‘As a model, I didn’t have a voice’

FORMER model Caitriona Balfe says her time on the runway prepared her for playing a time-travelling nurse in a show that’s become a cult hit.

IN OUTLANDER, Caitriona Balfe plays Claire Randall, a WWII combat nurse who mysteriously finds herself transported through time to 1743.

Not only is she wrenched from home and her husband, but she also finds herself placed in a time when women had no say — a state of affairs that doesn’t sit well with the outspoken Claire.

Based on the series of books by Diana Gabaldon, the show has amassed a cult following. So it’s no surprise to hear that a second season was commissioned well before the first, which picks up this Sunday after a six-month break, wraps up.

Hit series ... Caitriona Balfe says she’s thrilled that Outlander is back for a second season.

“The reception is amazing,” Balfe says of the news. “I don’t think any of us expected it to become so instantaneous. We start filming season two next month.”

The Irish actress says that playing Claire is a joy she doesn’t take for granted.

“People really love Claire, I think a lot of people want to be her,” she says. “People want to know what it’s like to play her — I get asked that a lot.”

Time traveller ... Caitriona Balfe plays Claire Randall, a WWII nurse who is transported back to 1743.

Ironically, Balfe says her ten years working as a high fashion model prepared her for a role which sees her stranded in the midst of a civil war being ordered around by burly rebel soldiers.

“I have a little experience of not having a voice,” she laughs. “I had so many experiences where I was travelling and feeling very displaced and having to very quickly survive and that has played into my ability to play Claire.”

“I was very happy to be modelling but there was a lot of that time I felt I didn’t have a voice and was treated like a girl, not as a woman. It can feel very frustrating so I definitely recognise that feeling.”

Outlander, Soho, Sunday, 7.30pm