Jane Horrocks

Presenter0:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Presenter0:08

The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand six.

Presenter0:28

My castaway this week is actress Jane Horrocks. In the film The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, her on screen transformation from cripplingly shy Northern teenager to a succession of show stopping Hollywood divas transfixed both audiences and critics.

Presenter0:43

Her ability to metamorphose into Dietrich, Garnon, Monroe, and the rest was so entire that the movie's credits had to make it clear that she had sung every note and hadn't been dubbed by the originals. She seems to specialise in the quirky and complex. For ten years she was the brainless bubble in the cult sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, and her experience playing an unconventional Lady Macbeth on stage left her so drained that she's vowed to never do Shakespeare again. Jane Horrocks, what is it about these larger than life, pretty extreme characters that so appeals to you?

Jane Horrocks1:18

I think I've always been attracted to quirky.

Jane Horrocks1:21

people in general actually. It's more interesting as an actor to play somebody who's a bit larger than life or who's a bit different or off the wall. I've never felt comfortable just playing a sort of ordinary and inverted commas person or anything particularly close to me.

Presenter1:40

Would that be because you relate to Quirky? I mean, are you Quirky?

Jane Horrocks1:43

I think I am quite quirky to a certain extent, uh although I've probably got less so as I've got older. I just enjoy playing though. I think you can invest such a lot in those characters, and I think it's nice to give them a voice as well.

Presenter1:56

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks1:56

Uh

Presenter1:56

It seems in Little Voice that you almost

Presenter1:59

Become the legend when you're doing these great divas on screen. How do you manage that? What's the process?

Jane Horrocks2:06

The process is to to think them and to think their physicality.

Jane Horrocks2:12

And think who what their essence is and just morph into them basically.

Presenter2:18

You make it sound very simple. But uh so for example, let's say Marilyn Munro.

Presenter2:22

You are going to do, Madeline Munro, where does that where does it begin?

Jane Horrocks2:25

Big bosoms.

Jane Horrocks2:27

Yes, I think of those and that she she always stuck them out and she always presented her bosoms. Uh they came first. That's what I think about really, that that's what she's doing. You know, it's a presentation of a bosom.

Presenter2:44

That is a huge psychological leap because I mean you're a very slight, slim woman with a sort of boyish figure. That's a big journey to make in your head to Madeline Monroe physically.

Jane Horrocks2:55

Please

Jane Horrocks2:55

Yeah, yeah, it's massive and uh the physicality massively helps the um

Jane Horrocks3:01

Yeah, that stature has got to be play a part in the sound of the voice. And as soon as I got that.

Jane Horrocks3:10

Then I was away flying.

Presenter3:12

We'll explore more about that, hopefully, a little later on. W was it always your plan to act?

Jane Horrocks3:17

Um, not always. I think when I was um nine that was when I sort of decided that I really wanted to act. And I think once I discovered that I could impersonate people and I could make them laugh,

Jane Horrocks3:31

Through doing the impersonations, I just thought, oh, this is my territory, this is my niche in life.

Presenter3:38

What happened when you were nine? Wa I mean, was there a moment or was it understanding that you felt comfortable in somebody else, getting the attention?

Jane Horrocks3:48

Well, for Christmas the year before no, actually when I was nine um I was given

Jane Horrocks3:54

The sound of music, the album, the sound of music. And I just loved listening to Julie Andrews. I thought she had the most perfect voice on earth and sang along to it. And for my tenth birthday, me and my friend Beverly Reid put on a show of the sound of music, which was the whole album. And my brothers did scenery for it. But I had to be Julie, so my friend had to be all the men characters.

Jane Horrocks4:21

So that was really what what got me, what inspired me to become an actress.

Presenter4:25

As if on cue then, your first desert island disc?

