Richard Briers A Taste of My Life

Welcome to A Taste Of My Life,

the show that takes a culinary stroll down Memory Lane,

dishing up and tucking into people's lives on a plate.

Food can be incredibly evocative.

By simply tasting the food of one's life,

memories can come flooding back.

Which is why we're going to be feasting on the smells, tastes and flavours

of another very famous life.

Today's guest has had the British public roaring with laughter for decades.

He first came to prominence in the '60s,

as a newly-wed in one of our first-ever sitcoms.

-Sorry, I forgot my key.

-Where have you...

-Is Helen OK?

-Of course!

-I'd no idea it was so late.

-Kate, this is...

DOOR SLAMS

In the '70s, he embraced the green way of life

before any of us knew what organic meant.

You know that hen that sounds like Max Wall?

Glenda, yes.

She's never had any chicks. What's wrong? She's a healthy hen,

-we've got a healthy cockerel.

-Lenin.

Yeah, all right, Lenin. So what's wrong?

Obviously a clash of little personalities.

Chickens don't have personalities!

And in more recent years, he's captivated audiences

by taking on more serious roles.

Hey, hold your horses!

Dad!

Wait! Let me help.

Yes, of course. Today's special guest

is that much-loved national treasure, Richard Briers.

Coming up in today's show:

Richard's first TV wife, Prunella Scales,

reminisces over a creme brulee.

Richard is a beautiful actor.

Daughter Lucy challenges us to boil the perfect egg.

That should be all right.

And Richard recalls the most traumatic curry of his life.

You don't feel hot. It goes dead.

Richard Briers, welcome to A Taste Of My Life.

Thank you very much.

-Now, you were born in 1934 in Raynes Park, in London.

-Yes.

And I'm intrigued to know what home was like.

Mum was very artistic. She was a pianist.

She would, I think, have got a bit further had I not arrived.

My father wasn't a great earner and so we lived in a flat

in Raynes Park.

My bedroom was... There was a car park immediately outside my bedroom,

then the Rialto cinema.

And so I could hear James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart's voices.

It was touch-and-go for the bills,

but we lived in a genteel poverty, myself and my sister and mother.

I think they loved each other very much,

but there were tensions, always financial tensions.

What was food like, then?

My father was quite a good cook. He would do the Sunday roast.

But it was cheap cuts, you see, cos money, money, money.

This is very different

from the sort of food that your grandparents knew.

-Yeah.

-Weren't they in India for a while?

Yes. The Indian connection. My grandfather was in the Secretariat in irrigation in Delhi.

And they had servants.

So the girls, my aunt and mother, were never taught anything.

-It was assumed they'd never need to cook.

-Right.

They went out before breakfast and rode horses,

a thing we'd never do, certainly not in Raynes Park!

A dish that became popular when families such as Richard's

brought it back from imperial India,

the word "dhal" actually means "split pea".

A lot of "dhol" and rice, they used to say, it's "dhal", I believe,

that was a sort of staple diet, really.

'Always, always, gently fry your spices first

'to release their aroma.

'Avoid the common mistake of adding spices to your dhal

'once everything is already cooking.'

Delicious. And probably quite unusual

for somebody at that time, in that area, to be eating that sort of food.

Absolutely. I liked it because it was sludgy and sloppy and nursery,

-which I still love.

-It is very comforting and very soothing.

Although frighteningly simple to make,

avoid the temptation to mix old lentils with new.

Older ones from the back of the cupboard

will take much longer to cook.

My mother did have this sort of love of making rock cakes

which she seemed to do very quickly.

She used to put the dough - use her hands in the proper way -

-but it was lumps.

-They have to be lumpy to be rock cakes.

-Right.

'Traditionally made with sultanas or currants,

'older recipes for rock cakes suggest using lemon zest

'and even brandy to give them even more kick.

'I don't mean to labour the point,

'but do avoid every temptation to make the mixture smooth.'

She'd have pink icing, which is bad, but it was a feminine thing about her

and she'd put a blob of pink icing on.

'If your icing's in need of more liquid,

'try a squeeze of lemon juice.

'Even squeezed orange or rose water can give icing a hidden surprise.'

