Dame Joanna Lumley reveals her vegetarian Christmas plans: "Wouldn't it be lovely if we didn't kill things at Christmas?"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Joanna Lumley and Lucy Punch first played mother and daughter in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. Some 20 years later, Punch plays social climber Amanda with Lumley her scene-stealing mother Felicity, first in Motherland, and now in its spin-off Amandaland.

While filming the festive special, the pair reflected on their reunion, Christmases past and present, and what gift they’d buy for each other…

Lucy, what were your first impressions of Joanna?

LUCY: In Ella Enchanted, we played a ghastly stepmother and stepsister to the heroine, then we were reunited for Motherland, which was lovely, and now this. All this time later, I’m a very different person, but I believe Joanna’s exactly the same: so smart and funny. She charms everyone. When you’re doing comedy, you need lots of good energy, and hers is infectious.

Joanna, what have you learnt working with Lucy?

JOANNA: I couldn’t admire Lucy more. I remember her playing my daughter, but I’m not sure they [the Motherland producers] even knew that. She’s blossomed in this. A lot of acting by many of us is interchangeable, but some people stand out, and Lucy’s always been slightly different. She brings something extra.

What are your fondest memories of Christmas growing up?

JOANNA: We were in hot countries so we never saw snow, but Mummy would get balls of cotton wool to put on the windows like snowflakes. We were out in the Malayan Mari when the Disney film of Alice in Wonderland came out. I was given an Alice doll, and it was as beautiful a thing as I’ve ever seen, with yellow hair and a hair band, a blue dress with a little white apron – thrilling. Isn’t it lovely what we remember visually?

What gift would you buy each other for Christmas?

LUCY: I’d buy something very little, discreet and lovely, maybe a teeny, tiny book. Joanna likes little things.

JOANNA: Lucy lives in California and has two boys, so I think I’d get her something that money can’t buy – an experience of some kind… Going down the Thames on a boat with the boys, perhaps. Yes, an adventure!

Any special present you’d each like to unwrap?

JOANNA: We were filming a dinner scene at this beautiful table yesterday, and the props boy Harry had to light and then put out the candles between every take to preserve their height. And he had a mini flamethrower. I’ve never wanted anything so much in my life. That’s going on the list.

LUCY: I’m just thinking about the mountain of gifts I’ve got to buy for my children [aged 10 and three]. So I really don’t want anything for myself. Give it forward, I say. That’s very Amanda, isn’t it?

What will Christmas look like for you this year?

JOANNA: I’m vegetarian so I love all the bits that go around the feast – roast potatoes, brussels sprouts with chestnuts, just not the centrepiece. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we didn’t kill things at Christmas and just for once celebrated birth and life?

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