Jane Horrocks4:28

Is I Have Confidence by Julie Andrews

Speaker 34:31

Face my mistakes without defiance Show them I'm worthy And while I show them I'll show me So let them bring on all their problems I'll do better than my best I have confidence they'll put me to the test But I'll make them see I have confidence in me

Presenter5:00

Julie Andrews singing I Have Confidence from the original sound track to the sound of music, the precise and ringing tones that seem to appeal to you there, Jane Horrocks. Um a key phrase in there I noted, somehow I will impress them. When you were doing a turn for the family, is that what you loved, the rapt attention?

Speaker 35:14

Uh

Jane Horrocks5:14

Family

Jane Horrocks5:18

And me.

Jane Horrocks5:20

I don't really know. I mean, I think I I I was delighted by the fact that I could sound like her. Um and uh I mean I just l loved her voice really. It was a it was a an adoration of her more than anything.

Presenter5:33

More than anything. You were saying a moment ago that that you found that you could sing like her and sound a bit like her. The mimicry has always come naturally, has it?

Jane Horrocks5:38

And signed up.

Jane Horrocks5:39

The men

Jane Horrocks5:43

I think she was the beginning of it. And then I found that I could impersonate other people. At school we used to do new faces in the lunch hour and uh I you know, I I did most of the voices and my friend Patsy Compared. But um

Presenter6:00

Your poor friends always stuck with the second girl.

Jane Horrocks6:02

I play the dope role.

Presenter6:04

And did your parents love I mean, did they ask you to do a bit of a turn when the neighbors were round?

Jane Horrocks6:07

Oh, no, no, no. The neighbours asked me and my mum used to go, Oh, no, she's not doing that. No, no, no, she's not getting up Oh no, my mum found it a bit embarrassing really. I mean, she did, you know, sort of think that I was quite good at doing it, but she wasn't sort of promoting me in that way.

Presenter6:22

That's interesting because a lot of parents would. I mean, was that part of your your parents are from a a long Methodist tradition. Was that part of them, you know, not being too much of a show off, being modest in your ambitions?

Jane Horrocks6:27

Is that part of that?

Jane Horrocks6:30

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks6:32

Yes, although singing was a big part of the Methodist world. I don't know. I think that she just thought it was precautious. She just, um yeah, she didn't want me to be a little showbiz kid.

Presenter6:44

And apart from doing New Faces in the lunch hour, to which your friend played second fiddle, What's of a Schoolgirl was Jane Horrocks?

Jane Horrocks6:48

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks6:50

Very shy, actually. Again, you know, that I mean, that's where it came from, me sort of feeling that I became somebody through being somebody else. And my friend Patsy, who is still a very close friend, was incredibly popular at school and had lots of boyfriends, but nobody had quite with me, so I thought, well, what can I do that makes me popular? Oh, well, people seem to like these impersonations, so perhaps I'll be the the comedian. She can carry on being the sex symbol.

Presenter7:20

And did the school work uh was the school work being done whilst you were pursuing the talent for performing?

Jane Horrocks7:27

Oh, yes, absolutely. In fact, uh I only was in one play at school and I decided not to be in any others because I wanted to concentrate on my O levels. So I had a a strong sense of that was why I was at school to to work and that, you know, this was just a sideline.

Presenter7:42

And a precise little girl, a neat and tidy little girl.

Jane Horrocks7:44

Yeah, very neat, yes, yes. Yes, um the the presentation was was much more important to me than the content, which is probably why I didn't do very well in my exams.

Presenter7:55

Your next record.

Jane Horrocks7:57

My next record is Transmission by Jordovision. Like a lot of my choices, um

Jane Horrocks8:04

The the singers are you know have a very sad.

Jane Horrocks8:08

side to them. And Ian Curtis committed suicide in I think it was nineteen eighty. So he had a very short career. And the lyrics really you know had an effect on me, I think. And it you know, this it sort of stayed with me and still is, you know, with me now, those lyrics.

Speaker 38:28

Listen to the silence, let it ring on Eyes dark relances rising up the sun We would have a fine time living in the night Left the blood destruction waiting for our sight

Presenter8:58

Joy Division and transmission. Sir Jane Horrocks, from Julie Andrews to Joy Division, you're clearly very comfortable with contradiction. And there are some strong contradictions with you. I mean, you were trained at Radha. We'll discuss that in a while. But refuse to lose your accent. You come from a Methodist background. You're the mother of two children and you're not married. There see there's contradiction in there, in the mix.

