Maxine Peake

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book, and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:46

My castaway this week is the actor Maxine Peake. She was born in Bolton and broke through by making us laugh, first as the surly twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinner Ladies, then in Channel 4's Shameless. Seeing her potential, Wood warned her to try to avoid being typecast. She did. In fact, you might say she overshot. In the stellar career that followed, she's played everyone from Hamlet to Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams, not to mention Rebecca Brooks, Blanche Dubois, and Moore's murderer Myra Hindley.

Presenter1:17

All that success, however, has been hard won. Early on, the Salford College she attended quietly suggested she should leave her drama course, as she wasn't a natural fit. After that, she was rejected from every theatre and education company in the Northwest. Then, when she won a place at Rada in London, she initially couldn't afford to take it up. Looking back, she says, Sometimes I wish I'd been that bit bolder when I was younger. I was always so self-conscious. It used to eat me up. But now I think, oh, nobody cares. They're not bothered whether you're making a fool of yourself or not. So why worry? Maxine Peake, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you, Lauren. So, unself-conscious these days, Maxine, sounds like a dream state. How did you achieve it? How did you get there? I think it's age, isn't it? I suppose there's still an element of.

Presenter2:06

Self-conscious in there, of course, but I think it's about being fearless in some ways and thinking what is the worst that can happen, because it was crippling when I was younger.

Maxine Peake2:12

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter2:16

I was very self-conscious, very conscious about my physical

Presenter2:21

you know, sort of appearance and physicality and

Presenter2:24

Yeah, I think the longer you're in the job that I'm in.

Presenter2:27

You know, I think the hang ups that I had, I thought what a waste of time and what a waste of energy. Not that they they creep up quite a lot, but there's it's there's better ways of managing it. But don't get me wrong, I still get very nervous and very anxious and think, Oh, what am I doing?

Maxine Peake2:28

I think that

Presenter2:41

But it is nobody really

Presenter2:43

Cares that much. Yes, so you've learned to feel the fear and do it anyway? Yeah, I think, and embrace that fear.

Maxine Peake2:44

Yeah, so

Presenter2:50

I think if something doesn't make me scared, then a lot of the time I think what's the point of doing it, especially in my career. But it's that desire, isn't it? You have to do something. I always say it was never that I thought, Oh, I'm a great actor. In fact, I used to think I'm pretty bad at this, but I have to do it.

Presenter3:05

Well, let's start with your first choice. What's it going to be and why have you selected it today?

Presenter3:10

My first track is Mersey Paradise and it's by The Storm Roses and The Storm Roses were the first band I had a an obse a real obsession with and they were probably the four most beautiful men I'd ever seen in my life, the coolest men, but they had attitude and they really spoke to my teenage self and this is quite a dark track but I spent a lot of time I know I shouldn't really say this but Liverpool for me

Presenter3:35

Was

Presenter3:36

A city I had much more connection with as a teenager than Manchester. So it sort of marries those two elements. And why Liverpool? What did you love about it? I always felt Liverpool was a little bit more accepting.

Presenter3:47

Um I always found Manchester. Maybe again it's to do my self consciousness, but going clubbing in Manchester I always felt a little bit awkward. I always felt in Liverpool. It was they welcomed all comers, it didn't matter what you were wearing, blah, blah, blah, how cool you were. I just had some of the best nights and some of the best all-nighters out clubbing in Liverpool.

Maxine Peake3:57

Matter what you

Speaker 44:21

Uh

Speaker 44:21

Hold it down.

Speaker 44:24

Couldn't be done for air. She doesn't care for my despair.

Presenter4:35

The Stone Roses and Mersey Paradise. So, Maxine Pete, you were born in Bolton, 1974, the youngest of two girls. Your mum, Glennis, I know she died in 2009, but you say you're very like her and you use the word fearless to describe yourself. And I think you inherited that from her. Yeah, she was fearless. She'd take people on.

