Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actress known for roles in BBC's Pride and Prejudice, Abigail's Party, and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
On the island
Eight records
Peter Skellen and the way you look tonight is heartbreaking stuff that is, it makes me weep every time.
I first heard when I was at drama school, when I first came to London, Somebody threw a big party at a very posh flat in St John's Wood, and I was pretty impressed by all this... And indeed, we used this track in Abigail's party when Beverley Decides she's going to try and seduce Tony.
Partly because this is one of my mother's favourite records. My mum is a terrific Beatles fan, and particularly John Lennon. And um I'll think of her on my island.
This is a piece of music that in fact when I was at drama school I had a little romance the way you do. And in fact the romance was a bit of a nightmare, and so was the chap. But he played this music to me. And although the memory of the romance isn't that sweet, I've never forgotten this music.
It's um it's just a piece of music that I adore. It was a favorite of my father's, and I was very close to my dad. My dad died four years ago.
E lucevan le stelleFavourite
And again this is a favourite of my father's. And I think um this is just so passionate. I can never listen to it without Crying.
I think it's just a wonderful record, but it it does bring back a lot of memories of um being an early teenager in Liverpool, sitting with my friend Roger, who lived three doors away, and we used to play records and drink coffee and think we were very grown up.
This is another one that makes me weep. I'll I'll spend all my time on this island crying buckets... And years ago, I had a great well, I've got a great friend called Barbara. We were great mates. We grew up together in Liverpool, we went to school together.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:09Was Mrs. Bennett entirely your creation?
Well, I think uh I've got to give Jane Austen a bit of credit for uh the wonderful character that obviously was there on the page for me. But when I was sent the script, I could hear the voice, I could hear a voice, I could see the woman.
Presenter asks
1:30Did you have second thoughts when people started saying things like [that Mrs. Bennett was too noisy and over the top]?
No. I mean, it hurts a lot. I mean, I read a a crit in The Observer a few weeks ago, and my son actually said to me, Give me that paper before you start to cry, because I was terribly upset, because as an actor, you can't help but feel it's a personal critic well, it is a personal criticism. And obviously it's very hurtful.
Presenter asks
6:13Are you consciously or is it subconsciously absorbing people you meet and spotting mannerisms and little facial tics?
I don't think I do. Uh consciously kind of sit there and watch people and say, Oh, you know She's got a twitch in her right eye. I'll use that at some point. But I think if you're an actress you've got to observe because that's your job. And you're reproducing life.
The keepsakes
The book
Gabriel García Márquez
It's the most wonderful book. It's the kind of book that I could just read and read and read and never get bored with, because it's so rich.
The luxury
a machine that provides warm, lemony flannels (like those in Chinese restaurants)
I'd be quite happy on my island with my machine making me all these lovely flannels.
Presenter asks
14:12Why that particular drama school [East 15]? Why not RADA?
Well, the youth theatre was very progressive... And when it came to choosing a drama school I mean I'd only ever heard of Radha... And I went along to the Liverpool Playhouse and talked to a lovely man... Tony Colgate. And he said to me, Look, he said, I think you should go to this drama school called East Fifteen. It sounds like just your ticket... rather than rather still had quite a stuffy kind of feel to it for me at the time.
Presenter asks
31:54If somebody said to you now that you could never act again, that was it, how would you feel?
I'd be devastated, I think. it's so much part of my life that, um But I couldn't imagine. Ever being without it.
“I mean, people kind of laugh at someone like Beverly, but to me she's one of the most tragic figures I think I've ever played. Because when you take away all the tinsel and all the make up and the false nails and all the rest of it, there's this really sort of empty shell.”
“I knew that I couldn't do anything else. I had to do it. It was a burning desire and had been from about nine years old. and I thought this is what I want to do, and nobody will stop me.”
“I get very lonely very easily. I'm not I'm not someone that enjoys my own company particularly, and I don't think I'd really like b Bing. Totally alone.”