Jane Horrocks9:22

Uh yeah, I suppose there's a bit of an ar anarchic side to me which, um

Jane Horrocks9:28

Yeah, I not to in the line.

Jane Horrocks9:30

And I don't know where that comes from. That's always appealed to me, the unconventional.

Presenter9:35

And were you uh y you mentioned you were a a well behaved, studious school girl. What about the teenager then? Did you did you begin to uh get a bit more interesting? Were you a bit of a peacock as a teenager?

Jane Horrocks9:47

Um, yes, I did go through a period whilst I was into Georgia vision of dressing up idiotically in my dad's string vests.

Jane Horrocks9:56

With something underneath, although I didn't really have very much to hide, but uh uh and you know, combat trousers and little, you know, sort of two twos and with the string vest as well.

Presenter10:05

Nice. And what did they make of that in Rottenstall in Lancashire?

Jane Horrocks10:07

That's a mm

Jane Horrocks10:09

Well, I mean, I was a freak. It was very weird for people to see me looking like that,'cause they knew my family, so it's like you've seen Jane Horris. What a state she looks My dad just used to walk, you know, a hundred yards in front of me and disown me. He didn't want to be seen to be with me.

Presenter10:26

You said that you'd only been in one school production then. Was acting still bubbling along somewhere else, or was it had that been put to one side in the teenage years?

Jane Horrocks10:36

Um, no, it wasn't. I mean, I went to, um

Jane Horrocks10:39

uh Oldham College of Technology and did um A levels in English and a foundation course in drama. So that's that was the sort of beginning of my acting career as it was. Yeah.

Presenter10:52

Much more of that in just a second. Your third record.

Jane Horrocks10:55

My third record is Fred Fenakapan by Gracie Fields.

Presenter10:59

And the story behind choosing this one.

Jane Horrocks11:02

I just think she's a fantastic comedian and there was always a real good story in in her comedy singing, and that's what, you know, I j I just found it hilarious.

Speaker 111:12

There's been a bit of bother through our sister Marie-Anne.

Speaker 111:16

She had a sweetheart and his name was Fred Bernacophan.

Speaker 111:20

She says, I'll bring him home to tea, love to look around. So all our family turned up to see what she had found.

Presenter11:24

Column family.

Presenter11:26

What she had.

Speaker 111:28

There was father and mother and sister Mary Ann all waiting to welcome Preppa Nakapan. There were aunties and uncles and others of our clan, All waiting to welcome Fred Panaga Pan.

Presenter11:42

Gracie Fields and Fred Fenakopan, released in 1938 and you were born in 1964. How on earth did you develop a taste for Gracie Fields?

Jane Horrocks11:49

Picture.

Jane Horrocks11:52

Um well, I was introduced to Gracie by a friend at Rada, um, Tim McCurdy, and he had this album and he said I think you'd really like Gracie Fields. So we played the album on my old record player, and it just made us laugh. We just used to sit round listening to it.

Presenter12:07

And you do a very good Gracie Fields. You you in fact did her in the in the sort of graduation showcase to agents at Rada. I mean, why did you choose that? That's that's right out there, isn't it? That's not that's not going to get you the lead in a big Hollywood blockbuster.

Speaker 112:16

Uh

Jane Horrocks12:16

That's not

Jane Horrocks12:21

Um well, it was a choice between Fred Fenakopan and Salome, Oscar Wilde at Salome, and it was great. I mean, I dressed up as Gracie and finished off the evening and all the audience joined in, which was lovely.

Presenter12:34

Initially then, going to Radha, that that was you were aiming very high by auditioning for Radha. Was that exactly where you wanted to get in, or or did could it have been any drama school?

Jane Horrocks12:43

Munat was the only one that accepted meh.

