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She is one of our most respected actors, | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
equally at home in serious drama or comedy. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
I said to Mick, if we'd have had another son, | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
I'd have loved him to be a homosexual. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
I honestly think there's nothing she can't do. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:17 | |
She has created some of the most memorable characters in British television. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:22 | |
We don't want to listen to classical music at the present moment. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
-Well, what do we want to listen to, then, Beverly? -Demis Roussos. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
She'll always give you something that's spot on. Spot on. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:34 | |
Throughout, she's conquered every role she's played | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
and she's never backed away from making bold choices. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:43 | |
'For the time, it was quite a big thing.' | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
I remember being quite nervous about it. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
Her faultless performances continue to command praise | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
from her every colleague. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
# Black smoke, crisp bags | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
# Detergent in the river | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
# Cigarette smoke It makes me choke | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
# Litter makes me shiver. # | 0:01:02 | 0:01:04 | |
Generous and a good laugh off-camera as well. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
You can't ask for more than that. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
Her credits read like a roll call of Britain's finest productions, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
but she has never made any grand career plan. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
I've never been one of those actors that have gone, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
"I've want to play this, if only I could play this role." | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
I've never done that. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:27 | |
Girls, girls, is he not a good father? | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
And never to tell us, what a good joke! Ah-ha-ha! | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
Oh, and now you shall all dance with Mr Bingley. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
But could her incompatible gift for comedy have overshadowed her qualities as a serious actor? | 0:01:36 | 0:01:42 | |
There are other faces of Alison Steadman, | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
and they are neglected, through ignorance and loss of memory. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:52 | |
These are The Many Faces Of Alison Steadman. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:58 | |
While I remember, will you sort your washing out, ASAP? | 0:02:09 | 0:02:12 | |
I've got a white wash ready but it's got to go on tonight, | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
-because your dad's run out of pants. You've had to go commando today, isn't that right, Mick? -What? | 0:02:15 | 0:02:20 | |
-You've got no drawers on. -Mum! -She's right, I'm flapping around like an elephant's trunk down here. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
-Dad! -Elephant's truck, I should be so lucky! | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
In 2007, the BBC launched a new sitcom - | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
a long distance love affair, it brought two families together | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
from the world of Barry, in Wales, and Billericay, in Essex. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:40 | |
In its simplest form, | 0:02:40 | 0:02:41 | |
a show like Gavin And Stacey is the most ordinary story in the world - | 0:02:41 | 0:02:45 | |
a boy meets girl and they fall in love, | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
and it's how their families and friends deal with that. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:52 | |
Like most successful actors, | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
Alison Steadman receives many scripts from hopeful writers. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
But after reading episode one of Gavin And Stacey, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
she was well up for the part. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:02 | |
I knew I was playing Pamela, this was the character they wanted me to do. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:06 | |
It just said, "Pamela is lying on the couch in her house in Billericay, | 0:03:06 | 0:03:11 | |
"with cucumbers on her eyes, and Gavin comes home from work." | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
Hi, Gav. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
-All right, Mum? -No, not really. I'm absolutely shattered. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
-I've been crying all afternoon. -How come? | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
That Pet Rescue, there was this badger and all its litter died, | 0:03:23 | 0:03:29 | |
and you could actually see the mother badger crying. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
I don't think badgers can cry, Mum. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
Nor did I, my little prince, but I know what I saw, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
and it's knocked me for six. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
I thought, "Yeah, I know this woman | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
"and I know the writers know this woman." | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
This isn't just a lady from Essex. There's a character there. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:48 | |
The one thing I remember her saying when she called me was that | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
she could hear the character's voice, and that's one of the most important things | 0:03:52 | 0:03:57 | |
on whether she decides to do a job. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
Can she hear it? Can she hear who they are? | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
When we was in school, Smithy thought Spain was in China, | 0:04:02 | 0:04:06 | |
and he's been there twice. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
-That's stupid. -You're lush, you are. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:11 | |
Come here. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:12 | |
KNOCK ON DOOR | 0:04:15 | 0:04:16 | |
Just to say, your dad's out for the count | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
and I'll put my ear plugs in, so let yourselves go. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
Don't worry about a thing. Night. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
I genuinely believe she is one of the best actresses we've ever had. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
Nothing is out of her limits. If someone called me and said, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
"She's going to play a serial killer," I'd think, "She'll be brilliant." | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
If someone called me and said, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:37 | |
"She's going to play a children's entertainer," I'd think, "She'll be brilliant." | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
This fine acting, with an exquisite feel for comedy and character, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
has been honed and refined over a near faultless 40-year career. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
Long before her acting career began, a young Alison Steadman was captivated | 0:04:53 | 0:04:58 | |
by what she and her family were watching on the box in the corner. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
When we were seven we got television, | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
which, of course, then opened up a whole world of comediennes. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:12 | |
Girls, take my advice. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
# If you find you're getting stout | 0:05:14 | 0:05:19 | |
# You must cut rice pudding out. # | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:05:24 | 0:05:25 | |
Comediennes like Hilda Baker, Joan Turner, Beryl Reid. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
# The whole world smiles with you | 0:05:29 | 0:05:31 | |
# When you're... | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
# When you're... | 0:05:33 | 0:05:34 | |
# The whole world | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
# With you... # | 0:05:36 | 0:05:37 | |
All these wonderful women that were funny, that we all used to find funny, | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
and I thought, "That's good, I'd like to do that." | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
Hilda Baker, in particular, was my heroine. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
Where've you been, eh? I told you to be soon, didn't I? | 0:05:49 | 0:05:55 | |
Be soon, I said! Be soon! | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
I can see her now, you know, in her big coat with this big fur collar, and Cynthia would come on. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:05 | |
"Be soon, I said, didn't I?" and all this. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
I just used to love her. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
And my mum would often say, "There's nothing on this telly, turn it off. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
"Come on, Alison, do Hilda Baker." | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
This gift for mimicry, and an unerring ability to make her family laugh, | 0:06:16 | 0:06:21 | |
led Alison to grab every opportunity to perform with particular gusto. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
When I was 12, when we read Romeo And Juliet, I acted out... | 0:06:26 | 0:06:31 | |
I was playing Romeo and we had the books | 0:06:31 | 0:06:33 | |
and we were acting it out in front of the class. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
"And with a kiss I die," and I threw myself on the floor, and all the class fell about. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:41 | |
"Ah-ha-ha!" | 0:06:41 | 0:06:42 | |
The teacher said, "No, no, Alison's playing the part." | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
I thought, "Why would you not do that?" It says, "He dies." So, I died. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:52 | |
It was while attending drama classes after school that | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
one of Alison's teachers took her to meet some professional actors. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:59 | |
It was there that Alison made up her mind to follow a life on the stage. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:04 | |
One of the actors had been to East 15 Acting School, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:09 | |
told me all about it, and it sounded just my place. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
