The Mitford sisters were Outrageous – the title of new TV biopic is justified, say cast
The new period drama is based on the true story of the aristocratic English family.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. The Mitford sisters flirted with fascism, communism, infamy and scandal – now a new drama, based on their biography by Mary Lovell, brings their outrageous behaviour to the screen. Radio Times speaks to stars Bessie Carter (Nancy) and Joanna Vanderham (Diana) about the new U&Drama series. “How did these six women raised under one roof end up so different?” wonders 31-year-old Bessie Carter. “What we do in the show is look at those early years when they’re about to step out into the world and make their mark. They’re refusing to conform to what was expected of them at the time, which was to be wives and mothers. “They were definitely women who didn’t want to just do the debutante balls,” adds the actor most familiar from Bridgerton. “They wanted to work and to exercise their brains.” However, apart from Nancy, who made a bit of money from writing, “they either had to rely on rich husbands or allowances from Papa. And if you’re not giving people a place in society where they feel valued, they’re going to turn to places where they feel that they’re contributing. For some of these sisters, that ended up in problematic areas. When their voices weren’t being heard, that built up their anger and frustration. If we don’t listen to the voiceless, they’ll just scream louder.” These self-reliant women feel decades ahead of their time. “The Mitfords were modern women,” agrees Carter, “they were really progressive. They always asked, ‘Why can’t I do that?’” That independent-mindedness, Carter believes, was down to the Mitfords’ “fierce determination. Although their father said that women shouldn’t be at school he let them read every book in his library. So they were extremely resourceful.” At its heart, Outrageous charts the relationship between Nancy and Diana, which broke down after Diana’s marriage to Oswald Mosley. “Nancy had to take a stand,” Carter explains. “We’ve all probably had that moment when you have a sibling who’s going out with someone who makes you go, ‘Aargh!’ But this was on a global scale. And that really drove a wedge between Nancy and Diana.” Beyond that, “Outrageous is looking at these six sisters and wondering how long a family will hold together. And at what point do you have to confront hard truths and face your differences? That’s relevant today, isn’t it? We probably all have a family member who politically is in a different place. How do we deal with that?” The actor says that Nancy’s feelings towards her parents in no way reflects her loving bond with her own parents, Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton, with whom she is currently starring in a West End production of Mrs Warren’s Profession – “It’s a very different relationship”. That also extended to her feelings towards her on-screen mother – “but it did help that I knew Anna Chancellor and that made me feel very calm. She’s an amazing woman, and so I felt very relaxed in her company. She became like a mother to all of us.” How does Carter think viewers will respond to the show? Now more than ever, she stresses, “We have to talk and listen to each other.” Joanna Vanderham confesses the outfits she wears as Diana Mitford did, “half the work for me. I had these incredible power shoulders, I felt like I could take on the world. I have a scene where I’m telling Churchill how to run the country – and that’s all because I have my power shoulders on! That’s the power of a good dress.” The 34-year-old Scottish actor, who has also taken leading roles in The Go-Between and The Paradise, relished being able to dive into an enormous pool of research about the Mitfords. “One of the things I enjoyed was looking at old photographs of Diana because she was the socialite of the time. She was in the tabloids before anyone else. “There’s a whole wealth of imagery. Diana had this unique thing that she did with her eyelids. She struck this pose where her eyelids were at half-mast. Apparently, she hardly moved her face when she talked or posed for photographs because she didn’t want to give herself wrinkles. “So, I try throughout the show to have my eyelids half-closed. And there’s only one way you can hold your head and see if your eyes are half-closed – you have to look down your nose at people. That just brought her to life for me.” All of the Mitford sisters’ stories are extraordinary, but Diana’s stands out. She was initially part of the Bright Young Things, a group of Bohemian socialites in 1920s London about whom Evelyn Waugh wrote in his novel Vile Bodies. But that all changed when she left her wealthy husband Bryan Guinness for Oswald Mosley. Their marriage in 1936 took place at the home of the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, with Adolf Hitler as a guest of honour. Diana’s involvement with fascism resulted in three years’ internment at Holloway Prison during the Second World War. Vanderham explains, “Nancy told on Diana. She informed Churchill that Diana was a threat to national security and had her imprisoned. Who does that to their own sister? The Mitfords were mad!” The actor, who has two sisters and a brother, says she was able to draw on her own family dynamic, saying of her siblings: “They’re the first true friendships that you ever have. They’ve been through things with you that no one else has. It’s a really special relationship that I treasure. Thankfully, I get on very well with my family. Unfortunately, some of the Mitfords stopped talking to each other entirely.” Diana never changed her tune. Her interview on Desert Island Discs in 1989 was condemned because she denied the Holocaust and expressed her unrepentant admiration for Hitler. Her story is just one element of a real-life drama that is barely believable. Vanderham observes, “I feel that people will go, ‘That wouldn’t have happened.’ Then they’ll Google it and realise it did. The Mitfords were outrageous. The title is absolutely justified.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Outrageous will air on U&DRAMA and U from Thursday 19th June. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Van der Valk's Maimie McCoy: "I want us to be allowed to age on screen"
Filming Van der Valk in Amsterdam is a dream job for Maimie McCoy – but will those great roles keep coming?
We very nearly lost her to baking. After leading roles in much-loved series like The Musketeers, All Creatures Great and Small, A Confession, DCI Banks and Van Der Valk, the actress Maimie McCoy is an established TV name. But she has not always been so high-profile; in fact, a dozen years ago she almost quit acting altogether. The 43-year-old recalls now that, “When I was 30, I had a proper crossroads moment in my career. My agent at the time said, ‘I think we've gone as far as we can go’. Nothing was really happening.” So, McCoy started baking. “I set up a cake business doing private afternoon tea parties. I loved it. It really tapped into something creative.” She was particularly skilled at making wedding cakes. “I did one for a friend and her partner. What they wanted was quite bonkers - a five-tier psychedelic rainbow. When you cut into it, it had all of these mad colours inside. It was like some acid trip. And as they got married at the end of a pier, I shoved a fake seagull on the top!” Despite her success as a psychedelic cake-maker, McCoy continued to secure acting jobs - but they were not always particularly fulfilling. She recollects, for instance, reading for a movie role opposite Tom Hardy - “A particularly bad audition for a lost classic film called ‘Minotaur’. After I finished reading a few scenes, the director said, ‘Ok great… do you think you could try reading another part for me?’ "I was super green and young, so I said yes. I was rather baffled when he handed me a script for the only character who didn’t speak, due to an early trauma. I just had to look and listen. I felt pretty stupid that my speaking wasn’t good enough, but I did get the part, so not a total disaster!” Her story obviously has a happy ending. After a few more years of struggle, McCoy’s fortunes were finally transformed in 2014, when she landed the leading role of the scheming, seductive Milady de Winter in BBC1’s The Musketeers. Portraying the most charismatic woman in 17th Century Paris proved a game changer. It was also on The Musketeers that McCoy first worked with Marc Warren, now her co-star in Van der Valk. She got to know him especially well, as his character, the dastardly Comte de Rochefort, attempted to strangle Milady several times. McCoy, who hails from Yorkshire, where her parents own a pub, is talking from her home in North London. She makes for entertaining, engaging company, chuckling that, “Marc definitely doesn’t strangle me in Van der Valk - his character barely gives me any eye contact!” In ITV’s reworking of the 1970’s detective drama, McCoy plays Lucienne Hassell, the title character’s lively and loyal sidekick. She expands on the relationship between the two detectives: "Because Van der Valk‘s always staring off into the distance with his sharp jawline, looking all moody, his colleagues have got to give him a bit of a poke from time to time! Lucienne’s