Presenter12:45

Out of home in

Jane Horrocks12:46

Um, I think I probably applied to about

Jane Horrocks12:49

ten or twelve, something like that. Yeah, no, I was rejected from all the others.

Jane Horrocks12:53

That was the only one that wanted me.

Presenter12:55

Uh

Jane Horrocks12:55

And so

Presenter12:55

So they had the foresight really to imagine that this rather unconventional person could ha could fill many gaps in what an actor or actress is required to do.

Jane Horrocks13:02

Yeah, yeah.

Jane Horrocks13:04

I mean, Ray Fiennes and Imogen Stubbs were in my term and Neil Dudgeon was in my term as well. So it was a very mixed bunch of people.

Presenter13:15

And people like Ray Fiennes and Imogen Stubbs. I mean, Imogen Stubbs had come down from, I don't know if it was Cambridge or Oxford with a first.

Jane Horrocks13:20

Oxford with a first. Yes, yeah.

Presenter13:22

She was in your class.

Jane Horrocks13:23

Yeah.

Presenter13:25

Yes, and how did Jane Horrocks from Rotten Stall in Lancashire feel about standing next to Imogen Stubbs with her first?

Jane Horrocks13:25

Yes, and how do you do?

Jane Horrocks13:30

And stuff.

Jane Horrocks13:32

Well, great actually. And um I got more um I was discriminated against much more at old'em tech than I was at Rada.

Jane Horrocks13:40

I mean, people you say, oh, what a silly voice, what a sill, we can't understand a word, you're saying, at Oldham. And they never did that at Rada.

Presenter13:49

Did they try to flatten or or or or beat your accent out of you at Radha?

Jane Horrocks13:54

One of the tutors suggested that I might mellow it, and actually uh it has mellowed since I left Lancashire and when I used to go back home at in during the holidays people used to say, Why are you speaking posh?

Presenter14:09

Let's hear your fourth record, what's that?

Jane Horrocks14:12

It's like a song by You Two.

Presenter14:14

Chosen why.

Jane Horrocks14:16

I used to listen to this quite a lot when I was doing the film Life is Sweet because my character was massively into Bono or Bono. And um

Jane Horrocks14:27

I used to listen to this particular song whilst the character was being sick.

Speaker 314:36

Against each other in a fight amongst ourselves To set in our ways To try to rearrange To write to me wrong in this rebels

Speaker 314:54

The bells ring out

Presenter14:58

You two and like a song. Memories there, Jane Horrocks, of Mike Lee's Life is Sweet, which was, I suppose they call it, your first breakthrough role. You played Nicola, who was a bulamic. Difficult role.

Jane Horrocks15:10

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks15:11

Um, yes, it was quite difficult. Um I mean, the way that Mike Lee works is um you um uh research the character massively. You you start with a person that you know as a springboard for the character. And uh so you're sort of gradually building up the person and you do become

Jane Horrocks15:34

you become very attached to them because you sort of live in that person all the time, really. It it it was difficult. It was very difficult to shed her at the end.

Presenter15:43

So, the idea, as you've described it then, through this improvisation, is to build a character by almost being a character. So, if you're playing.

Presenter15:52

A bulimic that has a rather explosive and particular sexual tastes. Do you become that person?

Jane Horrocks15:58

Um no, because Mike Lee's very intent on you being objective about your character, so you you're supposed to leave the character at the end of the day. And um that was quite tough in a way. But uh no, I didn't go home and reach for the scarves and the chocolate sauce. Yes.

Presenter16:14

Yes, let's talk about the chocolate sauce, because there were some very graphic sex scenes. You didn't talk to your family about it while you were doing it, but presumably they saw the movie. What did they make of it?

Jane Horrocks16:17

Exceed not

Jane Horrocks16:22

What is it?

Jane Horrocks16:23

Oh, my Dad was horrified.

Jane Horrocks16:26

Yes, he looked up at the screen and thought, Oh, is that my daughter?