Speaker 44:54

She takes

Presenter4:56

I know I, you know, I sort of bang on about my politics quite a lot. And my mum always said she wasn't political, although I always used to say to her at heart, Mum, you're a socialist. You know, I'd be at the bus stop and it'd be raining and she'd drive past and she'd show, get in the car, and I get in the car. And she'd find the window down and go, where are you going? Where are you going to the other people at the bus stop? Would she literally give them a shot? Strangers. There'd be lots of like wet, steaming strangers sort of sat in the back of a little, you know, battered old mini driving into Bolton. She'd be dropping people in. And how did you feel about that? Well, you know, you're a bit awkward when you're young. It used to be like, oh, mum. But that was a thing. It was, she was always doing for other people. Describing yourself as a teenager, I mean, you were obviously already kind of arty, a little bit out there, and she encouraged you and your sister to think differently, to be different, I think. I think so. She didn't stop us. That was one thing. And I remember sort of, you know, at 15, going off to Glastonbury, and she said, where are you going? I said, I'm going to Glastonbury. I had a friend, Cheryl, whose mum and dad were both teachers. So if Cheryl was doing something, that was fine because they were teachers. So they were a little bit more. So they must know. So they must know. So me and my friend Cheryl jumped on a coach, you know, and she was. But alone at 15. Oh, yeah, yeah. No mobiles then, presumably. No mobiles. And we missed the coach coming back, but we eventually.

Maxine Peake5:14

On to the other paper at the bus stop.

Speaker 45:16

Yeah.

Maxine Peake5:16

Yeah.

Maxine Peake5:59

So they must know.

Maxine Peake6:02

And chatlo.

Maxine Peake6:04

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter6:09

We will hear you all now.

Presenter6:11

Just about. So, so your mum was, for most of your childhood, she was a single parent. Yes. But your dad, Brian, was in your life to some extent. How often did you see him? He left when I was eight. Sporadically. You know, it wasn't the most amicable divorce. Yeah. And what about you and he? How did you get on?

Maxine Peake6:17

Yeah.

Maxine Peake6:21

Did you sing?

Maxine Peake6:29

And what if

Presenter6:31

There was the elements, you know, it was the divorce dad Saturdays, and sometimes he wouldn't turn up, you know what I mean? So you'd be sat with your coat. I'm but when you're that age, you sort of don't care because you're like, great, I can go out and play with mates. I don't have to go to Wimpy again or Nevada rolling rink with my dad showing me up when they say, you know, and now it's just people who can skate section. Now my dad go, come on, come on. I'm going, dad, don't let me do that. And yeah, and people then skating on saying, Can you get off, please? So there was lots of.

Presenter6:58

Yeah, I think it's only when you're older you look back, don't you? And how do you look back on it now?

Maxine Peake7:00

Anyhow

Presenter7:02

I think the divorce hit him badly. But when you were teenagers, you know, I used to come in and my dad would say, Tell tell your mum I want to talk to you I want to pa

Presenter7:10

My mum would still tell your dad to you know and so I mean you become this little mediary that's but you just sort of bumble along going my mum says this my dad says that and I think why I became a performer I think initially was to impress my dad because we used to wa when he was at home we used to watch a lot of comedy together like the goodies and things like that and I remember you know watching him laugh and thinking that's I want to do that I want to make people laugh

Maxine Peake7:13

So he's become this little mediary.

Presenter7:34

Alright Maxine, it's time for some more music. Disc number two. What have you got? I've got Puff the Magic Dragon. It was um in the record collection at my grandad's.

Maxine Peake7:37

What if you got a

Presenter7:44

And I think it's the first time, you know, a narrative.

Presenter7:47

The drama of it, and this song just makes me cry every time. And when my mum, she didn't know she was ill, this is many years before she became ill, but I always used to say, Matthew, you know, I want Puff the Magic Dragon, I want She by Charles Asnavor and I want the theme from fame. So she had Puff the Magic Dragon and this version, because Pav, my partner, introduced me to Bonnie Prince Billy, and this version, so it sort of ties a lot of things together for me.

Speaker 48:12

But the magic dragon lived by the sea.

Speaker 48:18

And for the only other mix in land called Harmony.

Speaker 48:26

What's the magic drug?

Speaker 48:30

Lived by the sea.

Speaker 48:33

And for a dim the autumn mist in a land called Honor League together

Presenter8:41

Puff the Magic Dragon by Bonnie Prince Billy. So Maxine Pete, you've described yourself as the class clown at school, but what were you like academically? School started off not

Presenter8:51

Fabulously. I went to primary school, Heathfield, and in Bolton.