East 15 Drama School was a bohemian enclave in east London, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
a drama school inspired by the pioneering work of Joan Littlewood, a giant of British theatre. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:26 | |
It attracted students from across the full class divide. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
If I remember, there was a girl in my year who was a debutante | 0:07:31 | 0:07:35 | |
and she was called... I forget, Caroline or something. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
She talked terribly well. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:39 | |
And suddenly, there was this world opened up. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
It wasn't just my little suburbs of Liverpool, it was the world. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:48 | |
We were at East 15 Acting School together, back in the late '60s. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
Its style of training was quite different to RADA - | 0:07:54 | 0:07:59 | |
we did a lot of improvisation in our training. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:02 | |
I think it was quite a left-wing based company, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
and in those days, you didn't get a lot of working class actors. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
It was all sort of RADA, and rather middle-class. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
But there, they started getting ordinary people. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:18 | |
I remember my dear parents coming to my final show. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:24 | |
Obviously, they hadn't been to the school and hadn't been to London. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
My mum was really dressed up in a beautiful suit and she had a hat on. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
The principal of the school, Margaret Berry, was quite, sort of, wild, | 0:08:31 | 0:08:36 | |
she had long hair and an Afghan coat on, and she came kind of... | 0:08:36 | 0:08:41 | |
My mum was sort of, "Is that the principal of the school?" | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
My mum was really dressed up, you know? | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
When Alison was in her second year, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
she encountered a young director at East 15 called Mike Leigh, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:56 | |
whose very individual approach to acting would have a big effect on Alison. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
We used to do a lot of improvisation as an exercise, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
but we certainly didn't perform it as a finished piece of work, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:09 | |
which is what he did with the year above me, and I love that. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:14 | |
I got chatting to him there, and I realised that here was someone who talked the same language. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:21 | |
On leaving East 15, Alison quickly found work in rep theatre. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
After rewarding spells in Lincoln and Bolton, she got an opportunity | 0:09:31 | 0:09:36 | |
to audition for one of the most exciting theatres in Britain. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
Central to launching the careers of some of our finest actors, | 0:09:40 | 0:09:43 | |
the Everyman Theatre would play a significant role in Alison's education. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
The Liverpool Everyman had a terrific reputation for being a really progressive theatre. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:56 | |
They did new work, work that was associated with the city. | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
And so, I auditioned for Alan Dossor. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
First thing that Alan did, our first morning, was put us on a coach, | 0:10:04 | 0:10:09 | |
took us to the Ford factory and gave us a tour of the factory, with all the workers. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:15 | |
All the workers going, "All right, from the theatre, hey? Oh, great." | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
He then said, "These are the people, this is Liverpool, this is one of the main industries. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:25 | |
"We are here, performing for this city, for these people, and we're doing plays for them, about them." | 0:10:25 | 0:10:31 | |
And suddenly, it was a different way of thinking. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
It was an attempt to contact the same audiences | 0:10:37 | 0:10:43 | |
as were going to music concerts, to films. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:49 | |
They didn't want to see old music or old concerts, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
they wanted to see what was new. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:57 | |
Alison was acting alongside Jonathan Pryce in the play, The Foursome, directed by Alan Dossor. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:03 | |
In the audience was a face from the past, Mike Leigh, | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
and he happened to be casting for his next film. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:10 | |
Mike came over and saw that, and from that, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
gave myself and Polly Hemingway a job on telly. We were, "Yes!" | 0:11:14 | 0:11:21 | |
-Do you like the kitchen, June? -Oh, yes, it's lovely. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
-Do you like this estate? -Yes, it seems very nice. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
I like it because every house is that bit individual, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:29 | |
do you know what I mean? | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
They're all a little bit different. Makes it more select. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:35 | |
See that wall, not all the houses have got those, | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
some are just the through room, but I like the two rooms myself, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
and if anyone should break in the back, they can't get upstairs. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:44 | |
-Edward, don't chew your fingers, please. -All right! | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
It was exciting to be on telly, and particularly to work with Mike, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:53 | |
improvising and looking at the background of the character, | 0:11:53 | 0:11:58 | |
you know, and their environment, and what has made the person the person that they are. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:04 | |
Working with Mike, I think it was detailed | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
so that by the time you came in front of camera, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
you virtually knew the breakfast cereal that your character liked. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:14 | |
With almost no break in her work since leaving drama school, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:18 | |
Alison Steadman was now about to enter a uniquely creative period in her career. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:23 | |
After Hard Labour, her subsequent work would showcase her formidable range, | 0:12:23 | 0:12:29 | |
that included a very notable comic touch. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
We know our readers are interested in other people's past times. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
-I'm sure they'd like to learn something about your unusual hobby. -It's Mrs...? | 0:12:35 | 0:12:39 | |
-Err, Miss. -Both Misses. -Never married. -Shy of men. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
Always have been. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
Both spinster ladies. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
I see. When you first started... | 0:12:47 | 0:12:48 | |
Never married, because men get full of desires. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
Desires and lust. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
-Full of lust, men are. -Yes. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:55 | |
Now if we could... | 0:12:55 | 0:12:57 | |
-Lust. -Desires. | 0:12:57 | 0:12:58 | |
To get your first job as an actor is the best feeling ever, and... | 0:12:58 | 0:13:06 | |
from then on, you're just grateful every time another job comes up, you know? | 0:13:06 | 0:13:11 | |
They've got hot breath, and all, and they pant with it. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
Grips you hard and fast, and you can't fight free. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
-And they'd be panting away in a frenzy. -A frenzy! | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
Huge thighs, men have got. Great, huge thighs. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
Ooh-hoo-hoo! Thighs, men have got! | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
Could you please show us some of your musical boxes? | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
What flaming musical boxes? | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
They whip themselves into a frenzy of passion! | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
Ladies, please... | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
The panting and the hot breath. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:35 | |
It's too much for us spinster ladies. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
-Shy of men. -Always have been. -Get his shirt off! | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:13:43 | 0:13:45 | |
Beyond comedy, Alison was also capable of excelling in serious drama. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:53 | |
Her next two roles would demonstrate that she was not afraid to tackle difficult subjects. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:58 | |
In 1974, she appeared in a play that called for British TV's first lesbian kiss. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:03 | |
I feel all lovely and safe and warm. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
Good. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:09 | |
Turn the light out in a minute. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
I'm shattered, all of a sudden. God, I hate duty, it's so boring. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:19 | |
I hate being bored. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
For the time, it was quite a big thing, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
and I remember being quite nervous about it. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
But the director we had, Peter Gill, handled it very well and didn't make a big thing of it. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:36 | |
And he said to us, I remember, on our very first day, | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
"Don't think of this as a play about two lesbian women, | 0:14:39 | 0:14:45 | |
"think of it as a love story between two people, that's what it is. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
"It's a love story that's gone wrong." | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
Will you miss me? | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
Yeah. | 0:14:58 | 0:14:59 | |
