Douglas Adams predicted our digital world – AI and all – but "found life extraordinarily difficult"
John Lloyd on his friend, the satirical writer and tech visionary Douglas Adams.
Douglas Adams was not just a science fiction writer. As the new Sky Arts documentary The Man Who Imagined Our Future shows, he was a sometimes reluctant, often accidental visionary whose satirical radio show-cum-novel-cum-TV series-cum-movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy spiralled from breakout comedy to Silicon Valley inspiration. Elon Musk placed a copy of the book – and a towel – in his test flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, Google’s AI company DeepMind is similar in name to Deep Thought, a supercomputer in the story, and his famous answer to the meaning of life – 42 – is referenced in TV programmes from Doctor Who to The Kumars at No 42. And yet, as the film shows, Adams was often unhappy and found it very hard to write anything. We spoke to John Lloyd, his former flatmate and the creator, writer or producer of Not the Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image, Blackadder, QI and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, about why Adams may be the last great sci-fi satirist. John, why is Douglas Adams still so influential 24 years after his death, in 2001, aged only 49? "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy takes its name from an electronic 'book' in the story that is an iPhone crossed with Wikipedia. Douglas imagined this in 1978, many years before the internet. He imagined AI, lifts that talk to us and many of the things we live with today, when they didn’t exist at the time. And he predicted them in a funny and imaginative way. For people like [Apple’s] Steve Jobs and [Microsoft’s] Paul Allen, it was huge. He became friends with them and because they were a bit younger than him, they idolised his prescience." You don't mention this in the programme, but you are credited as co-writer on Hitchhiker's. "Douglas was my best friend. After writing four episodes of Hitchhiker’s, which took him 11 months, he was desperate. Eventually he said, 'Can you help me out?' We wrote the last two episodes in three weeks. It was fun. Then when the series went out, it was an instant hit. Publishers begged us to sign with them, which eventually we did for £3,000, a lot in 1978. "Then I got a letter from Douglas, who, at that time, had an next office to me. It said, 'I think it’s best I write this on my own.' I was heartbroken. I couldn't understand what had happened. Eventually, after a considerable struggle, I got half the advance, and we cautiously became friends again. It was the first real disaster of my life, but for Douglas, it was the beginning of his fame and wealth." How did success affect him? "He'd get an advance for a million quid, be incredibly happy and have parties. And then, as deadlines came trundling towards him, he’d get unhappy and desperate and want to see his old friends. Famously, when he was trying to finish one of the books, his publisher Sonny Mehta, boss of Pan, knocked on his door at eight o’clock in the morning, made him pack a bag, took him to a hotel, locked him in his room and made him write the book." Do you think it was possible for him to keep being satirical about technology when he was hanging out with the people who made it? "I think you have to be young and an outsider to write great satire. There was a point with Not the Nine O’Clock News where the actors got famous and would say, 'I don't want to be nasty about that person, I’ve just met them.' Satire requires courage and ignorance. "The broadcasters need to have courage in standing up to the newspapers. And the best satire is made by kids who don’t know how things ought to be done. They have no fear, break the rules and say things that middle-aged writers would never say. It’s a very rare broadcaster today that has the courage to hire a lot of 19-year-old writers and give them a budget to mock the rich and famous." What is the health of satire today? "In satire, the audience should never know what your actual opinion is. In the 80s, this was a very divided country, but people could still have a conversation. Spitting Image was watched by 15 million people of all different classes and political persuasions because they were curious about opinions. Now everybody is divided and they don't just disagree, they hate each other. I don't know what's gone wrong there, but satire is harder than ever. I suspect he [Douglas Adams] would have been trolled and hated it." The film seems to suggest Adams was incredibly sad a lot of the time. "The film is based on his archive, hundreds of cardboard boxes of his jottings, and there’s a lot of self-hatred and despair in there. He found life extraordinarily difficult. In the books he asked all the great questions of philosophy, but he was young, and very quickly rich and famous, and he didn’t really have time to discover any of the answers." You've worked with many comedians – is the "tears of a clown" idea true? "I’m not sure truly happy people ever achieve anything very much. Why would they need to? But, for example, Stephen Fry was diagnosed as bipolar. That’s very uncommon in the general population – five per cent of people have it. But for poets, playwrights, it’s 60 per cent. "I would say that the young Billy Connolly and Ben Elton were driven by anger. Peter Cook, who was a good friend, confessed he was driven by despair. Douglas had something of that – he had a mind second to none, but he was tortured by being unable to let anyone help him do anything or edit anything. That’s why they couldn’t make a Hitchhiker’s film while he was alive." How would he have worked if he was still around today? "Like most of us, Douglas was uncertain when he started out. He became successful, met famous people and grew certain he was right. If you’re not careful, that’s how fame, success, power and riches tend to affect people. But you can grow out of it. Many of my friends have, and I believe that, had he lived, Douglas would have, too. In the meantime, for all his suffering – or perhaps because of it – no one can take away from him his ground-breaking canon of work. It’s not just tech oligarchs who are inspired by him. Today’s generation of 15-year-olds read his almost 50-year-old books as if they were newly minted." The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Douglas Adams: The Man Who Imagined Our Future is on Sky Arts on Thursday 27th March at 8pm. Check out more of our Documentaries 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.
RT catches a ride with Matt Smith as he prepares to say goodbye to Doctor Who
This article was published in RT in December 2013 and is part of our digital Doctor Who anniversary bookazine — click here to download it for free. Matt Smith is sitting in a BMW on his way to the ExCeL Centre in London’s Docklands. He’s sporting a neatly cut crop, jeans a jumper from Acne, a leather jacket from D&G, a scarf from Marc Jacobs and some slightly alarming socks. We’re conducting this exit interview the day before his barnstorming performance in the 50th birthday episode. He only has what remains of the year as the official Doctor. While we’re talking, you can almost feel him moving on. What’s it like playing the Doctor? “Everything changed. It’s all consuming — and that affects the rhythm of your life. Now, however, it’s settling down a little.” What can we expect from his final episode? “I can’t tell you. It was a great shoot — a sad one for me, but I think it’ll be a fitting send-off and a fitting introduction for Peter [Capaldi].” Any regrets? “None. I think if I was going to choose to spend a couple of years in anyone’s body, why not live it as the Doctor? He’s going to have more fun than almost anyone else alive.” The rest of the team is going to miss him desperately. “You will not find anyone with a negative story about Matt,” the show’s writer Steven Moffat tells us. “The producer, Marcus Wilson, gets him on set as quickly as possible because the crew literally works faster when he’s there. He’s the life and soul, greeting the guest actors like the perfect host, even when he’s feeling broody, unhappy, tired or sulky.” Moffat thinks Smith is the most successful actor yet when it comes to capturing the enormous age of the Doctor. “Matt is a youthful envelope but he has an old soul,” he muses. “In real life Matt is very cool. The Doctor would like to think he’s cool, but he isn’t.” It being the time of his passing as the Doctor — of a little death no matter how the character lives on in another body — we feel it appropriate to ask Matt if he’s had any profound existential thoughts as a result. Does an on-screen death teach you what’s important in life? He thinks for a moment. “That question starts off on the wrong foot… I think the point is the endeavours we make towards the discovery of our existence through art or love or family. They are at least the things that make us realise we exist.” He calls himself an atheist, but if he met God, what would he like to say? He laughs. “If there was a God, what would I ask? I’d ask — can I have my money back?” And he bids a warm farewell as the ExCeL swallows him up.
The three wise men of Darrowby on great gifts, Christmas traditions and missing the ones you love
Add All Creatures Great and Small to your watchlist Who is the wisest in All Creatures — Siegfried, James or Tristan? Samuel West Siegfried thinks he’s the wisest and he is the oldest. But I think probably James is the wisest. He has had to grow up quickly recently because he’s become a dad, which Siegfried never did. Nicholas Ralph James is very studious and great with the veterinary side of things, but Tristan is better with the social interactions. Callum Woodhouse The diplomatic answer is that they balance each other out very well. Who is the wisest actor? Callum That’s probably Sam. Nicholas Me and Callum make one fairly wise actor between us. Samuel I may have helped Nicholas with where to stand when we started filming All Creatures, but he hit the ground running, so I wouldn’t presume to offer him any advice. We’re a wise ensemble! This year, James is trying to think of the best gift for his son’s first birthday. What were the best gifts you received as a child? Callum I used to be really into my comic-book action figures. The first X-Men film ends with them on the Statue of Liberty and I got a model Statue of Liberty you could put Wolverine on. I still have it somewhere. Nicholas My brother and I got a Nintendo 64 and that was all our Christmasses at once. We’re chalk and cheese, but that unified us. Samuel A chemistry set, back when you could still poison yourself. It had a conical flask and a little spirit burner for heating things. I wanted to be a chemistry professor just for the crucibles and blowing things up. What’s your Christmas Day like? Callum At home in Teesside for games of charades, Pass the Bomb and Articulate. We’ll have breakfast with Buck’s fizz, then do presents and – you probably won’t print this – we basically start drinking early and stop drinking once we’ve all passed out, at roughly 6pm. The British way! Nicholas Mine’s very similar. Buck’s fizz in the morning, Christmas music, a great singalong, open the presents, then just eating and drinking. And Christmas specials, baby. Samuel I’m playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the RSC over the Christmas period – it’s perfect for Christmas, like a grown-up panto. I have a matinée on Christmas Eve and an evening show on Boxing Day – we’ve been invited by dear friends to a restaurant in London for Christmas. No one has to do any washing up. But I can’t overdo it because we’ve still got eight shows that week. All my friends, obviously, are coming on Twelfth Night itself. As well as a time of joy, Christmas can be the time we miss people most… Callum My Christmas Day schedule always involved going to all the grandparents’ houses after lunch and we don’t have that any more. We miss them most then, I think. Nicholas My brother is in the merchant navy. My dad worked in oil, so he would be offshore sometimes when I was growing up, and that’s my brother now. This year, he’ll be back for Christmas, which just makes everything fun. Samuel This is my first Christmas since Dad [Timothy West] passed. He’s the first close person to me I’ve ever lost. I don’t know what it’s going to feel like, except that there’s this big sucking minus in the middle of your tummy. But my parents, until quite recently, have been quite independent, so a lot of the time they’d be off on a cruise to India, back in February. So, they’re not going to be there again, but in a very different way.
All Creatures Great and Small stars share Christmas traditions – and which character is the wisest
"The diplomatic answer is that they balance each other out very well."
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Ahead of another heartwarming festive special, the cast of All Creatures Great and Small talk to Radio Times all about what to expect – and how they're spending their own Christmases. Who is the wisest in All Creatures — Siegfried, James or Tristan? Samuel West Siegfried thinks he’s the wisest and he is the oldest. But I think probably James is the wisest. He has had to grow up quickly recently because he’s become a dad, which Siegfried never did. Nicholas Ralph James is very studious and great with the veterinary side of things, but Tristan is better with the social interactions. Callum Woodhouse The diplomatic answer is that they balance each other out very well. Who is the wisest actor? Callum That’s probably Sam. Nicholas Me and Callum make one fairly wise actor between us. Samuel I may have helped Nicholas with where to stand when we started filming All Creatures, but he hit the ground running, so I wouldn’t presume to offer him any advice. We’re a wise ensemble! This year, James is trying to think of the best gift for his son’s first birthday. What were the best gifts you received as a child? Callum I used to be really into my comic book action figures. The first X-Men film ends with them on the Statue of Liberty and I got a model Statue of Liberty you could put Wolverine on. I still have it somewhere. Nicholas My brother and I got a Nintendo 64 and that was all our Christmasses at once. We’re chalk and cheese, but that unified us. Samuel A chemistry set, back when you could still poison yourself. It had a conical flask and a little spirit burner for heating things. I wanted to be a chemistry professor just for the crucibles and blowing things up. What’s your Christmas Day like? Callum At home in Teesside for games of charades, Pass the Bomb and Articulate. We’ll have breakfast with Buck’s fizz, then do presents and – you probably won’t print this – we basically start drinking early and stop drinking once we’ve all passed out, at roughly 6pm. The British way! Nicholas Mine’s very similar. Buck’s fizz in the morning, Christmas music, a great singalong, open the presents, then just eating and drinking. And Christmas specials, baby. Samuel I’m playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the RSC over the Christmas period – it’s perfect for Christmas, like a grown-up panto. I have a matinée on Christmas Eve and an evening show on Boxing Day – we’ve been invited by dear friends to a restaurant in London for Christmas. No one has to do any washing up. But I can’t overdo it because we’ve still got eight shows that week. All my friends, obviously, are coming on Twelfth Night itself. As well as a time of joy, Christmas can be the time we miss people most… Callum My Christmas Day schedule always involved going to all the grandparents’ houses after lunch and we don’t have that any more. We miss them most then, I think. Nicholas My brother is in the merchant navy. My dad worked in oil, so he would be offshore sometimes when I was growing up, and that’s my brother now. This year, he’ll be back for Christmas, which just makes everything fun. Samuel This is my first Christmas since Dad [Timothy West] passed. He’s the first close person to me I’ve ever lost. I don’t know what it’s going to feel like, except that there’s this big sucking minus in the middle of your tummy. But my parents, until quite recently, have been quite independent, so a lot of the time they’d be off on a cruise to India, back in February. So, they’re not going to be there again, but in a very different way. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. The All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special will air on Monday 23rd December at 9pm. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Gavin & Stacey director Christine Gernon reflects on the moment she called “Cut” for the last time — and Larry Lamb, Alison Steadman, Melanie Walters and Robert Wilfort discuss the tearful reunion.
Add Gavin & Stacey to your watchlist The last time James Corden and Ruth Jones wrote a Christmas Day special of Gavin & Stacey in 2019, 17.1 million people tuned in. It was the most-viewed non-sporting event in years and the most-watched comedy in 17 years, long after its original, three-series heyday in 2007–9. Which means that this year’s 90-minute special – officially the last ever episode of the Welsh-girl-meets-English-boy romcom – comes with some high expectations. “I am slightly terrified,” confesses Christine Gernon, the show’s director since the very first episode. “I’m feeling pressure like I’ve never felt before.” And that’s saying something, given Gernon’s CV also boasts Absolutely Fabulous, One Foot in the Grave, The Catherine Tate Show and Jonathan Creek. In fact, she was so successful in UK comedy that for the last decade she’s been working in America on shows like Black-ish, New Girl and the US remake of Ghosts. Gavin & Stacey is the only UK show she comes back for – because it’s a labour of love. “When Ruth first gave it to me in 2006 I thought, I’ll try the first few pages. Suddenly I’d read the whole thing and I was on the phone begging her to let me direct,” she laughs. “I think fundamentally, it’s a show that’s about love and people who love each other. I’m doing the editing on the Christmas show now and sat there basking in the friendships. “Those friendships are absolutely real,” she adds. “They’re laughing, they’re chatting, they’re invariably hanging out in each other’s trailers, and Ruth and James delight in getting as many of the cast as possible into every single scene. I often have to beg them to all shut up so we can shoot.” She has to remain tight-lipped about the plot of the feature-length special – the BBC will only reveal that Bryn (Rob Brydon) is packing the Picasso for a trip to Essex; Gavin and Stacey (Mathew Horne and Joanna Page) are looking for new ways to spice up their 17-year marriage; Nessa (Jones) has started a new business venture and Neil the Baby’s about to begin an apprenticeship with his dad Smithy (Corden). “What we wanted to deliver is something for everybody who loves these characters that gives them everything they’ve enjoyed over the years,” she explains. “I was never a fan of the big specials where everyone goes abroad. This is basically a three-episode-long special… that may answer a few long-standing questions.” The cast bond, she notes, is so strong that they rearranged shooting to make sure the final scene would be shot at the end of the final day on set. It felt important, she says, for everyone to be there when she shouted “Cut!” for the last time. “Everyone was crying,” she recalls. “I mean, Jo was pretty much in tears from day one of filming.” She pauses. “It really has been fun, you know? It was sad on that final day, realising that we will never get to hang out and do this really, really lovely, fun show again.”