Presenter8:57

And I was in infant one, year one, and when everyone moved up to infant two, I wasn't allowed to move up. Why not? I wasn't clever enough. I think that was their uh reasoning. And there was a there was a ga there was a group of us, and I think it lasted about three months and then

Presenter9:14

we moved up. But I think that really powered my reading'cause I do remember you if you got to a certain level in your your sort of r reading, you were allowed to then get a hymn book, but most people didn't get the hymn book I think till they reached junior one.

Presenter9:29

So I just piled through those books so I could so I was the first person the youngest person ever to get a hymn book, but that was pure

Presenter9:37

Determination'cause I was like, If I'm gonna shoot, you know what I mean? I'm not stupid.

Maxine Peake9:40

No stream.

Presenter9:41

So so it lit a fire, but then you know you were proving that you weren't stupid so to some extent you must have internalized their criticism. Yeah, yeah. But that my whole life has been driven by people telling me what I can't do and then going, Well, I'll show you. And on that front, when did your interest in in performing start? Was that in evidence back then? I think early on, probably about ten years old. I had two friends who lived Rebecca and um Fen Allison who lived across the road and they used to go to a Unitarian church.

Presenter10:10

And they had a drama group, and I said to my mum, I want to go. I want to go. She said, Well, I'm not coming, I haven't got time on Sunday, I've got stuff to do. So I was packed off.

Presenter10:17

And they had a drama with they used to do pantos and little performances. What did you play? Do you remember?

Maxine Peake10:21

So

Presenter10:23

I do remember we did a from a very early age, I remember doing um they did an Incey Wincy spider and me and again Rebecca were dressed up in these bonnets and the spider came down and I remember screaming like mad and running. I was quite a s a Mardy child, as they say in the the North. It means you're a bit soft.

Presenter10:42

It's time for some more music, Maxine. Your third choice today, what are we going to hear? Paul Robeson singing Joe Hill, the ballad of Joe Hill. This song really reminds me of obviously my grandfather, but many of the old comrades who fought, they just fought their whole life for a better will for everybody. And this is quite a popular choice at funerals, unfortunately, for people when they go. And I just love Paul Robeson. I grew up with his tracks, you know, my granddad had. It was Nanomoscury.

Presenter11:14

The Shrang Real Ars and Paul Robeson in his record collection. Oh, and an album about Roger Casement. So that was his little record collection. So this evoked so many memories for me.

Speaker 411:22

And standing there as big as life, And smiling with his eyes, Says Joe, What they can never heal

Speaker 411:32

Uh

Speaker 411:33

Organiz went on to Lorganise From San Diego up to Maine, In every mine and mill

Speaker 411:47

Where working men defend their rights, it's their

Presenter11:54

Paul Robeson and Joe Hill. So, Maxine, that track for your granddad Jim, I want to ask you a bit more about him because he was hugely important to you. You've described his influence on you as life-changing.

Speaker 411:59

Skip it more

Maxine Peake12:03

Yeah.

Presenter12:04

Yeah, it was. He was my step grandfather.

Presenter12:07

And he was in the Communist Party, and my nan was in the party at that point.

Presenter12:12

And he was an influence, but he didn't want to be an influence. He really pushed me away from getting involved in politics, probably.

Presenter12:20

Maybe that's why I went towards it more. But he'd say, don't get involved, it'll take over your life.

Presenter12:26

Because I remember sort of 18 going, I want to join the Communist Party. No, before I was 18, I said, I want to join the Communist Party. And he was mortified. He went, No, you're not joining anything. And at that point, I was looking for something. I wanted to engage. And because of his experience and the people I'd, you know, his membership back in the day and the people I'd met, I felt at that point when I was sort of in my late teens, that seemed the right place for me to go. And I love the fact I spent so much time with you know, I spend time with people who'd fought in the Spanish Civil War. And you would have seen all that first time because you moved in with him, wouldn't you? I did, yes. So in sort of my mid-teens, my mum moved over.

Maxine Peake12:59

I did, yes.