Alison's next role confronted another subject | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
that was uncomfortable territory for television. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
It also demonstrated her continuing development as an actor | 0:15:12 | 0:15:16 | |
of significant power and truth. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
Through The Night was a television play by Trevor Griffiths, | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
about a woman who has a mastectomy. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
It was a very serious and profound dramatic piece, | 0:15:27 | 0:15:31 | |
and Alison played the central character. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:35 | |
At that time, Alison must have been about 26, 27. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:40 | |
What you crying for, love? | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
They've taken it off, Joe. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
SHE SOBS | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
I thought you were just in for tests, love. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:00 | |
I mean, you weren't even ill! | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
It was a hugely important piece of television. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:13 | |
It caused quite a controversy, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
and Alison's profound performance was taken very seriously, | 0:16:15 | 0:16:20 | |
and I think... | 0:16:20 | 0:16:21 | |
what I feel about it is that it's a side of Alison Steadman, | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
one of Alison Steadman's faces that has kind of, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
sadly, in a way, got lost. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
Nobody says anything. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
They treat you as if you're already dead. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
Specialist, he never even looked at me, let alone spoke. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:42 | |
I know it was serious. I'm not a child. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
You don't cut a thing like that off for nothing. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
It sounds strange now, but breast cancer was then something | 0:16:52 | 0:16:57 | |
that women didn't want to admit to, or didn't want to... | 0:16:57 | 0:17:01 | |
if they found a lump in their breast, | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
they would try and ignore it and hope it would go away. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
Dame Flora Robson wrote to her | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
and congratulated her on her performance. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
You know, that's the level of it. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
Is this the Alison Steadman everybody knows? | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
Sadly not. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
By 1976, Alison and Mike Leigh were together | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
in a marriage that would last 28 years. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:29 | |
On screen, their next two collaborations | 0:17:29 | 0:17:31 | |
would result in two high points in British television. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
Still a young actor at 30, Alison Steadman's place | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
among the finest of character actors would soon be assured. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:44 | |
With a number of significant productions already to her name, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
Alison was about to realise the full breadth of her substantial range. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
# "I wonder where we'll go," she said | 0:17:54 | 0:17:56 | |
# I wonder where we'll go | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
# "I'll look around the world," he said | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
# "I'll search both high and low" | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
# The prettiest is Dorset | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
# It has so many charms | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
# We'll walk across the hills and dales | 0:18:07 | 0:18:09 | |
# And look at all the farms. # | 0:18:09 | 0:18:11 | |
-Can't sing that, Keith. -Why not? | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
It doesn't sound right. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
How better to sing... | 0:18:16 | 0:18:17 | |
# We'll walk across the hills and dales | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
# Linking each other's arms. # | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
That doesn't scan. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
Nuts In May was originally a stage play, upstairs at the Royal Court. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
It was called Wholesome Glory, | 0:18:28 | 0:18:29 | |
and there were three characters in it - | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
Keith and Candice Marie, and his brother, | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
played by the late, great Geoff Hutchings. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:36 | |
And that's when Keith and Candice Marie | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
first saw the light of day, really. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
-Important thing, of course, is to maintain a dietary balance. -Mmm. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
We're having our protein in the beans, aren't we? | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
That's right. Body-building proteins. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
We had cheese at lunchtime, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:51 | |
-and we're having haricot beans for our evening meal. -Mmm. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:55 | |
It was very successful. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:56 | |
People kind of laughed and hid behind their hands watching it, | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
you know, because they were by turns amused and appalled. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:04 | |
They used to squirm. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:05 | |
-Are we having salad for lunch? -That's right. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
-What's the treat? -Guess. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:11 | |
-Raw mushrooms. -That's right. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
Mmm, my favourite. And onion and nut roast for supper? | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
Boiled jacket potatoes. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
BOTH: Vitamin C in their skins. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:20 | |
Yoghurt to follow and cocoa at bedtime. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
I think I was much more relaxed on that film. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:30 | |
We had a long, long preparation period, and we were down in Dorset. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:35 | |
I was more experienced by then | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
and perhaps more sure of that character. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
Perhaps I liked the character more, it was more fun. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:45 | |
Keith! | 0:19:45 | 0:19:47 | |
-Yes! -Isn't it lovely? | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
-Can you imagine what it must have been like hundreds of years ago? -Yes! | 0:19:50 | 0:19:54 | |
All the sort of kings and queens walking about in all their fineries. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
Yes. | 0:19:58 | 0:19:59 | |
And eating great bowls of fruit and luscious grapes. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
And drinking wine out of golden goblets. Must have been lovely. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
You don't have a script when you start, you know, | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
so you trust Mike to a great extent in terms of the process, | 0:20:10 | 0:20:16 | |
and it's by turns slightly scary - | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
and it's not for everybody - | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
it's slightly scary, but also wonderfully creative, | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
because you get to do more as an actor, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
in a way, than you do normally. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:29 | |
MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
We'll have to tell him, Keith. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
Dear Candice Marie, you know, | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
she's so sweet and sort of floaty and everything, | 0:20:38 | 0:20:40 | |
but in their relationship, | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
she really kind of tweaks him. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
ANNOUNCER ON RADIO | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
It's not fair, is it? | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
"Keith, did you see that? Did you see what he did?" | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
I don't know how you can sit there and read books, Keith, | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
with all this row going on. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
MUSIC CONTINUES ON RADIO | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
Well, if you don't tell him, Keith, I'm going to have to go over myself. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
Keith! | 0:21:09 | 0:21:10 | |
'For him, it's a bit like Lady Macbeth, really,' | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
because he's put in a position where he's got nowhere to turn. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
He's got to do that confrontation, | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
because, you know, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
there's nothing else he can do. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
-Put the stick down. -Leave it. -You want a fight, I'll... | 0:21:24 | 0:21:26 | |
-Look, be told! -You touch me, I'll bleeding kill you. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:29 | |
Now, look, I don't want to fight you, | 0:21:29 | 0:21:30 | |
I just want to tell you that you shouldn't... | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
-Keith! -Look, keep away from me! | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
I just want you to stop making the fire and breaking those branches. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
Come on, Finger, leave it alone. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
-Come on, hit me! Come on! -No. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:40 | |
No, I'm not going to. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
Get away from me! I'll knock your head off! | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
-Get back, I'm warning you! -You touch me, I'll kill you! | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
I'll knock your head off! I'll knock your head off! | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
When you leave those characters behind, | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