Add Gavin & Stacey to your watchlist How did you feel when you found out this would be the last ever episode? Pretty sad – we do feel a bit like a family, and we’ve all grown very fond of each other. I knew James and Ruth all the way back from doing Fat Friends, and they wrote Pam for me. How lucky is that? How similar to Pam are you? I’m not like Pam at all! But that’s what I enjoy about acting – becoming somebody else. The first scene I read was Gavin coming home from work, Pam lying on the couch with cucumbers on her eyes after crying watching little badgers on TV. She says, “The mother badger was crying because all the little cubs died.” He says, “Mum, I don’t think badgers can cry.” Then Pam says, “I know what I saw.” As soon as I read it, I could hear her voice. Would you like them to keep going? Nothing goes on for ever, and it’s inevitable that Ruth and James just cannot keep coming up with these amazing stories. Why are Pam and Mick so special? Me and Larry just click. I love the moments when they have a row, then within minutes, she falls into his arms. I think that’s why the audience love it, because there’s that warmth. Of all the work you’ve done, is this the show you get approached the most about? Other parts get talked about, but young people particularly love Gavin & Stacey. They stop me for selfies all the time, and ask me about the Christmas finale, but we are sworn to secrecy… It’s a different world for sitcoms now — would Gavin & Stacey be made today? I don’t know. There used to be a single producer coming up with ideas, now there’s meetings with five or six producers chipping in their two penn’orth. When we did Abigail’s Party [1977], a BBC producer saw us on stage at the Hampstead Theatre and within a fortnight of finishing, we were filming it. That would never happen now. Pam loves Christmas — are you the same? I’ve had a bit of sadness in my life because my eldest sister died in October. It’s been a tough time. I used to host but last Christmas, we were all at my boy’s house. The main thing is, I love being with my family – my kids, and my two little grandsons. So, this Christmas will be delightful but also sad.
'The fishing trip with Bryn is the great mystery of Gavin & Stacey'
Add Gavin & Stacey to your watchlist How did you get the role of Jason? I had worked with James on a film and we got on well, so he invited me to audition. They asked me to read for Jason and a ticket inspector. A week later, James rang up and said I hadn’t got the ticket inspector… How similar are you to Jason? Quite similar. I left home to go away to work. Those scenes when Jason comes back feel like me returning to Porthcawl. But Jason’s more stylish than me, so I was pleased when they let me keep his wardrobe. You’ve been in everything from Sex Education to Harry Potter, but is Gavin & Stacey what you’re recognised for most? I don’t have glasses, I don’t have a beard and I rarely tan so it’s normally only proper fans who spot me. But if I’ve got the beard, that’s different. Does everyone ask about that fishing trip with Uncle Bryn? Almost invariably. People have their own versions of what they think happened. It’s the great mystery of Gavin & Stacey! You never quite get to find out what happened… but I can’t say any more, because it’s possible you’ll learn something if you watch the finale. Why do you think the show has grown so much in popularity? It has, hasn’t it? I’m amazed the number of people who say their children love it. I’ve been watching it again with my daughter and realised it’s actually quite rude. Families argue, laugh and make up. People see themselves in that. How did it feel knowing this was the finale? It was emotional, but I thought we finished ten years ago so this is a bonus. The last day was a rollercoaster. When they called cut, everyone was in tears.
Alison Steadman: 'I don’t know if Gavin & Stacey would be made today'
The star spoke to Radio Times about the return of the legendary sitcom.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. How did you feel when you found out this would be the last ever episode? Pretty sad – we do feel a bit like a family, and we’ve all grown very fond of each other. I knew James and Ruth all the way back from doing Fat Friends, and they wrote Pam for me. How lucky is that? How similar to Pam are you? I’m not like Pam at all! But that’s what I enjoy about acting – becoming somebody else. The first scene I read was Gavin coming home from work, Pam lying on the couch with cucumbers on her eyes after crying watching little badgers on TV. She says, 'The mother badger was crying because all the little cubs died'. He says, 'Mum, I don’t think badgers can cry'. Then Pam says, 'I know what I saw'. As soon as I read it, I could hear her voice. Would you like them to keep going? Nothing goes on for ever, and it’s inevitable that Ruth and James just cannot keep coming up with these amazing stories. Why are Pam and Mick so special? Me and Larry just click. I love the moments when they have a row, then within minutes, she falls into his arms. I think that’s why the audience love it, because there’s that warmth. Of all the work you've done, is this the show you get approached the most about? Other parts get talked about, but young people particularly love Gavin & Stacey. They stop me for selfies all the time, and ask me about the Christmas finale, but we are sworn to secrecy… It’s a different world for sitcoms now – would Gavin & Stacey be made today? I don’t know. There used to be a single producer coming up with ideas, now there’s meetings with five or six producers chipping in their two penn'orth. When we did Abigail’s Party [1977], a BBC producer saw us on stage at the Hampstead Theatre and within a fortnight of finishing, we were filming it. That would never happen now. Pam loves Christmas – are you the same? I’ve had a bit of sadness in my life because my eldest sister died in October. It's been a tough time. I used to host but last Christmas, we were all at my boy's house. The main thing is, I love being with my family – my kids, and my two little grandsons. So, this Christmas will be delightful but also sad. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Gavin & Stacey returns on Christmas Day. Check out more of our Comedy 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.
The Inbetweeners star says being subversive in middle age is a pain in the back
Add Everyone Else Burns to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? I wish I knew. My wife and I tend to watch TV in bed, hunched over my tiny laptop, sharing a set of primitive, fraying earphones, so we don’t wake the kids [Bird has an eight- and six-year-old with author Lisa Owens]. It’s a bleak and tragic image. Which perhaps answers the second question: who controls the TV remote? It depends on who wins the daily and increasingly violent fight between my son and daughter. My daughter has the advantage in terms of height and reach, but my son’s not afraid to play dirty, so it’s impossible to call. We try and find stuff the whole family would like – I’m talking Bluey, Gladiators, Race across the World, all the classics. View oEmbed on the source website What have you enjoyed watching recently on the laptop? At the risk of sounding full centrist dad and quasi-nostalgic, emotionally manipulative sports documentaries like The Last Dance and 99. My wife and I are also in pretty deep with Couples Therapy on iPlayer. It’s a documentary following couples through relationship counselling. We identify with opposing members of each couple, and the rush of satisfaction when the therapist sides with my member of the couple gives me a spring in my step for days. Any TV turn-offs? I find it hard to watch comedy now, partly because it feels like a busman’s holiday, but primarily because I’m at heart an intensely competitive and jealous person, and if it’s good I want to be in it. What was your biggest TV influence? The Office. It felt like an unprecedented comedy that didn’t rely on punchlines or farcical plots, just satirising the way people talk and behave in the real world. I found that electrifying as a teenager. There was a time I could have recited the Christmas specials word for word. Did that inspire you to start acting? I don’t think so. I never had ambitions to be an actor. I joined Footlights at university for a laugh. We took a show to the Edinburgh Fringe, and Iain Morris, who created The Inbetweeners, saw it and started paying me and Joe Thomas £25 a week to write jokes for his XFM radio show. When we finished university, we set up shop in his office and refused to leave. Two years later, we bullied him into letting us be in The Inbetweeners. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/10/Medium75172S2Embargoes-until-0001-Thursday-8th-August-2024-Everyone-Else-Burns-S2-First-Look1-d8af452.jpg" width="1008" height="672" alt="Simon Bird, Kate O’Flynn, Amy James-Kelly and Harry Connor in Everyone Else Burns. The men are wearing grey suits and the women are wearing white robes" title="Medium_75172_S2_Embargoes until 00_01 Thursday 8th August 2024 Everyone Else Burns S2 First Look_1" /> Did you ever worry about being pigeonholed after The Inbetweeners? Robert Popper was a script editor on the series, then put me in for Friday Night Dinner. It was pure nepotism, and meant I moved on quite quickly. But people still shout Inbetweeners lines at me in the street. If I’m walking my kids, they do check themselves a bit before screaming briefcase w****r at me. But that won’t stop to the day I die, and nor should it. Everyone Else Burns is a departure for you — and for sitcoms. Puritanical Christian cults preparing for the apocalypse aren’t your usual fare? It sounds edgy to set it inside a bizarre Christian sect, but the comic challenges the Lewis family face are universal. Me and Kate O’Flynn are parents struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing world and our kids are dealing with overbearing parents. On one level it’s a Manchester family in a puritanical cult, on another level it’s very relatable. You’ve played a teenager in two sitcoms. How does it feel to finally play your age? I did suddenly grow up, I guess, playing a father. I’ve just turned 40 and almost immediately pulled a muscle in my back. When I tell anyone over 40 I hurt my back they just say, “Welcome to the world”. The Christian press love the show. Has anyone been offended? No one has complained. No one Jewish complained about Friday Night Dinner. And I actually think this is the most traditional series I’ve done. It’s a traditional family sitcom wrapped inside something subversive.
Prepare to be scared… Anita Dobson, Sue Johnston and Robert Lindsay are up to their eyes in blood, guts and prosthetics
Add Generation Z to your watchlist Call it what you like – the generation gap, boomers v millennials or even the culture wars – but the battle between the smashed avocado on toast-eating youngsters and the mortgage-free boomers has been blamed for everything from Brexit to the housing crisis. Now imagine what would happen if the boomers became zombies overnight. “They would get rid of their children,” Robert Lindsay grins in delight. “The young are in the way. They’re good for the appetite. Very good protein!” He laughs out loud. Lindsay is speaking from experience. He’s one of the stars of Generation Z, a new horror comedy on Channel 4 from cult director Ben Wheatley. In the series an experimental bio-weapon literally falls off the back of a military lorry in the fictional town of Dambury, creating a plague that turns the old into monsters but leaves the young unscathed. Or rather, initially unscathed. The old are hungry and angry; the young are bemused, irritated and then… dead. View oEmbed on the source website The cast spans the generations. Lindsay is joined in the upper-age bracket by, among others, Anita Dobson and Sue Johnston; the Gen Xers are led by Johnny Vegas and Rebecca Humphries alongside a host of rising stars like Lewis Gribben and Viola Prettejohn. Dobson and Johnston, both of whom play zombies, still seem surprised at their roles. “I’d just done an episode of Inside No. 9, which was a bit of a departure for me in itself,” Dobson recalls. “When I first spoke to Ben and I said to him, ‘It’s very dark…’ he said, ‘Anita, if we don’t have fun with it, if we don’t make them laugh, we can’t do it.’ Which was what sold me.” Were they fans of the genre? “Not really, no,” Dobson laughs. “Bloody gore is not really on my go-to list. It’s a whole new world. Suddenly you get asked to do things like FearFest – who knew there was a FearFest? And who knows what a FearFest is? But Comic Con will embrace this wholeheartedly. And so we’ll go along to do the signings, and there will be people there with their heads hanging off.” She seems positively cheerful at the prospect. On screen, Johnston – who plays a militant pensioner, one of the first to fall victim to the mysterious gas and ends up leading a gang of infected people to secure food and evade capture – spends much of the time in impressive prosthetics. They were so impressive that Lindsay walked into make-up on his first day and saw her furiously trying to ring some one but finding her iPhone facial recognition had no idea who she was. “Oh gosh,” she shakes her head giggling. “I was getting so frustrated with my phone. Robert wandered in and I had my innards and all sorts hanging out. We’re old friends, but we’ve never worked together before, and it wasn’t the perfect first on-set meeting.” Lindsay’s character does wear some prosthetics – it’s difficult to explain without spoilers – but he remembers the day Channel 4 sent him his stomach. His wife and daughter thought it was an Amazon delivery. “I knew what was inside, so I let them open it, and all of a sudden, my torso appeared with cuts and blood and pipes,” he laughs. “I’ve been asked to auction some things this year in aid of Hampstead Theatre after they had their Arts Council grant cut, so I’ll be selling off my stomach for them.” For fans of Lindsay more familiar with him as the patriarch in My Family, there’s a pleasure in seeing him play a paranoid activist and conspiracy theorist who’s clued in to the government’s attempts to hush things up. His basement radical has an echo of his starring role in the sitcom Citizen Smith, playing Wolfie, the leader of the Tooting Popular Front. “Ben Wheatley was a huge fan of Citizen Smith,” Lindsay nods. “One of the things he sent me initially was a picture of Wolfie, so yes, I think that was in his mind. My character supplies recreational medical treats for the youngsters – he’s a drug dealer – and he’s a former scientist and activist with a mysterious background. For me, the role was a no-brainer, not least because my boys are huge fans of Ben Wheatley.” Dobson and Johnston – also more familiar to audiences for their long stints in family favourites EastEnders and The Royle Family respectively – still aren’t quite sure why the horror director, whose last movie was the Hollywood blockbuster Meg 2: the Trench, turned to them. Dobson suspects Reese Shearsmith suggested her after she played a violent gangster in an Inside No. 9 episode described by Radio Times as the “goriest yet”. “When I read it, I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t get this really’,” Johnston shakes her head. “I was totally naive. I didn’t absorb what we were up to until I came out of make-up and realised we had to go into prosthetics for another three hours.” They all burst out laughing. But the best horror is always a metaphor for something, and Generation Z has serious undertones. Wheatley deals with pandemics and lockdowns, and most of all, the way society treats the elderly. In the case of Dobson and Johnston’s characters, they’ve been abandoned by their families when the infection arrives – and part of their motive is revenge. “It’s a relief to get out of the residential home, which is, my character believes, where they put you when they’re finished with you,” Johnston grins mischievously. “There’s a pile of resentment which I’d probably feel if I got shut in a residential home, which I probably will be. It’s that whole thing of let’s get rid of the old, we don’t need the old. It’s the physical side of being old which I find so bloody annoying. And so, to be regenerated is potent.” Dobson’s character has no intention of giving up her infected status when the authorities arrive. “She likes who she’s become,” she grins. “She really takes it on. It’s unfortunate she has to eat people to stay like this, but so be it.” Then she gets serious. “The thing is, getting old is scary. Of course it is. You know it’s going to happen to you at some point, but you don’t really connect to it until you start to see it on your face, feel it in your knees, and suddenly you think, ‘Oh, here it comes’. “But I wake up in the morning, I think, ‘Well, nothing’s dropped off. I’m good to go’. Do as much as you can while you can. Have a sense of humour. If you don’t laugh as much as you possibly can, then life really does become dull and scary.” Working with the younger actors underlined this a little. Lindsay’s activist spends most of his time uninfected and working with the kids. “I found myself very isolated even in the make-up trailer,” he admits. “They were always joking about things I didn’t understand. The music they were playing, I hated. And I couldn’t hear any of them. They mumbled the whole time.” Dobson agrees: “I was never so aware, of the generation gap as I was when I joined Generation Z. I have a lot of young friends and we go out for meals and drinks, but on set I felt like an old person. One of the boys was playing some music and I started digging it and he looked at me like I was mad.” But all the senior stars insist that they have never been tempted to reverse the clock with a little plastic surgery. “I was talking to an agent yesterday who gets lots of requests from casting directors saying they don’t want anybody who’s had any work done,” says Dobson with a little grin. “If they were playing creatures like Sue and I are playing they’d say, ‘Oh, no, I’ve just had Botox all over and my chin done and my nose done and I don’t really want to cover it up.’” “Anita,” Lindsay jumps in. “I’ve just come back from LA. I worked there in the 80s, and I was catching up with some very old friends and I didn’t recognise any of them. I’m serious. I was completely shocked.” Johnston sighs. “I think it’s just sad, don’t you? I’m very proud of the three of us,” she adds. “We’ve gone with the flow, got our wrinkles and let me tell you we are growing old quite disgracefully.”