Presenter16:30

So Life is Sweet was in nineteen ninety. Then in nineteen ninety one uh you starred at the National with a a play that was written specifically for you. How how did that come about?

Jane Horrocks16:40

I did a play called Road at the Royal Court and that was written by Jim Cartwright, and when I finished that play.

Jane Horrocks16:49

I had a lunch with Jim Cartwright in my back garden and he said, You know, you you s you can do impersonations, can't you? somebody said. I said, Yeah, I do a few. He said, Oh, can you do? So I did them for him. He said, All right.

Presenter17:01

Back to new faces again. Yeah, exactly.

Jane Horrocks17:02

Yeah, exactly.

Jane Horrocks17:05

He said I'll write a play about that and didn't think that he would and two years later he came out with um the play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.

Presenter17:13

Your fifth record.

Jane Horrocks17:15

It's Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland.

Presenter17:18

And you were very specific about wanting a particular recording of this.

Jane Horrocks17:21

Yeah, it's the Carnegie Hall recording, which is 1961. And it was Judy Garland's big comeback performance. And it's a fantastic record. And she seems to do hours and hours on this concert. And there's some, yeah, I mean, but this in particular is a superb recording of the song. And I like her singing it as an older woman. I'm not particularly bothered about her singing Over the Rainbow in the film, but this is it becomes much more poignant because of what she as a woman had gone through.

Speaker 318:05

Over the rainbow.

Speaker 318:11

Why then, oh why?

Presenter18:24

Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1961. So Jane Horrocks, the huge role for you and the role that everybody stood back and took notice of was Little Voice. It had been a success at the National, then on film. It strikes me that one of the very difficult things about doing it at the National as compared to doing it on film is that every night you've got to hit the notes. It's not a case of take two, take three, take four. How did you manage that?

Jane Horrocks18:53

Well, it depended how tired I was, actually.

Jane Horrocks18:57

Sometimes, you know, when you been out in the evening and then, you know, you try to do it the next night and your voice I mean, because I'm not trained, so I can't fall back on anything technical.

Jane Horrocks19:08

Yeah, it was quite difficult sometimes and uh doing Judy because a lot of it a lot of the Judy stuff was unaccompanied and I didn't have an earpiece so I just had to sort of take my own pitch and uh yeah, sometimes that was quite hard and um

Jane Horrocks19:26

I couldn't be bothered doing the last note. It was like I just did a a sort of flat, quiet version of it, real cop-out.

Presenter19:34

Is it true that you say you can't make the notes as yourself? It's only when you are in character as these women that you actually manage to make the notes?

Jane Horrocks19:43

Yes, yes, I

Jane Horrocks19:45

I I don't know where to place them as me. Uh it sounds really awful when I sing as me, but um I mean, particularly doing something like Shirley Bassett, I just couldn't hit the notes that she hits unless I

Jane Horrocks19:58

Think of her and place my voice in a certain way. It's just really very weird.

Presenter20:02

Because the performance is woven around people who are so very famous, people like Shirley Bassey and Madeline Monroe, and as you've said, Judy Garland.

Presenter20:08

There's no sense in which you can build the character from scratch. I mean, people know these people back to front. People have listened to that 1961 recording a hundred times at home. Therefore, even though you're you're shying away from saying that your performance was always perfect, you must have sweated over that. You must have had to work incredibly hard to get pitch perfect.

Speaker 120:14

People have

Jane Horrocks20:30

Um I think more so in the film because, you know, people are much more nitpicky when they can, you know, use the the rewind. So that was pretty dodgy that note. I mean, I did work hard on the play, but much harder for the film.

Presenter20:44

You seem to like the broken ones. You seem to like the broken characters.

Jane Horrocks20:48

Yes, I do.

Jane Horrocks20:50

And I like the ones that aren't.

Jane Horrocks20:52

Even though Ju Julie Andrews is perfect, her voice is perfect. I like the ones that aren't perfect as well. And when you listen to the old Judy, you know, it's all over the place. But I just love that because it's it's so full of emotion and that that's what I like. I like to have a good cry when I listen to a song.