it's hard to imagine that they're over. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
I kind of think they're still living somewhere, | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
Keith and Candice Marie are still pottering around somewhere, | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
you know, in their nutty kind of way. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
# Black smoke, crisp bags | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
# Detergent in the river | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
# Cigarette smoke, it makes me choke | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
# Litter makes me shiver... # | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
'We got on very well.' | 0:22:17 | 0:22:18 | |
'She's a wonderfully warm and joyful person, really,' | 0:22:18 | 0:22:24 | |
and I think audiences respond to that. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:26 | |
I think they can sense that. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
Nuts In May achieved classic status | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
for featuring the comic eco-frenzy of Keith and Candice Marie. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
But it's the beautifully drawn characters | 0:22:36 | 0:22:38 | |
and faultless performances that have seen it endure. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
# Oh, love to love you, baby... # | 0:22:42 | 0:22:46 | |
Alison's next appearance on television | 0:22:46 | 0:22:48 | |
would see her create a monster. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:50 | |
# Oh, love to love you, baby... # | 0:22:50 | 0:22:55 | |
The role of Beverly in Abigail's Party | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
proved that Alison was the complete character actor. | 0:22:57 | 0:23:01 | |
# When you're laying so close to me | 0:23:01 | 0:23:03 | |
# There's no place I'd rather you be than with me... # | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
This woman was always trying | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
to break out of the world that she was in, | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
move somewhere else, move further forward, | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
and for her, moving further forward would be to be a catwalk model, | 0:23:17 | 0:23:21 | |
'so even when she was on her own,' | 0:23:21 | 0:23:24 | |
'in order to mix herself a drink she puts some music on,' | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
'and kind of enjoys that role-play, so that when her guests arrived,' | 0:23:27 | 0:23:31 | |
'all the thing of, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:33 | |
'"Would you like a little drink, "a little top-up?" and all that' | 0:23:33 | 0:23:35 | |
'was all kind of...her presentation of herself, you know.' | 0:23:35 | 0:23:39 | |
# Oh, love to love you, baby... # | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
The play was centred around an awkward suburban soiree | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
with an underlying tension brought about | 0:23:46 | 0:23:48 | |
by the overbearing Beverly. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
Who'd like some olives? | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
-Not for me. Ange? -No, thanks. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:56 | |
No? Tony, do you like olives? | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
-No, I don't. -No, they're horrible, aren't they? -Yes. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
Told you nobody'd like olives, Laurence. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
No, not nobody, no, Beverly. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
I like olives, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
and that's 25% of the assembled company. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
The choice of people who were going to be at his little soiree | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
wasn't his choice. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:16 | |
That was all down to Beverly. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
So if they were mismatched, it was nothing to do with Laurence. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
It was all Beverly's fault. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
'He would have invited the lady next door, the more middle class lady.' | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
-Sue, do you like olives? -Yes. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:32 | |
Fine! I'll get you some. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
Thank you. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
-You've got a friend for life there, Sue. -Oh? | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
-None of us like olives, you see. -Oh, I see. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
No, I can't stand them. It's those stuffed olives, Sue. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:45 | |
You know the little red bit that sticks out? | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
Well, it reminds me of a little... | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
Well, I'm not going to say what it reminds me of! But it puts me off. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:53 | |
I can't eat them. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
She is a completely truthful actor. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
She has the ability to live in the moment, | 0:24:57 | 0:25:02 | |
and she acts as only an intelligent actor can, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:07 | |
in a way that really gets to grips | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
with the meaning of the moment as well as its resident truth. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:14 | |
Darling? | 0:25:14 | 0:25:16 | |
Why don't you dance with Sue? | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
I really don't think Sue wants to dance, | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
-thanks very much, -darling. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:23 | |
Then why don't you ask her, Laurence? | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
-Sue, would you like to dance? -No, thank you. -There you are. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
Sue doesn't want to dance. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:36 | |
Of course she wants to dance! | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
Now, go on, Sue, have a little dance with Laurence. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
Go on, enjoy yourself, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:42 | |
have a little dance, go on. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
Would you like to, Sue? | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
All right. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
'Her performance in that...' | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
there was such fun. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
It's such comedy, | 0:25:53 | 0:25:56 | |
such amazing skill, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
and such bravery in that. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:05 | |
Because the thing about being an actor, | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
when you're playing a part who's unpopular or irritating, | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
'and be so vile and sensitive | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
'and so vulnerable and despicably irritating in the same vein, | 0:26:16 | 0:26:22 | |
'it's quite an achievement.' | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
With 16 million people watching, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
Abigail's Party was an enormous success. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
Alison became synonymous with her character, | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
and this became her defining role. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
Want to sit down? | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
Yeah? | 0:26:41 | 0:26:42 | |
Along with the accolades, | 0:26:42 | 0:26:43 | |
there were plenty of offers to cash in on the success. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
'I did get...a lot of parts came in,' | 0:26:47 | 0:26:51 | |
and people wanted me to do adverts as Beverly, | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
advertise this, advertise that, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
and I did resist all that, | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
because I didn't want to cheapen that role, | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
I didn't want to then exploit it in a wrong way, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
and I'm not criticising anyone else | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
for exploiting roles that they've played. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
They can do what they want, it's entirely up to them. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:16 | |
But for me, it was so special, | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
I wanted to keep it there. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
'Beverly did her a huge number of favours.' | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
I'm so proud of Beverly, and working with her on it, | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
on Abigail's Party all those years ago, was a fantastic experience. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
And we knew we were on to something. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
I mean, no-one could have anticipated that Abigail's Party | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
would become the kind of cult classic it apparently is, | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
but nevertheless, we knew we were striking some kind of gold. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:45 | |
As the '70s drew to a close, | 0:27:46 | 0:27:48 | |
Alison Steadman had built up an enviable body of work, | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
with enough critical praise | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
to satisfy even the most ambitious of actors. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
But Alison was only beginning. | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
The next decade would see her reputation | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
continue to grow on stage and screen. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
At the dawn of a new broadcasting era, | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
Alison appeared in one of Channel 4's first films. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
Duckworth! | 0:28:13 | 0:28:14 | |
What the hell are you doing? | 0:28:14 | 0:28:17 | |
Nothing, Miss. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
Out! All of you. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
Please, Miss, I was just getting my homework. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
All of you! | 0:28:24 | 0:28:25 | |
Out! Go! | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
Beasts of the field! | 0:28:27 | 0:28:28 | |
Out! | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
-I just... -Not you, beast of the field. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
And she excelled on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company | 0:28:34 | 0:28:38 | |
in a prestigious staging of Moliere's Tartuffe. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
