Denis Lawson A Taste of My Life

Welcome to A Taste Of My Life,

cooking up and serving famous lives on a plate.

Everything we cook and eat provides revealing clues as to who we really are.

Which is why I'm going to be taking today's guest on a culinary trip back in time.

Today's guest hardly ever gives interviews

but has become one of those rare breeds,

a fine actor who is also a popular actor.

Cheerio.

Oh, I know you do!

He has since gone on to star in countless TV dramas,

including Holby City, Jekyll,

and alongside Joanna Lumley in Sensitive Skin.

-He's out there again.

-Who?

-The drugs dealer.

-Where?

-Don't look, he mustn't see we've seen him.

-Because we'll have to buy something?

-No, because then he'll know where we live.

Most recently, he was nominated for an Emmy for his leading role in the BBC costume drama, Bleak House.

You're quite the housekeeper now.

-Do the sums balance?

-Yes, I think so.

I'm sure they do.

Yes, today's guest is Scottish actor Denis Lawson.

Coming up in today's show...

Denis Lawson's mum takes him back to his childhood with mince and tatties.

..Always playing cowboys and Indians, he was always the cowboy.

Friend and actor John Gordon Sinclair challenges me and Denis to make a Moroccan pie.

I must have been the last person in the world to know you are Ewan McGregor's uncle.

-I am.

-Yes, you are. I'm afraid so.

The star of Bleak House shares in the fashion faux pas of his youth.

I wore pink jeans, those cheesecloth shirts.

I bought this little hippy bell,

and he completely disowned me!

-Denis Lawson, welcome to A Taste Of My Life.

-Nice to be here.

-You were born in Glasgow?

-Yes, I was.

-But you moved?

-I moved when I was three. I decided to get out of there.

Both my parents are Glasgow people, but I'm from a really quite

a tough background, as a lot of that generation were.

-So not a well-off family?

-Absolutely not.

My father, you know, slept in a room with five other people until he was 16.

They had to literally steal food to eat to survive.

-What were family mealtimes like?

-It was fairly simple cooking.

-Yes.

-But very good. I remember there was kind of set days for things.

Usually, it was pies on a Saturday lunchtime.

Saturday evenings was quite a big sort of what you would call, I suppose, a high tea.

Was Mum a baker or pudding maker?

-Yeah, absolutely. My favourite pudding, dessert, and still is, would be apple crumble.

-Yes, please!

She made a fantastic apple crumble.

And I remember, too, that she would not serve it with custard,

she served it with apple juice on the side, in a jug.

First tip to making apple crumble

is to treat your cooking apples as gently as any other apple.

Bruising is not good for the taste.

But apple crumble, I find that hard to resist anywhere, wherever I am.

So the best words in the world, really...

Apple and crumble, you are just gone.

If you are no good at making pastry, crumble is foolproof.

Crumble is quite an accommodating topping.

You can substitute half flour for oats or muesli and throw in raisins or dried fruits.

Spices like cinnamon and ginger give this classic pudding a great face-lift.

Apples aren't the only fruit.

You could also try making rhubarb, gooseberry, or blackcurrant crumble.

You remember a lot about your mum's cooking. Was there anyone else in the family who would cook?

Uncle Alec. On a Sunday morning, Uncle Alec, who's a very funny man,

used to make us pancakes.

Making pancakes is easy, fun and a great childhood treat.

You can prepare your pancake batter well in advance of cooking,

but don't keep it longer than 24 hours.

Make sure the pan is extremely hot, then add your butter or oil.

When the batter hits the surface, tip it around until it covers the base.

Visually, you are always looking for a brown speckly finish, and then flip!

Nobody made them quite like Alec, I'm not quite sure what it was.

There was something slightly romantic about it, because it was not what we had.

So he would make a pile of pancakes,

I guess we had sugar on them, that was for sure.

-Very naughty!

-Very, very naughty, very bad.

These are thicker and smaller American blueberry pancakes.

The batter for these contains egg whites and baking powder.

In those days, were you what you might call a swot?