certainly the one person who can pull him up, take the mick out of him and wind him up. “But for all that, she truly cares for him. She and Van der Valk are two lost souls who are able to challenge each other. It is very much like what Marc and I have off screen. A lot of it is unsaid. There is just a very deep understanding of each other, which I can trace back to us meeting all those years ago.” The series, which is filmed entirely on location in Holland, returns this week for a second series, and in the two years in which it has been off our screens, it has got darker; in the opening episode Van der Valk and Lucienne have to investigate the grisly murder of a solicitor whose mutilated body is found hanging on a windfarm with a cryptic note hidden in her coat. All Creatures, it isn’t. McCoy emphasises that this darkness is necessary; it would be wrong for the series to shy away from the trauma that crime inflicts on a victim, as well the investigating detective. “We look at the toll crime takes on a police officer, the emotional cost. “You don't want to just be in these crime scenes and be totally cold. It’s important that we really show a connection between the victim and the detective. That gives the police officer a real emotional investment in the crime.” That is not to say that filming “Van Der Valk” has been a relentlessly gruelling process. McCoy reveals that there have been many light-hearted moments during the shoot. She recalls the day things did not go entirely to plan in the production’s mobile toilet, known on set as a “honey wagon”. “I was desperate for the loo, and so as soon as we broke for lunch, I ran to the honey wagon and bolted the door. Then, just as I was pulling my trousers up, I felt the truck shake and pull away. “I was shouting, ‘No, no!’ and banging on the wall. As the truck went round a corner, the door flew open and I thought I was going to fall out. But luckily, the driver saw it and stopped the truck. He apologised to me every day after that!” She laughs that her autobiography could now be entitled “The Day I Went for a Drive in a Honey Wagon”. McCoy wasn’t quite so amused when for one scene she had to lie in an Amsterdam back alley and a huge rat emerged from the darkness and scuttled across her face. “It was two in the morning and I felt this creature run over my face. Marc was horrified. If that had happened to him, he would have gone to hospital and had a tetanus injection!” But, as a tough Yorkshire woman and single mother to a young daughter, McCoy simply carried on. Despite the “honey wagons” and rats, the actress has adored filming in Amsterdam. “It’s got this sexy vibe.” The one drawback has been juggling a major role with the demands of being a single parent. One night, McCoy had to stay up for six hours removing nits from her daughter’s hair. “Another time, my daughter fell out of bed and we had to find an A&E in the middle of the night and still had to get up at six the next morning. “My parents tried to come out to Amsterdam to help during the pandemic but they got sent back from the airport because the authorities didn’t think providing childcare was a good enough reason to come into the country. I had a massive schedule and lots of lines to learn, and I was suddenly left without childcare for 10 days.” Fortunately, McCoy’s cast mates came to the rescue. “The boys were brilliant. They swooped in to provide childcare. It shows you need a village to help you.” Childcare crises aside, Lucienne is the sort of meaty TV role that actresses in their 40s have long been crying out for. McCoy cautions that there is still work to be done, though. “Things are changing and I’m doing well in my early 40s, but I do worry about the range of roles for later in this decade. I have friends actively writing roles and campaigning for women not to disappear from the screen. My life is so much richer and more interesting than it’s ever been, and I want to really see that reflected. I want us to be allowed to age on screen and to celebrate that. “But I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining. I’ve got a brilliant job. I’m getting paid very well…” If ever she feels in danger of moaning, "I always have a word with myself and say, ‘Don’t forget how lucky you are. You’re not working down a coal mine’.” Which really is the icing on the cake… Van der Valk season 2 will air from Sunday 7th August at 8pm on ITV. For more, check out our TV Guide or visit our dedicated Drama hub. This feature was originally published in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, which is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.
"Mother’s Day is true to what happened" – Wendy and Colin Parry reflect on BBC's new Warrington bombing drama
Wendy and Colin Parry lost their 12-year-old son Tim during the IRA attack in 1993
I have no political or religious message to give you,” Colin Parry says, solemnly. “It seems to me that I’m not qualified to do that. But people have said that Tim hasn’t died in vain, that good must come from this. I hope that’s true because if my son becomes a symbol of peace and gives everyone a new sense of hope after so much tragedy…” There is a long pause as his voice audibly breaks. “Then that will be Tim’s unique achievement.” The emotional moment sits at the heart of Mother’s Day, a new drama set in the wake of the 1993 Warrington bombings. It’s hard to imagine what Colin Parry (played by Daniel Mays) is going through. What is beyond debate is that he delivers an astonishingly moving oration at the funeral of his 12-year-old son, who days earlier had lost his life in the IRA attack. Everything you need to know about Mother's Day The best TV dramas airing in autumn 2018 Stay up to date with the RadioTimes.com newsletter Mother’s Day, written by Nick Leather, who grew up in Warrington and was on his way into town on the day of the attack, focuses on the impact the bombings had on the families affected. The one-off drama begins by conveying the mounting sense of horror as it dawns on Colin and his wife Wendy (Anna Maxwell Martin) that Tim has been caught in the blast while shopping on Saturday 20 March 1993, the day before Mother’s Day. View oEmbed on the source website He sustained “battlefield injuries” in the explosion and, after an agonising five days in hospital, his parents switched off his life support. He left behind two siblings, Abbi and Dominic. Three-year-old Johnathan Ball also lost his life in the attack; 56 others were injured. Mother’s Day is profoundly affecting and hard to watch. Were the Parrys concerned about it reopening emotional wounds, I wonder? No, 60-year-old Wendy says. Things like that cannot touch them now, as they have already suffered far greater emotional trauma. “The wounds never go away,” she says. “Every anniversary, every Christmas, every birthday, you’re aware that Tim is not with us. It’s always there, no matter what. Nothing takes the pain away. And it was worth dragging up the past to let people know about the charity we set up in the wake of the bombing.” Colin and Wendy are sitting opposite me in the Peace Centre in Warrington, the headquarters of the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation, which they set up in 1995. Opened in 2000, the wood-clad building contains a huge portrait of Dr Mo Mowlam, who was instrumental in securing the funding, and a “peace tree” where people can leave messages – “As long as they’re not too rude,” Colin, 71, says with characteristic good humour. The Peace Centre promotes peace throughout the UK and helped the 900 families affected by last year’s Manchester Arena bombing. For the parents, it’s a very tangible means of honouring their sons. For all that, the Parrys were pleased that the makers of Mother’s Day took the trouble to run the script past them in order to ensure its accuracy. “The only thing that got me was the fact that Danny Mays wears a vest in bed,” Colin jokingly complains. “Talk about a stereotypical northerner! All it needed was a Woodbine, ferrets running round the bedroom, pigeons in the loft ready to be raced and coal in the bath to complete the picture! And Danny doesn’t look a bit like me – lucky him! Apart from that, Mother’s Day is true to what happened.” Another aspect of the film that reflects reality is its portrayal of a family that grows stronger under the most extreme pressures imaginable. Colin recalls meeting the late peace campaigner Gordon Wilson, whose daughter Marie was killed in an IRA attack at Enniskillen in 1987. “He said to us, ‘I warn you now that you’ll find you grieve differently, at different times and in different ways. You have to give each other time and space and don’t judge each other.’ “We said, ‘Thanks for that, but we won’t be like that’, but he was right. Every couple who loses a child goes through exactly the same. That’s why 80 per cent of relationships break down after the death of a child – you’re pulling in different directions.” Colin thinks that his and Wendy’s relationship might have broken down if it hadn’t been for the foundation. “People might have imagined that we were a couple damaged and broken and that our family was falling apart. But the charity has been the glue that has kept the family together and kept our spirits high.” Mother’s Day also underscores the fact that the Warrington attack was a pivotal moment in the Northern Ireland peace process. On 31 August 1994, the IRA declared a ceasefire. “A notable turning point in the Troubles was the outrage and disgust Warrington caused in the Republic of Ireland,” Colin says. "It triggered the Irish government to sit down with the UK government and start exploring peace seriously.” View oEmbed on the source website As recounted in Mother’s Day, the Parrys’ story is one of astounding resilience. Colin and Wendy were informed within six months of the bombing that there was no chance of the perpetrators ever being caught as the Cheshire police force had run out of money, but that didn’t deter the couple. “You become resigned to the fact that no one will help you unless you help yourself,” Colin explains. “If we wanted any kind of salvation or anything to come from the loss of Tim, we knew we had to do it ourselves.” In the meantime, the Parrys consider what viewers might take away from watching Mother’s Day. “I hope people realise what families go through by being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Wendy muses. “That they will realise that whereas everyone else goes back to their everyday life, this is what the affected families go through after a terrorist attack. “I also hope they think that something good has come out of it. We’ve supported thousands of people and are still working very hard at what we do. We didn’t want Tim to be forgotten. We didn’t want him to be just another number on the list of victims of the Troubles. This is our way of keeping him alive.” For information about the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation click here Mother's Day airs on Monday 3rd September at 9pm on BBC2
Benedict Cumberbatch: Why I keep coming back to play Sherlock
"The level of invention and imagination and darkness and joy just gets better and better"
Fans are hanging out of the windows of the buildings bordering 221B Baker Street. On the other side of the road, by Euston Station in London, thousands more aficionados are penned in behind temporary metal fences. As their hero strides into view, wearing his trademark Belstaff “Milford” coat, the crowd – vast numbers of whom have travelled from China and Japan and slept here overnight specifically for this very moment – start screaming. Very soon they are doing a pretty passable impersonation of Justin Bieber followers, or “Beliebers”, as they are known in the trade. By this point, people in neighbouring counties will surely have heard the news: Sherlock is in town. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Holmes in BBC1’s global hit drama, has arrived to film a short exterior scene outside the consulting detective’s flat. The sleuth must march to his front door through a monsoon, the ferocity of which has probably not been seen this side of The Tempest. The downpour is being created by three gigantic rain machines. The poor crewmember holding these enormous devices steady must have the worst job in showbiz. You might have thought that these decidedly inclement conditions would pour cold water on the fans’ enthusiasm. But in fact the crowd seems to thrive on the spirit of adversity. Sherlockians are nothing if not determined. The wetter they get, the more they cheer. Absolutely nothing is going to rain on their parade. Before his storm scene, Cumberbatch sits in the warm and dry of a nearby hotel. He is taking time out to discuss the new series of Sherlock, perhaps the most eagerly anticipated event since the birth of the last royal baby. To reinforce the global popularity of the show, which begins its fourth series on New Year’s Day, our chat is interrupted by a Japanese fan eager to present the actor with a gift: a beautifully produced graphic novel based on a previous episode of Sherlock. Cumberbatch is bowled over by the exquisite nature of the present, which has clearly required many months’ work. “Thank you very much, Japan!” the actor beams. “I’ve got to read this backwards. Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you.” In person, Cumberbatch has nothing of Sherlock’s outsider quality. The actor is as warm, witty and welcoming as his alter ego is detached, difficult and dry as dust. Sherlock Holmes is the literary character who has been most frequently adapted for the screen. Since he first appeared in A Study in Scarlet in 1887, it is estimated that across the globe there have been more than 25,000 productions and products based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless detective. But Cumberbatch’s performance as the sleuth now bears comparison with Jeremy Brett, Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing. When His Last Vow, the final episode of the third series, aired in January 2014, it shattered the world record by prompting 10,000 tweets per minute. With his angular features, piercing intelligence and rare intensity, 40-year-old Cumberbatch could have been born for the role of Sherlock. But his performance is enhanced by the magnetic chemistry he generates on screen with Martin Freeman, who plays Sherlock’s long-suffering friend and colleague, Dr John Watson. Mark Gatiss, who co-created the show with Steven Moffat, says that the drama “works so well in our version because of the casting. When Benedict and Martin first read for the parts of Sherlock and John, Steven and I turned to each other and said, ‘There’s the show.’ We accidentally cast the two hottest actors in the world.” Amanda Abbington, who portrays Mary Watson and is Freeman’s partner on and off screen, agrees. “I love a big dialogue scene where characters are getting under the skin of people, and I think that Ben and Martin do that with each other. They just naturally have that on set and on screen – they just get on. It’s lovely to watch. It’s great to be in a room when you see them with those long deduction scenes and they’re bouncing back and forth. It’s beautiful.” That chemistry is again in evidence in the opening episode of the new series, The Six Thatchers. Written by Mark Gatiss, the drama follows on from the end of the last series, when Sherlock declared that, “Moriarty is dead. More importantly, I know exactly what he’s going to do next…” As the sleuth waits to find out what Moriarty’s (Andrew Scott) posthumous move might be, Scotland Yard tackles a particularly bewildering case. But Sherlock hones in on an apparently trivial detail. Why is someone desecrating images of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher? Are dark forces operating? And is it connected to Mary’s mysterious past? During the series, the sleuthing duo have to factor a new element into their relationship: John and Mary’s baby daughter, who leaves Sherlock quite baffled. The pair will also be confronted by Culverton Smith (Toby Jones), who is the dastardly poisoner in the Doyle story The Adventure of the Dying Detective. Moffat describes him as “the most evil villain we’ve had”. So we can safely assume that something wicked this way comes. Sherlock, which has won 76 awards since it was first transmitted in 2010, now airs in 240 territories across the world. Cumberbatch, who is married to theatre director Sophie Hunter and has a young son and another baby due next year, assesses why the show has struck such a chord internationally. “I think a lot of it is to do with the fact that Sherlock is an outsider, and that speaks to a huge teen audience. But remarkably it also has tremendous cross-generational appeal. That’s very important to me. I want my mum and dad and my friends and my child to sit down and watch it. That’s what really gives me a thrill, that moment of the event. “I think that happens wherever it’s broadcast. It’s created huge forums and debates and friends around the world, and that’s a lovely thing. Word of mouth spreads very fast with blogs and Twitter and Tumblr and all the other social media platforms where audiences share their opinions.” All the same, the sheer scale of Sherlock’s global popularity has taken Cumberbatch aback. “We’ve been shocked by that, to be honest. It’s something that we did not foresee. But in the end, it shows that great stories traverse cultures and ethnicities and nations. Great stories bridge any kind of cultural differences.” Cumberbatch has plenty of other filmic fish to fry. Earlier this year, he was Richard III in BBC2’s acclaimed Shakespeare adaptation, The Hollow Crown. He also played the title character in the new Marvel movie franchise, Doctor Strange. And yet he keeps being drawn back to Sherlock. Part of the attraction, Cumberbatch explains, is that the character is always changing: “We’ve all evolved with this story. It wouldn’t be so satisfying if we were simply churning out the same thing that we started with. We aimed high to begin with, and we keep on trying to surprise ourselves and hopefully our audience. “There are payoffs in this series that I know in some instances even the writers didn’t realise were happening until they were starting to write it, which is just remarkable. The level of invention and imagination and darkness and joy just gets better and better. “There’s a lot of very serious stuff, and it’s very bleak at times. But the writers also manage to do something very funny as well. How do I feel personally about that? Great. And, you know, I wouldn’t be coming back to do more if there wasn’t a difference between this series and the first series. I’m very lucky to have a character like this, who I still really want to play.” That’s not to say that he’s unaffected by the role. He admits, “There is a kickback. I do get affected by it. There’s a sense of being impatient. My mum says I’m much curter with her when I’m filming Sherlock.” However, in general Cumberbatch does not take Sherlock home with him in a hansom cab. How does he do that? “Obviously exercise is a very important thing, just to shake anything off. If you run or do something to get a sweat or a burn on, then yes, that helps hugely.” But there is one aspect of his life above all others that helps Cumberbatch forget about the stresses and strains of playing the world’s most famous detective. “Having a one-year-old baby is just the best possible tonic to go, ‘Boop!’ You know, with a baby you’re instantly looking outside of yourself.” Displaying a distinctly un-Sherlockian love of babies, Cumberbatch says, “Immediately there’s something more important than you’ll ever be in your life that you’re responsible for. Home is a very wonderful place!” The fourth series of Sherlock begins tonight at 8.30pm on BBC1