Simon Bird: 'People will shout briefcase w**ker at me until the day I die'
The impact of The Inbetweeners lives on...
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Known by many as Will from The Inbetweeners, Simon Bird has since gone on to star in several beloved series across comedy and beyond. That hasn't stopped people from shouting Inbetweeners references at him, though... Speaking in the latest Radio Times magazine, he discusses his view from the sofa, TV turn-offs and more. What's the view from your sofa? I wish I knew. My wife and I tend to watch TV in bed, hunched over my tiny laptop, sharing a set of primitive, fraying earphones, so we don’t wake the kids [Bird has an eight- and six-year-old with author Lisa Owens]. It’s a bleak and tragic image. Which perhaps answers the second question: who controls the TV remote? It depends on who wins the daily and increasingly violent fight between my son and daughter. My daughter has the advantage in terms of height and reach, but my son’s not afraid to play dirty, so it’s impossible to call. We try and find stuff the whole family would like – I’m talking Bluey, Gladiators, Race Across the World, all the classics. What have you enjoyed watching recently on the laptop? At the risk of sounding full centrist dad and quasi-nostalgic, emotionally manipulative sports documentaries like The Last Dance and 99. My wife and I are also in pretty deep with Couples Therapy on iPlayer. It’s a documentary following couples through relationship counselling. We identify with opposing members of each couple, and the rush of satisfaction when the therapist sides with my member of the couple gives me a spring in my step for days. Any TV turn-offs? I find it hard to watch comedy now, partly because it feels like a busman’s holiday, but primarily because I’m at heart an intensely competitive and jealous person, and if it’s good I want to be in it. What was your biggest TV influence? The Office. It felt like an unprecedented comedy that didn’t rely on punchlines or farcical plots, just satirising the way people talk and behave in the real world. I found that electrifying as a teenager. There was a time I could have recited the Christmas specials word for word. Did that inspire you to start acting? I don’t think so. I never had ambitions to be an actor. I joined Footlights at university for a laugh. We took a show to the Edinburgh Fringe, and Iain Morris, who created The Inbetweeners, saw it and started paying me and Joe Thomas £25 a week to write jokes for his XFM radio show. When we finished university, we set up shop in his office and refused to leave. Two years later, we bullied him into letting us be in The Inbetweeners. Did you ever worry about being pigeonholed after The Inbetweeners? Robert Popper was a script editor on the series, then put me in for Friday Night Dinner. It was pure nepotism, and meant I moved on quite quickly. But people still shout Inbetweeners lines at me in the street. If I’m walking my kids, they do check themselves a bit before screaming briefcase w****r at me. But that won’t stop to the day I die, and nor should it. Everyone Else Burns is a departure for you — and for sitcoms. Puritanical Christian cults preparing for the apocalypse aren't your usual fare? It sounds edgy to set it inside a bizarre Christian sect, but the comic challenges the Lewis family face are universal. Me and Kate O’Flynn are parents struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing world, and our kids are dealing with overbearing parents. On one level it’s a Manchester family in a puritanical cult, on another level it’s very relatable. You've played a teenager in two sitcoms. How does it feel to finally play your age? I did suddenly grow up, I guess, playing a father. I’ve just turned 40 and almost immediately pulled a muscle in my back. When I tell anyone over 40 I hurt my back, they just say, "Welcome to the world." The Christian press love the show. Has anyone been offended? No one has complained. No one Jewish complained about Friday Night Dinner. And I actually think this is the most traditional series I’ve done. It’s a traditional family sitcom wrapped inside something subversive. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Everyone Else Burns is available to watch on Channel 4. Check out more of our Comedy 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.
Generation Z stars: "We are growing old quite disgracefully"
"I was never so aware of the generation gap as I was when I joined Generation Z."
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Call it what you like – the generation gap, Boomers v Millennials or even the culture wars – but the battle between the smashed avocado on toast-eating youngsters and the mortgage-free boomers has been blamed for everything from Brexit to the housing crisis. Now imagine what would happen if the boomers became zombies overnight. "They would get rid of their children," Robert Lindsay grins in delight. "The young are in the way. They’re good for the appetite. Very good protein!" He laughs out loud. Lindsay is speaking from experience. He’s one of the stars of Generation Z, a new horror comedy on Channel 4 from cult director Ben Wheatley. In the series, an experimental bio-weapon literally falls off the back of a military lorry in the fictional town of Dambury, creating a plague that turns the old into monsters but leaves the young unscathed. Or rather, initially unscathed. The old are hungry and angry; the young are bemused, irritated, and then… dead. The cast spans the generations. Lindsay is joined in the upper-age bracket by, among others, Anita Dobson and Sue Johnston; the Gen Xers are led by Johnny Vegas and Rebecca Humphries alongside a host of rising stars like Lewis Gribben and Viola Prettejohn. Dobson and Johnston, both of whom play zombies, still seem surprised at their roles. "I’d just done an episode of Inside No. 9, which was a bit of a departure for me in itself," Dobson recalls. "When I first spoke to Ben and I said to him, 'It’s very dark…' he said, 'Anita, if we don’t have fun with it, if we don’t make them laugh, we can’t do it.' Which was what sold me." Were they fans of the genre? "Not really, no," Dobson laughs. "Bloody gore is not really on my go-to list. It’s a whole new world. Suddenly you get asked to do things like FearFest – who knew there was a FearFest? And who knows what a FearFest is? But Comic-Con will embrace this wholeheartedly. And so we’ll go along to do the signings, and there will be people there with their heads hanging off." She seems positively cheerful at the prospect. On screen, Johnston – who plays a militant pensioner, one of the first to fall victim to the mysterious gas, and ends up leading a gang of infected people to secure food and evade capture – spends much of the time in impressive prosthetics. They were so impressive that Lindsay walked into makeup on his first day and saw her furiously trying to ring someone but finding her iPhone facial recognition had no idea who she was. "Oh, gosh," she shakes her head giggling. "I was getting so frustrated with my phone. Robert wandered in and I had my innards and all sorts hanging out. We’re old friends, but we’ve never worked together before, and it wasn’t the perfect first on-set meeting." Lindsay’s character does wear some prosthetics – it’s difficult to explain without spoilers – but he remembers the day Channel 4 sent him his stomach. His wife and daughter thought it was an Amazon delivery. "I knew what was inside, so I let them open it, and all of a sudden, my torso appeared with cuts and blood and pipes," he laughs. "I’ve been asked to auction some things this year in aid of Hampstead Theatre after they had their Arts Council grant cut, so I’ll be selling off my stomach for them." For fans of Lindsay more familiar with him as the patriarch in My Family, there’s a pleasure in seeing him play a paranoid activist and conspiracy theorist who’s clued in to the government’s attempts to hush things up. His basement radical has an echo of his starring role in the sitcom Citizen Smith, playing Wolfie, the leader of the Tooting Popular Front. "Ben Wheatley was a huge fan of Citizen Smith," Lindsay nods. "One of the things he sent me initially was a picture of Wolfie, so yes, I think that was in his mind. My character supplies recreational medical treats for the youngsters – he’s a drug dealer – and he’s a former scientist and activist with a mysterious background. For me, the role was a no-brainer, not least because my boys are huge fans of Ben Wheatley." Dobson and Johnston – also more familiar to audiences for their long stints in family favourites EastEnders and The Royle Family respectively – still aren’t quite sure why the horror director, whose last movie was the Hollywood blockbuster Meg 2: the Trench, turned to them. Dobson suspects Reece Shearsmith suggested her after she played a violent gangster in an Inside No. 9 episode described by Radio Times as the "goriest yet". "When I read it, I thought, 'Oh, I don’t get this, really,'" Johnston shakes her head. "I was totally naive. I didn’t absorb what we were up to until I came out of makeup and realised we had to go into prosthetics for another three hours." They all burst out laughing. But the best horror is always a metaphor for something, and Generation Z has serious undertones. Wheatley deals with pandemics and lockdowns, and most of all, the way society treats the elderly. In the case of Dobson and Johnston’s characters, they’ve been abandoned by their families when the infection arrives – and part of their motive is revenge. "It’s a relief to get out of the residential home, which is, my character believes, where they put you when they’re finished with you," Johnston grins mischievously. "There’s a pile of resentment which I’d probably feel if I got shut in a residential home, which I probably will be. It’s that whole thing of let’s get rid of the old, we don’t need the old. It’s the physical side of being old which I find so bloody annoying. And so, to be regenerated is potent." View oEmbed on the source website Dobson’s character has no intention of giving up her infected status when the authorities arrive. "She likes who she’s become," she grins. "She really takes it on. It’s unfortunate she has to eat people to stay like this, but so be it." Then she gets serious. "The thing is, getting old is scary. Of course it is. You know it’s going to happen to you at some point, but you don’t really connect to it until you start to see it on your face, feel it in your knees, and suddenly you think, 'Oh, here it comes.' "But I wake up in the morning, I think, 'Well, nothing’s dropped off. I’m good to go.' Do as much as you can while you can. Have a sense of humour. If you don’t laugh as much as you possibly can, then life really does become dull and scary." Working with the younger actors underlined this a little. Lindsay’s activist spends most of his time uninfected and working with the kids. "I found myself very isolated even in the makeup trailer," he admits. "They were always joking about things I didn’t understand. The music they were playing, I hated. And I couldn’t hear any of them. They mumbled the whole time." Dobson agrees: "I was never so aware of the generation gap as I was when I joined Generation Z. I have a lot of young friends and we go out for meals and drinks, but on set I felt like an old person. One of the boys was playing some music and I started digging it and he looked at me like I was mad." But all the senior stars insist that they have never been tempted to reverse the clock with a little plastic surgery. "I was talking to an agent yesterday who gets lots of requests from casting directors saying they don’t want anybody who’s had any work done," says Dobson with a little grin. "If they were playing creatures like Sue and I are playing they’d say, 'Oh, no, I’ve just had Botox all over and my chin done and my nose done and I don’t really want to cover it up.'" "Anita," Lindsay jumps in. "I’ve just come back from LA. I worked there in the '80s, and I was catching up with some very old friends and I didn’t recognise any of them. I’m serious. I was completely shocked." Johnston sighs. "I think it’s just sad, don’t you? I’m very proud of the three of us," she adds. "We’ve gone with the flow, got our wrinkles, and let me tell you we are growing old quite disgracefully." The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Generation Z is available to watch on Channel 4. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Devil’s Hour star got bored playing a midwife — she’s a bad girl at heart
Add The Devil's Hour to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? Well, I’m often horizontal, not a sitter upper. I normally have a bar of Tony’s Chocolonely on the coffee table, one of the cats with me and a big TV – I’m happy! And who controls the remote? My son, when he’s watching, or Tom [Goodman-Hill, Raine’s husband, who is also an actor] when it’s just us. This isn’t about the gender politics of our relationship. I’m genuinely a technophobe – and I fall asleep anyway. View oEmbed on the source website What have you enjoyed recently? I’m very, very keen on Severance. And Hacks – I’m absolutely livid that I can’t see season three right now in the UK. And Colin from Accounts. We met Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer at the Emmys, and they were everything I wanted them to be. I love comedy even though I feel like I’ve been put into a trauma role box. Your Wikipedia page says you’ve been acting from the age of 13. What was your first role? The page also says I danced in Beyond Ballets Russes at London’s Coliseum, and I didn’t, but I like people thinking I did. The acting was amateur, village hall stuff. I wasn’t one of those kids who wanted an agent at age seven. I didn’t even know you could do it as a profession. I grew up on a farm and knew no one in the industry. I just wanted to keep on playing for a living. Wikipedia also says your family were bonesetters. That can’t be true. It is true. If you had a bad back, you’d come to see the bonesetter. In Victorian times, we had one ancestor who got paid in silver, so he was called Silver John. The legend is that he was robbed, murdered, thrown into a lake, the lake froze over, and he disappeared until someone was ice skating and saw him under the ice. It’s a good story. I love all the myths of the countryside. There’s a lot of darkness, and you’re living with the cycle of the seasons and livestock. It’s very rooted. And I was a real tomboy. Were you helping on the farm at dawn? We were always on the farm, but not really helping. We were making bale tunnels, which is really dangerous – pulling out bales and destabilising the structure – but as an eight-year-old, you don’t care about that. I had two cousins the same age as me and my sister, so we were four girls just running absolute mayhem, playing army. It was so good. Would you like to do some more action-based stuff, then? I actually do loads of stunts in season two of Devil’s Hour. In episode one, I throw a guy on a table, he elbows me in the mouth, blood capsule dripping from my lips, hurled into the bath... I could do stunts all day, to be honest. But I slipped a disc during filming, which was unbelievably painful. We then filmed series three and I’d done all the rehab, so I was like, “Please, let me do them. I love them!” Season two of The Devil’s Hour is on a whole other level… Yes, you think you’re on safe ground, then you realise you’ve seen the crimes before in series one, and the eagle-eyed viewer will spot this is a parallel life. And then about two thirds of the way through, the rug gets pulled out again. I love it. You wait until season three, it is off the scale! Three seems to be a magic number — you did three series of Call the Midwife. I ducked out halfway through series three of Midwife, so this is actually the longest I’ve been in anything. I’m not a huge fan of being in endlessly running series. I get bored very quickly. What was it like creating Midwife? It kind of hung on you for the first season. I worked really hard on Jenny. Ever since, people are like, “You’re not like her in real life.” But it was Heidi Thomas’s writing, and me working hard, and I guess it worked. But really, I love playing bad girls.
Jessica Raine on The Devil's Hour and Call the Midwife exit: "I get bored very quickly"
"I love comedy, even though I feel like I've been put into a trauma role box."
Jessica Raine chats to Radio Times about three-season runs, errors on Wikipedia and what she's currently watching on TV... What's the view from your sofa? Well, I’m often horizontal, not a sitter-upper. I normally have a bar of Tony’s Chocolonely on the coffee table, one of the cats with me and a big TV – I’m happy! And who controls the remote? My son, when he’s watching, or Tom [Goodman-Hill, Raine’s husband, who is also an actor] when it’s just us. This isn’t about the gender politics of our relationship. I’m genuinely a technophobe – and I fall asleep anyway. What have you enjoyed recently? I’m very, very keen on Severance. And Hacks – I’m absolutely livid that I can’t see season 3 right now in the UK. And Colin from Accounts. We met Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer at the Emmys, and they were everything I wanted them to be. I love comedy, even though I feel like I’ve been put into a trauma role box. Your Wikipedia page says you've been acting from the age of 13. What was your first role? The page also says I danced in Beyond Ballets Russes at London’s Coliseum, and I didn’t, but I like people thinking I did. The acting was amateur, village hall stuff. I wasn’t one of those kids who wanted an agent at age seven. I didn’t even know you could do it as a profession. I grew up on a farm and knew no one in the industry. I just wanted to keep on playing for a living. Wikipedia also says your family were bonesetters. That can't be true. It is true. If you had a bad back, you’d come to see the bonesetter. In Victorian times, we had one ancestor who got paid in silver, so he was called Silver John. The legend is that he was robbed, murdered, thrown into a lake, the lake froze over, and he disappeared until someone was ice skating and saw him under the ice. It’s a good story. I love all the myths of the countryside. There’s a lot of darkness, and you’re living with the cycle of the seasons and livestock. It’s very rooted. And I was a real tomboy. Were you helping on the farm at dawn? We were always on the farm, but not really helping. We were making bale tunnels, which is really dangerous – pulling out bales and destabilising the structure – but as an eight-year-old, you don’t care about that. I had two cousins the same age as me and my sister, so we were four girls just running absolute mayhem, playing army. It was so good. Would you like to do some more action-based stuff, then? I actually do loads of stunts in season 2 of Devil’s Hour. In episode 1, I throw a guy on a table, he elbows me in the mouth, blood capsule dripping from my lips, hurled into the bath... I could do stunts all day, to be honest. But I slipped a disc during filming, which was unbelievably painful. We then filmed series 3 and I’d done all the rehab, so I was like, "Please, let me do them. I love them!" Season 2 of The Devil's Hour is on a whole other level… Yes, you think you’re on safe ground, then you realise you’ve seen the crimes before in series 1, and the eagle-eyed viewer will spot this is a parallel life. And then about two-thirds of the way through, the rug gets pulled out again. I love it. You wait until season 3, it’s off the scale! Three seems to be a magic number — you did three seasons of Call the Midwife. I ducked out halfway through series 3 of Midwife, so this is actually the longest I’ve been in anything. I’m not a huge fan of being in endlessly-running series. I get bored very quickly. What was it like creating Midwife? It kind of hung on you for the first season. I worked really hard on Jenny. Ever since, people are like, "You’re not like her in real life." But it was Heidi Thomas’s writing, and me working hard, and I guess it worked. But really, I love playing bad girls. View Affiliate Playlist on the source website The Devil's Hour season 2 will stream on Prime Video from 18th October 2024 – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial. 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.