In terms of school, I wish I could say I was a real rebel,

and out there on the edge, but I absolutely was not.

I spent most of my time playing my drums kit in my room.

It's a bit of a giveaway, because they know immediately

you're not doing your homework. Because they can hear...

Would you say it was a happy childhood?

Yeah, it was.

Everybody danced and sang.

As with a lot of Scottish parties, everybody sang, everybody!

They all do their little turn?

Absolutely. There was no, "I'm too shy" -

you did it, you did something.

-Tell me about Mum.

-Well, I often refer to her as a kind of human dynamo.

I think there is a generation of Scottish women who just never stop.

Talking of your mum, I have a little message for you.

-Have you?

-Yes.

Right, OK!

Oh, God. Isn't it gorgeous?

It is beautiful up there. Absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to put the mince on.

He loved...

mince and potatoes because it had vegetables in it as well, carrots, onions.

He wasn't a fussy eater, he ate everything that was given to him.

He was outside all the time. He was playing cowboys and Indians, he was always a cowboy!

I didn't have a gun, I had a rubber hammer.

The first time I ever saw him in drama was at the high school here in Crieff

I was so amazed. He was only seven, I could not believe it.

The attitude of him, the way he took to this part

was just amazing. When I got home, I couldn't stop holding him.

I said, "Denis, you were absolutely brilliant."

"I thought I wasn't good, Mum." I said, "You were absolutely brilliant."

But every time I see him on anything, I get the same feeling as I did when he was seven.

I get this amazing

proud feeling that, "Is that my son up there?"

I can't believe that, you know. Just as any mother would,

very proud to have such a son.

He makes me feel always good when I see him on anything at all.

When he was at drama school,

he wore a white rabbit-fur waistcoat and his hair was way down his back

and he had these holey jeans on, holes everywhere!

He was such a sight!

Just to say, Denis, that this has been an incredible experience

for me to do this and especially when it's all about you

and you are such a wonderful son to me

and I love you to bits.

Oh, my God! Mince and tatties.

-Oh, my God.

-I mean, why not?

-Absolutely brilliant.

-Why don't we eat this stuff?

I haven't eaten this since I was a kid.

Mum's very proud of you.

It's quite moving, actually.

Oh, my God, this is great.

It just takes you right back

to where I came from.

What sort of teenager were you like? I mean, were you Denis the menace?

I wish I had been a bit of a Denis the menace, a bit of a tearaway.

You were quite a groovy dresser.

-I think I was pretty cool.

-Pretty cool?!

'68, I went to San Francisco.

That had an effect on me, obviously.

For nearly a year in Glasgow, I didn't wear shoes, really.

I wore pink jeans, those cheesecloth shirts.

The ones things got caught in all the time.

Long hair and obviously this, the moustache.

I used to wear a poncho which was grey and black with a pink lining.

You see, I'm so jealous.

I remember that summer, and my father refused to let me have anything to do with it.

In the end, I went out and with my pocket money, I bought this little hippy bell.

He completely disowned me!

Were there things that you ate that made you feel sophisticated at that point?

There was a place in Glasgow called the Ceylon Tea Centre.

I'd go there on my own. Maybe nobody was very interested because it was salads.

It was salads which were of a type that I had not really...

-it was a new thing for me.

-Salad has moved on since wet lettuce leaves.

The general rule to a good salad is a leafy base.

You can use rocket, spinach or lamb's lettuce.

Carrots, and raisins or slices of orange. In a salad!

I'd not, you know...

I think sweet corn appeared at that time as well.

Yes. It was things like that.

For a heartier and more substantial salad,

you can use anything from beans, grains, nuts, to potatoes.

The best rule with a salad like this orange one

is always feel free to break the rules.

A Scottish teenager, eating salad.

-Unheard of!

-I know, it is strange.

Herbs work well, as does an oil and vinegar dressing, but never overdress a salad - it ruins it.

You know, I used to top off that outfit with a black ten-gallon hat.

Now, I'm not a tall man. So cool.

-And salad?

-Yes, and salad!