She sang for JFK and flirted with Elvis – David Walliams hails his friend Shirley Bassey
Celebrating the iconic singer's 80th birthday in a new show
Only Santa’s elves have been working harder than David Walliams this Christmas. He will be appearing in an astonishing four Christmas specials in the next two weeks: starring opposite Hugh Bonneville in a festive edition of Walliams & Friend; hosting a special Blankety Blank; providing voices for Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes; and presenting a tribute to his friend Shirley Bassey. All of which he has taken in his stride while also promoting his latest children’s novel, The Midnight Gang; overseeing a touring stage adaptation of a previous book, The First Hippo on the Moon; and finally, early next year, he’ll be the first host of ITV’s new weeknight entertainment programme, The Nightly Show. Phew. In David Walliams Celebrates Dame Shirley Bassey he marks the dame’s 80th birthday. “Shirley and I first met on The Graham Norton Show,” says Walliams. “Graham set it up that I was a great singer, but in reality I’m the world’s worst. Then I sang Moonraker to Shirley – she didn’t like it much! But we got on really well. She’s very down- to-earth. My family came to see that show. I imaginged that afterwards Shirley would be whisked straight off to the Ritz, but she spent ages in the green room chatting to my mum, sister and brother-in-law and taking selfies with them. I was surprised – does Shirley Bassey really do selfies?” In fact, Walliams declares, “She’s a real laugh. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s not someone who expects everyone to bow down before her. We go out to dinner and spend the whole time laughing. She’s a hoot!” The duo’s chemistry is evident from the mutual twinkling on the show. They have a ball together performing sketches and a very entertaining duet of Anything You Can Do. Bassey’s recording career began in 1956 when she was 19 – a full 15 years before Walliams was born. He says the reason Bassey has remained so popular for so long is that, “She’s unforgettable. When you see her perform and hear her voice, it stays with you. Goldfinger is 50 years old, but it sounds contemporary. She’s had a 60-year career because she doesn’t belong to any era. She’s always stayed true to herself. She hasn’t had an embarrassing period where she went grunge or indie. “She has gone from singing for JFK and performing in Las Vegas with Elvis – who flirted with her – to duetting with Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, the Pet Shop Boys and Gary Barlow, and headlining Glastonbury in sparkly wellies! There’s never been a time when she hasn’t been around.” Walliams thinks it’s vital to pay homage to our great cultural figures. “You have to celebrate icons like Shirley,” he says, “It would be mad to let a landmark like this go unnoticed.” If he keeps working at this rate, Walliams will be a landmark himself. He is, however, taking a break to do some Christmas shopping. “I love buying people presents. I’m lucky to be a father and uncle, so I’m most looking forward to seeing the children’s joy at it all.” And will he be watching himself on the telly come Christmas Eve? “No! I’m looking forward to watching anything I’m not on!” David Walliams Celebrates Dame Shirley airs on Christmas Eve on BBC1 at 9pm
It's Not Rocket Science – meet the presenters
Rachel Riley, Ben Miller and Romesh Ranganathan join ITV for a new science entertainment show – but how nerdy are they in real life?
Rachel Riley Studied mathematics at Oxford, before being selected as co-host on Countdown Why do you love science? The fact that science is always evolving and answering questions is fascinating. We feature a man who got cancer and was told he wouldn’t be able to walk again. But two scientists made him a pair of bionic trousers and he was soon walking around. There was a problem there – so a scientist came along and solved it. How far would you go to get everyone excited about science? I had to zip-wire through 450° flames with my bare skin showing. Before I did it they sprinkled water on my skin, so that the flame would burn the water off and not hurt my skin. We were in this huge aircraft hangar. But just before I was about to get on the zip wire, a fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate. If ever there was a sign telling me not to do it, that was it! Favourite science fact? I’m amazed that the placebo effect works in surgery. I talked to an expert about someone who had placebo shoulder surgery – opening someone up, not doing anything to them then sewing them back up again – and is now better. That’s the power of the mind. It’s crazy! Ben Miller Studied natural sciences at Cambridge, before becoming a sketch comedian Why is science important? Science is not something separate from everyday life. It’s really an amazing thing to explore. It’s a spiritual thing for me. It takes me to places I wouldn’t get to otherwise. It takes me out of everyday life and into a world of science fiction and imagination. It’s almost like a religion. It’s somewhere I go to cheer myself up, and what could be better than that? Do you worry science has a nerdy image? No. This is a very exciting time for science. It has cast off that image through the amazing advances that are being made. It’s all changed in recent years. Science is now as much a part of the culture as football. Have you learnt anything presenting the show? I went down a disused mine in Anglesey to find this life form called “snottite”. It’s a bacterial colony that eats metal and secretes sulphuric acid, as you do. It’s like an alien life form. How far would you go to get everyone excited about science? I took part in a terrifying experiment to prove that every object falls at the same rate in a gravitational field. They fired flaming arrows at my head – which were intercepted by a falling bag of apples at the very last moment. I’d never experienced anything like that before – I get a tension headache just thinking about it now! Favourite science fact? Life on Earth began on the seabed where there was no light and no oxygen. How did it survive? Electrical potential. Inside vents on the seafloor were bubbles of iron sulphide. There was an electrical charge across the bubble and the first life form used that to power chemical reactions. Romesh Ranganathan Taught maths at secondary school before becoming a stand-up comedian Do you worry that science has a nerdy image? Obviously, drafting me into this show has shattered that geeky image straight away [laughs]. Actually I think the idea of science as geeky is quite old-fashioned. From my experience in teaching – although I wasn’t a great teacher, to be fair – the science teachers are always the coolest. They are always off doing cool stuff. But we are not consciously trying to smash “geeky” preconceptions on this show. All we’re doing is making a programme informed by our own interests and doing things that we hope will excite people. How far would you go to get everyone excited about science? We wanted to show the power of a vacuum cleaner. If you have a large enough nozzle, you could theoretically use a domestic vacuum cleaner to lift a small plane or car. So I was attached to a board attached to a household vacuum cleaner and suspended in mid-air. Obviously they didn’t want me to be suspended above nothing – there would be no glamour in that. So they decided to hold me above a tank full of crocodiles. It felt like I was up there for ages. I shouted at the producers, “You must have got the shot by now!” I was actually up there for about a minute, but it felt like three and a half months! I was on the phone to my agent immediately – “I know I want exposure on primetime TV, but I don’t know if this is worth it!” Favourite science fact? I always thought that the explosions in space that they show in sci-fi movies might be over the top. But what we discovered on It’s Not Rocket Science is that because a spaceship has air inside it, when it blows up, you get these amazing explosions. So the movies are accurate. As a massive Star Wars fan, that was something I was very happy to find out!