Presenter21:11

Let's move on then to your sixth record.

Jane Horrocks21:13

It's Bjork, I miss you.

Jane Horrocks21:16

Um I uh

Jane Horrocks21:18

was madly in love, well not in love, but infatuated by a guy a guy during this time that I had this song. And he was working in Australia and I had a tape made of the song and sent the record to Australia to him and it was the most romantic thing that I've ever done and I think he quite appreciated it as well. But the song sort of said everything about our relationship at the time. But it wasn't going to go anywhere basically.

Speaker 321:44

I miss you.

Speaker 321:49

But I haven't met you yet.

Speaker 321:53

So special.

Speaker 321:57

But it hasn't happened yet You are fortunate

Speaker 322:05

But I haven't

Speaker 322:07

Yeah

Speaker 322:09

I'ma miss you.

Presenter22:13

Bjork and I Miss You. Um I'm thinking there, Jane Horrocks, of the the quirkiness, the unconventional nature of Bjork and the the swan dress and the odd hair do's and she's a sort of bubble with brains, isn't she, Bjork?

Speaker 122:26

Uh

Jane Horrocks22:26

Yeah.

Speaker 122:26

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks22:26

Yeah.

Presenter22:27

Yeah, she is. That's a good description. Um Bubble then was the character famously that you played for ten years on and off in AbFab. W were you ever worried about

Speaker 122:33

Uh

Jane Horrocks22:33

Yeah.

Speaker 122:34

Yeah.

Presenter22:36

Becoming typecast as the most brainless of brainless blondes.

Jane Horrocks22:40

Bring the

Jane Horrocks22:42

Um, not really,'cause I didn't get offered any other parts that were similar to that. I thought I would have always got the brainless part sent to me, but no, actually that was the only one. Yeah, I mean, it's a brilliant idea that they have this useless secretary and very, very clever writing. You know, it was sort of definitive in its way.

Presenter22:58

Confusing, I remember famously a a laptop with a lap doll and bringing that in one day. You have also done Shakespeare's I mentioned earlier, Lady Macbeth. I read you're never keen to do it again. You found it uh far too draining by half.

Jane Horrocks23:03

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks23:13

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks23:14

I don't really understand it, to be honest. And the people that you I used to invite to come and see it didn't understand it either. So I thought, well, it's very frustrating, is this? Because I've spent all this energy every night doing this. And for them to say, well, we didn't really know what was going on.

Presenter23:32

Great. That is very unusual to hear an actor say that they don't understand Shakespeare. Do you mean you didn't understand the production or you actually genuinely don't really get very much from Shakespeare?

Jane Horrocks23:42

Well, I mean, I understood that production because I was working on it and the director Mark Rylands made us all understand it. So it was sort of even more frustrating when friends came. You thought, well, it's really clear is this production. So it was more frustrating when they did come and say actually we didn't know what was going on. But when I've had to be dragged along to see Shakespeare of her friends in it, I just don't know what they're talking about.

Presenter24:08

Was it true that as Lady Macbeth you peed on stage every night?

Jane Horrocks24:12

Uh yes, I did, yes.

Presenter24:15

How did you manage that?

Jane Horrocks24:15

I drank a lot of water just before the interval and seemed to work on queue every night.

Presenter24:23

No inhibitions about doing that.

Jane Horrocks24:25

Um when I didn't pull Manikas down, Manikas were still on.

Jane Horrocks24:29

I was

Presenter24:30

I'm glad to hear that. You find the whole the whole experience of theatre generally, though, very, very draining. It's not something that you rush to be cast in. What is it? Is it does it just simply preoccupy you as you're doing?

Jane Horrocks24:42

Yes, it it just takes over. Um, I can't stop thinking about it. And when people say, Oh, well, you're doing theatre, you're only, you know, there two hours in an evening, you know, what's the problem? It's not that, it sort of consumes you throughout the whole day.