But to eat they were pretty heavy and pretty solid.

Quite hard to eat.

I like the idea of the pink icing, though!

A nice touch, isn't it, for Raynes Park? Jollied things up a bit!

Are these like the ones that your mum used to make?

They're a very good copy, except you notice they're quite a weight.

My mother had a very great skill of making them half that size

-but weighing the same, which is quite a gift!

-Yep!

Mmm!

I'm intrigued to know if there was a moment when you thought, "This is what I want to do.

-"I want to be an actor."

-It's always been a love of words

and phrasing for me.

The words of the Bible excited me. Dramatic and Baroque.

I used to actually recite aloud,

privately, in the kitchen of our flat in Raynes Park, which had an echo.

Of course it made me sound quite a little star,

because my voice had more presence.

So my lust for self-importance

was probably born in that kitchen very near the Rialto cinema.

-Now, how did you first start acting?

-I became an amateur actor at 14

and did the odd play every year.

I was completely ruined by nerves.

I had a very quick brain and I talked so fast

that I actually got sacked from an amateur dramatics society which takes some doing!

If you want to be a professional actor... Not only was I talking at 500 miles an hour

but also my head would constantly do that when I'm talking to Nigel Slater!

Because I did want to impress you so much! That's a terrible mannerism.

And then I just muddled through

and got into RADA when I was 20.

Now, you met your wife Annie very early on, didn't you?

Oh, yes. I'd only been in Liverpool for six months and we were married.

-And she's been with you ever since.

-She has, bless her heart, yes.

She's a very, very strong and wonderful woman.

I've got a little message from her.

Oh, right?

Richard came up to join the company,

this was in 1956,

not good about his food,

really and truly.

He looked after himself terribly badly.

So I used to occasionally take him under my wing.

In return for that, one day he asked me to go round for supper.

First of all, we had soup.

We'd got into the habit of not having tins of soup.

Much more the thing to do was to have Florida vegetable soup.

Florida spring vegetable soup.

JULIO IGLESIAS BALLAD PLAYS IN BACKGROUND

I love the soundtrack!

I remember one Christmas we'd got down to our last few pounds.

And so when people sent us presents,

we used to wrap them up and send them off to other people.

-Yes.

-'Just to be able to give them a present.'

Put that on as well.

The first time I remember him,

he stood there with one eye slightly shut cos he was so exhausted.

So he didn't look terribly good-looking at that point!

And he also had some spots on his face

because he didn't know how to look after himself, as I've said,

and he was frying everything, including scones!

He presented the whole thing very well,

although it was really... There wasn't a lot of cooking involved, was there?

But he presented it very nicely.

It was lovely. It was very sweet of him.

I sort of felt I wanted to mother him a bit, really and truly.

50 years ago. It's unbelievable.

Dear, oh dear.

Hello, darling. I hope you liked the reconstruction of that meal you cooked me all those years ago.

It reminded me of lots of things

and I hope you have a lovely day.

That was wonderful.

I shall treasure that.

-So really, Annie came and rescued you from...

-Yes, from starvation!

-Yes.

-And from fried scones!

Yes. Not bad, is it?

Now, very early on, you had a young family.

Yes, it was about five years before Kate arrived,

and Lucy about five years after that. We have two daughters.

I was not absolutely potty about having children.

I was frightened to repeat the process of having children without having an income.

-Yeah.

-A proper income. For actors, it's very tricky to start families

until you've got established.

-And one of them has gone on to follow you into the profession.

-Yes.

Lucy Briers, who's jolly good.

I have a nice little surprise for you.

-No!

-Yes, another one.

-Another one!

-Afraid so!

Well, I'm about to actually boil an egg for my father.

This is because on the rare occasions when Mum was working,

my dad would try and cook my sister Katie and myself breakfast.

And it was always a disaster.

Yes, I think I learned from the horror of my father's egg boiling!

I learned how awful it is to have a bad egg.

I used to get very irritated by friends of mine at school when we were little.

When The Good Life came out, I was six or seven years old.

Friends of mine at school would say, "Have you got goats in your garden? I saw it on TV."

I was like, "It's a TV programme!"

I used to get really annoyed!

"That's not what my dad does."