What are you doing? | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
I'm feeling your dress. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
Oh. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:47 | |
Isn't it silky? | 0:28:47 | 0:28:49 | |
Oh, please don't. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:52 | |
I am very ticklish. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:53 | |
Good workmanship. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
It's wonderful, the things they do these days. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:59 | |
My word! | 0:28:59 | 0:29:01 | |
I've never seen anything like that. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:03 | |
I'm sure! | 0:29:03 | 0:29:04 | |
But can we get back to the point? | 0:29:04 | 0:29:06 | |
'It was a terrific piece.' | 0:29:08 | 0:29:09 | |
Absolutely wonderful. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:11 | |
To be on the Barbican stage, it was scary, | 0:29:11 | 0:29:14 | |
but oh, God, it was a great experience. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
Wonderful. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:18 | |
Great actors get the great parts, | 0:29:22 | 0:29:24 | |
and 1985 would mark yet another career high. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
Dennis Potter's distinctive and often surreal dramas | 0:29:30 | 0:29:34 | |
were in marked contrast to the gritty realism of Mike Leigh, | 0:29:34 | 0:29:38 | |
but Alison could excel in both, | 0:29:38 | 0:29:39 | |
and again played a significant part | 0:29:39 | 0:29:42 | |
in creating another milestone in British TV drama. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:45 | |
'I was lucky enough to be in Singing Detective,' | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
which I think is an absolutely stunning piece of work. | 0:29:50 | 0:29:54 | |
I'm not talking about my performance, | 0:29:54 | 0:29:56 | |
but as a whole, | 0:29:56 | 0:29:58 | |
I think it's a real kind of radical... | 0:29:58 | 0:30:03 | |
'step into the unknown.' | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
# ..That all the other fellows cannot steal... # | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
The Singing Detective garnered huge critical acclaim | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
and won countless awards. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
It was Dennis Potter's masterpiece and boasted a stellar cast, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:22 | |
who delivered extraordinary performances. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
It featured many of Dennis Potter's favourite motifs, | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
as he weaved a complex web of fantasy, reality and flashbacks. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:34 | |
I can remember reading it, first of all, and thinking, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
"I don't understand a word of this!" | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
I was really confused, cos I was thinking it was this, or it was that. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:47 | |
It wasn't till we got to the read-through | 0:30:47 | 0:30:49 | |
and we heard the whole thing and all the actors playing | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
the different characters that it began to bed itself in, and then, | 0:30:52 | 0:30:56 | |
of course, when you shoot it, | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
you are completely just locked into your own thing. | 0:30:58 | 0:31:01 | |
As well as the difficulty of playing two characters, | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
Alison Steadman would also find herself in an unfamiliar | 0:31:04 | 0:31:07 | |
and uncomfortable position | 0:31:07 | 0:31:09 | |
as the object of attack for one controversial scene in the series. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:14 | |
My character, Sun, who was portrayed, I think, as 11. 10 or 11. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:21 | |
He was watching his mother having sex with this stranger, in the tree. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:26 | |
That was the main thing of it. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
Of course, the boy wasn't there on the day of filming | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
and anyway I think he was 14 anyway, though he looked quite young. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:36 | |
He wasn't there, of course, but it looked as though he was because | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
you see the shot of him in the tree | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
and then he looks down and there's the shot of his mum. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
And a lot of people got upset about that - particularly | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
Norman Tebbit, Mary Whitehouse and various people, and that's their | 0:31:47 | 0:31:51 | |
prerogative but it did overshadow the piece a little bit, for a time. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:56 | |
We've received over 200 letters about The Singing Detective, | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
mostly like this from Valerie Siggins of Cleckheaton. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
Mrs EM Johnstone of Darlington says: | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
But Paul Thompson of Shrovesbury asks: | 0:32:12 | 0:32:14 | |
About a year later, I was at some do and this journalist said, | 0:32:19 | 0:32:24 | |
"Well, Singing Detective was very popular, wasn't it, Miss Steadman?" | 0:32:24 | 0:32:29 | |
I said, "Oh, yes it was." I was just walking in. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:31 | |
He said, "I bet you thought, | 0:32:31 | 0:32:32 | |
'Cor, that's one in the eye for Mary Whitehouse, then'? " | 0:32:32 | 0:32:35 | |
I just said, "Yeah, whatever." Walked in. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
Next day in the paper, | 0:32:38 | 0:32:39 | |
"Alison Steadman says 'One In The Eye for Mary Whitehouse' ". | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
Of course it sounded like I had said that and I hadn't. So, you learn. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:47 | |
Building characters through improvisation had been a key | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
feature of Alison's work with Mike Lee. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
It was this talent that made Alison so desirable for directors | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
and she never disappointed. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
In 1990, she was uncanny in her accuracy | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
when asked to play a tough-as-teak Fleet Street hack. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:13 | |
So, where are you going out with this mystery man, then? | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
Just out, darling. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:21 | |
-I'm going out for a curry. -Are you? -Yeah, I'm going down Brick Lane | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
with a few of the lads. Have a bit of a laugh. You should come! | 0:33:26 | 0:33:29 | |
Curry down Brick Lane, darling, | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
with your farting friends isn't exactly a turn-on. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
It was all going to be improvised... | 0:33:34 | 0:33:38 | |
and so I said, "OK. Right." | 0:33:38 | 0:33:42 | |
There's nothing like being terrified to make you work really hard. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
So I sort of gritted my teeth and I said, "Right. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:50 | |
"I want all the research" you know. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:52 | |
"I want all the help I can get. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:54 | |
"I want contacts with all these newspapers, | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
"I want to visit the newspapers, | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
"talk to journalists" and I just sort of... | 0:33:58 | 0:34:00 | |
really went in at the deep end and had a whale of a time | 0:34:00 | 0:34:04 | |
chatting to journalists, erm, about their job. | 0:34:04 | 0:34:08 | |
Interviewing them, if you like, about their work. | 0:34:08 | 0:34:11 | |
Going to newspapers, being on the floor, watching them, | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
how their lives work, you know? | 0:34:14 | 0:34:15 | |
And building up a picture, and then gradually building up a character | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
of this columnist on this newspaper. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
There's something I've got to ask you, | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
cos everybody wants to know. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
I want to know because I've never been to one, | 0:34:26 | 0:34:28 | |
and that's what is an acid house party like and have you been to one? | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
Oh, I've been invited a couple of times, | 0:34:32 | 0:34:34 | |
but I've never taken up the offer to actually go. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
So you've actually been invited to an acid house party, | 0:34:37 | 0:34:40 | |
-but you've actually said, "No, I'm not going to go." -That's right. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:43 | |
-What do your mates say? Are they full of drugs and cocaine...? -Yeah. | 0:34:43 | 0:34:46 | |
-There's a lot of that. -Crack and all that? Yeah. Right. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
I think she certainly goes for it in the characters that she does. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
I mean, as a worker, as an artist, she's certainly bold | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
and courageous in the actual work she does. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
'She really can turn herself inside out | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
'and upside down and be different people.' | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
Alison's meticulous research paid off | 0:35:05 | 0:35:07 | |
and she could pass as a seasoned journalist. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:09 | |
But she was on edge when the director insisted | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
on blurring the line between fact and fiction. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:14 | |
Up until then, in my fictitious job, | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
I'd been interviewing actors who were in the film | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
and he said, I want you to interview | 0:35:22 | 0:35:25 | |
"someone for real." And he said, "we've got Edwina Currie for you." | 0:35:25 | 0:35:30 | |
And I thought, "Oh, no. Not a politician! Please! | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
How do you actually get on with Margaret Thatcher these days? | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
You has a good relationship in the past, but since | 0:35:36 | 0:35:40 | |
your resignation, do you actually have a good relationship with her? | 0:35:40 | 0:35:44 | |
Well, as I think I've explained in the book, | 0:35:44 | 0:35:46 | |
junior ministers don't see the Prime Minister all that much. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
That was quite scary because here was a real person | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
