At this point in her career, Jumbo says that one of the key motivations when she chooses roles is a desire to be challenged. “I want something that’s going to stretch me, otherwise there’s no point. Every job is about six months of your life, so it has to be adding to your arsenal somehow, otherwise it’s a kind of ego job. I loved the fact that Frances was going to be sailing. I loved that it was set on the Isle of Wight. And the script was dark but fantastic.”

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Part of the desired stretch on Beast involved learning to sail a 50-foot yacht, which, Jumbo says, “was incredible because I’m a city girl who didn’t even see a cow ’til I was, like, 10 years old”.
Challenge also came from the realisation that “I haven’t played a role on television this dark since I’ve had a child. I’m not a method actor, but I use a lot of substitution, and I know since having a child many things in my acting have adapted. Most of them being that I’m fearless; once you’ve pushed a baby out, you’re not afraid of anything. You become much less bothered about people’s opinions.”

When Jumbo read the Beast script, her son Maximillian (with husband Sean Griffin) was two years old. Wanting him to grow up in Britain among family and friends was part of the reason that the family returned from the United States. Named for Egypt’s King Cush, Jumbo is one of six children born to a British mother and Nigerian father. She remembers her parents, who are both nurses, enrolling her in dance classes when she was a child “because I had so much energy”.

“My first time on stage was when I was four. I vividly remember it: the smell of that stage, the smell of the theatre and the feeling. I’ve always been more comfortable on stage than I am off. I feel most myself when I’m looking out into darkness. As soon as I could walk, Broadway was where I wanted to be.”

In order to get there, she performed for “no money at all” early in her career and now says: “Working for a cheque doesn’t work for me. I’m not afraid of not making money because I didn’t grow up with money. I’ve had money and I’ve not had money. Being unhappy is what I find terrifying. And I believe that your acting, or the work that you do as an artist, is an extension of whatever’s going on in your core – that if you’re unhappy, you never make good work. Or you become a very bitter person.”

Reflecting on her progress, she says: “It’s so weird that I’ve grown up to be what I wanted to be, and getting to decide what jobs I want to do. It’s an amazing position to be in, especially if you’ve had to grind to get there. It’s very satisfying, but it keeps you on your toes. Every two jobs you take, that’s another year of your life. And it’s time away from my son. So with every decision, I have to be very sure about what I’m doing.

“I’m producing more now because, when I’m writing, I like to be part of the creative process. I’ve learnt that it’s more satisfying when you’re part of putting the show together, and I want to be more in control of the work that I do. So, yeah, I’m really enjoying my life right now, COVID aside.”

And as the opportunities keep rolling in, she’ll soon be seen in Stay Close, an adaptation of Harlan Coben’s crime thriller that also stars James Nesbitt and Sarah Parish – it drops on Netflix on New Year’s Eve.