-Imagination.

-I don't have a watch. I'm going to have to...

maybe ask you to time it!

Four-and-a-half minutes from the time of boiling. I'll start timing it with a watch I don't have!

I'm wondering whether I could go and get my watch and you could film the egg!

"Film the egg"! Fascinating!

I have the watch!

People will go, "Why didn't she butter the whole?"

It's a complete cock-up!

-And I'm thinking that as well.

-Comedy runs in the family!

I don't know why I didn't do that. We're getting close. OK.

We can count it down. Another 15 seconds, I think.

It's really getting exciting now!

Then you just do a rather dramatic... Like that.

So I'm just gonna check.

Mmm. Oh, that's good.

-Lovely.

-Dad, I have a challenge for you.

I'd like you to battle with Nigel and see who comes up with the best boiled egg.

My God!

Now, what is coming up next?

I think probably a challenge!

-Oh, God!

-The perfect boiled egg!

Clearly, Lucy's challenge is for us to come up with the perfect egg.

Yes. That should be pretty easy.

To be honest, I'm out of my comfort zone here.

You don't like eggs?

-I don't like eggs.

-Lovely eggies!

-I've never cooked a boiled egg before!

You've never cooked a boiled egg before?

Can I choose the egg?

That should be all right.

-I really won't be able to put it in my mouth.

-Right.

All right, we'll have to recast!

There's no other way round this.

Oh. I know it's got to boil first.

-Oh, no, it doesn't...

-No, it's...

You see...

-I told you I've never boiled an egg before!

-I bring it to the boil

-and then do three minutes.

-OK.

-You've cracked it.

-It's not cracked, is it?

-It's cracked.

Oh, no. Oh, God, it is!

We should have now just under three minutes of profound boredom!

Nearly coming up to one minute. We have one minute.

Whose idea was this? Oh, Lucy's. That's lovely soldiers.

I'm doing this with sheer feeling now. Emotional feeling about this egg.

Right. That's mine. Two-and-three-quarter minutes.

If I took that... This is what I really hate. Put it in there.

That's it.

-Eugh!

-Look at that!

-Here you are.

-No!

With great authority, you have to take a piece out of that.

Smell it!

You have to do it quickly. You've done it. You can go from there.

Pick it up. That's it. I think you've done it.

You've got a lovely egg.

Eugh!

Yes. You see, that's a little bit overdone there.

Very well done there, Nigel.

-Sorry to make you feel a bit icky.

-Thank you.

We've wrapped that up for you.

Still to come on A Taste Of My Life:

Richard Briers' favourite sandwich leaves me cold.

It's horrid!

His friend and actress Prunella Scales

rustles up a very sweet creme brulee.

The creme has won over the brulee!

And Richard shows off his limited flair for cooking.

-Lovely movement. Did you notice?

-I did.

-Lovely.

-I did.

Your first real big break, certainly TV-wise,

was, of course, with Marriage Lines.

Black and white, with Prunella Scales.

Again playing what covered up a lot of these faults in me,

was playing highly-strung nervous young men.

So a lot of it was me being nervous on television.

Because of that, people said, "He's very natural. Highly-strung, but natural."

And it was just me going, "Oh, my God!"

What did you say?

I'm going to have twins.

Clever girl!

Thank you, darling.

Well, we've both been clever.

Yes!

I suppose you could look at it that way, yes.

In those days, it was incredible being on television. Now everyone's on television.

Everybody. The people who are amazing are those who are not on TV.

People used to say, "Oh, look!

"That's Richard, um... He's on television!

"What's his name?" It was quite a thing to be on the telly.

Now it's, "Not very good last week, Dick!"

And you think, "It's just a job."

Pru has sent a little message for you.

Oh, Lord. One of my first television wives! I've had dozens of 'em!

It's a creme brulee

with, I'm afraid, tinned raspberries.

I first met him in telly

where I was playing a bar maid and he was one of the leads.

We had a little scene together.

He said to me, "I'm just going to do a comedy series

called Marriage Lines. Would you like to audition for the part of my wife?"

So I said yes, and I did and I got it.

During the second series, I'd got married and was pregnant with our first baby.

Whereupon I went into hard labour and I said, "Where's my husband?"