and she was a politician, so she's pretty canny. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:56 | |
Do you see yourself as a future prime minister? | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
Perhaps before I answer that, I should say I've got a car waiting. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:03 | |
We've got two or three minutes, so if you want... | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
Maybe I could have these last two or three minutes? | 0:36:05 | 0:36:08 | |
What I want to do is move this... | 0:36:08 | 0:36:09 | |
I've got two more questions to ask Mrs Currie | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
and then you can have all the time you want. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
You've been sitting here drinking tea and I haven't had any decent chances | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
I'm telling you I've got two more questions. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:20 | |
I want to get some decent shots now and I want to move this table. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
Just edge it out the way, like that. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:26 | |
When I've seen Alison do, er, straighter stuff, | 0:36:26 | 0:36:29 | |
it's just still been lovely. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
I think because you're either a good actor or you're not, I think, | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
and because you've either got the eye on the truth or not, | 0:36:35 | 0:36:38 | |
and putting the story above you and not the other way, you know, | 0:36:38 | 0:36:43 | |
and not your cheekbones above everything else, you know, | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
and I think she's really got that. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
Alison's impeccable work continued, whatever the role. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:53 | |
In 1992, when she worked again with Mike Leigh in the film Life Is Sweet, | 0:36:56 | 0:37:00 | |
she played Wendy, a character every bit as memorable | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
as Candice Marie and Beverly. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
A working mum struggling to make ends meet as well as nursing | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
family and friends through their individual crises, | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
Alison delivered another brilliantly drawn performance. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:18 | |
-What you get now? -A shirt. -This it? -Yeah. -Can I have a look? | 0:37:18 | 0:37:22 | |
If you want to. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:23 | |
-Oh, it's nice. -Yeah, it's all right, innit? -Yeah. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:27 | |
-Why do you always get a man's? -Cos I like 'em. -Suits me, thanks a lot. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:31 | |
-Funny man(!) -It's not for me? -No, it's not for you. -Oh. Shame. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:36 | |
Thought me luck had changed. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
You should get a nice blouse. Short sleeves. Show yourself off a bit. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
-Shut up. -Well. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
Don't listen to her. | 0:37:43 | 0:37:45 | |
That character of Wendy, like a lot of women, | 0:37:47 | 0:37:50 | |
she is the kind of rock of the family. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
She's had these twin little girls and she's brought them up, | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
little frilly dresses and, you know, little angels, | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
and ended up with one kind of quite butch daughter | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
who's a plumber and one who's, um, you know, | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
got real sort of serious health problems | 0:38:06 | 0:38:08 | |
and bulimic and has lost their way. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:12 | |
-Hey, Andy, guess what? -What? | 0:38:12 | 0:38:14 | |
Woke up this morning, I felt a little bit wotsit, you know, | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
and I thought to myself, "Ooh, blimey. "Don't tell me I'm in the family way!" | 0:38:17 | 0:38:21 | |
What's the 'family way' supposed to mean? | 0:38:21 | 0:38:24 | |
-You know what it means. -No, I know what pregnant means. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:27 | |
-You don't half talk some rubbish. -Well, silly little sayings. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
-Oh, shut up. -You shut up. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
I was lying there, Andy, and I thought to myself, | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
"Oh, I'd love another little a baby." | 0:38:35 | 0:38:38 | |
You're too old to have a baby. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:39 | |
-Of course not! -You may not be, I am. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
You wouldn't see me for dust, I tell you. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:43 | |
Oh, don't, Andy. Don't be rotten. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:46 | |
Typical. Typical man. | 0:38:46 | 0:38:48 | |
-Oh, shut up. What do you know about men? -Enough. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
Wendy and Andy were such giving people, | 0:38:51 | 0:38:54 | |
um, and, um... | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
they...they were triers in life. | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
They worked hard in life to get somewhere | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
and sometimes it wasn't successful, but they really gave it a go | 0:39:03 | 0:39:07 | |
and were incredibly optimistic people. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
Er, and I think that both Alison and Jim | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
played those characters superbly. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
You totally believed in their marriage and that they made each other laugh | 0:39:16 | 0:39:21 | |
and they were really a proper little unit. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:24 | |
Me and Jim got really close filming that | 0:39:24 | 0:39:28 | |
and even now when we see each other, | 0:39:28 | 0:39:30 | |
there's an unwritten thing that we've got that closeness between us. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:35 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:39:35 | 0:39:37 | |
Come on, you bastards! I'm open! | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
The scene in the restaurant, oh, I remember filming that. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:45 | |
That was just hilarious. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
I mean it was quite hard not to laugh sometimes, you know. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
That is enough. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:52 | |
No more. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:54 | |
Right? | 0:39:54 | 0:39:55 | |
Because you're being a naughty boy. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
-Marry me, Wendy. -What? | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
I want to marry you. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
Now, stop it! | 0:40:04 | 0:40:06 | |
Aubrey, stop it! Get off! | 0:40:06 | 0:40:10 | |
I love you! | 0:40:10 | 0:40:11 | |
(SHE LAUGHS) He's going, "Wendy, I love you." | 0:40:11 | 0:40:15 | |
"Yeah, I know you do. I know you do. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:16 | |
"Get up! Get up!" You know, and all this! | 0:40:16 | 0:40:18 | |
It was just hilarious! | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
-What are you doing? -I'm going to give him the suit. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
Leave your trousers on, Aubrey! | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
-Aubrey, leave your trousers on. -No! | 0:40:24 | 0:40:26 | |
Behave yourself. Leave your trousers on! | 0:40:26 | 0:40:28 | |
'I had to strip off and say, "Aw...I love you, I love you, I love you!"' | 0:40:28 | 0:40:32 | |
"Give my trousers to your husband. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:35 | |
"He's a poor man! He's a poor man!" | 0:40:35 | 0:40:38 | |
CRASHING | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
Life Is Sweet does, you know, | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
give Alison the opportunity to be light, comic, engaging. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:52 | |
But when it comes to it, as you were saying, | 0:40:52 | 0:40:57 | |
real, moving, grounded. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
Great acting. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
Blimey days, Nicola. Look at the state of you. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
You're sitting there like there's a grey cloud over you. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
It's like the sun's gone in. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
You've got no energy cos you don't eat your dinners. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:17 | |
-You've got no joy in your soul. -How do you know? | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
I know, because you've given up. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:22 | |
Because you're not happy. That's how I know. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:25 | |
'Mike will set up a situation' | 0:41:25 | 0:41:27 | |
in order to facilitate those sort of moments. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:32 | |
And he's not sitting there saying, | 0:41:32 | 0:41:33 | |
"Now I want you to do this touching scene, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
"where she breaks down and says, 'You don't love me,' | 0:41:35 | 0:41:38 | |
"and she does this," you know? | 0:41:38 | 0:41:40 | |
It's not like that at all. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:42 | |
He sets up improvisations in order to allow those moments to happen. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:48 | |
I don't know what I want to do yet! | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
Oh, don't you? Well, you had your chance, Nicola, when you were 17. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
When you were at the college doing your three A-levels. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
You were going great, and then suddenly, you stopped. | 0:41:57 | 0:41:59 | |
You stopped eating, you stopped everything. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:01 | |
You ended up in the hospital. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
Well, you put me there. I didn't want to go! | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
Oh, for God's sake, Nicola! You were at death's door! | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
You were trying to control my life! | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
-You were dying! -No, I wasn't! | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
-Yes, you were! -I'd know if I was dying! | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
Dr Harris told us you had two weeks to live! | 0:42:15 | 0:42:17 | |
You didn't know that, did you? | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
'It was a difficult scene. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:27 | |
'I mean, we'd improvised it' | 0:42:27 | 0:42:28 | |
in various different forms. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
