show and didn’t want to show.
Sarah Niles: I wanted to allow people to lean in. I thought it might be a good balance for Ted, who is so super positive. You just get this full on love from him, you know? On a professional level, she’s just observing him. I remember from when I first read the script that one of the descriptions said she was “very kind.” I thought, “I’ve got to just keep that.” She’s also trying to not give too much away. She’s very professional. I wanted to keep that balance.
She has been keeping Ted at arm’s distance. In this episode, her own therapist gives her the advice to try to meet Ted halfway. I thought that was interesting because I think he tries to meet everyone more than halfway. He’s up in their faces every time he meets a new person and that puts her back a little, right? She’s almost doesn’t trust that.
Yeah, it’s more about: Who is he really? Like, what’s going on? One of the things she says is, “Are you good at your job?” And then when he admits that he is, she says, “I believe you.” I don’t think she says those words lightly. I think she believes that he’s good at his job, but the way he’s presented himself to others may work for them, but it’s not helpful for him. I don’t think it’s helpful for him, or for Sharon, if we just go down that road of Happy-go-lucky, Ted, you know? The idea is for him to be honest and truthful and to make him better. You start to realize that she’s got a few barriers herself.
That’s what you want in somebody who does her job, right? You don’t want somebody who’s going to bring their personal baggage to your therapy session.
Yeah. You don’t want that.
Can you tell me about the difference there between being kind and being, I guess, indulgent? She doesn’t tolerate a lot of their antics.
She’s like that guiding hand to the next level. She could quite easily tell him the things he wants to hear, but the journey is for you to take. That’s how I see it.
You also get to create her intimidating presence. In those early episodes, Ted looks up at her in the stands and swears that she’s moving closer. You were moving, though!
[Laughs.] Yeah, that’s the wonderful thing. She’s leaning in to see and see what’s going on! But I think it depends on the interpretation, doesn’t it? You want someone to be thorough, but the interpretation is “intimidation” if you’re feeling threatened. We never get to properly see what she’s like with the players in the [closed] room. She seems quite happy and smiling to them.
She is definitely less smiley with Ted. I think maybe that’s why he interprets that close-watching as a little bit scary. As an actor, do you play up the scary elements of her or make her seem a little more ominous than maybe she really is? Was that part of the comedy?
It’s part of the job and part of the joke. She’s awkward in some respects. She’s just super intelligent and I think she thinks she’s not being intimidating. She’s just like telling you how things are that succeed. To some people that can come across as, oh, she’s not fun. I think she takes her job extremely seriously, and that’s in a way her protection. For a woman, and being British, the game of football can be intimidating. So she’s probably had to have her guard up. She had to work extremely hard to be in that position.
Now that we’ve gotten to episode eight, I see so many similarities between her and Ted. She uses a somewhat frosty exterior with him while he uses the overly warm exterior on her, but they’re both putting on a little bit of a performance, right?
You can just shower somebody with so much happiness and positivity that they don’t know or don’t have any way to question it, you know? In the same way, if you keep the shutters up and you keep everything closed off, there’s no way in, in either respect. So that’s, yeah. They have different devices to protect themselves from whatever hurt or betrayal they’ve had in the past.
We see her without the shutters after she gets hit by the car, and she calls Ted to come get her.
I always find those kinds of things really funny, when someone is completely uncomfortable, and slightly uptight. That was quite fun for me to play that scene where she’s slightly out of her comfort zone. It’s an intimate situation!
She strikes me as somebody who’s very uncomfortable with being out of control and that’s what’s happening in that situation. She’s trying to reassert control.
Exactly. Her familiarity is being in rooms where other people need guidance and feel out of control. But in a situation like this, she’s completely vulnerable. Cycling is her happy place, you know? The bike was a happy place and she’s in control. Then, what happens when you fall off your bike? You lose that control. It’s a shock to the system. Then you’ve got this person that you don’t quite really know and you’re trying to work out what’s happening.
We learn a little more about her life outside of the team. She strikes me as a somewhat lonely person.
I don’t like to think of it that way because there is an earlier scene where Jason Sudeikis asks, “How was the weekend?” She says, “Nothing that I care to share at work.” In my mind, she’s got all kinds of interesting things that happened. I never want to feel like I went for the stereotype.
I interpreted it that way perhaps because she called Ted when she needed help rather than someone else. Why do you think she did that?
Well, part of that is she’s had a concussion, or is on meds, so she’s been leaving him messages because I think, in some respects, Ted does hold a kind of mirror to her. There’s so many similarities. Until she can work out and be open to the limitations of herself, she can’t fully address the limitations with Ted. She doesn’t really want to go there. It’s both intriguing and frustrating for her in a way.
Can you tell me about the physicality of your performance? There are times where I find her very still, but rather than doing nothing, I find it very intriguing. It orbits the action around her and makes her the center. She isn’t as free in her movements as Ted, who almost reminds me of one of those dancing inflatables outside of a car dealership. Does that create her presence?
It was extremely hard to do that. And I remember the directors going, “It’s good! It’s good!” I was like, “Does it look like I’m doing nothing? Because it looks to me like I’m doing nothing.” It was hard to be that still while also trying not to laugh. Sometimes Jason and Brendan Hunt just kept trying. I was just trying to keep a straight face and not be affected by it. I kept saying: “Be like a river, be still like a river… But let things be fluid.” Does that make sense?
The laughing thing must be hard because, I won’t say she never smiles, but she doesn’t give a smile up easily. You know, she reserves that for when it’s earned.
Jason said to me, “She’s like an assassin,” and I was like, “Aha!” She comes in. She does her job really well. And then she’s out. She would not have a lot of stuff. She’s very organized, clean, clipped. So it was about not bringing too much mess into a scene, if that makes sense. Yeah. I’m quite a busy person. I’m quite kooky. I’m a spreader. I like to spread into spaces with books and things. So it was like really hard to just not be giggling or fidgeting and instead just observing and watching.
What would it be like for you to experience someone like Dr. Fieldstone in real life?
I feel like part of me would feel very secure with her because I’d know what I’d be getting. Then there would be those moments when you get a smile from her, which would just be like—that’s gold dust. I’d know that she’s good at her job. I don’t think she is a hard or cold.
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