So they rang home. My parents were there but Tim wasn't.

They rang some friends and he wasn't there.

Eventually, between spasms, I said, "Try Richard Briers."

And there were Tim and Richard knocking back the whisky,

saying, "Isn't it terrible what women go through on these occasions?"

And Richard is Sam's godfather,

in tribute to the whisky, the mid-labour whisky!

What I cannot bear

is the way both the business and the public put people into categories.

If you have a success in a comedic series,

people put you into that category.

Richard is a beautiful actor.

-'It's a huge creme brulee, isn't it?

-Enormous!'

The creme has won over the brulee!

But hope you enjoy it, Richard!

Ah, this is Pru's...

-It's a triumph, Pru. Like you!

-Thank you, Pru.

But Richard really hit the big time in the mid-1970s,

with the massively successful sitcom, The Good Life.

The Good Life eclipsed everything in its path.

We didn't know. We thought it was a nice little show.

I read episode one and I thought... You get very pretentious when you're young,

and I thought, "Shall I be a serious actor?" Go to the RSC and starve!

The next day I checked the bank balance.

And I said to Annie, "I think we're going to have to do this, love."

'And thank God I did!'

What happened to the nit lady that used to come round the school?

What happened to proper footballs with laces

that used to cut your forehead open when you headed them?

'Richard, is there one particular dish'

that you associate with that feeling of being a success?

Things like fish which in my childhood were always dull, grey and flaccid. Yuk!

And to have something like sea bass cooked really well.

In a restaurant it costs a lot of money, of course,

so I get Annie at it at home.

So those sort of rather exotic things,

which are expensive.

Once a month you treat yourself to something really super.

And this is a nice simply-cooked sea bass

with a bit of beurre blanc.

'For freshness, make sure your sea bass

'has bright eyes and glistening skin.

'Then it's just seasoned flour and fry for a few minutes.

'Simple but effective.

'To ensure your sea bass doesn't curl up in the pan,

'fry skin-side first

'and resist the temptation to push it around.'

It's wonderful when you taste real food and you think, "My God, that's different. Oh..."

"Oh!", you think, like Frankie Howerd.

And you think, "That's the best thing that would have been about being a film star."

Cos you would have that sea bass every day.

'Beurre blanc is a classic French white wine and butter sauce.

'Although it's thought to be difficult, it's not.

'If you ever find it curdling on you,

'add just a little water and stir vigorously.

'Of course, if you prefer, you can use red wine

'and try making a beurre rouge.'

That's a lovely sound, isn't it?

Your very good health and many thanks.

Yours too. Cheers!

See you tomorrow at the same time!

I mean, this is proper restaurant food, isn't it?

Sea bass and beurre blanc.

Lovely. Sea bass is a great fish, isn't it?

Do you think that the gauge of success has changed?

Now, of course, it's shaven heads, the odd ring,

sometimes in the most alarming places! I won't go into detail, we're eating!

I don't find that because I'm old. I find it pretty charmless.

The Office I found terribly unfunny.

I thought he was brilliant, and the cast, but I didn't laugh.

I thought, "Am I old?" It wasn't just that. I had four years in an office.

-Yeah.

-Where everyone hated each other's guts!

-Richard Briers!

-Right.

'Despite not appearing on our screens in a comedy for some time,

'Richard was recently seen in the follow-up to The Office, Extras.'

-DOLL:

-Is he having a laugh?

-..loving wife...

-Is he having a laugh?

'Extras, of course, is a bit nearer home to me.'

I've never been an extra, thank God,

but I know people who have and it's a very tough job.

Is he having a laugh?

I've got a little taste here of what appears to be heaven and hell.

-I can't believe you can like all these things.

-No!

-These sandwiches.

-Yes?

They look a bit spooky.

It's very white bread, isn't it, which I don't have now.

Cheese and strawberry jam, you see.

It's horrid!

-These look good.

-Can't fault.

Give me those!

-Little almond cakes.

-Almonds are the best thing I think we have.

Tell me a little about Monarch Of The Glen.

It's 26 weeks out there,

you're old, your grandchildren are in East Sussex,

you're doing 500 miles with, of course, British Rail,

and an inherent fear of flying.