Presenter13:05

to Leyland. She got started a new relationship and moved over there. And I was still at school and I didn't quite get on with the guy that she'd moved in with.

Presenter13:14

Politically we didn't get on at all. So, um, you know, I just said to my granddaughter, Can I come and move with in with you till I sort myself out? And he said, Yes, till you leave school and then you're off. So, what was that, six months or something? Yeah, well, yeah, about a year and at twenty one I I eventually left.

Maxine Peake13:27

So that was

Presenter13:33

So you were there a while? I was there a while and even when I and that was to go to London and even when I came back from studying at summer holidays and breaks I'd go and stay with with Jim. So he was a I think by the time you you were living with him he was a widower. Your your nana. So my nan yes sorry, my nana passed away.

Maxine Peake13:46

You'll be so mine.

Presenter13:50

I mean, I think a lot of people have this experience with the grandparents. He felt like he was a friend. He felt to me like a, you know, best friend.

Presenter13:58

Maxine, your politics have sometimes got you into trouble. In 2020, shortly after the violent death of George Floyd, you suggested in a newspaper interview that the American police had used a tactic they'd learned from Israeli secret services. You soon retracted the comment, stating that it was inaccurate, but it had already sparked headlines. How'd you look back at that time?

Presenter14:19

I suppose one thing I've learned is you have to get your facts.

Presenter14:23

Completely watertight. You know, it was. You didn't think you had. You said you didn't have to. I think I'd said in my statement it was inaccurate.

Maxine Peake14:25

You didn't

Maxine Peake14:27

I think the yeah.

Presenter14:32

And you one thing I don't want to do is cause anybody any distress. But of course, to be accused of being anti Semitic was the most devastating thing for me. It was really upsetting, really, really upsetting because that is not who I am.

Presenter14:48

Yeah, it took me to a very dark place. And I still feel the percussions of it. I still feel.

Presenter14:53

It's it's sh shaken my foundations. I can see that it's it's difficult to to talk about still.

Maxine Peake14:57

Yeah.

Presenter14:59

Yeah. Yeah. I have no hate for anybody, no anybody. So

Presenter15:05

for that accusation was yeah, it was really tough.

Presenter15:09

Time for your next piece of music. What's it gonna be? Disc four is the four horseman Aphrodite's child. Now, I've picked this because I love my prog rock. It's not always been cool to like prog rock, but it it really reminds me of a time recently I sort of got asked to join a band called the Eccentronic Research Council and there's such a good bunch of people and it's really silly and it's really anarchic and bonkers and and this reminds me of this time and of Adrian and Dean and the gang so yeah that's why.

Speaker 415:43

So the folk The homesmith was the best

Speaker 416:02

The second horse is a red

Speaker 416:05

Third one is a black

Speaker 416:08

Siren.

Presenter16:14

The Four Horsemen by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child, featuring a young Vangelis and Demis Russos in the line-up. So, Maxine Pete, when you were 16, you took a performing arts course at Salford College of Technology. What do you remember about studying there? Did you enjoy it? Not, well, I did and I didn't. It was hard. I was probably in the wrong place. And two weeks in, they sort of said, you're not, you know, you're not gregarious enough, you're not outgoing enough. I mean, I turned up in a pair of sort of green baggy dungarees, German paratrooper boots.

Presenter16:50

Very sort of matted hair. Right. And you had you walked into a room that was full of kids ready for kind of jazz hands. Yes, jazz hands and and lovely, lovely, but j uh sweatpants and jazz boots. I had no idea what either of those two items of clothing were and I had neither.

Maxine Peake16:52

Yeah.

Maxine Peake16:55

And a jacket is a little bit more.

Presenter17:05

But I did, yeah, two weeks in. It was a bit two or three weeks in. I think what they used to do was oversubscribe. So then they'd think, Well, we can sort of shave off a few students. And I think there's sort of eight of us they picked to sort of push

Maxine Peake17:14

Yeah.

Presenter17:18

gently move off and they said to me, Look, maybe look at writing, you're not I don't think you're a natural performer. Just didn't know how to do things. You need a skill set and you were a bit unsure of yourself. Yes. Your teachers didn't didn't have much kind of expectation of you. What what made you stick it out? Because you just I had to.

Maxine Peake17:30

Yeah.