The writer and comedian on winning Baftas, weird pop stars and life in the pink
Add Alma's Not Normal to your watchlist What’s the view from your sofa? My telly – I’ve got a big flatscreen smart TV plus one in my bedroom for when I’m ill or hungover. And my Bafta is on the fireplace. I know some people put them in the toilet, but I think that’s a bit arrogant. Although someone did tell me they put theirs in the toilet by the mirror so that when people are having a private moment, they can hold it up and do their own speech. I like that. What have you been watching recently? I just watched Big Boys on Channel 4. It’s a brilliant queer comedy drama from Jack Rooke about friendship with bitchy jokes that are full of heart. And Such Brave Girls on BBC3 about these really messy women. Very acidic wit. Any TV you turn off? I still won’t watch Have I Got News for You. They bullied Paula Yates so viciously and it’s still the same people and still the same culture. It’s not for me. View oEmbed on the source website Who controls the remote in your house? Me, because I live alone. I am a big fan of it. You’ve got your own set of rules. I do my own decorating. My house is so pink it’s like I’m living in a bowl of Gaviscon. Your series, Alma’s Not Normal, is quasi-autobiographical and in series two (starting this week), Alma is trying to get her acting going again. How did you get into acting? I went to a little drama club in Bolton and wanted to write and perform from then. When I was 19, I joined Contact Theatre [in Manchester], trained up in how to be a producer, set up a theatre company, got Arts Council funding, went solo, wrote shows, booked tours, moved into stand-up… The difficulty was giving up control to a manager. How much of your life is in the depiction of Alma? It’s funny that question… People ask me it a lot. I don’t know how often people ask Phoebe Waller-Bridge how much of her is in Fleabag. I know things are changing, but still the headlines about my show, even the positive ones, talk about harshness and brutality. I am a care leaver [loosely defined as someone who has spent time in the care system as a young adult] and I was a sex worker, but Alma is a really funny, Bafta-award-winning show with great actresses in it, and it’s warm and fun to work on. You have helped change the way care leavers are represented, however… I think the care experience is definitely becoming more politicised. I see young care-experienced people using #careleaver, which is really cool. Lemn Sissay spearheaded that conversation – he mentored me – then I’ve been able to do that, too. What was it like winning two Baftas? It’s great winning a Bafta. It is a really wonderful moment. What it actually does, if I’m honest, is it makes you equal to the white middle-class men in the industry and you get a respect you didn’t have before. But I think the best thing that’s come out of Alma for me is that I’ve been able to buy a house and paint it Gaviscon pink. I worked all my life for that. You’ve been in Taskmaster, and you’re a team captain on the next series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. What are those shows like to do? On Taskmaster I had the best time. Greg and Alex create such a brilliant atmosphere, so you feel like you can be very childish. That’s why you see people being really silly because you feel at ease. And you go through this intense experience together that’s really full of joy, so it’s like you’re classmates. We’ve got a WhatsApp group now: me, Steve Pemberton, Joanne McNally, John Robins and Nick Mohammed. Buzzcocks is completely different. Working with pop stars is weird. They all come with an entourage for a start. Nelly Furtado was on my team. I had to keep telling her to be quiet. I got into the habit of shushing people. Dead bossy.
Sophie Willan on the return of Alma's Not Normal, Taskmaster silliness and painting her home pink
"I know things are changing, but still the headlines about my show, even the positive ones, talk about harshness and brutality."
Alma's Not Normal returns for a second run this month, three years since we last saw Sophie Willan's comic creation on screen. To mark the return of the BAFTA-winning sitcom, Radio Times spoke to the writer and comedian about weird pop stars, her Taskmaster WhatsApp group and life in the pink. What’s the view from your sofa? My telly – I’ve got a big flatscreen smart TV plus one in my bedroom for when I’m ill or hungover. And my BAFTA is on the fireplace. I know some people put them in the toilet, but I think that’s a bit arrogant. Although someone did tell me they put theirs in the toilet by the mirror so that when people are having a private moment, they can hold it up and do their own speech. I like that. What have you been watching recently? I just watched Big Boys on Channel 4. It’s a brilliant queer comedy drama from Jack Rooke about friendship with bitchy jokes that are full of heart. And Such Brave Girls on BBC Three about these really messy women. Very acidic wit. Any TV you turn off? I still won’t watch Have I Got News for You. They bullied Paula Yates so viciously and it’s still the same people and still the same culture. It’s not for me. Who controls the remote in your house? Me, because I live alone. I am a big fan of it. You’ve got your own set of rules. I do my own decorating. My house is so pink it’s like I’m living in a bowl of Gaviscon. Your series, Alma’s Not Normal, is quasi-autobiographical and in series 2 (starting this week), Alma is trying to get her acting going again. How did you get into acting? I went to a little drama club in Bolton and wanted to write and perform from then. When I was 19, I joined Contact Theatre [in Manchester], trained up in how to be a producer, set up a theatre company, got Arts Council funding, went solo, wrote shows, booked tours, moved into stand-up... The difficulty was giving up control to a manager. How much of your life is in the depiction of Alma? It’s funny, that question… People ask me it a lot. I don’t know how often people ask Phoebe Waller-Bridge how much of her is in Fleabag. I know things are changing, but still the headlines about my show, even the positive ones, talk about harshness and brutality. I am a care leaver [loosely defined as someone who has spent time in the care system as a young adult] and I was a sex worker, but Alma is a really funny, BAFTA-award-winning show with great actresses in it, and it’s warm and fun to work on. You have helped change the way care leavers are represented, however… I think the care experience is definitely becoming more politicised. I see young care-experienced people using #careleaver, which is really cool. Lemn Sissay spearheaded that conversation – he mentored me – then I’ve been able to do that, too. What was it like winning two BAFTAs? It’s great winning a BAFTA. It is a really wonderful moment. What it actually does, if I’m honest, is it makes you equal to the white middle-class men in the industry and you get a respect you didn’t have before. But I think the best thing that’s come out of Alma for me is that I’ve been able to buy a house and paint it Gaviscon pink. I worked all my life for that. You’ve been in Taskmaster, and you’re a team captain on the next series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. What are those shows like to do? On Taskmaster I had the best time. Greg and Alex create such a brilliant atmosphere, so you feel like you can be very childish. That’s why you see people being really silly because you feel at ease. And you go through this intense experience together that’s really full of joy, so it’s like you’re classmates. We’ve got a WhatsApp group now: me, Steve Pemberton, Joanne McNally, John Robins and Nick Mohammed. Buzzcocks is completely different. Working with pop stars is weird. They all come with an entourage for a start. Nelly Furtado was on my team. I had to keep telling her to be quiet. I got into the habit of shushing people. Dead bossy. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Alma's Not Normal returns at 10pm on Monday 7th October on BBC One (11:05pm N Ireland) and iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy 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.
The All Creatures actor would love to wield a lightsaber, but a trowel will do for now...
This article was first published in Radio Times magazine in October 2024. Add All Creatures Great and Small to your watchlist What is the view from your sofa? A fireplace underneath the telly, and on either side there are bookshelves. On the left, I’ve got graphic novels divided from actual novels by a Marvel figure of Dr Doom on a throne. On the right I’ve got a record player and a DVD of a Dexys Midnight Runners gig at the Duke of York’s Theatre. My favourite band. In front of that I’ve got Tristan from All Creatures Great and Small’s vet bag. Who controls the remote in your household? Very much me, but that’s because I’ve got three separate remotes – one for the telly, one for the Firestick, and one for the sound bar. My girlfriend is, like, “Can you just do it?” And by then, I’m choosing what we’re watching. What have you enjoyed recently? The Acolyte. It didn’t do very well in reviews, but I love anything Star Wars. You put on eight hours of paint drying in the Star Wars universe and I’d watch. If even paint drying is watchable, what are your TV turn-offs? There are things that I really don’t like. Bridgerton is one of the worst shows ever, but I would absolutely take a role on it, because then I could just choose whatever job I wanted. Have you ever auditioned for Star Wars? No, that’s my dream. If I got to wield a lightsaber on TV or film, I could die the next day a happy man. Were your parents supportive when you told them you wanted to act? My dad is an engineer in the oil business and my mum is a nurse. I said, “Folks, this is what I want to do.” They were completely baffled but supported me. My dad wanted me to have a Plan B, but I thought if I didn’t then acting had to work out. You left drama school, going straight into The Durrells and were then cast in All Creatures — have you always been an animal lover? It’s weird. At drama school I got dark roles like Hotspur in Henry IV and Stanhope in Journey’s End… then I got Leslie in The Durrells! I thought hopefully I’ll do it well, and then get back to the bad guys. But I’ve carried on with the lovely, wholesome family drama stuff. But I have done some horror films on the side. I love horror. This season Tristan is back from the war. How was his homecoming? Siegfried [Samuel West] and Tristan had that beautiful farewell at the end of series three and you’d think that would have given their relationship a new dimension, but it doesn’t take long for them to descend into bickering like an old married couple again. Which is what you want to see. I absolutely loved Jamie Rose’s performance as Carmody in series four, so it’s been great to act with him. We have a really wonderful episode that’s almost like Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad is quite a departure from the Yorkshire Dales! I mean, it’s still James Herriot... Honestly, when we’re filming in Grassington, which doubles for Darrowby, there’s so much affection for the show – we always have an audience when we’re filming. It’s like a cross between telly and theatre. There are 200 people watching and when we cut, we get a round of applause. Are you working on something darker right now? No, I’m working as a part-time gardener. It’s a fun thing to do between acting jobs to give my days structure. A friend of a friend was doing my garden while I was preparing to do a horror film – I had to look emaciated so I decided to help out to lose weight. I had a knack for it, and he offered me shifts. It gets me out of the house, I learn about plants, and do cool stuff. So, my dad got his way in the end. I now have a Plan B.
Callum Woodhouse on returning to All Creatures: 'One episode is like Breaking Bad'
The All Creatures Great and Small actor spoke to Radio Times about his love of Star Wars and the Netflix series he thinks is "one of the worst shows ever".
With the new season of All Creatures Great and Small returning to our screens at long last, there's one fan-favourite character that viewers couldn't wait to see make a comeback – Callum Woodhouse's Tristan Farnon. Last seen in the Channel 5 series leaving to serve in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, it's set to be a welcome return for Woodhouse back into the All Creatures fold. To mark the new episodes, the actor spoke to Radio Times about what he likes watching in his downtime, his unapologetic love of Star Wars and why he deems Bridgerton to be "one of the worst shows ever". He also teases what's to come in this season of All Creatures, including an episode that has stark similarities to hit Netflix series Breaking Bad... What is the view from your sofa? A fireplace underneath the telly, and on either side there are bookshelves. On the left, I’ve got graphic novels divided from actual novels by a Marvel figure of Dr Doom on a throne. On the right I’ve got a record player and a DVD of a Dexys Midnight Runners gig at the Duke of York’s Theatre. My favourite band. In front of that I’ve got Tristan from All Creatures Great and Small’s vet bag. Who controls the remote in your household? Very much me, but that’s because I’ve got three separate remotes – one for the telly, one for the Firestick, and one for the sound bar. My girlfriend is, like, “Can you just do it?” And by then, I’m choosing what we’re watching. What have you enjoyed recently? The Acolyte. It didn’t do very well in reviews, but I love anything Star Wars. You put on eight hours of paint drying in the Star Wars universe and I’d watch. If even paint drying is watchable, what are your TV turn-offs? There are things that I really don’t like. Bridgerton is one of the worst shows ever, but I would absolutely take a role on it, because then I could just choose whatever job I wanted. Have you ever auditioned for Star Wars? No, that’s my dream. If I got to wield a lightsaber on TV or film, I could die the next day a happy man. Were your parents supportive when you told them you wanted to act? My dad is an engineer in the oil business and my mum is a nurse. I said, “Folks, this is what I want to do.” They were completely baffled but supported me. My dad wanted me to have a Plan B, but I thought if I didn’t then acting had to work out. You left drama school, going straight into The Durrells and were then cast in All Creatures – have you always been an animal lover? It’s weird. At drama school I got dark roles like Hotspur in Henry IV and Stanhope in Journey’s End... then I got Leslie in The Durrells! I thought hopefully I’ll do it well, and then get back to the bad guys. But I’ve carried on with the lovely, wholesome family drama stuff. But I have done some horror films on the side. I love horror. View oEmbed on the source website This season Tristan is back from the war. How was his homecoming? Siegfried [Samuel West] and Tristan had that beautiful farewell at the end of series 3 and you’d think that would have given their relationship a new dimension, but it doesn’t take long for them to descend into bickering like an old married couple again. Which is what you want to see. I absolutely loved Jamie Rose’s performance as Carmody in series 4, so it’s been great to act with him. We have a really wonderful episode that’s almost like Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad is quite a departure from the Yorkshire Dales! I mean, it’s still James Herriot... Honestly, when we’re filming in Grassington, which doubles for Darrowby, there’s so much affection for the show – we always have an audience when we’re filming. It’s like a cross between telly and theatre. There are 200 people watching and when we cut, we get a round of applause. Are you working on something darker right now? No, I’m working as a part-time gardener. It’s a fun thing to do between acting jobs to give my days structure. A friend of a friend was doing my garden while I was preparing to do a horror film – I had to look emaciated so I decided to help out to lose weight. I had a knack for it, and he offered me shifts. It gets me out of the house, I learn about plants, and do cool stuff. So, my dad got his way in the end. I now have a Plan B. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. All Creatures Great and Small seasons 1-4 are available to watch on My5. Season 5 continues on Thursday 26th September at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5. You can order <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Creatures-Great-Small-Yorkshire/dp/1447225996/?tag=radtim0b-21&ascsubtag=radiotimes-2110530" target="_blank" rel="sponsored" data-geniuslink="https://buy.geni.us/Proxy.ashx?TSID=114542&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FAll-Creatures-Great-Small-Yorkshire%2Fdp%2F1447225996%2F%3Ftag%3Dradtim0b-21%26ascsubtag%3Dradiotimes-2103886&dtb=1" data-id="iframe-0-anchor-8">James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small from Amazon. If you're looking for something else to watch, visit our TV Guide or take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Is the sitcom dead? Not Going Out's Lee Mack and TV comedy bosses weigh in
They're expensive, risky and tricky to write, but if you get them right, there's a big audience wanting a laugh.