I'd go there at lunchtime on my own, from drama school.

Feeling quite sophisticated.

I used to have tea, Earl Grey tea, with no milk, wow!

Then, I would have these amazing meringues, coffee-coloured,

chewy in the middle, with cream.

Oh, I know!

The art of the meringue is making sure you mix your eggs and sugar

till they reach stiff peaks.

A neat tip is that older egg whites are easier to whisk than very fresh ones.

For these Swiss meringues, you use twice the weight of sugar

to egg whites, which means you must use your mixture immediately.

The colour of these meringues simply comes from the colour of the sugar.

Whisk your cream until it just holds its shape.

I will have a meringue.

I must have the salad first.

You should be having the salad as well, Nigel.

Yeah...

How did you supplement your income at that time?

Rocket.

Rocket flake!

I was given a grant to go to drama school.

What I would do then is work in the holidays.

I was a carpet salesman in Dundee.

I say sold carpets, I didn't sell carpets.

-I was a terrible carpet salesman.

-You were supposed to sell carpets?

When I did manage to sell a carpet, I would always get the repayments wrong.

They're still paying it off!

My father would gently persuade me to go into the Army.

I think I had that talk, too!

What I remember very well was my father driving me to the station

one morning and he wasn't a man to heap praise on you, you know.

He was driving along and said, "You're a very lucky man,

"you know what you want to do and you're good at it."

That was everything to me.

-So why did you actually want to become an actor?

-Why?

-Yes.

-Actresses.

Still to come on a Taste Of My Life...

Actor and friend Hilton McRae makes a pasta dish, perfect for those who can't cook.

We live 25 yards from each other, maybe 30 yards.

I try not to see him too often, it's too tedious.

John Gordon Sinclair tells us about Denis' best qualities.

He can do everything.

He can sing, dance, he is charming, funny, just horrible, you know!

And over his taste of success, Denis reveals how tricky it was working on Holby City.

-It's a bit like doing that, you know.

-I can't do that.

-So, as a kid, you had quite a big circle of friends.

-Huge.

Is that still the case? What is Denis the friend like?

As an actor, in your working life you have to make very instant relationships

with the people you work with.

Because you're working with them in quite an intimate way.

You would have these really strong friendships and then not see them for two years.

A circle of friends is incredibly important.

-I've caught up with one of your friends.

-You have?

-Yes, and I have a bit of a message for you?

-Oh.

Oh, dear, oh God, Den. I don't like it.

Now, is that too annoying? It's really simple, I think it's anti-cooking.

It is a tin of anchovies, a tin of tuna and some parsley, that's it.

You just gently saute them in butter and oil, then you pour it on the penne, and you eat it,

and you cook and have some more. But I can't bake. I can't like.

As far as I know.

We live 25 yards from each other, maybe 30 yards.

But I try not to see him too often, he's too tedious.

Put in the penne. I'm just guessing now.

So this is what happens. They'll just dissolve.

What do you think of Denis the actor?

He's all right!

Yeah, he's fine.

Presto.

He did that year, two years on Holby City?

When he started off doing it, I said, "Den, that bouffant hairdo has got to go."

Because he's a wee boy, so he had his hair up,

but that went!

Before the hairdo went, he was really good!

-Oh, boy, that looks great.

-It is nice.

A taste of friendship for Den. I hope you like that.

Bye!

Oh, of course. Oh, my God.

This is great, because you see it, then you get it!

This is like this is like a real late night, "What on earth am I going to eat?"

Hilty!

Now, a familiar face.

Denis' career started out in West End musicals, where he made a huge impact starring in Pal Joey.

This set him up for a move onto the big screen.

I've got to ask you, so many people, I think their introduction to you, was for the part in Star Wars.

-Yeah.

-How do you feel about that?

I feel bored to death.

The weird thing for me about it, is that there is no acting involved.

I did what I'm doing now.

-I sat in a chair.

-You were very profound in that chair, though.

I promise you, Nigel, I was not.

George Lucas is a very nice man, and a terrible actor's director.