Presenter17:36

I don't know why. I still remember coming downstairs. It was when I was visiting my mum when she lived in Leyland and I remember she used to have a little room with a telephone in. And I came downstairs and I heard her on the phone. She went, I don't know what she's doing.

Presenter17:48

She's messing about with this acting, but she needs to get a job.

Presenter17:52

And I think that was when I went right, okay, that's what people think. You know, she would never say, Don't do it,'cause there was no expectation to do anything. And when you say you thought you thought, right,

Maxine Peake17:57

And don't

Presenter18:04

You know, the look on your face says, Right, I'm really going to do it now. I thought that's it. Made you even more determined. And then I started applying for drama schools. And then how did that go? Not very well.

Maxine Peake18:06

Yeah.

Maxine Peake18:08

Yeah.

Presenter18:15

So it took me three years to get in. And eventually it was Diane Morgan and myself. So I'd met Diane auditioning for Manchester Theatre School. We'd become friends and then we'd found out that Rada did auditions at the Royal Exchange Theatre. So it meant it was two seventy five on the train from Bolton.

Presenter18:31

And I was so blase. I still remember going in. And why were you blase? Because I didn't think I.

Maxine Peake18:35

Because it

Presenter18:36

I was like, I'm not going to get in, but that's fine. I was just really relaxed. And then I got, I remember, I was working at the Howard Leisure Centre at the time.

Presenter18:42

And I was out for my luncheon and I came back into the staff room and somebody said, There's a posh block on the phone for you.

Presenter18:49

Vecca is the principal at Rada and I thought, right. I was like, right, you're a bastard. So you thought it was one of your favorite. Yeah, I thought they're winding my PF. So I was like, all right, you know, and then his voice said, oh, hello, Maxine, this is Nicholas Barter from Rada, just to say we've vexed it. Couldn't believe it. We'll find out what happened next in a minute.

Speaker 418:54

Yeah, I thought they wind up here.

Presenter19:06

We've got to make some room for the music, though. This is your fifth choice today, Maxine. What are we going to hear? Evening of Light by Nico.

Presenter19:14

I'd always had a fascination with Nico.

Presenter19:17

I think she's such a tough nut to crack because who is this woman? And obviously w when I was young, I mean the Velvet Underground just y you know, I always think if there's a time to go back to, I'd love to go in the factory, I'd probably hate it.

Presenter19:30

Now as an adult, and go there's lots of it's very problematic, I can understand, but I think the creative element of that. But just her then as a solo artist, I think her it just takes you to somewhere very dark and very uncomfortable, and I love that.

Speaker 419:45

Midnight winds are lending at the end of time.

Speaker 419:53

Midnight winds are landing at the end of time

Maxine Peake19:59

I'm

Speaker 420:06

A true story wants to be mine A true story wants to be

Presenter20:15

Evening of Light by Nico. So Maxine Peake, not only did you get into Rada, but you actually won a full scholarship. After being written off at college, how did you get on with the teachers there?

Presenter20:27

A few sort of log ahead moments with teachers telling me I wouldn't do this and I wouldn't do that, you know, I want to teach anything. Well, you'll never go to the RSC, you'll never go to the national. You know, and my respect, I'll never play Juliet if I didn't laugh the chips. That one's got a lot of fun. Okay, so there's a few things there. Let's back up for a minute. So, RSC and the National, that's presumably about accent because this would still be the expectation of RP being you learned it rather, you did, but I was very nervous.

Maxine Peake20:31

Uh

Speaker 420:31

Yeah.

Speaker 420:38

That one's good.

Maxine Peake20:51

Are you

Maxine Peake20:52

Yeah, we did. But I think it was very

Presenter20:56

For me, your voice is very much who you are. It's a real connection for me. You know, that's where your emotion comes from. Your voice goes deep, deep down, doesn't it? And it it it hits spots along the way. So I used to find it quite difficult when I put on a different accent that my voice didn't have that passageway that it does.

Presenter21:16

It took me the first year, I was a ball of anxiety, which I'd never experienced before. I'd always been this sort of, oh, keep going, everything's fine.