With a season of classic sitcom repeats under way on BBC Two, you might find yourself wondering: what is the funniest British sitcom of all time? Well, the polls are… confusing. In 2004, the public voted for Only Fools and Horses. In 2015, Mrs Brown’s Boys was deemed the best of the 21st century. In 2019, Radio Times readers voted Fawlty Towers the greatest of all time. While in 2022, another poll’s top three was The Office, The Inbetweeners and Are You Being Served? But whatever the victor, such rankings always lead to anguished think-pieces about how the situation comedy is dead – that these days, we just don’t make them like we used to. In May, the BBC’s director of comedy Jon Petrie seemed to confirm this. Talking to producers, he cited last year’s Radio Times Screen Test survey showing that comedy increases viewers’ happiness levels. “Audiences are telling us they want a laugh to combat the gloom,” he said. And to serve that, he made a plea – “Send us fewer shows that are ‘an exploration’ of something and more that know where their funny bones are.” Does he think the sitcom is, if not dead, then in grave peril? “Mainstream sitcom is hard,” he explains when we catch up with him again. “It’s a lot of pressure to make ten million people laugh. It needs a consistent joke level, clear comic characters and big set-pieces but no convoluted plot – so much of the humour in a great sitcom comes from character. We feel that we’ve skewed too much into comedy drama recently. It’s time to push back.” Channel 4’s head of comedy Charlie Perkins agrees. She’s looking for “a long-running sitcom, an ensemble show with gangs of characters like Ghosts”. So if there’s so much demand from channel bosses, why aren’t we in a golden era of sitcoms? “There’s definitely a big audience,” says comedian Lee Mack – and he should know. His sitcom Not Going Out is the second longest-running in British TV history (after Last of the Summer Wine), and it’s been commissioned for a 14th season. “But there aren’t younger comics coming through wanting to write them. You can have a whole debate about why. I think part of it might be class-based.” Nerys Evans agrees. She’s the creative director at Expectation, producer of returning BBC sitcom Alma’s Not Normal (and commissioned Derry Girls at Channel 4). “Most of the huge studio sitcoms had working-class writers like Victoria Wood and John Sullivan,” she argues. “There are so few working-class people in telly – and a lot of middle-class writers are horrified to have their comedy described as broad. Tom Basden really resisted writing a family sitcom when he created Here We Go. It started as a mockumentary, and he was coaxed into the sitcom format in development.” RT has spoken to comedy producers and found, on the one hand, an abiding love of the sitcom. “There’s such pleasure in watching for joy, not jeopardy,” says Hannah Farrell, creative director at Fable Pictures, the company behind Lucy Beaumont’s comedy Hullraisers. “Sitcoms don’t often present any real life and death stakes in their stories of the week – which means we can relax and just enjoy the purely ridiculous situations. Sitcom characters become people we want to hang out with – like meeting a mate for a cosy pint after work and having a laugh. They make us feel better about the world.” But certain themes keep coming up. Perhaps the biggest (after near-universal admiration for the recently concluded Ghosts) is that launching new comedy is a risk. “If you’re setting out to say this is funny, and people don’t agree, they’re offended,” says Neil Webster, whose father-son sitcom Only Child launches on BBC One in the near future. “You can’t predict what will be successful – you can have the best writers, best performers and best idea, but the moment you launch, people are thinking, ‘I’ll see about that.’” Some producers also note that broadcasters want big talent from the outset, meaning growing new talent is harder. There’s a demand for new voices and YouTube can help – This Country and People Just Do Nothing both started there – but passionate, authored sitcoms may not produce long-running hits. “The problem is authored stories can be told often in two or three series, then the writer moves on,” says Josh Cole, head of comedy for BBC Studios, producer of Apple TV+’s Trying and Amazon’s Good Omens. Evans agrees. “We need to develop longer-running shows with ensemble casts and a writers’ room so that the writer doesn’t get exhausted,” she says. For Mack, this is key. “When I was writing the first series of Not Going Out, I looked at American sitcoms,” he recalls. “The difference was the rate of gags. UK producers have a joke on every page. In America they slave over every line. On average ten per cent of a US sitcom budget goes on the writers, whereas in Britain about five per cent of the money goes on writers. Writers are twice as important there.” Everyone RT spoke to also pointed out that there’s less money around, and that compared with other programming, comedy is an expensive risk as it takes time to develop. Sophie Willan, for instance, took 18 months to write her Alma’s Not Normal pilot – and she later won two BAFTAs. Stath Lets Flats, meanwhile (which won four), went through four pilot scripts, two read-throughs, a Comedy Blap (a short showcase slot) and a taster episode. View Green Video on the source website “[Roisin Conaty sitcom] Gameface started as a Blap,” recalls its producer Charlie Lewis, head of comedy at Objective. “That’s always been part of hit sitcom culture.” For example, if we turn to comedy history, Porridge and Open All Hours both came from a run of pilot shows starring Ronnie Barker. Though this practice is not without its problems. “That’s more development than a drama usually needs and that costs money,” Lewis says. “There are increasing production costs and shrinking opportunities,” explains Shane Allen, co-founder of Boffola Pictures and the man who commissioned Fleabag, Upstart Crow and Inside No. 9 at the BBC. “Channel 4 has advertising woes, the BBC’s licence fee freeze has a huge impact. But comedy punches well above its weight. Ten years ago, it was seen as a high-cost high-fail genre, while reality shows cost a fraction of the price. But broadcasters now know that comedy becomes incredibly good value and reaches young viewers. Ghosts will be watched for generations to come and has sold to America.” One solution to money woes can come from international co-productions – although Allen warns that brings creative problems. Fleabag’s first series was BBC-funded “with the creative freedom that provides”. But after Amazon co-financed series two “a whole raft of US male execs turned up to the read-through and – bear in mind this was a piece exploring self-destructive feminism – proceeded to tear the show apart and demand Andrew Scott was recast with only four days until the shoot started,” he sighs. “Anyone less effervescently charming and smart than Phoebe would have buckled.” We could also be stuck in old ways of thinking about sitcoms. The top ten comedy programmes of 2023 were Ghosts, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Not Going Out, The Cleaner, Two Doors Down, The Power of Parker, Gavin & Stacey, Queen of Oz, Black Ops and The Windsors. Most of those are sitcoms, but only two have old-school studio audiences. But maybe those old-fashioned laughs are now drawn out in different shows. Jon Thoday, co-founder of production company Avalon, says that pitching Taskmaster to broadcasters, Alex Horne insisted on the same cast of comics for an entire season “because it becomes an unscripted sitcom”, he explains. “Have I Got News for You was like a sitcom at the beginning with the three main presenters. If I was Jon Petrie, I’d cancel one episode of EastEnders and put Ghosts and other sitcoms in that slot. That would change the face of comedy and make ITV think about it too.” Overall, Petrie says the BBC understands the issues and plans to experiment with writers’ rooms. He cites Tom Basden, Holly Walsh and Simon Blackwell as potential British comedy showrunners and cites forthcoming sitcoms Amandaland (a Motherland spin-off) and Smoggie Queens, about a gang of bitchy Middlesbrough drag queens, as possible long-running shows of the future. “We’re prepared to make a few shows that might not hit in the way we hope,” he says. “Big audiences for the first series is hard – look at Blackadder and Only Fools and Horses. We have to hold our nerve. And the rewards are not just financial. If you create a great sitcom, you’ve got a place in TV history.” This article features in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, out now – subscribe here. Check out more of our Comedy 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.
Not Going Out's Lee Mack and Sally Bretton reflect on 100 episodes
The 100th special will air on Christmas Eve.
Remarkably, Not Going Out will be celebrating its 100th episode, and it's set to be a glorious affair. To celebrate the landmark achievement, the sitcom fronted by Lee Mack and Sally Bretton will air on Christmas Eve at 10pm. Speaking to Radio Times magazine, Mack and Bretton reflect on 100 episodes of the beloved sitcom. Lee Mack Not many sitcoms make it to 100 episodes. Can you remember how the show began? Lee Mack: I was doing a sketch show at the Fringe in Edinburgh with Catherine Tate and Dan Antopolski. There was a thought I had that wasn’t even a joke – me looking out of a window with a telescope, my wife walks in and I suddenly look up to the stars. In other words, what the hell was I looking at? At best mildly amusing, not a sketch but an idea, so I parked it. Then I had another and another and the sketch grew into a quarter of the show and then became a pilot. You had a couple of leading women before Sally Bretton joined the cast as Lucy — what made her your perfect foil? LM: Catherine was in the pilot, but she was so busy – we were shooting next to a school and all the kids in the playground were shouting, "Am I bothered?" Megan [Dodds] was great in series one, but she felt it wasn’t her thing. Studio-based sitcom isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Sally can deliver a gag. Plus, she’s got bucket-loads of likeability. Looking back over 100 episodes, what have been the highs and lows? LM: Bobby Ball [who played Lee’s dad] was both the high and the low. Bob passing away was a big low, but it was a big high when he turned up in the first place. He was one of my comedy heroes as a kid. He was just pure funny. My first performance was impersonating him to get laughs at a new school. Did you plan the 100th episode to be something special? Why do it at Christmas? LM: The fact that it’s arrived at Christmas is a coincidence. We wanted to celebrate the 100th with my 100-year-old aunt coming round on her birthday and having a nasty mishap. Then, when we realised it was Christmas, we thought that wasn’t very festive – better make it Father Christmas instead. What are your own festive family traditions? LM: I do the cooking. I become the chef and really take over. We’ve also got 20 people coming round on Boxing Day, so I’ll be cooking two dinners. I find it stressful, but I’m determined to do it. How will you be marking the start of 2024? LM: This year, I’ll actually be on stage in Steven Moffat’s play The Unfriend at Wyndham’s Theatre in London, folks. Any other plans for the new year? LM: More 1% Club, more Would I Lie to You? and, for the first year in a long time, I won’t be doing Not Going Out. If we do bring it back, we’re looking at early 2025. Sally is also starring in Beyond Paradise this Christmas with Kris Marshall — how does that make you feel? LM: I love the fact that Sal is now Mrs BBC. I’m a fan of Death in Paradise and Beyond Paradise. I’m a stand-up doing acting, but she’s the proper actor, and it’s nice to see people recognise that. Sally Bretton How did you come to be Lee’s significant other? Sally Bretton: At the time, I was doing a lot of comedy. I’d done The Office and Green Wing, but I’d never seen Not Going Out, so I watched it and laughed so much. It was quite an intimidating audition, but Lee was warm, funny and encouraging. I think I played it quite posh at the beginning and that’s why I kept being called back. It was just callback after callback, and eventually I got it. Did you expect to be in the show 93 episodes and 12 series later? SB: No! I think the most I’d ever done before that was two series. What has kept you coming back? SB: The belly laughs. I think when you’re at school you belly laugh a lot, then when you grow up you laugh but it’s not the same. When I go to work with Lee, I belly laugh on a regular basis. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/12/not-going-out-christmas-special-9f0ab53.jpg" width="768" height="512" alt="Hugh Dennis and Lee Mack in the Not Going Out Christmas special 2023, in a living room with Christmas decorations, one pointing at the other who looks surprised, with a Christmas tree and festive lights in the background." title="Hugh Dennis and Lee Mack in the Not Going Out Christmas special 2023" /> Anything you don’t enjoy? SB: Lee is good at finding your weak spots and then just dropping them into the performance as a sort of in-joke – you have to dig your fingernails in to avoid cracking up. Do you have any input on storylines now that you know your character so well? SB: No. Lee and Danny [co-writer Daniel Peak] are very tight on the scripts. I used to worry that if I told anecdotes about my own home life they might find their way into the script, but they haven’t… yet. How festive is the 100th episode? SB: Very. More than any of the others, this is like a theatrical farce. It involves all the cast – Abigail, Geoffrey, Hugh, Deborah and the kids – and it just sort of gathers pace and drama – and there’s Santa. That’s what I really enjoyed about it. You’re ruling Christmas this year with Not Going Out and Beyond Paradise specials — how does that feel? SB: I’m really thrilled. Of course, we filmed the Not Going Out special in April and Beyond Paradise in August, at the height of summer, so it didn’t feel like Christmas when we made them. How different is the Beyond Paradise Christmas episode from Not Going Out? SB: They’re so different. They both have loads of warmth and likeable characters that you care about, but Beyond Paradise is a gentler ride. While there is a puzzle to solve and crimes take place, it’s a warmer watch, all about giving. The mystery gives Paradise a story arc, while Not Going Out… well, you just have to buckle in. How will you be spending this Christmas? I’ll be celebrating at home with family. SB: We probably won’t be watching the King’s Speech, but otherwise very traditional. What will you gather round the TV to watch? SB: The 1% Club and Death in Paradise to keep both my on-screen husbands happy! Not Going Out's 2023 Christmas special airs on Christmas Eve (Sunday 24th December) at 10pm on BBC One. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
63 behind-the-scenes facts you didn't know about Call the Midwife
From tales of Helen George’s dog Charlie, to the time the BBC drama shared a set with Star Wars, here are the biggest secrets of the show as the story reaches 1963
1. It takes 120 days over a six-month period to film a complete series of Call the Midwife. Over that time, the show’s caterers serve around 30,000 meals to cast and crew. 2. The show always starts filming in April, so by the time it comes to the Christmas special — which usually features snow — it’s boiling hot outside. Laura Main and Stephen McGann (who play Shelagh and Patrick Turner) regularly appear on set in big coats with bathing costumes worn underneath. 3. When temperatures soar, Helen George, who plays Trixie, hires an ice cream van to serve the cast and crew frozen treats. Will Helen George’s Nurse Trixie Franklin return to Call the Midwife? Helen George takes break from Call the Midwife – to have her baby Here’s how Helen George disguised her baby bump in Call the Midwife 4. It takes several days to prepare the backdrop for winter scenes, with wooden frames, fabric, fake snow and plastic icicles hanging from lampposts. View oEmbed on the source website 5. Nonnatus House was named after St Raymond Nonnatus, who was born by caesarean section and is the patron saint of childbirth and pregnant women. Non natus is Latin for “not born”. 6. The nuns are based on sisters from the Anglican Community of St John the Divine. The order is still active, though the remaining sisters left the East End in 1976 and now work with the homeless in Birmingham. Before she died, Jennifer Worth, whose memoirs inspired the series, set up a trust for the order so they receive an income from the profits of the books and the show. 7 .Jennifer Worth’s books only provided one-and-a-half series worth of material. After series one, the team hired a researcher to interview people who’d written into the show with their own stories. Heidi Thomas (the series’ creator and writer) calls it oral testimony, and it has provided her with roughly half the stories for the drama. View oEmbed on the source website 8. Heidi was inspired to bring Call the Midwife to the screen after she suffered a serious illness 14 months after her son Dominic was born, to honour the care and kindness she received from the nurses. 9. For series one and two, St Joseph’s College in Mill Hill, north London — built by Father Herbert Vaughan in 1866 as Britain’s first Catholic missionary college — was used as the setting for Nonnatus House. In 2013, the building was sold to a developer, so the team decamped to the Manor House at Longcross Film Studios in Surrey, formerly the site of an MoD tank test track. 10. During filming in spring 2016, Call the Midwife shared the studio with the Millennium Falcon, with filming for Star Wars: The Last Jedi taking place on an outdoor lot. 11. Theed Street near Waterloo station in London is the location for exterior shots of terraced houses that open directly on to a street. 12. Manor House was an officers’ mess hall after the Second World War — and the first floor is reputed to be haunted. 13. Most street scenes are shot in the Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent. Staff have renamed one street Chummy’s Hill, after the scene when Camilla “Chummy” Browne (Miranda Hart) tried to ride a bicycle and crashed into PC Noakes. View oEmbed on the source website 14. It takes around seven hours to film every birth — real infants can only film for 15 minutes at a time so the team has worked with thousands of children. 15. All of the on-set food is real, with cakes brought in from an artisan bakery to give the right look to a Victoria sponge. 16 Mary Berry offered to bake the cakes for the show when the current producer, Ann Tricklebank, ran into her at the National Television Awards last year. 17. The nuns’ Royal Doulton Cascade tea set has a bigger post bag than some of the actors. Viewers either share memories or complain they’ve broken their sugar basin. Members of the team’s art department buy a lot on eBay, and if they find a spare sugar basin they pass it on. 18. Heidi Thomas is a stickler for period accuracy. In series two, while the show’s usual set dresser was off sick, there was a scene with a family eating Sunday lunch and the stand-in dresser put broccoli on the table. Because nobody ate broccoli in 1959 they used an editing tool and decolourised the broccoli so that it looked like cauliflower. 