Presenter24:54

Both Lady Macbeth and Nicola, the character that you played in Mike Lee's Life, is sweet. When you talk about them, there seems to be a sense in in which there is an obsessiveness to to your dedication to a part. Is that fair?

Jane Horrocks25:08

Yes, I mean, I think I've become less obsessive as time's gone on and a bit lazier actually about research. Uh and and I found that not doing the research people were just as responsive, so

Jane Horrocks25:20

I'm less

Jane Horrocks25:21

You know neurotic about that now.

Presenter25:23

Neurotic at home? Or do you manage are you very laid back?

Jane Horrocks25:26

Oh no, not very neurotic. Yes, about uh tidiness and uh yes, obsessively feeding my children and looking after my kids and making sure that they're yes, well fed is the

Presenter25:39

So everything's homemade.

Jane Horrocks25:41

Yes.

Presenter25:42

No frozen lasagna then in the Horrocks Household.

Jane Horrocks25:44

No. I do freeze, but it's what I've made.

Presenter25:47

You drive yourself because I mean, you're a working woman, you have to do all the publicity that's associated with your job.

Jane Horrocks25:52

Good job.

Presenter25:53

Your partner is a writer, he writes too. So, do you have a battery of help at home then?

Jane Horrocks25:58

Um no I don't have any help.

Jane Horrocks26:00

Not at the moment. I do when I'm working, I employ somebody, but uh I try and avoid it'cause um

Jane Horrocks26:06

Nannies nowadays are not like Julie Andrews.

Presenter26:10

Your next record.

Jane Horrocks26:12

My next record is Alabama by Neil Young.

Presenter26:15

And why have you chosen this?

Jane Horrocks26:17

Because well actually Mark Rylands introduced me to Neil Young whilst I was doing the Scottish play and that was sort of the highlight. It was a very difficult tour that we went on with that play because it was disliked and so the reception we got was not great each night and so the parties were were the bonus.

Presenter26:38

By way of compensation.

Jane Horrocks26:39

Yes, exactly. And Neil Young was a was a big part of the parties.

Speaker 326:45

Bye bye.

Speaker 326:50

The Devil fools with the best laid plan Swing low Alabama

Speaker 327:03

You got the spare chain.

Presenter27:03

Uh

Speaker 327:06

You got to feel strange And now the moment

Presenter27:12

Neil Young and Alabama. So Home Life, Jane Horrocks, is two children, Dylan and Molly, who are how old?

Jane Horrocks27:19

Nine and seven.

Presenter27:20

And everything's home cooked, as we've established. Your partner is Nick Vivian.

Jane Horrocks27:22

Uh ye

Jane Horrocks27:24

Yeah.

Presenter27:25

He's been your partner for ten years. How did you meet?

Jane Horrocks27:26

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks27:28

Um we met because he wrote a television piece called Dancing Queen, which he really wanted me to to be in, and uh it was to play the part of a stripper, and I wasn't very happy about taking my clothes off, so um

Jane Horrocks27:43

I turned it down, and he continued to pursue me.

Jane Horrocks27:50

Well, I think he'd had a bit of a thing about me. He actually saw me originally in Rode, the play of Rode, and apparently I said hello to him and he thought, Oh, I like her So then he he got a picture of me and put the picture over his laptop and

Presenter28:04

There's something of the stalker about this.

Jane Horrocks28:05

I know, I know.

Presenter28:08

So he was beguiled by you and you didn't even know he existed.

Jane Horrocks28:12

Yeah.

Presenter28:13

That's right, I didn't. How long did he have to pursue you for?

Jane Horrocks28:16

Um well, we became friends after that and we talked about doing other projects and we were both with people at the time, so nothing was gonna happen romantically. And then we um broke up from our respective partners and um and got together.

Presenter28:31

And your respective partner at the time then would have been Sam Mendes, the director.

Jane Horrocks28:33

That's right, yes. Yes.

Jane Horrocks28:39

You know, I was a little bit fed up with my career and wanted to have a family life.