And, you know, they were a hard improvisations because, | 0:42:31 | 0:42:37 | |
like I say, Nicola was in such a tunnel | 0:42:37 | 0:42:43 | |
that she really couldn't see out of that. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
And so to be told the truth | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
was really not something that was easy for her | 0:42:49 | 0:42:53 | |
as a character, as a person, to take on. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
-Come and have a little cup of tea. -No. I don't want one. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
Come on, do it for your dad. He's been asking for you. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
-Has he? -Yeah. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
Sitting there with his tongue hanging out. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
You know what he's like. He wants a bit of tea and sympathy. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:13 | |
I just want to talk to you. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:15 | |
Do you? | 0:43:17 | 0:43:18 | |
Along with the plaudits, Alison won awards for Life Is Sweet. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:26 | |
Although one of Britain's most established performers, | 0:43:27 | 0:43:31 | |
she was aware that her career was approaching a significant, | 0:43:31 | 0:43:34 | |
and often unwelcome, benchmark. | 0:43:34 | 0:43:37 | |
'When you get in your 40s, if you're a woman,' | 0:43:37 | 0:43:39 | |
it's quite hard to get through that. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
Most jobs seem to be for 20 to 30 year-olds on telly, you know. | 0:43:42 | 0:43:47 | |
Once you get to 40, will you get through it? | 0:43:47 | 0:43:49 | |
It's a difficult profession, and you can never be sure. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:53 | |
You can never sit back and say, "Oh, yes, I'm established now." | 0:43:53 | 0:43:58 | |
To a degree, you are. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
But, you know, you've always got to sort of think, " Hmmm..." | 0:44:00 | 0:44:04 | |
But Alison would prevail, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:07 | |
and there would be no scarcity of parts for her to play. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:12 | |
If anything, her next role took her further into the national bosom, | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
when she was cast as Mrs Bennett | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
in the unforgettable 1995 adaptation | 0:44:18 | 0:44:21 | |
of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
Even at the rehearsal stage, | 0:44:24 | 0:44:27 | |
Alison approached her role with her familiar gusto. | 0:44:27 | 0:44:29 | |
My dear! Mr Bennett! | 0:44:32 | 0:44:34 | |
Wonderful news! | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
-Netherfield Park is let at last! -Is it? | 0:44:36 | 0:44:39 | |
Yes, it is! For I have just had it from Mrs Long! | 0:44:39 | 0:44:43 | |
I do remember Alison's first reading, | 0:44:43 | 0:44:45 | |
because she absolutely pounced on the part. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
And it was there from the word go. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:50 | |
His name is Bingley, and he will be in possession by Nickelmas. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:55 | |
And he has 5,000 a year! | 0:44:55 | 0:44:59 | |
What a fine thing for our girls! | 0:44:59 | 0:45:01 | |
How so? How can it affect them? | 0:45:01 | 0:45:03 | |
Oh, Mr Bennett! How can you be so tiresome? | 0:45:03 | 0:45:06 | |
You must know that I'm thinking of his marrying one of them? | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
I just thought, this woman is...she is over the top. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:12 | |
This is what Jane Austen has written. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
A woman who...and we know people in life like that. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:18 | |
Who are a pain, you know? | 0:45:18 | 0:45:20 | |
They're loud, they're over the top, they talk too much. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:24 | |
The kind of people who when they walk in you go, | 0:45:24 | 0:45:26 | |
"Oh, God. She's here." | 0:45:26 | 0:45:27 | |
I mean, there are people like that in life. | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
We are never to know Mr Bingley, and it pains me to hear of him. | 0:45:30 | 0:45:33 | |
But, Mama! > | 0:45:33 | 0:45:34 | |
I am sick of Mr Bingley! | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
I'm sorry to hear that. | 0:45:36 | 0:45:38 | |
If I'd known as much this morning, I should never have called on him. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:42 | |
You have called on him?! | 0:45:42 | 0:45:46 | |
I'm afraid we cannot escape the acquaintance now. | 0:45:46 | 0:45:48 | |
Oh! Ha-ha-ha! | 0:45:48 | 0:45:50 | |
My dear Mr Bennett! | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
How good you are to us! | 0:45:53 | 0:45:56 | |
'The woman is desperate.' | 0:45:56 | 0:45:58 | |
She is desperate, because she's got all these daughters. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
And if her husband dies, they're all on the street. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:05 | |
And there's no two ways about it. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:07 | |
Girls! girls! Is he not a good father? | 0:46:07 | 0:46:09 | |
And never to tell us? What a good joke! | 0:46:09 | 0:46:12 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:46:12 | 0:46:13 | |
Oh, and now you shall all dance with Mr Bingley! | 0:46:13 | 0:46:17 | |
'She obviously realised that,' | 0:46:17 | 0:46:19 | |
that energy was required. | 0:46:19 | 0:46:20 | |
And that intent that she wanted | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
to get the best for her daughters, you know. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:26 | |
But she's a great comedian. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:28 | |
And although she played it, you know, | 0:46:28 | 0:46:30 | |
absolutely straight down the middle, she's terribly funny in it. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:33 | |
She knows how to get the laughs. | 0:46:33 | 0:46:35 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
You must tell him what a dreadful state I'm in! | 0:46:37 | 0:46:40 | |
How I have such tremblings and flutterings all over me! | 0:46:40 | 0:46:45 | |
Such spasms in my side and pains in my head | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
and beatings at my heart, | 0:46:48 | 0:46:50 | |
that I get no rest neither night or day. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:53 | |
Sister, calm yourself! | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
And tell Lydia not to give any directions about wedding clothes | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
till she has seen me. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:00 | |
For she does not know which are the best warehouses! | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
SHE WAILS | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
I know she found the dialogue difficult to begin with. | 0:47:05 | 0:47:09 | |
We all did. | 0:47:09 | 0:47:11 | |
But, you know, she's a brilliant performer. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:16 | |
She knows how to conquer and get on top of it. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:20 | |
She did! | 0:47:20 | 0:47:22 | |
Pride And Prejudice was immediately heralded as a British TV classic. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:29 | |
Once again, Alison was a central player | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
in a multi-award-winning production. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:34 | |
She was in demand. | 0:47:34 | 0:47:38 | |
And when the project felt right, | 0:47:38 | 0:47:40 | |
she got to work again. | 0:47:40 | 0:47:41 | |
And the results were never less than impressive. | 0:47:41 | 0:47:45 | |
In 2000, she brought presence to a character in an ensemble piece | 0:47:45 | 0:47:48 | |
dealing with the emotional turmoil of losing weight. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:54 | |
Kelly! | 0:47:55 | 0:47:57 | |
What? Oh, it's only a sandwich! | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
It's a bloody great chip buttie! | 0:48:00 | 0:48:02 | |
-Spit it out! -I am not spitting it out! | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
Now! | 0:48:05 | 0:48:06 | |
That character of Betty was...erm...was interesting. | 0:48:06 | 0:48:11 | |
You know, this woman, she'd lost five stone and, you know, | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
she was battling with her weight | 0:48:14 | 0:48:17 | |
and trying to cope with her daughter who was overweight. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:21 | |
It was a serious subject to be tackled. | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
I don't know why everybody's obsessed with being thin! | 0:48:24 | 0:48:27 | |
You married me, Douglas, because you knew no one else would want me! | 0:48:27 | 0:48:31 | |
Is that what you really think? | 0:48:31 | 0:48:33 | |
Yes, I do. I've seen the way you look at other women. Thin women. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:37 | |
I watched the end of Betty's story | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
in episode one of Fat Friends, | 0:48:40 | 0:48:42 | |
when her and Donald having the big showdown, | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
and I was...there were tears falling off the end of my chin. | 0:48:45 | 0:48:48 | |
'And I wrote it!' | 0:48:48 | 0:48:50 | |
I don't believe you. | 0:48:50 | 0:48:52 | |
All this dieting's thinned your brain! | 0:48:52 | 0:48:54 | |
Yes, I might occasionally look at other women. | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
Show me a man who doesn't! | 0:48:57 | 0:48:59 | |
But I've no bloody idea whether they're thin or fat. | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
'So if she can make me forget that I've written those lines,' | 0:49:02 | 0:49:07 | |
and I'm the writer, and make ME sob, | 0:49:07 | 0:49:10 | |
what was she doing to other people out there? | 0:49:10 | 0:49:12 | |
Fat Friends won awards and ran for four series. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
But it also sparked the creation of a smash sitcom | 0:49:19 | 0:49:21 | |
when two of the younger cast members decided to start writing together. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:30 | |
I think James was only 19 when he started. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:32 | |
He was always very funny. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:36 | |
Very cheeky, very creative. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:39 | |
And Ruth, again, very talented lady. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:42 | |
And they just got together. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:46 | |
But before Gavin And Stacey charmed millions, | 0:49:46 | 0:49:49 | |
there was more to come from Alison. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:51 | |
Her prodigious vocal talents had audiences in hoots | 0:49:51 | 0:49:54 | |
when she worked in the innuendo-fuelled radio comedy. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:57 | |
KNOCK AT DOOR | 0:49:57 | 0:49:59 | |
-Hello, let me in! -Er, hold on a minute, Mrs Naughtie. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:02 | |
Hamish and I are just in the lavatory together. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:04 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:50:04 | 0:50:05 | |