19. Directors who are new to the show receive a mood board, which always includes pictures taken by Nick Hedges in the late 1960s as part of a housing campaign run by Shelter, the homelessness charity. 20. The character of Reggie Jackson, who has Down’s syndrome, was inspired by Heidi Thomas’s late brother David, who also had the condition. 21. For the Thalidomide storyline, two silicone babies were made to play baby Susan, one of whom is animatronic. Both the silicone babies have now been donated to the Thalidomide Society. 22. Most on-screen births involve both a real and a prosthetic baby. The show has three prosthetic babies, which cost £5,000 each to make from the same medical-grade silicone used in artificial limbs. It feels like human skin to the touch. 23.There’s a drawer full of umbilical cords on set — different sizes of baby require different sizes of umbilical cord. View oEmbed on the source website 24. Minced beef was once used as a broken-up placenta. Afterwards, the show’s midwifery adviser, Terri Coates, insisted the room and the crew be sterilised before the baby came in for filming. 25. When waters break during a delivery, either Terri or the actress punctures a condom full of water to squirt out fake amniotic fluid. 26. With a couple of rare exceptions — hello, Anita Dobson! — the show isn’t keen on big-name cameos. That doesn’t stop celebrities’ agents writing in to ask for their clients to be in it, although this approach has yet to work. 27. Cliff Parisi, who plays Fred Buckle, qualified for his private pilot’s licence while working on the show. 28. Max Macmillan, who plays young Timothy Turner, is an expert pianist and often plays the on-set piano for the cast between scenes. View oEmbed on the source website 29. Jenny Agutter’s son is a real-life doctor, working full-time for the NHS. 30. Stephen McGann is left-handed and that makes some procedures difficult for him to replicate as medical tools are made for right-handed people, so he practises again and again using his “wrong” hand. For really complex procedures, Terri Coates’s paediatrician husband puts on a mask and plays Dr Turner to get the details right for the camera. 31. Stephen McGann is an expert at the art of origami — he folds all the paper animals that Dr Turner makes. 32. Despite the fact that Heidi Thomas and Stephen McGann are married and Heidi works from home, Stephen doesn’t read a word of the scripts until they arrive in the post. View oEmbed on the source website 33. The Call the Midwife soundtrack album, which featured the cast singing their version of Elevator Rock originally sung by Tommy Steele, was a hit in 2013, shifting more than 60,000 copies. 34. In November that year, on-screen husband and wife Stephen McGann and Laura Main followed up the album with a single, When I Fall in Love, released for Children in Need. Laura also won a Children in Need Call the Midwife Strictly special. 35. The children pictured on the front of the first DVD cover and in lots of publicity shots, running behind the midwives on their bikes, are executive producer Pippa Harris’s daughter Ella McBrien and her friends, Mae, Sam, Laurence and Henry Topley. 36. Hayley Squires, who made her screen debut as Conchita Warren’s daughter Maureen in the very first episode, went on to get a Bafta nomination and win a British Independent Film Award for her role as Katie in I, Daniel Blake. 37. Now aged four, Alice Brown has played Angela Turner since she was a few months old. Producers once hired a body double so that she could attend a friend’s birthday party. 38. The location for the Hope Clinic in South Africa was actually a children’s school — the Call the Midwife team gave the kids enough meal vouchers to get them through the winter, as well as warm coats and shoes. View oEmbed on the source website For the latest news and expert tips on getting the best deals this year, take a look at our Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday 2021 guides. 39. While filming in South Africa, cast members were surprised to find people living without electricity in the townships knew who they were. Township shabeens (illicit bars) often show the drama on communal televisions. 40. Call the Midwife has been sold to over 100 countries. The 2017 Christmas Special also aired on Christmas night across the USA, and on Boxing Day in Australia. 41. The show has a global cast. Actors from China, Pakistan, Somalia, Japan, India, Bangladesh, Russia, Ireland, Sweden, Nigeria, Norway, St Lucia, Jamaica and South Africa have all appeared. 42. Victoria Yeates who plays Sister Winifred, became engaged to musician Paul Housden while filming the 2016 Christmas special in South Africa. 43. In the UK, the show is often described as comforting and nostalgic, but in the US it’s seen as a radical argument for free medical care. An LA Times reviewer described the show as “a timely valentine to socialised medicine”. 44. When series one director Philippa Lowthorpe won the Bafta best director award for her work on the show in 2013, she was the first woman to be awarded the fiction directing prize by the Academy. In total, 11 women have directed episodes of CTM. 45. Heidi Thomas, Pippa Harris and Ann Tricklebank first worked together some 25 years ago on ITV’s Soldier Soldier. 46. The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall are both said to be fans, and a DVD of the festive episode is sent to Sandringham at Christmas. 47. When Trixie became engaged to Tom Hereward the vicar, the show’s costume department struggled to find the right 1920s ring, so Heidi lent Helen George a ring from her own jewellery box. Awkwardly, in the story, Trixie hated the ring. 48. Most of the show’s guest female characters — who appear in one or two episodes — arrive on set with highlights of some kind in their hair. The team take them to a salon for a colour wash, then pay to have the highlights put back in again after shooting. This accounts for the largest part of the hair and make-up budget. 49. It takes two hours to do each of the midwives’ hair with backcombing and lacquer. It’s all their own hair, with a couple of judicious extensions here and there. 50. In the 1960s the midwives would have worn masks when they were with the newborn babies but the production team decided to overlook this, as it was felt viewers would struggle to tell who was who in a lot of scenes. 51. Historic events are rarely referenced, with one big exception — the Space Race, starting with Yuri Gagarin in series five. In series seven, the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, gets a namecheck in episode four. She went into orbit in the summer of 1963. 52. The producers are fanatical about secrecy and spoilers. They often put out false call sheets so the public won’t know where they’re filming, as hundreds of fans turn up to watch outdoor location scenes. 53. Production on the show centres around a full script read through the day before shooting, which is always themed. When sex education classes were part of the story, the room was decorated with birds and bees; for Lucy Chen’s Chinese community storyline there were Chinese snacks and everyone got a fan. 54. Helen George’s dog Charlie comes to every read through and loves the sound of applause. When the read through wraps and everyone claps he leaps into the centre of the room. 55. Judy Parfitt, who plays Sister Monica Joan, has a white poodle called Freddie who appeared in episode five of series six. Unfortunately, Freddie hates Stephen McGann…. 56. The best-legs-on-set competition was won by Judy Parfitt, who hitched up her habit and trounced the youngsters. 57. Celebrity fans include Lena Dunham, Whoopi Goldberg and Paul McCartney, whose mother was a midwife. 58. Heidi Thomas used to assist the Akela of her local Cub pack — hence the many storylines involving Cub Scouts. 59.For the first series, the team asked midwives at a maternity unit if they knew any women who would be happy to bring babies to the set. By series two, regulations had tightened so all babies are now recruited through licensed agencies. 60. The show’s first breech birth, with Chummy helping the delivery, took a whole day to film, and is now used for teaching purposes by trainee obstetricians. 61. All costumes are made in triplicate to cater for blood, dirt or rips that might occur in scenes that are filmed out of chronological order. 62. Costume designer Amy Roberts met the nuns of the Order of St John the Divine to check period details before designing outfits. The original habit for the series was bright blue but had to be toned down for the cameras. 63. Over the first six series — a total of 51 episodes — of Call the Midwife, Terri Coates estimates that there have been 91 on-screen births filmed (including two still births), which means that the 100th birth should fall in series seven! This article was originally published in February 2018
James Norton on McMafia, death threats and acting with his dad
“There’s something about the mafia that is quite compelling… with money and fast cars and yachts and beautiful women”
“Some people have asked me if I’m worried about getting death threats for exposing how the Russian mafia works,” James Norton says casually over dinner. “That would be nothing new. Playing Tommy Lee Royce, I’d get death threats buying milk in my local shop.” Happy Valley’s dangerous psychopath has been one of Britain’s favourite baddies of the past few years, so it’s exciting to imagine Norton, 32, suiting up to play Alex Godman – the British-raised son of Russian mafia exiles who is dragged into the criminal underworld. View oEmbed on the source website McMafia co-creator Hossein Amini: Modern-day gangsters don’t have blood on their hands, they’re corporate high-fliers Meet the cast of McMafia Where is McMafia filmed? Godman is the complicated hero of McMafia, the BBC’s big-budget crime drama that started on New Year’s Day, starring Norton and Juliet Rylance alongside a host of Russian, Israeli and Serbian actors playing mob bosses from their home territories. It’s based on journalist Misha Glenny’s 2008 book of that name – a forensic account of how the end of the Cold War produced a trans-national criminal class that effectively franchised out its cigarette, drugs and people smuggling businesses. That illegal trade may account for up to 15 per cent of the world’s GDP. (Hence the title – nothing to do with the Scots and all to do with the franchise model.) The TV drama, on the other hand, is a brooding international thriller that blends The Night Manager’s stylish globetrotting with The Sopranos’ take on family values. “We took the book as a backdrop,” explains the show’s co-creator, Hossein Amini, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for The Wings of a Dove and whose other credits include the films Drive and Snow White and the Huntsman. “For Alex Godman I mixed in a little of my background – I came to London as an Iranian just after the revolution – and a bit of Michael Corleone in The Godfather… the innocent trying to escape his family’s past.” Norton’s character Godman is living a decent life in London, running an ethical hedge fund and hoping to marry his girlfriend, Rebecca (played by Rylance), until Vadim, a Russian oligarch, arrives in town dealing out murder. The plot echoes the deaths of exiled tycoons such as Boris Berezovsky (a businessman and opponent of Putin’s who was found dead at his home in Berkshire – the inquest recorded an open verdict) and Arkadi Patarkatsishvili (a Georgian billionaire whose death from a heart attack was surrounded by rumours that he’d been assassinated). Godman is drawn further and further into his family’s dark past and soon finds, to his surprise, that he’s pretty good at it. “The thing about Alex is, he’s neither a villain nor a hero,” Norton explains, sitting outside a hotel in Croatia as the evening draws slowly in. The country doubles for everything from Tel Aviv to the south of France, and he’s been here filming for a few months. He is working harder than he expected, and having dinner with Israeli, Russian and Brazilian actors – “We’re muddling our way through slightly confused conversations”. It’s his day off today, so he’s having one small glass of beer. It’s the kind of control you’d expect from Godman – whose calm smile and cold eyes mean even his uncle can’t understand what he’s thinking. “Alex is trying to do the right thing, but he’s being screwed up and twisted and turned and he gets into this spiralling mess,” Norton says. “He’s not really in full control of each choice. You identify with him, you want him to succeed, you want him to survive – but then the darkness starts to take hold. He’s complicated.” Researching the role had a huge effect on Norton. “There’s something about the mafia that is quite compelling – it’s an anarchic, subversive world, with money and fast cars and yachts and beautiful women and all that stuff,” he says. “But we also tell the story of the cost – like human trafficking and drug dealing and junkies in Mumbai. I was aware that there are components in my smartphone that are unethically sourced, but I didn’t know how deeply criminals are involved. All our lives are in some way affected by this corruption – the food, the petrol, the minerals in your phone mined by children in the Third World – even if you aren’t aware of it.” He pauses. “But I’ve still used my phone every single day, which is probably not a great example to set.” If the role has had a personal impact on him, it’s going to have greater repercussions for his career. The former Cambridge theology student, born in London and raised in Yorkshire, has had a range of roles since he waltzed on to the small screen as Henry Alveston in Death Comes to Pemberley in 2013. The next year, Sally Wainwright picked him to play Tommy Lee Royce, the dark villain to Sarah Lancashire’s troubled cop Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley. The role of crime-solving vicar Sidney Chambers in ITV’s Grantchester came shortly after. Norton has popped up since in War & Peace, Flatliners and Black Mirror. “I didn’t have long between Grantchester and McMafia,” he says. “We finished Grantchester only a couple of weeks before I started McMafia in January 2017. I was mixing thoughts about my sermon with books on the mafia.” Surprisingly, he says the theology degree helped with both roles. “I enjoy chewing over the big questions of what it is to be, and to live. Both Granchester and McMafia are about that – about the inner wranglings of each man. Although Alex is cooler and more anguished.” With McMafia already picked up in the US by cable network AMC and showing in almost 200 other territories, Norton already has Hollywood knocking at his door. “Actually, Happy Valley started it,” he says. “It’s on Netflix and it’s become a cult hit in the US. “McMafia feels so relevant – it feels as if the world wants to look behind the curtains of what’s going on in America and Russia. Selfishly, it feels a step up. The budget we have, an Oscar-nominated writer, all the talent… It’s terrifying in a way because there’s nowhere to hide.” The series certainly does nothing to dispel the rumours that he’s being lined up to play James Bond after Daniel Craig. Norton’s opening scene even had him sweeping up to the V&A in a tux and tie. “I did say to James Watkins, the director, are you just baiting me and stoking the rumour fire with scenes like that?” He laughs. “When it’s reported in the press, people assume that I’ve co-ordinated the scene, but I promise you I didn’t. The truth is that it’s total speculation. It’s really humbling and flattering, but to have my name [talked up for Bond] next to the likes of Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender is just mad. If you’re thinking of putting a bet on me, keep your money in your pocket.” And then he’s off to spend time with one of the artists with a cameo role in a Tel Aviv nightclub scene – his father, Hugh, who has appeared in all of Norton’s TV series and is gathering his own following. “I’m trying to encourage him to do less of it – The One Show did a piece on him and my publicist was like, ‘Enough is enough – you’ve got to stop!’” He laughs as he pays the bill. “But my parents are both retired. They came to Croatia for four days and this time he’s playing a sugar daddy in a Tel Aviv gay bar. He has a suit and a cravat and is flirting with these young boys… It’s very funny. For the first time he wasn’t an extra; he was a featured artist so he was on the call sheet – which is probably framed at home by now.” This article was originally published in January 2018 View oEmbed on the source website
McMafia star Juliet Rylance on playing a strong female role in a gangster drama
“I’m starting to feel comfortable in front of the camera... but it’s taken a long time”
“You don’t usually get good female parts in gangster scripts — or any scripts really,” says Juliet Rylance. “You’re vulnerable and weak, or sexualised, or you’ll be the strong one — but real women are all of those and more. Screenwriters need to wake up to that.” Rylance jumped at the chance to play McMafia's Rebecca Harper — Norton’s upstanding, campaigning girlfriend — as “she’s all of those things.” Meet the cast of McMafia McMafia co-creator Hossein Amini: Modern-day gangsters don’t have blood on their hands, they’re corporate high-fliers The 38-year-old certainly has a rich theatre CV, as befits the stepdaughter of one of Britain’s finest stage actors, Mark Rylance. She’s played many of Shakespeare’s heroines – including Juliet, Desdemona, Miranda and Rosalind, for which she won an American Obie award. She’s also notching up an impressive range of roles on US TV, from Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick to serial killer drama American Gothic. While keen to avoid comparisons with her stepdad, she concedes it was growing up in the Globe Theatre when Rylance was artistic director that steered her towards acting. “We’d go straight from school to the Globe, have dinner in the office, sleep in the attic and it really became home. But my parents were having trouble making ends meet so I was scared to say I wanted to be actor. I secretly auditioned for Rada and only told everyone once I’d got in.” View oEmbed on the source website She brings a stillness to Rebecca that many Rada-trained Brits struggle with on film. “I’m starting to feel comfortable in front of the camera,” she says, “but it’s taken a long time.” It may reflect the peace she’s finding after the shocking death of her sister Nataasha van Kampen, who suffered a suspected brain haemorrhage on a flight from New York when she was just 28, back in 2012. “I think how you deal with people not being here any more has a lot to do with the way they lived their life,” she says softly. “With my sister, she was so full of life and laughter… it makes it easier to think of her that way.” Married to American actor Christian Camargo, she spends most of her time in the US, mainly in the hipster Californian desert town of Joshua Tree. “But I do own a house in London, in Borough, which I bought before gentrification, when the area was all just derelict warehouses and Banksy graffiti,” she grins. “You can take the girl out of south London…” This article was originally published in January 2018
Call the Midwife star Jack Ashton on how the show transformed his life
When the BBC drama cast him as a vicar, it turned Ashton’s career around – and delivered him his partner and baby