Jane Horrocks28:44

And, you know, Sam was um you know at the height of his profession and wanted to you know keep going quite rightly. But I you know didn't didn't want that. You know, I wanted to

Jane Horrocks28:56

I wanted to breathe.

Presenter28:57

Eat.

Jane Horrocks28:57

Yeah.

Presenter28:57

And you have, and you've got the two children, as we we talked about.

Jane Horrocks28:57

And you have.

Jane Horrocks28:59

Two children.

Presenter29:01

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks29:01

Your last piece of

Presenter29:02

Music then Jane Hollocks.

Jane Horrocks29:02

Uh It's The Alabama Song and it's Lottilenya.

Presenter29:07

And why?

Jane Horrocks29:10

Well, Jennifer Saunders wrote a spin off with all the same actors from Absolutely Fabulous and it was called Mirabell. And uh I think I was doi I I was making an album at the time and uh I was somewhere, I think, recording the music in New York and I got the call to say, Would you do a little stint in in this one off?

Jane Horrocks29:28

And they said it's it's this song which I'd never heard before and I just loved it and I loved singing the song, it's great. And Bonnie Langford was also in this one off singing before me. She was in the audience and when I finished doing the song she went, Well, it's never going to be a hit, is it, darling?

Jane Horrocks29:48

Uh

Speaker 329:49

O malaba We now must say goodbye We've lost our good old mama

Speaker 330:09

Must have whisky or you go white

Speaker 330:16

La Ma Lama

Speaker 330:20

We not

Speaker 330:23

Must say goodbye.

Speaker 330:26

With a lost argument more.

Speaker 330:34

I must have a whisky oil you know

Presenter30:40

Lottie Leinyer and Alabama song from Kurt Viles Mahagoni. So, Jane Horrocks, Cast Away and Solitary, would you be comfortable with time to reflect?

Jane Horrocks30:49

Mm.

Jane Horrocks30:50

Um well, I'd have to tidy up the island.

Jane Horrocks30:55

Sweet.

Presenter30:56

Ping the sound

Jane Horrocks30:56

Yes, no, I'd find something to do. I wouldn't be sitting idle.

Presenter30:56

Yeah.

Presenter31:00

Now, of course, famously you have the the complete works of Shakespeare, whether you want it or not, and the Bible. What other book would you choose?

Presenter31:08

I choose Jamie Oliver's dinner.

Jane Horrocks31:10

Yeah.

Presenter31:11

Nice.

Presenter31:12

Uh

Jane Horrocks31:12

Uh

Presenter31:12

The cell

Jane Horrocks31:12

Yes,'cause I like all his recipes in there. I have great admiration for Jamie Oliver. I think he's brilliant. Yes, I I just would think, ooh, I haven't made that yet. When I get back, I'll make that.

Presenter31:25

And to make things a little more bearable, what would the luxury be?

Jane Horrocks31:25

And

Jane Horrocks31:27

Yeah.

Presenter31:28

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks31:29

Tissues

Presenter31:30

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks31:30

Yeah.

Presenter31:31

Explain yourself.

Jane Horrocks31:34

Well, I blow my nose continually, and I just couldn't bear the idea of blowing it on a bit of an old leaf. Or so I'd want an endless supply of tissues, then I could just always blow my nose comfortably.

Presenter31:45

Do you need to blow your nose continuously or is that?

Jane Horrocks31:47

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter31:49

It's not a sort of obsessive compulsive blowing of nose.

Jane Horrocks31:51

No, no, no, I need to blow my nose continually.

Jane Horrocks31:54

Any particular tissues? No, just as soft ones.

Presenter31:58

Now you have this little stack of eight records. If the waves came crashing to the shore and they were in danger of being washed away, which one would you run to save?

Jane Horrocks32:01

Yeah.

Jane Horrocks32:08

Oh, um

Jane Horrocks32:10

I think I might save the Biork one,'cause I think I'd like to dance on the island.

Presenter32:14

Island

Presenter32:15

Jane Hollock, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. You're welcome, thank you.

Presenter32:27

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.