-So you just stay there and get

-BLEEP!

-..I mean, drink!

There's not a lot of joy in it.

HMS Glenbogle, do your worst!

'So I got out of it.

'I gave them a year's notice.

'I said, "Try and make it humorous, my death." So they blew me up.'

Useless?

Ah.

EXPLOSION

-Did you choose the way to go?

-No, I left it to the creative people.

I'm only a giant interpreter of the work!

And that most burning of questions...

So tell me, sprouts or not?

Not. I think they're best in brandy.

Cos that kills it right off!

'And so how would Richard sum up his life with a final feast?'

-Richard, your great meal, your final feast.

-Yes.

-We're tucking into curry.

-We are.

-Do you feel comfortable about the term "final feast"?

-Yes.

-I think "final feast" is an unfortunate phrase.

-Yes.

You couldn't eat with that hanging over you.

Quite big flavours for your last meal.

I don't recommend anybody have curry too hot.

I had it in a restaurant.

I had a curry called Chicken Phal.

They said that is the hottest curry you can have.

I thought, "I can take it. I'm a man. I can take it."

My entire mouth was anaesthetised.

You don't feel hot. It goes dead.

It's quite frightening because it's so hot

that the taste buds are killed.

Frightening. It took several pints of beer to bring me round!

I love chopping things up. I can't cook, but I love chopping things.

Of all of the things that you've done,

is there one part that's a favourite?

Malvolio is sort of best.

It's Shakespeare's language, and he's a figure of total ridicule.

A bit like Tom Good, in a way.

-He had this idea, this dream, that he could be self-sufficient...

-Yes.

-..in suburbia.

I didn't like him very much.

He was so rude all the time to Margo.

But he was always on the touch at the same time.

Something... There was this wonderful undercurrent,

-an almost sexual undercurrent between Margo and Tom.

-Yes!

You were almost waiting for them to tear each other's clothes off.

People got that idea. I didn't. And I know Penelope Keith certainly didn't!

Bless her!

But some people nowadays even, 30 years later,

see a sexual aspect in The Good Life.

-I did.

-Well, that's extraordinary!

-The chemistry between...

-Isn't it funny?

-..Margo and Tom...

-The last thing I ever sold in show business was sex!

-Lovely movement, that. Did you notice?

-I did.

-Lovely mover.

-I did.

Oh, look at that dusting.

-We want something to drink with that.

-There's always beloved beer.

-It's in the fridge!

-Well done, sir!

Ah!

I'll just have half with you for now. I'll have the other eight pints later!

'Richard Briers' final feast.

'A lovely Methi curry,

'a simple baked treacle tart

'and a chance to reflect on the day over a beer or two.'

Oh, beer!

I'm intrigued to know what the future holds for Richard Briers.

What's the time now?

I don't know. Things are pretty good which gives me a little trepidation,

when things are going too well.

That means there might be something

to "take the edge off your bliss", as Samuel Beckett put it.

It would be very nice, ideally, at 72

to live fairly healthily to about 138.

-Anything you haven't done that you'd love to do?

-Sometimes you get silly. Actors get silly.

I think, "Why didn't I take up gardening in a big way?"

"Why didn't I spend my life doing more natural things?

"Rather than unnatural things?" Being locked in a tiny room,

in a dressing room putting bits of paint on your face

and then standing on a platform and shouting?

It can't be a job for anyone really sane.

You can't really say, "That's a well-balanced person."

You have to say, "Actually, they're mad!"

Which is sad.

I think that kind of... When you've done a lot of it,

you think, "What a funny thing to do!

"You know, pulling faces!"

So one would prefer to have done something more natural like creating a garden.

You know, like Gardeners' Question Time.

Those marvellous people get it right all the time!

That would be nice. A more natural life rather than an artificial life.

As Laurence Olivier said, "Acting is lying."

You're lying in an artistic way.

Oh, I'm feeling a bit better, now!

Richard, thank you very, very much

for being a guest on A Taste Of My Life.

Great pleasure. Thank you so much, as they say, for having me.

I'm always available!

CLATTERING

Was that my liver?

Subtitles by Red Bee Media - 2007