He is a great technician, and obviously fantastic, but he has no idea what actors do.

I think there was a 28-page battle sequence and George says,

"OK, action." And he would say, "Look at the size of that thing."

And I'd say, "Look at the size of that thing."

He'd say, "Look up there, and say, 'Look at the size of that thing.' Say it faster. Now look down there."

That was it, it was acting by numbers.

Unlike the film that I first got to know you in, which was the wonderful Local Hero.

It's a completely different kettle of fish.

Andrew, can you knock it off for a bit? Thanks.

It was the best fun I have ever had, then or since.

It was quite a sexy film to watch.

Yes, I'm glad you think so. That's what I was going for, anyway.

I'm sure you were!

I mean, delicious stuff.

What a great running gag. A man who is always having sex with his wife.

Were there certain things that you started to eat because

-you had suddenly become a success?

-Yeah.

The food that I associate around that period was tomato galette,

tomato and basil galette, a very thin piece of pastry.

I don't know... It's so simple.

Tomato and basil galette.

First, cook and peel your tomatoes.

Score across - it makes them easier to peel.

The gorgeous thing about the tomato galette, they were very thinly-sliced tomatoes.

Yes, and very nice tomatoes. It is quite hard to get really good tomatoes in this country.

-And of course, basil.

-Is that it?

-I think it is.

So simple.

This is at heart a posh tomato pizza, but it's the care that goes

into making the basil oil dressing and the sun-dried tomato paste that makes it so special.

That kind of food I associate with arriving where I wanted to be, in a sense.

Salt heightens the natural taste of any tomato.

Did you know that a tomato's flavour is richer at room temperature,

so don't eat them straight from the fridge.

Denis Lawson's taste of success, a tomato and basil galette.

I missed a role you had for quite some time, in Holby City.

That was a...

kind of probably, on the face of it, a curious thing for me to do.

We can stay here and talk for as long as you like.

Will you let me do that, Will, just this one thing?

I'm sorry.

No!

But also dealing with incredibly complex dialogue

and doing incredibly difficult things, I mean, operations.

Sewing. We used to have a surgeon at our elbow, always.

So you were doing exactly the right thing while getting out all this stuff.

-It's a bit like doing that.

-I can't do that.

I know, exactly.

-Of course, a very, very different character to John Jarndyce in Bleak House.

-Yes.

I adored Bleak House I just ate it up.

It was everything I want a television drama to be.

-What's this?

-Richard's been telling fortunes, sir.

-Has he?

What does fortune have in store for you, Rick? The question is, which profession will you choose?

-I've absolutely no idea.

-Was there ever a point that you felt, "I'm a success"?

I remember when I did Pal Joey,

I shared a dressing room with about 15 women.

-It was hell(!)

-It was why you wanted to become an actor!

It's true. And I had the number-one dressing room at the Albery Theatre,

which is on the stage level, and it was absolutely enormous,

and suddenly, I had a telephone of my own and a fridge. I thought,

"Oh, yes, I've arrived."

Denis, what sort of cook are you?

I probably cook about six different dishes, something like that.

-Do you follow the rules?

-No. You'll be dismayed to hear this, but I'm not very good with books.

-I've caught up with one of your countrymen, actually.

-Right, OK.

The first time...

Oh, it's Gordie!

When we worked together, we worked on this film called Local Hero.

He's the kind of guy you don't want to go to a party with,

because within 10 minutes, he'll be sitting at the piano, playing songs,

and all the girls will be around the piano, cooing over him, because he's just so cool.

We wanted to be Denis Lawson for years.

I still want to be Denis Lawson. He can do everything.

He can sing and dance, he's charming, he's funny, he's just horrible!

I think he is a foodie, and I think he is a wine-ie...a wino!

He likes a wee bit out of the old brown paper bag.

I've seen him drunk a few times. I know he was recently in Morocco

with James Nesbitt, filming something, and he really loved that.

I think he enjoyed all that. That's what I'd quite like him to do.

Denny Pops, if you're there, do something Moroccan. Get drunk.