SPOILERS! Do not read on unless you have seen series seven, episode seven Call the Midwife’s devoted fans have had their hearts tossed up and down throughout the show’s six-year history – but few storylines have had more dramatic highs and lows than that of newlyweds Tom and Barbara. They returned to Poplar more than halfway through this series, seemingly for good, only for Barbara to catch meningitis and die. It has been a time of highs and lows, too, for Jack Ashton, 35, who plays Call the Midwife’s vicar, Tom Hereward. In real life he couldn’t be happier, after his partner Helen George took a break from playing Nurse Trixie Franklin to give birth to their daughter last autumn. Wren Ivy had only just been born when Ashton filmed last week’s heartbreaking episode. Call the Midwife: Nurse Barbara actress Charlotte Ritchie discusses her heartbreaking storyline 63 behind the scenes facts you didn’t know about Call the Midwife “We did all Barbara’s deathbed scenes in the hospital two days after Wren was born and I hadn’t slept, so finding the delirium and the madness was quite easy,” he explains, noting that it’s been exactly a year since the Radio Times cover celebrating Tom and Barbara’s wedding. View oEmbed on the source website “Filming those scenes was emotional because we all love Charlotte [Ritchie, who plays Barbara]. We knew we were acting – but we also knew we were saying goodbye…” He pauses. “It’s emotional thinking about it now… I was lamenting the loss of someone I care about and I’d just had a baby, so I started sobbing… with snot and tears everywhere. The director asked if I could stop and cry for the next take, but I didn’t think I could stop crying at all – I definitely couldn’t stop and start again – so I said, ‘You might have to see what you can do with that take’.” After last Sunday’s episode, viewers were stunned – they’d been telling Ashton on Twitter how pleased they were that Ritchie was back. But even the cast hadn’t had a huge amount of time to prepare for the parting. “We were aware that Char would be going at some point, but we didn’t know for sure until we got the scripts,” he says. “But if Radio Times readers are shell-shocked, we do end the series this week on a lighter note – poignant, still emotional, but a lighter note.” Could that possibly involve Tom getting back together with his old flame Trixie? He bursts out laughing. “No… can you imagine?” he says. “I don’t think he would be forgiven if he was looking at potential suitors at his wife’s wake. Tom is grieving and will be grieving for some time. Men at that time were quite buttoned-up, but I thought, ‘He’s just got married. He’s in love. He’s got the whole world ahead of him, and then this fells him.’ It’s a really, really sad end.” What does he mean by “end”? Will Tom not be returning to Call the Midwife next year? He’s cagey. “We shall see,” he smiles. “Maybe he’s in series eight and maybe he isn’t.” For Ashton, of course, Call the Midwife marked a new beginning for both his career and his personal life. He met Helen George on set in 2013 and they got together while shooting the 2016 Christmas special in South Africa. But this life-changing turn of events nearly didn’t happen, because he auditioned for the drama in the middle of a career slump. “I was starting to lose the faith,” he admits. “When you’re working you feel so confident, and then every day that goes by without work you start to persuade yourself that you can’t act because you’re not acting. If you’re unemployed and really need the job, they can tell you’re a little bit desperate.” At the Midwife audition he was convinced his desperation had shown. He read the part once and they said, “Thank you, we’ll be in touch.” As he walked out of the room they all burst out laughing – “and I thought I didn’t have a chance. Two days later they offered me the part.” He still seems amazed that it’s all worked out. Born in Bristol to an artist dad and a mum who worked in education, he ambled through “a pretty bog-standard comprehensive school”. When he was leaving school, aged 16, his favourite subjects were PE and drama, so his careers adviser suggested becoming an actor or a soldier. He tried out both. “I really enjoyed the Army open day – I liked the idea of getting fit and the assault courses,” he smiles. “And I was so naive I hadn’t even considered you could act for a living. But then I went to an open day for a performing arts college, and I was like – hold on, we just do this all day, every day? This is for me.” His Bristol accent sneaks into his voice every now and again – even on set. “We film six months on and six months off,” he explains. “I’m a Bristol City fan and, for the first week or so, if I’ve been to a game at the weekend and we’re doing an emotional scene, they’ll have to cut and say, ‘Can you not sound like you’re from Bristol? Because Tom’s not.’ I have to take a minute to get rid of that West Country lilt.” View oEmbed on the source website He has Tom’s back story in a little book that he reads to help him get back into character – although he tries not to let his partner see. “If Helen saw me reading my book, she’d say, ‘You’ve been doing this for five years!’” he laughs. “But that’s our relationship. We take the mickey out of each other all the time. What’s great is, she understands the stress of acting and how an intense role can alter your personality at home while you’re doing it – which is a difficult thing.” Currently he’s touring in a stage production of Strangers on a Train – the Patricia Highsmith novel famously filmed by Alfred Hitchcock. Jack’s nice-guy character is forced into a double murder by the charismatic Bruno. “The play is angsty from the word go and it’s hard to just switch it off, but Helen gets it.” Balancing the tour and being a new father has been complicated. “For the first six weeks, Helen and Wren and the dog came with me,” he grins. “It wasn’t so much fun for Helen because I spent time with adults every evening while she looked after the baby, but we’ve done the hard part now and for most of the tour I can commute.” His delight at being a dad is obvious. Wren is five months old (“She went on to solid food last week – wonderful days of fatigue and joy”) and family is hugely important. He has two sisters and his mum, but his adored father died in 2009, just as Jack got his first good role in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Rachel Weisz, at London’s Donmar Warehouse. “He was ill at the time, but he knew I was in it – he’d always encouraged me to read and go to the theatre,” Ashton says. “A lot of the time as a teenager I was unimpressed, but his thirst for knowledge and curiosity for life stuck with me. He never made me feel I couldn’t do anything.” After Ashton’s father died, the family paid for a bench in his name at Bristol’s Greville Smyth Park. “My dad was a lot older – the age of most people’s grandads – and he’d tell me about the American GIs playing baseball in that park in 1944. His bench looks down on where the baseball pitch was, so there’s quite a nice symmetry.” For the latest news and expert tips on getting the best deals this year, take a look at our Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday 2021 Coincidentally, Ashton has just finished a film, for a Utah-based company, in which he plays an American GI prisoner of war. “Call the Midwife has a huge following in the Midwest, so everyone knew who I was – which was very strange,” he laughs. “It’s not as big as Downton Abbey was, but it got me a US manager.” For now, however, he’s staying close to home. Inspired by acting in Strangers on a Train, he will run the London marathon for the male suicide charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). “I make a bucket collection for them after every Saturday matinée,” he says. “I make a speech about how suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in this country.” He also hopes to make a documentary for the charity. He had school friends who lost their lives to depression or drugs. “I’d like to ask some questions, interview people who have been affected and try to find out why it happens,” he says. “That’s my project while I’m looking after Wren – I’d like to do something I’m curious about, that could help in some way.” It sounds as if the Rev Tom Hereward is rubbing off on him. “Maybe he is…” he laughs.
University Challenge stars Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull: 'I wish I'd invented that...'
Last year's University Challenge stars pick their favourite examples of British ingenuity
The first time Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull met was at a quiz. Naturally. The duo shot to fame on University Challenge last year, when both captained their respective Cambridge colleges to the final stages. But Cambridge University prepares its University Challenge teams with highbrow quiz nights, so the pair met and became friends at that quiz, long before the TV show went out. Since then they have become the darlings of social media, book publishers – and television producers in search of new ideas. They make their TV hosting debut this week in Monkman and Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain, setting out on a road trip to hunt down the nation’s most remarkable inventions. Are you smart enough for this University Challenge quiz? Eric Monkman reveals the truth about his bellowing voice on University Challenge It was, for both, an education. “My interests are quite broad – I’ll watch University Challenge but I’ll also watch Love Island,” says Bobby Seagull, the East Ender from a London comprehensive who won a scholarship to Eton. “That’s what my family has always been like – but Eric is more focused and academic.” View oEmbed on the source website “A lot of the conversations that you see on camera we didn’t even know would make it into the show,” adds Eric Monkman, with his trademark insistent delivery and Canadian accent. “How you see us on screen is how we always are – sharing facts and the things we think about. Seeing an aqueduct in Wales, I was fascinated by the economics, Bobby more interested in the engineering – but we taught each other.” Such is the way with restless, enquiring minds. But RT couldn’t let this pair of brainboxes embark on the latest instalment in their unlikely rise to fame without quizzing them afresh. So, what works of genius do the pair wish they’d thought of? Eric Monkman's best inventions View oEmbed on the source website Gladstone’s library Britain’s only prime-ministerial library is in Hawarden, Wales. Gladstone had more than 30,000 books and he moved them by wheelbarrow from his home to the library. Anywhere else, if you had a book with Gladstone’s name and notes on, it would be the pride of the collection, on display under glass. Here, that’s every book, just stacked on to shelves! It’s a connection with British history and what a well-educated man in 19th-century Britain was reading. The cup anemometer John Thomas Romney Robinson invented the cup anemometer in Armagh Observatory in 1845. It’s made of four horizontal arms, each ending in a hemispherical cup, on a vertical shaft. By measuring how fast it rotates you can measure how fast the wind is blowing. They use a version of it today, and the Observatory has records going back over 150 years. The Pontcysyllte aqueduct This is a 300-metre-long cast-iron aqueduct above the River Dee. Romans had aqueducts, so it wasn’t new, but the idea of using canals to connect industrial towns in the centre of the country with raw materials from north Wales was visionary. Previous generations would make palaces or temples, but here was a glorious feat of engineering built for commerce. Bobby Seagull's best inventions View oEmbed on the source website James Clerk Maxwell’s equations In Edinburgh, we visited the former home of physicist James Clerk Maxwell. In 1865, Maxwell published four equations that brought together electricity, magnetism and light as version of the same phenomenon and described electromagnetism for the first time. He created the groundwork for power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar, radio waves… The internet wouldn’t have existed without these equations. He was a man ahead of his time. The penalty kick Milford in Armagh, Northern Ireland, is where William McCrum invented the penalty kick in 1890. Before then football was an amateur gentleman’s game, and it was assumed players would never cheat. When you think about the thrills and heartaches the penalty kick has given us since… I would love to have invented that. The Jodrell Bank telescope Jodrell Bank was the largest radio telescope in the world when it was built in 1957. All the bodies in the universe emit radiation, which is energy travelling in waves. The Jodrell dish collects and concentrates those waves in order to build a picture of the universe. Listening to the stars is fundamentally human — other species don’t try to understand the world beyond their immediate parameters. The ejector seat The ejector seat was invented by Sir James Martin in the late 1940s at Langford Lodge in Belfast, when planes were getting faster and aviation was becoming increasingly important. It’s basically a controlled explosion underneath the chair that pushes you out and away from a doomed plane. It’s also one of the first signs of people thinking about health and safety. By most estimates it has saved around 7,000 lives. Monkman and Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain airs on Mondays at 8pm on BBC2
Meet the disabled man who dreamt of snowboarding again - and the inventor who made it possible
Graham Naylor, who suffered a life-changing accident, sought the help of BBC2's Inventing the Impossible: The Big Life Fix to help him get back on a board
The stakes are high in episode one of Inventing the Impossible: The Big Life Fix. “You realise there’s a proper, genuine, one hundred per cent risk of death in this?” engineer Ryan White says to product design engineer Yusuf Muhammad. Last year’s debut series, fronted by Simon Reeve, in which a team of inventors created solutions for people with apparently insurmountable problems, was intriguing and heart-warming – but rarely terrifying. In series two, they’re sending a brain-damaged man down a mountain on a snowboard. The man in question is 46-year-old Graham Naylor, an extreme-sports enthusiast who lost the use of his legs after being caught in an avalanche in 2012. He was buried so deep in snow that the oxygen to his brain was cut off, leading to ‘action myoclonus’, an injury to the part of the brain that controls motor functions, swallowing, speech and limb movement. View oEmbed on the source website Channel 4's documentary Sex Clinic: Artist in Residence is wise and life affirming What’s new on Netflix: the TV shows and films to watch now Sign up for the free RadioTimes.com newsletter “I remember it being very sunny, perfect conditions,” Naylor explains when I meet him and Muhammad at home in his London flat. “Then cracks appeared all over the mountain like crazy paving and a torrent of snow rushed down. It looked like waves rather than snow. I tried my best to keep the front end of my board up – after that, I don’t remember anything. No pain, just having the most crazy dreams. It took more than 30 minutes to find me. Then I woke up in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines.” He types his words into his smartphone, which then “speaks” his quotes in a slightly monotonous tone. Naylor now relies on his carer round-the-clock: “Roy has to chop up anything I eat and I have to smother everything in oil and sauces to help food slide down without choking, I look like a seal swallowing mackerel. Everything is a bit of a battle, but I try to stay positive and I still believe in mind over matter – come on legs, move!” The accident was a life-changer for the graphic designer, who admits he was a bit of a social butterfly. “But the one thing I liked more than anything was escaping up a mountain. It was probably the only thing I’ve ever excelled at.” Naylor now struggles to stand, as his leg muscles are constantly spasming and relaxing. He can control his arms a little better – he can put on his glasses and almost touch-type so that the speech synthesiser becomes his voice. He’s got a sharp sense of humour and refuses to get down about his condition – always dreaming that one day he’ll be back on the mountain. “When the show came to my ‘disabled only’ gym, I suggested trying to snowboard – jokingly, thinking that they’d never go for it. I was just hoping to get that flying feeling again.” But Yusuf Muhammad offered to take on Naylor’s request because, he explains, “I’m a snowboarder myself – but also because no one else wanted to”. He gives Naylor a wry grin. “It made sense to me – revisiting the mountain and trying to conquer it again.” Muhammad comes from a background in this sort of problem-solving, having graduated with a double master’s in Innovation Design Engineering from the RCA and Imperial College London and won the prestigious Red Dot Award for product design in 2016. However, after working for a few weeks on a snowboard for Naylor he had serious doubts. “We had a session at an indoor snow centre where Graham struggled just to stand on a board for a few seconds. The prospect of finding a solution that worked was daunting,” he admits. Watch the trailer for Inventing the Impossible: The Big Life Fix below View oEmbed on the source website He took Naylor to a mobility research clinic at Guy’s Hospital, London, in an attempt to understand the possibilities – and was shocked to discover that all the muscles in his legs were constantly switching off and on, meaning there was no possible option that involved his legs. One solution would have been to design a board where Naylor would be sitting, but that was an idea that Naylor hated. Instead, Muhammad built sturdy crutches that fastened to the board to allow Naylor to control his movements with his arms. He took his handwelded design to snowboard company Burton, which built a prototype. Click to enter the Radio Times' Dad's Army 50th anniversary quiz Getting out onto the mountain was draining for everyone except, surprisingly, Naylor. “Emotionally and mentally I was really looking forward to it,” he grins. “I knew I would enjoy it regardless. The only thing I was worried about was not being able to do Yusuf ’s snowboard justice. The cold made my myoclonic jerks worse, so my muscles went into overdrive and got hot very quickly. There was a lot of fresh powder – perhaps a little too much. My board was heavy with snow. I wasn’t exactly flying, but it was enough to get me smiling from ear to ear.” Muhammad is excited by his design – he believes it offers a new way of utilising a snowboard as a rehab tool for people trying to stand, and he’d like to find a manufacturer who wants to take it to market. “And I’m still in contact with Graham – he’s such a good laugh and so enthusiastic, it’s hard not to get swept up in his ideas.” Although Naylor’s progress has now plateaued, he stays optimistic: “Who knows, with a bit of female companionship maybe the loose screws up in my head will reconnect with my feet, speech and all the other things that don’t work properly,” his eyes sparkle mischievously. As for snowboarding? “I think this is the closest I’ll ever get to snowboarding again. Given how difficult it was even with the backing of a TV company, I think it’s time I hung up my boots. Never say never, though. I’ve still got Yusuf ’s board under my bed!” Inventing the Impossible: The Big Life Fix airs on Thursday 26th July at 8.00pm on BBC2
The Crown season 2: Where was it filmed?