Presenter21:24

I started to have these things that I didn't realise till I went to those, you know, panic attacks, anxiety attacks, you know, very emotional because I just didn't know where to place myself. And you were getting some very difficult feedback. So this idea that you never be at the National, you never be at the RSC. And also, I think you used the phrase, if you don't lay off the chips, you'll never play Juliet. Yeah, that's what Tutor said to me. That's pretty bad.

Maxine Peake21:30

Very emotional.

Maxine Peake21:31

Because it's

Maxine Peake21:36

So they

Maxine Peake21:39

Yeah.

Speaker 221:45

That's

Maxine Peake21:45

Yeah.

Maxine Peake21:46

That's that's

Speaker 221:47

Yeah, but

Maxine Peake21:47

Uh

Presenter21:48

Yeah And my response was, Well, I don't want to play Juliet. Who wants to play Juliet?

Presenter21:52

And obviously that judgment, I mean, you know, you were bigger back then, which brings with it its own difficulties and complexities. That must have been horrible to me. Of course, it was, isn't that horrible? For somebody to say that to you. Yeah, the size thing. So I'd always been so self-conscious about my size. And I suppose actually I'd never processed that I could do something about it. But again, it felt like a bit like defeat because people, you know, people, I spent a lot of time at school, you know, you get picked on. You get bullied because you're big. I could deal with it. You know what I mean? I was a little bit of a scrapper. But being a big kid, I did going into, and I always felt that's what I'm saying, but the clubbing scene in Manchester, I always felt slightly ridiculed because I like my fashion and I like going to clubs, but I was of a fuller figure. People would always be commenting. But you just learn.

Maxine Peake21:56

Which is

Maxine Peake22:01

Yeah.

Maxine Peake22:03

For somebody to say that

Maxine Peake22:36

Mm-hmm.

Presenter22:39

to sort of shut it out, but it does it goes somewhere. You have to tread carefully, but I do think it is it it was an eating disorder, but because I think it's not visi it is visible in a different way, people just think you're greedy.

Presenter22:52

And food at school especially became a bit of a an entertainment. My consumption of large amounts of food became a source of entertainment. I remember sitting we saw these long trestle tables at lunch and we used to bring our pet lunch or we'd always sneak out to the Jolly Bakers for a a pasty balm. I mean, you know, when you look at your diet then, pasty the balm cake.

Presenter23:10

And I'd sit at the end of the table and all the girls in my year go, I'm not eating that and I go, Give it here, I'll eat it and everyone would laugh because I'd just eat and eat and eat. So a bit like a performance yeah, because it was yeah, sort of performance.

Maxine Peake23:20

Yeah.

Presenter23:23

But but then also it's that kind of uh ability that that gives you to demonstrate, I don't care what you think, I'm tough, no matter how you feel inside.

Maxine Peake23:32

No matter how

Presenter23:34

And I think people seem to think because you're a big girl, you're tougher, you don't have the same sensitivity, but you just you just eat.

Presenter23:43

Time to make some room for the music magazine. It is your sixth choice. What's it gonna be? Promised Land by Joe Smooth.

Presenter23:51

And this takes me back to my clubbing days in Manchester. The gay scene in Manchester felt really

Presenter23:57

Welcomed into. So for me, going to nights like Flesh at the Hacienda.

Presenter24:02

Just places like that down on Canal Street, nobody judged you and you were just part of that. So I always felt like that was my home.

Speaker 424:09

No no no.

Speaker 424:11

Soon as that

Speaker 424:13

One day we will be free.

Speaker 424:16

From my team

Speaker 424:18

My lady

Speaker 424:21

Eagle crying in the street

Speaker 424:25

The angels come above.

Speaker 424:27

Falls down and spread their wings like dove

Speaker 424:32

We won't all end in all steps, run off, we'll make it to the bottom.

Presenter24:40

Joe Smooth and Promised Land. Maxine Peak, you graduated from Rada in 1998 and you got your first job that same year. It was a pretty good one playing Twinkle in the Victoria Woods series Dinner Ladies. It must have been a dream come true. For anyone who missed it, who was Twinkle?