-Well, Denny Pops, are you up for it?

-Definitely. Yeah, absolutely.

John Gordon Sinclair's challenge.

-So, I think we'll do a pigeon pie.

-OK.

Gorgeous big pie.

I had this idea of the impoverished actor going home and making himself something to eat.

-I was never impoverished.

-All actors are impoverished!

I remember, in fact, funnily enough, being in San Francisco and wanting to buy a belt,

a really groovy belt, and knowing that if I bought this belt, I couldn't eat for a day.

I bought the belt.

Actually, I lost a belt in Morocco, in Marrakech.

I had two guys come up to me and say rather threateningly, "We want your belt."

I didn't have a choice. I had to give it to them. They were very scary.

They were so worried about my trousers falling down, they gave me theirs.

Their belt was actually nicer than mine!

When you say spice, what spice?

I've used a little bit of paprika.

-Right.

-I put some turmeric.

Literally just tear a little bit of parsley. Chuck it in.

-All of it?

-Yeah. Poached in liquid.

-Yes.

It's like carving a very small chicken.

I must have been the last person in the world

-to know that you are Ewan McGregor's uncle.

-I am.

Yes, you are, I'm afraid so!

-It seemed to have...

-Did it pass you by?

-Yeah.

We have a great relationship, we have a lot of laughs and share a sense of humour.

-A bit of spice, bit of sugar.

-Yeah.

And as this bakes,

it'll just become very crisp, but very light and thin.

Yeah, a bit like painting a room.

A very small room, obviously!

It is, it's turmeric and garlic and almonds and stuff.

-In the oven.

-Wonderful.

-A pie.

-A pie.

Smell the kasbah.

Cut in.

It was my buttering, I think, that achieved that extraordinary effect.

Wow.

Well done. Yeah.

I think I did really, really well. You were there, but...!

Yeah.

-I mean...!

-Time to sum up Denis Lawson's life with his final feast.

Denis, your final feast.

-Mmm.

-Sumptuous.

-What have we got here?

-Quails.

This is a Moroccan dish. Quails stuffed with a sweet yet spicy

couscous filling, using sultanas, sugar, cinnamon, almonds and honey.

Stuffing birds in Morocco is a traditional way to use leftover couscous.

I thought, what would I like to have?

I remember some years ago eating quails in a French restaurant in Monmouth Street.

Honestly, I haven't had quails in a long, long time, but I just had a bit of a fancy for quails.

Once you've steadily simmered your quails, set them aside and make the sauce.

Presentation is key to this dish.

Place the birds on a bed of couscous and build your pyramid of quails.

You've got roast potatoes.

I love roast potatoes. I cook roast potatoes

quite well myself - my limited repertoire - with garlic cloves in them and thyme.

I just love roast potatoes.

A well-roasted spud is wonderful.

It is glorious.

And you've got some little...

This to me is one of the great starters.

It's a very light pastry with tapenade, and then quails' eggs and hollandaise.

It's just a great starter. I love it.

The first step with this decadent starter is to make a tapenade

with the finest anchovies and olives.

Make a hollandaise.

Boil your quails' eggs.

And prepare your pastry base.

To top it off, a sprinkle of paprika,

and you're well on your way to heaven.

Have any regrets in your life?

I don't do regrets. It's a waste of energy.

You do seem quite relaxed, and yet I think you've said before there is an inner turmoil.

There is. I know that I have a sense of physical ease about me,

and I seem like a very laid-back kind of person,

but in fact inside, I can be quite stressed, tense.

I do mask, sometimes, a bit of inner turmoil, yeah, absolutely.

-Does it ever come out?

-Oh, yes.

It certainly does!

-Do we want to be around it does?

-Not really, no!

Do you ever feel proud of what you've done and accomplished?

Yeah, I guess. When I think to where I came from, the background I came from,

the town I came from, to have come to this point and be the first in the family to make the leap,

yeah, I do feel proud of that.

Denis Lawson, thank you for being my guest on Taste Of My Life.

It's been such a pleasure.

Thank you.

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