South Africa had a starring role in the second series of the Netflix drama
Season one of Netflix royal drama The Crown was the TV equivalent of comfort food. The elegant palaces, ancient churches and dusty schoolrooms brought 1950s Britain to life for a global audience. But just like Queen Elizabeth, there’s only so much time the show can spend in Blighty, so for season two The Crown went out into the world. UPDATE: Read more about where The Crown was filmed in our latest location guide for 2020 Covering the years 1956 to 1963 – essentially the years that Anthony Eden and then Harold Macmillan were Prime Minister – season two’s storylines take in the Suez Crisis, Prince Philip on a rollicking six-month global flirtfest and the Queen’s state visit to Ghana. It’s a globetrotting extravaganza, but it was mainly shot in just one country: South Africa. “South Africa is a gift of a place because it can be so many different countries in one,” says the show’s production designer, Martin Childs. “We filmed a lot of Philip’s world tour there, except for Antarctica, which was a quarry near London. There was one moment when we were taken up the Keurbooms River really early in the morning and we were able to see the sun come up. It felt like we were going into the heart of darkness, like Apocalypse Now. I’ve never been anywhere that’s felt so alien.” Philip’s tour – in effect a brief exile amid rumours of an affair with a ballet dancer – sees him take the royal yacht Britannia through Bermuda, Tonga, up the Amazon, across Antarctica and to the Melbourne Olympics, where he’s honeytrapped by an attractive Australian journalist for a one-to-one interview. Cape Town doubled as Melbourne, while further up the coast the wide sands and crystal waters of the Western Cape’s Kogel Bay became a Tongan beach, where the crew of the yacht challenged locals to various sports. From there, Britannia sails to Bermuda – while the cast merely drove 40 miles to Hermanus, where 1920s fishing port New Harbour became the King’s Wharf dock, and the Arabella Hotel golf course acted as Bermuda’s Port Royal course. Hermanus’s tiny Old Harbour looks so much like a rocky Mediterranean fishing village that it stars as Corfu in one of Philip’s flashbacks – to 1922, when an 18-month-old Philip and the rest of his family fled their Greek royal residence after his uncle, King Constantine I of Greece, had been forced to abdicate by a military government. Banished from Greece, Philip and his family were evacuated on the HMS Calypso. Reader offer: Guided tour of Buckingham Palace and gardens, overnight trip from £149 For deck scenes on Britannia, the crew travelled to Cape Agulhas – at the southernmost tip of the continent – where they constructed a giant fake deck hanging out over the sea, providing a suitable backdrop for ocean-going scenes. The millpond sea behind doubled for everything from the Caribbean to the Antarctic Ocean. Philip’s journey up the Amazon River took place further east on the Keurbooms River – which snakes for 50 miles through mountains, high gorges and lush tropical forest in the Keurbooms Nature Reserve on the Garden Coast. Canoeing up river was Matt Smith’s favourite part of the whole shoot. “Coming up that river in a tiny boat was a real joy,” he says. “I loved filming in South Africa; it gave me an insight into Philip. He’s obviously an alpha. He’s on the horse riding into the battle, sword in hand. We can recognise that in the 40s and 50s no man would have knelt to his wife – so if she says you’ve got to give up your job and name, and the kids are taking my name… You can see how he’d say, ‘Hang on. I didn’t sign up for that.’” While the Prince is off gadding about, the Queen is struggling to cope with the Suez Crisis. In October 1956, Israel, the UK and France invaded Egypt, then retreated in defeat ten days later. Fisantekraal Airfield – built in 1943 for a bomber squadron in the South African Air Force and now a private flying school – became an Egyptian airforce base under attack. The rise of Egypt’s Colonel Abdel Nasser and key scenes in the deals and negotiations surrounding the slow collapse of British rule in Suez were filmed in Cape Town City Hall, a large Edwardian building on the city’s Grand Parade that has kept its ornate European fixtures and fittings as imported by the builders back in 1905. And once all the fuss died down, after Charles starts school and John F Kennedy’s state visit, the Queen heads out on her 1961 tour of Ghana – giving her royal blessing to the country’s independence. The Castle of Good Hope, a 17th-century Dutch East India Company bastion, hosted much of Claire Foy’s visit – while South Africa’s verdant landscape provided the rest. Watching The Crown last year was a reassuring link to the past. Watching the show this year might provoke a desire to see the world. Which, as it turns out, can all be found in the Western Cape… Radio Times reader offer: Buckingham Palace and Gardens, overnight trip from £149 Take a guided tour of one of the world's most enchanting - but least-seen - gardens. On this great value coach trip you'll also visit the Palace itself to see the magnificent State Rooms and the Royal Gifts exhibition - a collection of gifts presented to HM the Queen by world leaders over the past 65 years. What's included: A visit to Royal Windsor Admission to Buckingham Palace and the Royal Gifts exhibition A guided Buckingham Palace Garden Tour A short Royal London sightseeing tour One night's bed and continental breakfast accommodation at the three-star St Giles Hotel, Heathrow Return coach travel Visit our holiday site for more details and to book
The Staircase on Netflix: the history behind the original true crime TV hit
Michael Peterson is at the centre of a 16-year murder mystery – and filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade has been there every step of the way
Were they pushed or did they fall? It’s a well-worn whodunnit formula, too corny for today’s drama writers – but when it happens in real life, you’ve got something truly gripping. In December 2001, businesswoman Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the foot of the stairs in her North Carolina home. Her husband, crime novelist Michael Peterson, insisted he’d been out by the pool and walked in to find her there. The police had other ideas and arrested him – which would have been the last the world outside North Carolina would have heard of the case if it hadn’t been for French documentary film-maker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, who was so intrigued by certain inconsistencies that the death obsessed him for years. It also helped him invent the new style of real-life crime story-telling picked up on by the likes of Making a Murderer, Serial and The Jinx. Since the original trial back in 2003, de Lestrade has returned to the story again and again – documenting the twists and turns in the case, adding fresh episodes to the first ground-breaking series, which aired in 2004. “I’ve spent 16 years of my life on this story,” de Lestrade explains. “And while that isn’t full-time filming and editing across the years, there’s not really been a day when it hasn’t been in my head.” New on Netflix: the best movies and TV shows released every day Top Netflix TV series Stay up to date with the RadioTimes.com newsletter So as Netflix airs 13 episodes, which span the full 16-year investigation, it’s worth rewinding to see how this small-town crime became a global TV hit. The facts of the case are simple: in December 2001, Peterson called 911, saying he’d found his wife Kathleen collapsed at the bottom of the stairs; grim police photos from the crime scene show her terrible injuries. It didn’t take long for the local Durham police to decide this was a murder rather than an accident. As they moved in to arrest Peterson, de Lestrade arrived on the scene. He’d just made Murder on a Sunday Morning – a one-off film following the black teenage murder suspect Brenton Butler, which won an Oscar for best documentary – but this time de Lestrade wanted a different story. “I was looking for a white guy, well known in his own community, wealthy, who could afford to pay a very well-known defence lawyer so I could look at how the system would treat that case,” he explains. After working his way through 400 different cases across five months, he met Peterson. “I couldn’t be sure he was innocent, but he was very interesting,” de Lestrade says. “Then I met the District Attorney and he said: ‘Michael Peterson is evil’. He said that exact word – and I knew that they were not prosecuting him because they had physical evidence that he did it, but because of the way he was living his life.” The medical examiner, de Lestrade explains, saw Kathleen Peterson’s body on the night and said her injuries were consistent with falling down the stairs. Then when police searched the house, they found evidence that suggested Peterson was bisexual and had been having affairs with men on the side. “In North Carolina at that time, having an affair outside of marriage, with men, was impossible to believe,” says de Lestrade. “The physical evidence doesn’t show any [skull] fractures or evidence of blows to the head. The police thought he was evil because he slept with men – and I realised this was a story I just had to follow. I still don’t know exactly how this story is going to end – but I’ll be there to film it when it does.” The Staircase is available to stream on Netflix from Friday 8th June. Sign up for the free RadioTimes.com newsletter
Eddie Braben put Morecambe and Wise in bed – and created the legend of Eric and Ernie
Morecambe and Wise, Eric and Ernie. However you describe them they remain our greatest ever comedy duo. But the man who has penned an absorbing new drama about them would add a little bit of qualification to that description. “Most people think they wrote the shows themselves, or made it up as they went along. In fact, this was a triple act, not a double act,” says Neil Forsyth. “It was Eddie Braben who made them famous – and who paid the price.” Forsyth, who read Braben’s autobiography last Christmas, says, “I was struck by the conflict between the life-affirming comedy he wrote and the tortuous writing process he put himself through on a daily basis to create it,” he explains. The result is Eric, Ernie and Me, a biopic about Braben who’s played by Stephen Tompkinson, with Eric played by Mark Bonnar and Ernie by Neil Maskell. It shows how, after national service in the RAF, Braben worked on a fruit and veg stall in St John’s market, Liverpool, writing jokes in his spare time and sending them to local comedians like Ken Dodd. He ended up writing for Dodd for 12 years before Bill Cotton, BBC head of light entertainment, invited him to meet Morecambe and Wise. They were looking for new writers; Cotton wanted a new hit comedy. The seminal Morecambe and Wise Show was the result. Meet the Cast of Eric, Ernie and Me What time is Eric, Ernie and Me on TV this Christmas? What’s inside the Radio Times Christmas double issue 2017? The key scene in the drama is an almost literal version of that first meeting in 1969. Having professed himself not a fan, Braben watched the childhood friends riff and joke, finishing each other’s stories and take warm swipes at each other. “Boys,” Tompkinson’s Braben observes, “why isn’t this the act?” “It was an epiphany,” Forsyth explains. “Eddie saw the humanity and their real-life warmth and innate understanding. That shorthand wasn’t being portrayed in their act – which was still very music-hall. They had lots of ticks and tricks that worked very well on the stage. His argument was that on television they should be connecting with viewers back home.” Perhaps Braben’s greatest achievement was to persuade the comedians to do something that must have seemed unthinkable at the time: to act out their comedy routine in pyjamas beside each other in bed. “They were very reluctant and it became a bit of a battle,” says Forsyth. In the end, Braben pretended to give in, adding, “although it was good enough for Laurel and Hardy…” The shared bed became an enduring Morecambe and Wise image. Barry Cryer, who wrote for the duo and was friends with Braben, confirms, “Eddie made Morecambe and Wise. He was the third member of the double act. They’d been a bit like Abbott and Costello. Eddie got them to stop being Morecambe and Wise and start being Eric and Ernie.” Braben’s ideas, from script to performance, made them household names. But with success came pressure for even greater success. “If there was friction, it was about the script,” says Cryer (who’s played by Jon Culshaw in a scene in the drama). “They were three workaholics, so there’s going to be sparks flying however well you get on. They’d regularly pull in 20 million viewers on Christmas Day. The pressures on Eddie were huge: ‘Match the last Christmas show, make it even bigger.’ Eric and Ernie were always sending the script back to him to get it punched up. Eric once claimed in an interview that they created the ideas and Eddie wrote them up. Eddie promptly sent them six pages of blank paper, and enclosed a note saying, ‘All right lads, get on with it.’” Joking aside, Braben struggled to keep rewriting the script to Eric and Ernie’s demands. “Although Eddie rarely spoke about it, in his obituaries it’s generally agreed that he stepped away from the show twice for the sake of his health,” says Forsyth. “He put himself under a lot of pressure. His wife Dee would tell him, ‘Take the day off ’ and he’d be bewildered.” To help convey Braben’s struggle, the film uses what seems to be a director’s device: Eddie draws a TV set on his writing room wall and stares at it for hours until sketches “appear” to him. Forsyth says this is true. “In the book, he specifically talks about the giant ventriloquist’s dummy sketch as something that came out of that.” The film ends with the 1977 Christmas show – their last for the BBC and one that pulled in 28 million (half the UK population). They switched channels to ITV but Braben didn’t go with them. “The ITV shows weren’t necessarily well regarded at the time,” says Cryer, who wrote for the boys from 1972 until Eric became ill in 1983. “At one point, John Junkin and I resigned because we were getting the flak. In the end, of course, we came back. As did Eddie. I’m glad to see a programme that’s a tribute to a writer and recognises everything he did for them. Eddie was a genius and I have a feeling that he’s the spirit of Christmas television.” Eric, Ernie and Me Friday 29 December 9.00pm BBC4
Feud star Susan Sarandon: "Actors are disposable. Women are even more disposable"
The Feud star talks Bette Davis, battles at work and being a woman in Hollywood
What’s the view from your sofa? A big plasma screen TV? Not at all. The view from my sofa is another sofa. I don’t really watch much TV, or at least, not on an actual TV. I just watch on my iPad unless I’m in a hotel, and then every night is some kind of breakthrough where I find something I never knew existed. What viewing breakthroughs have hotels given you recently? The Handmaid’s Tale – it reminded me a tiny bit of Thelma & Louise, which I think would struggle to get made for the cinema today. My kids also keep me abreast. What have they recommended? The new season of Mr Robot – I’ve just been finishing that – and I’m a big fan of Nathan for You, which is a very interesting comedy. It’s by Nathan Fielder, who’s a genius. I went on Conan [a US talk show hosted by Conan O’Brien] to sit on the couch with him while he was being interviewed. What time is Feud: Bette and Joan on TV? Susan Sarandon is a godsend in our youth-obsessed society BBC2 swoops for Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon series about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford Any films you’ve loved recently? The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s film. It was everything in the cinema that can’t be done anywhere else. I guess it’s kind of warped, but I felt it was a very romantic, surreal fantasy. You’re playing Bette Davis in Feud: Bette and Joan. What do you have in common? We’re both Yankees, value our gay following and we’ve got foul mouths. View oEmbed on the source website What was it like to play her? I met her. She actually approached me when I was really just a kid. Her daughter’s book came out and she wanted to do a film, but there wasn’t any script. I saw her interviews at festivals and on TV and that’s when I got more of a sense of the person. She was a strong performer; she did uglify herself and she didn’t mind seeming unsympathetic, which was unusual for that time. Feud is about power – Joan and Bette fighting for power, as well as Hollywood’s power over them. Have things changed? Actors are disposable. Women are even more disposable and the ageism, sexism and racism that are rabid in Hollywood play into that. Early on in my career, powerful women did nothing to help other women. These days there’s a huge tower block of funny women who can green-light projects, and have been very successful. Have you been involved in a feud? When I was younger, a couple of people – who shall not be named – tried to make my life miserable. One was a TV heart-throb who wasn’t used to women challenging him. I couldn’t work in an atmosphere where there’s tension. On Feud, someone was difficult and they were gone the next day. No political feuds? Some people blame my support for Bernie Sanders for Hillary Clinton losing. Come on! Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Beyoncé, Jay-Z on her side and I ruined her chances? That’s crazy. Have you got a nemesis? Not that I know of. Which isn’t bad for a long career in Hollywood. Feud: Bette and Joan begins Saturday 16th December at 9pm on BBC2 – and the entire series is on iPlayer straight afterwards