Presenter24:58

Twinkle was the monosyllabic teenager who worked in the canteen at the factory. But she was a joy to play and what an absolute dream country. Well, it wasn't even a dream country. I couldn't believe I was going to get to work with Victoria Wood. That felt something that was, you know, she was who I wanted to be growing up. Yeah. She was your hero. Oh, I mean, for so many people that are my generation, actors are not, you know, non-actors.

Presenter25:24

But I saw her and I thought, she looks a bit like me. She sounds a bit like me. I could do that. Maybe I could do that. And, you know, aside from giving you the part, she gave you advice in your career. Tell me about that. Yeah, well, she basically said, look, you're blonde, you're northern, and you're big. You're going to get type cast. So how big were you then? I mean... 15 stone big. So, I mean, I'm 5'7.

Presenter25:49

Um, but that was big. I was supposed I was about a size eighteen.

Presenter25:53

And it's big. And obviously it's a different thing her saying that to you. So she was concerned that you would get typecast and that Yeah,'cause she said, you know, it's she felt that what had happened to her, you know, you get typecast as a fat funny northerner.

Maxine Peake25:53

That was big.

Maxine Peake25:56

GA

Presenter26:06

So you followed her advice and you went out of your way to avoid being typecast. You have portrayed many real people in your career, including the campaigner Anne Williams, whose son Kevin died in the Hillsborough disaster. You gave a very moving performance as Anne. What do you remember about the filming? We were doing the scene at the end of the Hillsborough Memorial where it was sort of just days before Anne passed away and myself as Anne came in in the wheelchair and I had an amazing experience with one of her friends Stevie and he was chatting to me and he said, you know, the last time I saw Anne, she got a cigarette out of a tin. She used to roll her own. He said it was a tin with a marijuana leaf on him. I said is it this tin? And Sarah Williams, Anne's daughter, had got this tin from her ex-husband Steve and said, Give this to Maxine. She can have it in a pocket while she's filming. So Anne said, Is it this? Was it this tin? And and then we both had a big old cry and a hug, you know.

Presenter27:05

It's such a privilege for people to let you into their lives. So I'm getting a little bit upset about it, but I feel very honored that I'm allowed to dip my toe into people's lives who've been through such terrible trauma.

Presenter27:17

And I'd yeah, I feel very blessed that these roles have come my way and that the people who've been attached to them, friends and family and you know, the individuals themselves have been so supportive and open and warm.

Presenter27:30

It's time for a bit more music, Maxine. Your seventh choice today. What are you going for? A Whistling Woman by The Unthanks. Quite a few years ago, I write as well as act in theatre in Major and I'd written a piece about the triple trawler disaster that had happened in Hull and Lillian Balocker and the other three amazing women who had fought tirelessly to get the sort of safety regulations changed on the trawlers. And I wrote this piece for Hull City of Culture. And this is me being a little bit vain, but I wrote the lyrics to this. And I can't believe that the Unthanks have written

Presenter28:08

The music to a song that I wrote the lyrics to, and they sing it. I want to remember that I did create something, and I'm proud of it.

Speaker 428:14

For a man may whistle and a man may sing, For a man may do a thousand things, But a whistling woman and a growing hen May bring the devil out of his ten For a man may whistle and a man may sing For a man may do a thousand things But a whistling woman and a crowing hen

Presenter28:45

A Whistling Woman by The Unthanks. Maxine Peake, in 2019, you played Julia Lee, who wrote a memoir about her struggles to conceive. And, you know, around that, you've also been very open about your own experiences of going through unsuccessful IVF with your partner, Pav. Did you hesitate about taking the part because of that personal connection, or was that part of your decision to do it? That was part of my decision because of a very different experience to Julia. And I suppose this is the first time you, you know, for me, it was, I always

Maxine Peake28:52

Yeah.

Maxine Peake28:54

Thanks.

Presenter29:20

I had two miscarriages before I started IVF, and I did three rounds and I went, I'm out. You know what I mean? For me, that was enough.

Presenter29:27

Every time it failed, it you know, there was tears and there was anguish.

Maxine Peake29:31

Yeah.

Presenter29:33

But we both had discussion is we were like, it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen.