Kara Tointon on bringing the hills alive with The Sound of Music
The former EastEnders actress is looking forward to her starring role in a TV-first: a live musical
Kara Tointon is taking a break from rehearsing the timeless Rodgers and Hammerstein numbers “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favourite Things,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and of course the show’s famous title song, at an East London studio. But not for too long, because the 32-year-old star will soon be on our television screens, performing as Maria in the original stage musical… Live! Tointon is endowed with exactly the right kind of elfin charm to play the delightful singing nun who becomes governess to seven children before falling in love with their widowed father. The musical also has a very special place in the actress’ heart. As an 11-year-old she auditioned for the part of Louisa in the Westcliff-on-Sea Operatic Society’s production of the musical. “I’d just started doing drama and I went for the part and got it. It was the first time I’d done anything that professional. That was the moment where I thought, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do for a living’.” Returning to the musical two decades later - this time in the lead role - is a lot of pressure, admits Tointon, who played Dawn in EastEnders before going on to take leading roles in Mr Selfridge on TV and Pygmalion on stage, and winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2010. Not only is it her first professional musical, but she is also having to follow in the footsteps of Dame Julie Andrews. So does Tointon feel the burden of taking on the mantle (habit?) of Maria? “Julie Andrews is my absolute idol and one of the all-time greats, so you can’t make any comparisons. I went for a part in a piece I love. I never dreamed I’d get it. But I did. What do you say then? ‘I can’t do this’? Do I sit on the sofa at home watching it on TV and thinking, ‘Oh damn, I wish I was there’? Or do I say, ‘Damn it, I’m going to give it a go and do it’? “It’s like Strictly. I was a massive fan, but it wasn’t something I really wanted to do because I was scared of it. But I ended up doing it. I let go and had the best time. I’ve learnt that sometimes it’s OK to push yourself into the unknown and go into the scary box. The Sound of Music is going to happen. Once the record button is pressed, I just have to go out there and enjoy it.” The logistics on the night are going to be pretty scary - 19 cameras on three separate sound-stages will be rolling during the two and a half hour live show. Each soundstage contains two sets - the Abbey and the Alps in the first, the Villa Von Trapp and its garden in the second and the theatre and Maria's bedroom in the third. Tointon and her fellow cast-members - including Julian Ovenden as Captain Von Trapp, Katherine Kelly as Baroness Schraeder, Alexander Armstrong as Max Detweiler and Mel Giedroyc (whose sister Coky is the creative director on this project) as housekeeper Frau Schmidt - will be dashing between the three. The ad breaks will be crucial! Costume changes will prove the biggest challenge, fears Tointon. "Logistically, the hardest bit is going to be the change between the moment where Maria and Captain Von Trapp get together and sing 'Something Good' and their wedding. We've got just four minutes to change. Luckily, there'll be quick-change stations in every corner! “It’s scary but we’re inviting everyone at home to have a great night’s theatre and rather than travelling to the West End, we’re doing it in their living-rooms. It’s something very different and, I hope, refreshing. ” A FEW OF KARA’S FAVOURITE THINGS Favourite film? The cheesy answer is The Sound of Music. But I also love The Shawshank Redemption. That haunted me for days. Favourite TV programme? If I hadn’t become an actress, I’d probably have been an interior designer. I love Grand Designs. It’s always incredible to see the process from beginning to end and to watch how people end up spending three times more than they intended! Favourite actor? The reason I wanted to become an actress was because of Goldie Hawn. In every part she played, she invited you in. She had such warmth. You wanted to be her friend. I still want to be her friend! Favourite song? Freddie Mercury was the ultimate showman – he was so magnetic. I love Queen’s, “The Show Must Go On.” That’s going to be the song I play on my way to the stage on 20 December. I’m going to be wearing a robe like a boxer on the way to the ring! The Sound of Music Live is on Sunday 20th December at 7:30pm on ITV
Henry Winkler on being a Peaky Blinders fanboy, starstruck by John Lennon and wanting to be a Strictly judge
The Fonz turns on the TV for Cillian Murphy and loses two notches on his belt every time he does panto...
Henry Winkler talks Peaky Blinders, panto and why he'd like to join the Strictly judging panel... Who makes you turn on the telly? Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders. He has never been better. I adore everything about that show – the setting, the drama, the romance. What other programmes can’t you live without? I love Banshee [Sky Atlantic], about a man who has served time in prison and comes back to Banshee, a small town in Pennsylvania, to find that his girlfriend is now married to the district attorney and his best friend is a cross-dressing hairdresser-cum- assassin. I also can’t wait for the return of Strictly. Would I appear on it? Only as a judge – I know my limitations. It would break my heart to be voted off in week three. Would you ever appear on I’m a Celebrity... ? No. It’s fun to watch, but I’d never go on it. I need to wash. Also, I know that cockroach would get caught in my throat. It would not go down like filet mignon. What’s your perfect night in? It would involve hot tea and shortbread cookies and the box set of Episodes. That show is so funny. Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan are brilliant. They’re like Lucy and Desi [from I Love Lucy]. Episodes is a very accurate portrayal of Hollywood, which is pretty scary. Has anyone left you starstruck? John Lennon came to a recording of Happy Days with his son Julian in 1974. John was very quiet and shy. I didn’t know how to engage him in conversation till I started talking about how much I loved his first solo album. Then he opened up like a flower. Do you ever meet up with the cast of Happy Days? No, but I call Marion Ross [who played Marion Cunningham] and our guru Garry Marshall [the series creator] all the time. And I see a lot of Ron Howard [who played Richie Cunningham and is now a successful Hollywood director]. You’ve done a lot of panto in the UK. How do you find it? It’s one of the most difficult jobs I’ve ever done. Broadway is eight performances a week – panto is 12! I call it my “panto diet” – I lose at least two notches on my belt every year. But for all that, I love it. The interaction with the audience is so joyful. I love the sound of a three- year-old yelling,“He’s behind you!” Is that why you wrote children's books? [Winkler’s stories about Hank Zipzer, a smart 14-year-old boy with dyslexia, have been turned into a CBBC series.] When my kids were younger, I’d take them to the movies and think, “Oh my God, when will this be over?” But Hank Zipzer has jokes for kids and their parents. I was in a restaurant last night and a gentleman came up to me and said, “My daughter has dyslexia, and she has just graduated. She read Hank Zipzer when she was younger and it helped her enormously to know that she wasn’t alone.” Is it autobiographical? Yes. I took the same high-school course in geometry for four years. Finally, I got a D and was able to graduate. But I haven’t used a single thing from geometry since! Mr Rock is also based on my old music teacher. He was the one who said to me, “Winkler, if you ever do get out of high school, you’re going to be OK.” I’m telling you, I’ve held on to that sentence forever! Hank Zipzer is on Thursday 27th August at 4.30pm on CBBC
Harry Hill on how a childhood with stink bombs inspired his performance as Professor Branestawm
The comedian reveals his childhood Christmas memories now he is a dad
