Frances Barber talks politics on TV and playing Margaret Thatcher: "I hated her"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

What’s the view from your sofa?

I’ve got a very big television – 65 inches or something – that I’ve had for 20 years and it still works. It’s not HD or anything, but I hate looking at myself anyway, so the idea of myself in HD would just give me a breakdown. Next to that is a painting of my old bulldog Smack, to whom I was devoted, that Sir Ian McKellen gave me.

Over your shoulder I can see another beautiful painting...

It’s me! Very narcissistic, isn’t it? I was doing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with Christian Slater years ago, in the theatre, and an artist asked if he could paint us. Initially, I thought it was a gift, but we had to pay. But I liked it so much and he was young, so I thought that was OK.

What telly turns you off?

Question Time. I used to be addicted and now I can’t bear it. It’s all soundbites, playing to the crowd and plants in the audience – and every discussion is so binary. Politics is much more complicated and nuanced than that.

You played Margaret Thatcher in last year’s award-winning radio play When Maggie Met Larry. Were you a fan of hers?

I hated her. I was in my 20s when she was prime minister and I went on demonstrations and protests against her and her policies. For the play, I did hundreds of hours of research to try and get her voice right. I kept thinking, “I still disagree, but I believe she believed in what she was saying and that it was for the good of the country,” even if it patently wasn’t.

Are you a political animal?

I am, but I don’t know where we go from here because it’s very hard to trust anyone. What we have now, unfortunately, is a set of politicians who do focus groups and tell us what they think we want to hear. No one believes what they say any more and all of it feels like a lie. That’s why we, as the electorate, are very depressed. I think the electorate want to hear something from the politician’s heart.

You were raised on a Wolverhampton council estate. What was your childhood like?

I had a happy childhood. My mum was a great singer – we used to sing around the house to Shirley Bassey together – but she had six kids. Very generously if you think about it, she wanted me to have the life she never had, so was always incredibly supportive, as was my dad. When I went to university, there was never a sense of me running away from anything. Actually, I took it all with me.

How would you describe yourself as an actor?

I was once described as mercurial, and I like that because I’ve never fitted into any box. More often, I’ve been called “sexy and unhinged”. Which I don’t mind.

In your film MUSIK, written by Jonathan Harvey with music by Pet Shop Boys, you play Billie Trix, who first appeared in their 2001 musical Closer to Heaven.

I’ve never been in a show that got such shockingly bad reviews, but I loved it and I love her. She’s one of those great survivors – like Marianne Faithfull – who went through it all, bought the T-shirt and is still standing. It took more than 20 years but she’s back, deliciously delusional, with six new songs by Pet Shop Boys.

It’s a recording of your one-woman show – was that a big responsibility?

There was never a night I wasn’t terrified. And as much as I relished it, it’s also quite lonely. The producer, director Terry Johnson and the Pet Shop Boys would pop in, but apart from my dresser, who was wonderful, you’re there on your own. To me, the whole point of being an actor is the camaraderie – working out stuff in the rehearsal room, playing off each other on the actual stage – so I’m not going to lie, I found it very difficult.

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