Presenter29:38

You know, it's a lifesaver for people and I understand people's real desire to have children, but I didn't feel that. If I'm absolutely honest, that was me. It would I'd I've you know, I'd have loved to have it happen, but if it didn't, I'm very much if it's not, it's not and I could move on from that and I'd be okay and I feel okay about it. I, you know, I've got plenty of godchildren that I love very much, but I can hand back and I'm very grateful for that.

Presenter30:03

Well, Maxine, it's almost time to cast you away. How do you think you'll cope on the island?

Presenter30:08

I wasn't the girl guide, so I'm hoping a bit of rope works. Not a bad start, a few nuts. I mean, where I'll find some rope, obviously, I don't know. But yeah, I'm.

Maxine Peake30:12

Start a few knots.

Presenter30:17

I'd like to say I'd be okay. I'm pretty practical. Well, one more song before you go, one more track before we send you there. What are we going to hear and why? Discate is I Saw the Light and it's by Todd Rundgren and this it reminds me of a time sort of mid-2000s. We all used to go to this club, I think it's still going, a night called Tapestry which was at the St Eloysius Catholic Club near Euston and it was a brilliant eclectic eccentric night of music. Yeah it just really reminds me of sort of friendship and you know my career was sort of starting off and just good times with good people.

Speaker 430:55

Feel so strong.

Speaker 430:57

Oh god, you

Speaker 431:02

When you give the baggy

Speaker 431:06

And the answer was plain to see

Speaker 431:10

Those are so.

Speaker 431:12

Goodbye.

Presenter31:22

Todd Rundgren and I saw the light. So Maxine Peak, I'm going to send you away to the island. I'm giving you the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and you could take another book of your choice. What would you like? I'm going to take One Moonlit Night by Caradog Pritchard.

Presenter31:37

It's mercurial and it's hallucinic and it's funny and real and absurd and it's about a young boy growing up in Bethesda in North Wales.

Presenter31:49

And it was something reminded me something about growing up in Bolton as well, those sort of small places that have.

Presenter31:56

sort of a magic to them, but there's a dark magic there, so that's that's why. What about a luxury item would you fancy? I'm taking a solar powered epilator. Oh, go on. On your face epilator. Um,'cause I just get really hairy on my face.

Presenter32:11

Could while away the hour it's very meditative, you know, just getting rid of my

Maxine Peake32:13

Yeah.

Presenter32:15

My uh my facial hair of the radio forum

Presenter32:20

I don't fancy a beard on her. And it would, it would. I'd probably get, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, you know, but for me.

Speaker 432:24

No.

Presenter32:28

Yeah, it just I've I find it quite relaxing. Solar powered epilator is it? It's a marvellous choice. And finally, which one of the eight tracks that you shared with us today would you rush to save from the waves? It would be Paul Robeson's Joe Hill, just because there's so many memories attached to that and so many good people who

Speaker 232:31

Yeah.

Speaker 432:31

Solar-powered epilator resists, marvelous trouble.

Speaker 232:33

Bye-bye.

Presenter32:47

I think sacrifice so much for a better world that

Presenter32:51

Unfortunately, maybe we they haven't got, but the struggle goes on and it never ends, does it? And they should be celebrated. There's a lot of love in that track for me.

Presenter33:01

Maxine Peake, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you so much, Laura.

Presenter33:19

Hello, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Maxine and I hope the appellator does the trick for her. We've cast away many actors including Samantha Morton, Tom Hanks and Marlena Dietrich.

Presenter33:30

You can find these episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme archive and through BBC Sounds. The studio manager for today's programme was Sarah Hockley, the assistant producer was Christine Pavlovsky, and the producer was Paula McGinley. Next time, my guest will be the music producer, Rick Rubin. I do hope you'll join us.

Maxine Peake33:57

Video games can be fun. Restart on BBC Sounds. They can also be a danger to your childhood.

Maxine Peake34:04

We sent him to a rehab facility for teenagers addicted to video games.

Speaker 234:10

Man, stop!

Speaker 434:11

A new thriller from the makers of the Cipher.

Speaker 234:14

Everything and everyone you need in life is right here. You wanna hear a secret? I understand there's another part of the camp. What exactly happens there? Wait, wait, what are the rules? I don't know.

Speaker 434:22

What game are we playing? What are you gonna do? Restart. Play the game.

Speaker 434:28

Available now on BBC Sounds.