Christmas Day was always a big family do. I’m one of five children, and there were always a lot of us crammed into a really small house. Our sofa could only seat five people comfortably. I always remember sitting on the arm. I am the second oldest child, but I’m a peacemaker. What can I tell you? As a child, I used to love charades because it was an opportunity to show off. Nowadays I feel very self-conscious about it. It’s a busman’s holiday! My favourite ever gift as a child was a chemistry set because I loved inventing things. With two pals, we set up our own company. We manufactured smoke bombs, stink bombs and invisible ink that sadly never disappeared. One mother banned her son from using our services because one of our smoke bombs had filled their house with smoke – which seemed to us to be an excellent endorsement! I was that kid. That’s why I was so eager to play Professor Branestawm in BBC1’s version of the books. He was the ultimate nutty professor! When you have your own children [he has three daughters], the magic of Christmas returns. I’ve been transferring hours of home video to my hard drive. When they were growing up, I would carry a video camera everywhere, and I’ve got all their Christmasses on film. Watching the children opening their presents is sweet. It’s rather sobering, too. I’ve also got 20 New Year’s Eves on home video, and the last 15 are just me and my wife watching Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on our own. Professor Branestawm is on Christmas Eve at 8.30pm on BBC1
Alison Steadman: I’m there if a Gavin & Stacey movie happens
But before all that, Steadman is getting up close and personal with puffins
It takes at least an hour of brisk walking up a steep incline to reach the summit of the Hermaness National Nature Reserve, which overlooks the felicitously named Muckle Flugga, the most northerly point in the UK, just off the coast of Unst in Shetland. But, boy, is it worth it when you get to the top. When Alison Steadman arrives at the summit and looks down at the spectacular sight of some 33,000 gannets nesting in the immense, rugged cliff-face, she simply exclaims: “If I were to live another thousand years, I don’t think I’d ever see anything as amazing as this. The sight and sound of these beautiful birds is truly mesmerising. It’s something I shall never forget.” The actress is best known for starring in such memorable work as Abigail’s Party, Gavin & Stacey, The Singing Detective, Nuts in May, Pride and Prejudice and Fat Friends. But she reveals that for the past six decades she has been harbouring another secret passion: bird watching. Reflecting on that moment at the top of the remote and windswept hill from the relative comfort of her north London sitting room, the 67-year-old actress still can’t quite get over the majesty of the spectacle. “It’s quite a walk up there, but my God, when you get up there, what an absolute thrill! “You’re seeing thousands of gannets finding their nests from previous years, meeting their old mates, screeching and chattering. They’re not bothered whether you’re there or not – they’re too busy. They all have a purpose. They’re not fighting or pushing each other off the cliff – it’s all very ordered. It’s wonderful.” Making this documentary in Shetland – an austerely beautiful archipelago of more than 100 islands, which in the spring and summer is home to more than a million birds and has one of the largest avian populations in the UK – has clearly struck a chord with Steadman. The actress, who was born and bred in Liverpool, recalls that her passion for “birding” was first ignited as a nine-year-old. “We were on a school trip down a country lane and I heard a blackbird singing for the first time. It’s the most beautiful sound – I still stop on my way to the Tube and listen to it now. It fills your heart with joy. “Later we all had to do a turn in front of the class, and I decided to imitate the blackbird’s call. My classmates very politely gave me a round of applause.” A lifelong love affair was born. The passion continued when, as a 17-year-old she saved up enough money to buy a much- coveted reel-to-reel tape recorder. “I’d bought it to record things like Radio Luxembourg. But one summer evening I was sitting by the window in the living room when I suddenly heard all these birds that had gathered to sing to each other. It was so beautiful, I just had to record it.” The actress recently found the reel-to-reel tape recorder and played it back in the hope of finding that birdsong, but says that all she discovered was a rather embarrassing recording of her and a boyfriend singing “Kumbaya”. Steadman, who is a patron of the RSPB, also sings the praises of birds as a force for good. “Birds have a very therapeutic effect. When I feel stressed, it really relaxes me to listen to birdsong. It’s such a lovely sound.” But she never gets too carried away by her hobby. “Real twitchers are a different species altogether. They have scopes worth £10,000, and they dash off the moment they hear about a rare bird spotted 100 miles away. I’m not like that. I see birding as a joy and a great way to relax.” A highlight of her trip to Shetland was a face-to-face encounter with a puffin. “I’d been waiting for that moment, really, all my life,” she beams. “Puffins are absolutely gorgeous, aren’t they? Who the hell designed them? How clever were they? They’re like nothing else. Garden birds can look the same, but puffins are on their own. And they only have those colourful beaks during the mating season. It’s like, ‘Put on your lipstick – the guys are in town!’” So what’s next for Steadman? She is one of the leads in Grey Mates, a new BBC1 sitcom about three pensioner couples – “It’s wonderful that we now have more roles for older actors” – and is keeping her fingers crossed that a Gavin & Stacey movie, mooted by Ruth Jones in Radio Times earlier this year, actually comes off. “If it happens, I’m there!” But inevitably her thoughts turn to birds. “Over the years, they have brought me so much happiness. I’m now looking out at my back garden, where I have four feeders and a bird table. It’s like Sainsbury’s for the birds. They have everything here. ‘Let’s go to Number 63,’ they tell each other. ‘We know we’ll get a good feed there!’” See Alison Steadman's Shetland tonight at 9:00pm on ITV
Meet Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Tim Vine and Celia Imrie, the cast of BBC1's PG Wodehouse comedy Blandings
Timothy Spall plays Lord Clarence Emsworth What class do you consider yourself? Upper working-class. My parents had jobs and we never starved. Our house had holes in the roof, but at least we had nice furniture around the saucepans catching the rainwater. Do you live in a castle? No, but as our kids have now grown up and gone away, we have moved from south London into the centre of town. I love it because I can walk everywhere. Who serves you tea? If I behave myself, Mrs Spall might make me a cup, but in general we share the tea-making. Do you like champagne? Yes, but it gives me heartburn. So now I imbibe liquids that are not so bubbly. What’s the poshest thing you’ve ever done? I met the Queen once. She put a dangly gong [an OBE] around my neck. I felt very pleased because my mum was very pleased. I was touched by the occasion, because of the thousand other people there, ranging from lollypop ladies to people who ran the district post office. They were ordinary people who’d done selfless things for the community. Who do you base Clarence on? The various Etonians and Harrovians who you can see disseminating their aristocratic wisdom via the medium of television. I jumble them all up. You can probably guess who they are! How do you travel? I often travel by leg! Loo or toilet? Bog – or something more unprintable. Mauritius or Magaluf? Mauritius – I’m not very keen on Magaluf. Denim or tweed? I haven’t worn jeans since I was 11 – and they didn’t suit me even then. Fortnum & Mason or Sainsbury’s? I recently discovered Aldi, which is rather nice. I always go in disguise – only joking! The Daily Telegraph or The Sun? I sometimes read the Telegraph. There’s no point reading a paper you agree with – there’s nothing to shout about, and that’s no fun. Jennifer Saunders plays Lady Connie How posh are you? The weird thing is, as a forces kid, you’re classless and accentless. You never pick up an accent because you move around so much. But when I listen to my voice, I think, “Oh, you do sound quite posh.” The strange thing is that Dawn French went to a private school, and I went to a state school, but I sound posher! How do you travel? I take taxicabs or the omnibus. I can’t do trains that go underground, as Connie would put it. How often do you drink champagne? I do love champagne. At 11 o’clock on Christmas morning, as the smell