Oh! Shall I come back later? | 0:50:05 | 0:50:08 | |
-Oh, no. Stay away! -What? | 0:50:08 | 0:50:10 | |
-LAUGHTER -It's not what you think. | 0:50:10 | 0:50:14 | |
You mean it's NOT a perfectly innocent misunderstanding? | 0:50:14 | 0:50:17 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:50:17 | 0:50:19 | |
'I was quite surprised that' | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
the big TV, movie star, would deign to do a radio series. | 0:50:21 | 0:50:26 | |
And was actually quite flattered | 0:50:26 | 0:50:28 | |
when she said yes immediately to Hamish and Dougal. | 0:50:28 | 0:50:31 | |
Mrs Naughtie, where have you been? | 0:50:31 | 0:50:33 | |
I've been getting ready for my dance. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
-Do you like the fishnets? -Very nice. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:37 | |
-But you might have taken the herring out first. -LAUGHTER | 0:50:37 | 0:50:42 | |
There was no safety net when Alison worked again | 0:50:42 | 0:50:46 | |
on a film with no script. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:48 | |
A mockumentary about a wedding competition. | 0:50:48 | 0:50:50 | |
There was more than enough talent in the cast to ensure | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
Confetti had some unforgettable moments. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
5, 6, 7, 8! | 0:50:55 | 0:50:56 | |
1, 2, 3, 4, | 0:50:56 | 0:50:58 | |
5, 6, 7, 8... | 0:50:58 | 0:51:00 | |
I'm sorry, but... | 0:51:00 | 0:51:01 | |
-Keep going! Keep going! -5, 6, 7, 8! | 0:51:01 | 0:51:04 | |
-That is too close to me! -2, 3, 4! | 0:51:04 | 0:51:08 | |
For God's sake, Dave! Do me a favour! | 0:51:08 | 0:51:12 | |
I'm trying my best! I'm trying my best! | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
How could anyone be so insensitive? I'm standing here next to you. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
Bash you in the back of the head? Pushing me like that? | 0:51:19 | 0:51:21 | |
-Oi, come on, guys! -And if you're not pushing me, | 0:51:21 | 0:51:23 | |
I can feel that you're making me lose me balance. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
Chris, there's only a little bit of room we've all got, darling. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:29 | |
All right, what I'm saying is, he's standing right next to me, | 0:51:29 | 0:51:32 | |
Bish, bash, bosh, bish! | 0:51:32 | 0:51:34 | |
-I'm doing me best! -It's very hard for all of us. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:37 | |
If you were a bit more sensitive to what was happening. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
I think we shot many, many, many hours. | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
Then out of that, you know, was distilled the film. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:54 | |
And I thought the film worked very well, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:57 | |
but obviously there was a lot of stuff | 0:51:57 | 0:51:59 | |
ended up on the cutting room floor. | 0:51:59 | 0:52:02 | |
But that's the way it worked. | 0:52:02 | 0:52:04 | |
-'That's what it's about.' -'She's got nothing to prove.' | 0:52:04 | 0:52:07 | |
She's so well thought of in that way, | 0:52:07 | 0:52:09 | |
and she's proved herself time and time again | 0:52:09 | 0:52:11 | |
with being able to come up with characterisations just like that. | 0:52:11 | 0:52:15 | |
But it's kind of having a big bit of ballast there. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:20 | |
That doesn't sound complimentary, but it is! Honestly! | 0:52:20 | 0:52:24 | |
"Big bit of ballast! I love 'er!" | 0:52:24 | 0:52:26 | |
That's the best review she's got in the last ten years! | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
Even though Alison had played the ultimate comedy grotesque, | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
and had been gifted with a comic touch, | 0:52:36 | 0:52:38 | |
she had never appeared in a hit sitcom. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:40 | |
She had given it a go, | 0:52:40 | 0:52:42 | |
but there was one aspect of sitcom she would never warm to. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:47 | |
'I've done things with studio audiences and I get really nervous' | 0:52:47 | 0:52:50 | |
and I don't know whether I'm playing to the camera or to the audience. | 0:52:50 | 0:52:54 | |
And there's never enough rehearsals, and oh, I just hate it! | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
But in 2007, and two writers wrote a script with Alison in mind, | 0:52:57 | 0:53:03 | |
her sitcom credentials would soon be complete. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
'Ruth and I sat down and said,' | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
"Let's write a brilliant part for Alison Steadman." | 0:53:09 | 0:53:14 | |
What's going on? | 0:53:14 | 0:53:15 | |
I don't know, Pam. All I know is, if I don't eat this now, | 0:53:15 | 0:53:18 | |
-I'm going to faint. -Me too. I can barely breathe. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:20 | |
Smithy, what have I told you about eating late at night? | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
All that cholesterol! | 0:53:23 | 0:53:24 | |
-It's only a six-piece. -And we got coleslaw. | 0:53:24 | 0:53:27 | |
Oh, well done, darlings. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:29 | |
You can rejoice in marvellous acting, but you go, | 0:53:29 | 0:53:33 | |
"Oh, I know that woman! I used to know that woman! Who is that woman? | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
"Is it right?" | 0:53:37 | 0:53:39 | |
She'll always give you something that's spot-on. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:42 | |
Spot-on. | 0:53:42 | 0:53:43 | |
Now, I've got fresh strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, and melon. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:49 | |
Croissants, pain-au-chocolats, and brioches. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:52 | |
Where's all this come from? | 0:53:52 | 0:53:53 | |
I was down at Tesco's at five this morning. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:55 | |
Mum, you didn't need to do all this. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:57 | |
With all due respect, | 0:53:57 | 0:53:58 | |
we're talking about Gavin's girlfriend. Not Princess Di. | 0:53:58 | 0:54:00 | |
You do NOT mention that hussy's name in this house, | 0:54:00 | 0:54:03 | |
and you know that, Michael! NOISE UPSTAIRS | 0:54:03 | 0:54:05 | |
She's coming! Put your paper down! | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
You're working with somebody who's kind of done it all. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:14 | |
She's really, really a top-rate actress, | 0:54:16 | 0:54:21 | |
and she is an absolutely real person. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:25 | |
And that combination is pretty much foolproof. | 0:54:25 | 0:54:30 | |
Will your boy be coming to the wedding? What's his name again? | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
Jason? Yes, he's coming over. Lives in Spain, he does. | 0:54:33 | 0:54:37 | |
-Is he married? -No, he's gay. | 0:54:37 | 0:54:39 | |
Really? | 0:54:39 | 0:54:41 | |
Do you know, I said to Mick, | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
if we'd have had another son, | 0:54:44 | 0:54:46 | |
I'd have loved him to be a homosexual. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:49 | |
You know, for fashion advice and emotional support. | 0:54:49 | 0:54:53 | |
Jason's good as gold, like that. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:55 | |
I miss him terribly, I do. | 0:54:55 | 0:54:57 | |
Lights up a room. | 0:54:57 | 0:54:58 | |
Aw! Like a little Will Young! | 0:54:58 | 0:55:02 | |
There was a time we rehearsed... | 0:55:03 | 0:55:05 | |
It was the first series, so it's going back a bit. | 0:55:05 | 0:55:09 | |
I was in the hotel room before my wedding, | 0:55:09 | 0:55:11 | |
'and she comes in to give me a little pep talk, | 0:55:11 | 0:55:14 | |
'and it's a really, really tender moment.' | 0:55:14 | 0:55:17 | |
You look lovely, Mum. | 0:55:20 | 0:55:21 | |
House of Fraser. | 0:55:21 | 0:55:24 | |
Hat cost more than the suit. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:25 | |
Oh, come here, sweetheart. Let me do that. | 0:55:27 | 0:55:30 | |
Only seems like yesterday I was putting your school tie straight. | 0:55:34 | 0:55:38 | |
Thanks, Mum. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:42 | |
It's really rewarding, because it's rare to really, really hit it. | 0:55:42 | 0:55:47 | |
And you both can feel it, and, you know, | 0:55:47 | 0:55:51 | |
'something is happening. Some emotion is being created.' | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
I'll be getting through these today. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:56 | |
There's a line where she talks about her maiden name. | 0:56:02 | 0:56:07 | |
I mean, it is weird. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:09 | |
-Getting used to being Stacey Shipman. -Yeah. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:12 | |
And she says, "I was very upset when I lost my maiden name." | 0:56:12 | 0:56:18 | |
What was it? | 0:56:18 | 0:56:19 | |
Griggell-Eschefska. Pamela Andrea Griggell-Eschefska. | 0:56:19 | 0:56:22 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:56:22 | 0:56:25 | |
I don't even know why it's funny! | 0:56:25 | 0:56:28 | |
I felt quite flat, if I'm honest with you, the day after we got married. | 0:56:28 | 0:56:32 | |
I felt like I'd lost my identity. | 0:56:32 | 0:56:34 | |
You know, like Anne Frank, after they found her? | 0:56:34 | 0:56:37 | |
I think it got better and better | 0:56:37 | 0:56:39 | |
as they really got into the stride of writing. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:41 | |
And we also got into the stride of playing the characters. | 0:56:41 | 0:56:45 | |
I love Stacey. | 0:56:45 | 0:56:47 | |
It's just, ooh, I don't know, | 0:56:47 | 0:56:49 | |
I just feel I've got you back all to myself, just for tonight. | 0:56:49 | 0:56:52 | |
There's my little prince, my handsome king, | 0:56:52 | 0:56:54 | |
and me in the middle, the Duchess of Cornwall. | 0:56:54 | 0:56:56 | |
Gavin And Stacey introduced Alison to a whole new audience, | 0:56:56 | 0:57:01 | |
who experienced for the first time | 0:57:01 | 0:57:03 | |
her consummate work as a comedienne. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:07 | |
Comedy or drama, | 0:57:07 | 0:57:08 | |
on stage or screen, | 0:57:08 | 0:57:10 | |
she has won awards and entertained millions. | 0:57:10 | 0:57:14 | |
And as to the future, who knows? | 0:57:14 | 0:57:16 | |
'All my career, I've never been' | 0:57:16 | 0:57:20 | |
one of those actors that have gone, "I want to play this. | 0:57:20 | 0:57:23 | |
"Oh, if only I could play this role." I've honestly never done that, | 0:57:23 | 0:57:26 | |
and I don't know why I haven't. But I haven't. | 0:57:26 | 0:57:28 | |
But there may be another challenging role waiting for Alison. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:33 | |
This time, behind the camera. | 0:57:33 | 0:57:36 | |
'I did a little bit of directing' | 0:57:36 | 0:57:38 | |
at my old drama school, which I thoroughly enjoyed. | 0:57:38 | 0:57:41 | |
But what I would really like to do is make a film. | 0:57:41 | 0:57:45 | |
I'd like to direct a film. | 0:57:45 | 0:57:48 | |
And I've got an idea in mind. | 0:57:48 | 0:57:51 | |
Perhaps I should push myself a bit more to take a chance and do that. | 0:57:51 | 0:57:55 | |
And have a go. | 0:57:55 | 0:57:56 | |
Take a little bit of time out from acting, and make a movie. | 0:57:56 | 0:58:01 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media | 0:58:22 | 0:58:30 |