Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Comedian and actress who writes and stars in the hit sitcom Miranda, drawing on awkwardness for comedy.
On the island
Eight records
Bring Me SunshineFavourite
it is my favourite song in the whole world. It is Morcombe on Wise Bring Me Sunshine and I love it because Eric Morcombe put simply is my hero and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have launched into getting into comedy and this song just makes me so happy every time I hear it so I'll need it on my desert island.
Chummy would love to dance along to this with gay abandon, but only in private, which is where I only dance along to it. When I'm having a writing blank, I will put this song on and dance about in my kitchen. And it gets the Creative Jesus flowing.
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
I've decided when I'm on my desert island, I'm going to have a structure to my day. So I'm going to wake up every day and sing my school hymn. And it'll remind me of the best days of my life, and also get me because I always like to say, Kirsty, relax within a structure.
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467: II. Andante
London Mozart Players, conducted by Howard Shelley
this is music that my father listened to when he was in the Falklands, and he would go to his cabin and put it on and have a moment of stillness amongst his very, very stressful situation when he was at war. And if it helps him at war, it'll help me on my desert island keep calm.
this really reminds me of school days and holidays at home dancing around the kitchen with my mum and sister.
Cello Sonata No. 3 in G minor, BWV 1029: I. Adagio
Pablo Casals & Paul Baumgarten
this relates to my post-university years of desperately wanting to get into acting and Juliet Stevenson was someone that I still do admire deeply but then was obsessed with. I wanted to be her and truly madly deeply was a film that I loved with her and Alan Rickman and this Bach's adagio sonata number three was in it.
Carol Burnett, Tim Curry & Bernadette Peters
I love musicals, I love going to see them and I would desperately want to be in them if I could sing and dance. So I'm going to on my desert island, I'm going to learn a tap routine with coconut shoes to this easy street from Annie.
this reminds me of a heightened romantic time in my life, and it would also be the song that if I could sing We Play a Game Me, My Friends, if you could sing any song at the Albert Hall, what would it be? And this would be it.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:48You're almost daring us to confuse you with the character of Miranda. What are the important differences?
I think she's my clown. So she's my on stage licence to be silly and enjoy life and admit where life is awkward. And the real me is an introvert.
Presenter asks
4:48What is it about [Eric Morecambe] that just for you defines brilliant comedy?
I don't have a very good memory and but I do specifically remember him turning to camera and just smiling at me when I was watching him on the television and then just thinking, wow and he gave me the licence to be silly and think grown ups can do that.
Presenter asks
5:36When you got the viewing figures in for that Miranda [Christmas special], did you allow yourself a moment of self-congratulation?
Not then, because it was episode one of the series, so I thought that it might drop to five million next week. So I couldn't go then because you were just thinking, Yeah, but what next? Will they s stay watching it? Did they really like it? Was that just Christmas? I mean, classic performer anxiety. But I think more recently when I watched an episode back of series two that was being repeated, I finally did the sit back and go. Wow, I did it, and I had that little pat on my back moment.
The keepsakes
The book
The Complete Works of Margaret Luce
Margaret Luce
She was an inspiration. She's why I keep going in my career. And also I think you'd want that link to home and family.
The luxury
Tennis court with racquet and balls
Because I shall come back from my desert island a Wimbledon champion.
Presenter asks
17:32What do you remember about what was happening at the time in your family [when your father's ship was sunk in the Falklands]?
Well, my mother was extraordinary in that she knew that this ship had gone down, I think, in the middle of the night, and she kept it from us because I think she didn't want to tell us that until she found out whether he was dead or alive. So me and my sister went to school and people kept coming up to us and saying, Are you all right? Is everything all right? you know, I said, I'm fine, I've got a bit of a cold, but I'm fine. I must have seen the most selfish little child. So I was very sheltered from it. I remember getting back from school and there were lots of people outside the house which would have been pressed. We had to go via the the neighbours and climb over their garden fence to get in to the back of home. So I sort of remember that, but it didn't really have that much of an effect on me.
Presenter asks
19:51What happened then when you went to college and you started dating boys?
Yes, university was a bit of a shock because my school holidays were quite sort of innocent as well. I mean, my life experience really didn't start until much later than most people's. I just didn't have enough male friends when I was growing up. I I didn't know how to interact with them, and suddenly you had to laugh at their jokes and be sort of girlish. But I was like, But I don't want to laugh at their jokes. Can I not be as funny as them? And I found it all deeply confusing.
Presenter asks
23:21When do you think your breakthrough moment was?
Well, I think I was very lucky that although I first went to the Edinburgh Festival in'inin' four and it wasn't until 2005 that I gave up Office Temping, that every year I got some sort of affirmation to keep going. But I suppose I felt, gosh, I I am a jobbing actress now and I got the lead in a sitcom called Hyperdrive on Boobsy Two.
“I started writing comedy because it was more fun inside my head than the real world, but that's no longer true.”
“I always like to say, Kirsty, relax within a structure. Do you? Yes, even on holiday. There has to be a structure.”
“I often get called misogynistic in the show, which I find really upsetting, because it is a celebration of women and how we are all different and unique and unusual and quirky and vulnerable. All those things.”