of turkey is in the air and you’re opening presents around the tree and drinking a glass of really cold champagne – well, it doesn’t get any better than that, does it? What’s the poshest thing you’ve ever done? I bought a horse. That’s quite posh. Is there someone posh you’ve taken inspiration from for the role of Connie? Do I know people like Connie? Oh God, yes. The lack of overt emotion about anything is one of Connie’s characteristics, and that is extremely posh. You don’t want to be soppy about anything. Just get on with it. Don’t make a fuss. Pull yourself together – because life is never going to be happy. Do you maintain the accent when you’re not filming? No, I’m not Method. There is no Method in my work – only madness! Mauritius or Magaluf? I’ve never been to either, but I’d prefer Mauritius. Magaluf even sounds horrible. Fortnum & Mason or Sainsbury’s? My recent discovery is Lidl. They do very good fish and meat. It’s worth checking out. Made in Chelsea or The Only Way Is Essex? I would rather shoot myself than watch either. I find them both horrid. The way those programmes make people behave is despicable. The whole conceit that it’s real life is, by any stretch of the imagination, ridiculous. The Daily Telegraph or The Sun? The Daily Telegraph, because it has the only crossword I can do. Also, it loves a murder story, and I love a murder story, too. Tim Vine plays Beach the Butler How posh are you? I sound a lot posher than I am. I’ve worked in shops and been a game-show host, which are pretty working-class jobs. When I started out at the Comedy Café in London, I was standing at the back with the owner when this very posh guy came on stage wearing a bow tie. The audience hated him and started booing. The owner said, “The reason they don’t like him is because he’s posh.” I said, “I’m posh, too.” “Yes, but you’re also an idiot!” What class do you consider yourself? Middle-class. But I have to admit that it’s a bit harder to be proud of being middle-class than it is to be proud of being working-class. John Lennon never wrote a song called Middle-class Hero. I’d be a middle-class hero if I had the time, but I’ve got to go to Waitrose first. How do you prepare to play a butler? I play darts. I’m not very good at accents. It’s just me, with a side order of Roger Moore. What’s the poshest thing you’ve done? Last year, I was invited to present the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in the throne room in St James’s Palace. I met Prince Philip, and he was great – very funny. Loo or toilet? I say, “I’m going to the loo,” but I also say, “My toilet is broken.” I straddle the world of lavatories. Mauritius or Magaluf? I’ve got a set of stamps from Mauritius and it looks lovely, so I’d like to go there. Fortnum & Mason or Sainsbury’s? Neither. There’s a BP garage very close to where I live that serves all my needs. Made in Chelsea or The Only Way Is Essex? I do occasionally get drawn into Made in Chelsea. It sounds shallow, but it’s easy on the eye. One doesn’t tune in for the dialogue! Celia Imrie guest stars as Charlotte, Clarence and Connie’s sister How posh are you? Very posh. I know that because I’ve done Who Do You Think You Are?, which revealed I am posher than I thought [one aristocratic forbear, William, Lord Russell, was beheaded during the reign of Charles II, unjustly accused of plotting to kill the king]. Terrible, isn’t it? How do you travel? By train or boat – I don’t like flying. How often do you drink champagne? If possible, every day. What’s the poshest thing you’ve done? I once shook hands with Prince Charles at a charity ball. But I forgot to curtsey till he’d gone down the line. I’m still a bit ashamed! Did somebody posh inspire your role? I didn’t base Charlotte on anyone. Being in an amazing house and wearing these wonderful clothes – all that helps you get into character. Then you start talking to Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders, something magical happens. How did you perfect your accent? By listening to my mother – she was quite posh. You have to be careful not to overdo it, so it doesn’t become a caricature. Loo or toilet? Loo, of course! Fortnum & Mason or Sainsbury’s? Fortnum & Mason, naturally! Supper or tea? I’m so posh, I’d have afternoon tea at 3pm and then supper at 11pm! Blandings returns on Sunday at 6:30pm on BBC1. Follow @RadioTimes
Greg Davies on why he couldn't go back to teaching
"After everything I've said about teaching; the profession wouldn't have me back," says the Man Down star
When we meet at a studio in south London, comedian Greg Davies is beaming with delight. “I can’t tell you how proud my mum is that this interview is going in Radio Times. This is The Big One.” With that, he grins at me like a big kid. Which is quite appropriate, really. For a big kid is exactly what Davies is playing in Man Down, a new Channel 4 sitcom he has written and stars in as Dan, a teacher who is far more immature than his pupils. Davies knows whereof he speaks. A rare example of a comedian who is as funny off stage as on it, he spent his 20s and early 30s up to his elbows in chalk. After studying English and drama at Brunel University, the comedy fan envisaged a career in stand-up. Instead, he recalls, “My dad, who had spent his life as a lecturer, said, ‘That’s all very well, but you need to earn a living, so why don’t you teach?’ I did, and 13 years later, I woke up.” Urged by his “very pragmatic” girlfriend at the time to stop complaining and follow his dream, he took the plunge as a stand-up 11 years ago. Those 13 years’ teaching at comprehensives were not wasted, however, because they provided Davies with no end of material for his stand-up routines and now, Man Down. At the start of the first episode, finally tiring of his puerile behaviour, his long-suffering girlfriend ends their six-year relationship. She encourages him to grow up and leave his flat, which adjoins his parents’ home. That way, his mother might stop letting herself in to wash his underwear. Dan’s behaviour is no more adult at work. As a drama teacher, his lessons consist of him extemporising an imaginary “Space Mission”, in which the pupils travel to the mysterious planet of Todd Carty to – as a child decorously puts it – “butcher some alien scum”. If it hadn’t already been taken, a good title for this show would have been Arrested Development. Davies, who is 6ft 8in in his socks, reflects that, “There are several scenes in Man Down where Dan is attempting to move things on in the classroom when the children won’t let him. I remember once doing a lesson about Animal Farm. It was one of the few times where I’d really prepared. I had spent ages learning who Snowball was and what the ideas meant. I had a breakthrough moment when the kids realised that the novel was not just about talking animals. Then a kid put his hand up and asked, ‘Can you do the lambada, sir?’ I was constantly hampered by children with their own agenda.” My hunch is that Davies was rather a good teacher – anyone so naturally funny is bound to be popular with pupils – but is far too modest to say so himself. “I had one buttock-clenchingly embarrassing moment when the head called me in to tell me one of my pupils had nominated me for the prestigious Teacher of the Year award. “The pupil had to fill in four pages of documentation, but on the form she had simply written one thing. It said: “Mr Davies is a well good laugh, and he don’t make us do no work.” The head wiped away tears of laughter before throwing the form in the bin.” The self-effacing Davies acknowledges that he probably would not have been a contender for that award, anyway. “Don’t say I was an inspirational teacher – my former pupils would laugh their heads off. I was grossly incompetent, but I hope I didn’t do the children a disservice. “Kids are great. They are endlessly fascinating and bizarre. But I also think that if I had left them on their own for long enough, one of them would have been eaten. William Golding got there first with that idea in Lord of the Flies – and he’s right.” This is definitely not the terrain of terrine with mushrooms. This plotline would probably feel more at home in another comedy in which Davies plays a teacher, the vicious Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners. Will that delightfully deranged teacher be returning fo the sequel of the successful Inbetweeners Movie? “I’m hopeful that the psychopath will make an appearance,” smiles Davies. “I love playing him – you can just take the character and run with it. Every school has a Mr Gilbert.” While Dan is a very different sitcom creation, he is nevertheless equally engaging – key to this is that he never learns from his mistakes. He echoes Jerry Seinfeld’s famous dictum that at the end of every sitcom episode there must be “no hugging, no learning”. Davies, who has also starred in the BBC3 sitcom Cuckoo, observes that, “The day Dan does learn anything is the day the series ends. But God loves a trier. At one point, he breaks into a car pound to recover a pony-shaped cake for his niece. He goes to extraordinary lengths to make things better – just the wrong lengths! “Einstein’s definition of madness is repeating the same behaviour and expecting a different outcome. That’s Dan to a tee. He thinks, ‘I’ll carry on with this approach and next time it’s bound to work.’ That was my attitude, too, at one time.” So in what other ways is Man Down auto- biographical? Davies, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Rik Mayall (who, in a neat bit of casting, plays Dan’s father in Man Down), says that “most of the things that happen to Dan didn’t happen to me. But there is a half truth in everything. Dan hates his life and his job, but the kids still enjoy his lessons – in spite of him. He is a character who is lost at sea and has no appreciation of the positive things in his life. That is based on a certain period of my life. I had a great time as a teacher, but I was just treading water, as a lot of us do.” He can now look back with fondness on his time in the classroom. “I always seem to be slagging it off and talking about it as if I was manically depressed for 13 years. Admin and forward planning were not my forte, but I loved the actual teaching. In the very unlikely event of his comedy work ever drying up, Davies won’t be rushing back to the classroom. “I haven’t maintained my qualifications and, after everything I’ve said over the years about teaching, I’m pretty sure the profession wouldn’t have me back – quite rightly!” Now 45, Davies seems very comfortable with his current position. Maybe he copes with it so well because fame only came to him later in life. “That’s what I tell myself – to forgive the younger me for not doing it sooner. That’s the lie I’ve chosen to believe. My mum always says to me, ‘Stop moaning about the fact that you were a teacher. If you hadn’t been one, what would you have talked about all these years?’ The answer is, ‘You, mum!’” Davies concludes that, as the sitcom demonstrates, youth is wasted on the young. “Man Down is about a character attempting to change his life and being ill-equipped to do so. How many times do you hear middle-aged people say, ‘I wish I’d known that when I was younger’? Self-awareness only comes with age – sadly. It’s a cruel trick of life. “I wonder how many people on their deathbed say, ‘Oh damn, I’ve just got it. Hang on a minute...’ ” See Man Down tonight at 9:30pm, C4 Follow @RadioTimes
James Nesbitt: why peace matters more than a united Ireland
"As long as it continues to be a trouble-free Ireland, the North and the South will sit very comfortably together"
Imagine, for a second, that you’re an ITV commissioning editor. You want a famous Irish person to present a series. You’re looking for someone prepared to sample brandy made in County Cork, swim with dolphins at Dingle, take a seaweed bath in Strandhill, go spearfishing off the west coast and root for the Irish hopeful at the World Oyster Opening Championship in Galway. Who you gonna call? James Nesbitt, of course. He is one of the world’s best-known Ulstermen. Not least because his latest movie, The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey, in which he plays the dwarf Bofur, has already taken a billion dollars at the box office worldwide. And he also came in at number 34 in a recent list of “100 reasons to love Northern Ireland”. In person, Nesbitt, 48, is just as you might hope: a beguiling combination of warmth, wit and wisdom. He is also canny enough to realise that a series in which he explores the island of his birth could easily become a case of the bland leading the bland. “At first I was wary, because I didn’t want the programme to be seen as twee or patronising. But after 18 months away doing The Hobbit, I thought it would be a great opportunity to go back and revisit wonderful places I’d been to long ago. I also wanted to find new places and to meet new people. Above all, I wanted to celebrate Ireland for the Irish, as well as hopefully opening a few eyes across the water and challenging people’s preconceptions.” Nesbitt, who once persuaded the producers of 1990s comedy drama Cold Feet to film his character Adam’s stag weekend in Portrush, has idyllic memories of his own childhood in Northern Ireland. “Of course, when you go up the west coast, you can’t help seeing the effect of the boom and bust. Edna O’Brien refers to all those huge incomplete buildings as ‘ghosts’. But despite that, there is still so much there that is so beautiful and untouched. We still have that innate sense of connection with nature that I remember very clearly.” More specifically, Nesbitt recalls working for a couple of summers in his first-ever paid jobs, as a bingo caller and then a brakeman on the big dipper at Barry’s Amusements in Portrush, the largest theme park in the whole of Ireland. “I had a blast working there. In the programme, we go back and show that kids are still thrilled by the park – they walk in open-mouthed. It’s great that goes on, generation after generation.” Nesbitt, who lives with his wife Sonia and two daughters in south London, still pines for many aspects of his youth in Northern Ireland. “I miss my mates, obviously. I miss the Harbour Bar in Portrush. And I miss Veda bread. That’s a type of malt loaf that I can’t find anywhere in England. I have very strong memories of eating it toasted in the morning. There is something incredibly evocative about it.” Having lived in London for nearly three decades, could he ever envisage returning permanently to Northern Ireland, where his father and three teacher sisters still live? “I don’t think so. Maybe in my dotage it would be the place to go. What would I do there? Like so many older people in Northern Ireland, I would sit in my car with a flask of tea and some sandwiches and look out to sea.” What does Nesbitt, a Protestant, make of the renewed tensions in the Province, with Loyalists protesting, sometimes violently, at the decision to limit the number of days each year that the Union flag flies over Belfast City Hall? “I don’t think it can go back to what it was. What’s happened recently in Belfast is a result of the fact that leadership has been a bit weak. It needs to connect much more. “They should ask why these kids are doing this – some of those kids have no idea what they’re rioting about half the time. There’s a sense of disconnection. Kids are not being involved or being given options. Leadership has to get hold of that. But this will pass. “What’s fabulous is that a lot of graduates are now staying in the country, and the universities are also getting in more foreign students. That’s a great sign. Belfast is a city which, while not forgetting its past, is living comfortably with its present and looking forward to its future. “When I was growing up, Belfast City Hall was surrounded by security and we had no access to it. But now people come in and out of it all the time. On a nice day, office workers and students sit on the lawn outside and have lunch. It’s great to see how Northern Ireland has changed. To be part of that is fantastic.” The change he speaks of will not, in his mind, lead to a united Ireland. “It’s interesting that a recent poll suggested a lot of Catholics in the North don’t want a united Ireland. As long as it continues to be a trouble-free Ireland, the North and the South will sit very comfortably together. Unification is less important than the fact Ireland is now conflict-free.” Finally, Nesbitt reflects that people in Britain might be able to learn a thing or two from the Irish. “As fabulous as technology is, it can also make us very anxious. “What I discovered all over Ireland is that people living simple lives by the sea or in the remote countryside seem a lot calmer than city folk with their iPads and their Android phones. Across large parts of Ireland, you can’t get a mobile signal, and I came away thinking, ‘No signal, no worries’.” James Nesbitt's Ireland begins on Monday at 8:00pm on ITV