‘Sanditon’ Star Frank Blake Takes Us Inside Captain Fraser and Alison’s Big Romantic Moment

Charlotte (Rose Williams) isn’t the only Heywood sister who has been torn between two suitors in Sanditon Season 2 on Masterpiece on PBS. Her sister Alison (Rosie Graham) has been throwing herself at the handsome Captain Carter (Maxim Ays) for weeks, totally unaware that a better man, Captain Fraser (Frank Blake), truly loves her. Moreover, Captain Carter’s grand tales of heroism are just stories he’s stolen from pal Captain Fraser’s own bloody career.

Alison is totally clueless. That is, until last night’s all new episode of Sanditon. When Alison falls into a pond and Captain Carter balks at saving her, she realizes she can’t marry the callow Redcoat. Moreover, it might actually be Captain Fraser who is her real hero as he was man enough to jump into the water and rescue her from drowning.

Ironically, Sanditon star Frank Blake told us that Rosie Graham was her own hero that day on set…

“I didn’t have to get in the water and poor Rosie did. That was a very, very cold day for Rosie and yeah, it was a tough bit of shooting for her,” Frank Blake told Decider recently. “She was genuinely in the water. Whereas we pick up the action from where I’ve rescued her from the water. So she’s got genuine pond water on her, it’s freezing, and I just got like sprayed down with warm water to make me look wet.”

How did Blake get so lucky? And does he feel bad denying Sanditon fans his heroic dive into the pond?

“No, it’s probably would’ve been a nightmare to shoot me doing a Baywatch scene. And it’s a nice reveal, in the way they shot it anyways, it seems like they’re like, ‘Oh what happened? Oh, it was him,” Blake said.

Blake told Decider that in real life, he and Graham don’t snipe at each other like Fraser and Alison have been doing on the show. “Rosie was great to work with,” Blake said. “She’s Scottish and I’m Irish so we had a Celtic connection there anyways.”

“The scenes [with Rosie Graham] were great. They’re so much fun and it was really fun to start off with the two characters kind of really missing each other, rubbing off each other the wrong way,” Blake said.

Blake added that all three parts of the Fraser/Alison/Carter love triangle got along famously on the Sanditon Season 2 set.

“We all got on very well; Maxim, Rosie and I,” Blake said. “The dynamic between the characters is fun because sure, Fraser is a mentor to Carter and telling him to do things that maybe Fraser himself wants to do in order to woo Alison.”

When Decider asked Blake why he thinks Fraser struggles to open up to Alison, he said he thought it was “a couple of things.”

“It’s probably something he’s not experienced in because he’s spent most of his life away or traveling or dealing with much bigger things than falling in love. Also I think his own loyalty gets in the way of himself where he recognizes that Carter has his eye on Alison so he wouldn’t want to tread on anyone’s toes there,” Blake said.

Of course, the one moment when Fraser can’t hold himself back is when his lady love is in danger.

“I think as for his character, he’s a lot more valiant than I was in those moments. He has to step up to the mark if he sees some danger, and he’s that kind of person. Thankfully he was there, thank God!” Blake said with a laugh.

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