Timothy Spall A Taste of My Life

Welcome to the show that serves up famous lives on a plate.

To explore the dining experiences of your past is to take a truly tasty journey back in time,

which is why I am going to be taking today's special guest on a culinary stroll down memory lane.

Now today's guest is one of the country's finest actors,

but most peoples' introduction to him was on a building site in Germany.

Having appeared in countless movies and TV dramas,

he has become a regular cast member of the films of Mike Leigh.

And more recently, he has become a very familiar face in the enormously successful Harry Potter films.

Yes, today's special guest is the fabulous British actor, Timothy Spall.

And coming up in today's show,

Timothy Spall's entire family recreate Christmas lunch in his honour.

This is the one job I do on Christmas, and this is just for show I don't even normally do this.

Actor and friend Sam Neill cooks a salmon for his mate.

The thing about Tim is that he is someone that loves being alive,

it seems a banal thing to say but he wasn't nearly alive for a bit.

And Tim's friend and actor Kenneth Cranham challenges us to make a steak and kidney pie.

-Is that too much of a knob?

-It is quite a big knob.

There we go!

Timothy, welcome to A Taste Of My Life.

-Nice to be here.

-You were born very close to here, in Lavender Hill?

I was born just off Lavender Hill, we were re-housed in '68, it was.

I was watching TV about four years after we had moved and I saw a picture of my street

and it had been flattened and the commentator said, "At last, slum clearance complete in South London."

Oh, bless them!

I didn't even know I lived in a slum, I thought it was nice!

What sort of a boy were you? Were you a good kid?

I think so, yeah. Very imaginative, I think, and quite a hypochondriac.

A very happy childhood though. It was a very...

You know, we could play in the street, we had no bathroom either,

tin bath was just in the back yard which every Saturday, my dad would fill from the Ascot.

The Ascot, I had forgotten about Ascots!

Yeah, it sounds like I was bought up in 1850, doesn't it?

So my mum would have a bath and then we would get in the bath after.

What was the food like?

It was, you know, roast chicken and lots of roast potatoes, everybody would have a kip,

we would watch the Sunday film and I would usually cry

and try and hide it because I didn't want everyone to see I was crying!

Were there any particular treats, anything that you really looked forward to?

The thing I was obsessed with and I loved was chicken and chips.

I absolutely went through a period of being almost obsessed with them.

Chicken and chips, a no frills dish this, but a popular favourite.

Some basic steps - chicken always needs butter to keep it moist

and is great at helping seasoning or herbs stick to the bird's skin.

Some people insist that cooking your chicken breast-side down

gives a juicier result.

Any opportunity I had, I would say, "Please can I get some chicken and chips?"

Or I would have chips with crackling which you never see any more,

which was basically a load of remnants of batter.

-Oh, batter bits.

-It must have been seven million calories in a bag!

-I know, but it was a real treat to get the batter bits.

-Yeah.

Before deep frying your own chips,

slowly bring the temperature of your oil up to 180 degrees.

For the perfect chip, cook first at a lower temperature,

then cook again in a hotter oil to brown.

I remember there was a guy who was laying all new pavements

around our street and I would sit and just chat to him.

I remember telling him I could eat chicken and chips for every meal for the rest of my life,

in fact I could eat it straight after I have had chicken and chips, I could have chicken and chips again!

You know your chicken is done when the juices run clear.

For easy gravy, add a glass of wine to the pan halfway through cooking.

Timothy Spall's taste of childhood.

Most of the family would have fish and if I ever had to go and get it,

it was really boring because you ask what everybody wanted,

cod and chips, rock and chips, cod and chips and someone,

usually my mum or my nan, would say, "Will you get me a bit of plaice?"

And you go, "Oh, no," cos you know you get to the chip shop

and you'd say "Three cod, two rock, one plaice." "You'll have to wait for plaice"!

Got to have a bit of sauce with that, haven't we?

You said that your... And you got on very well with your brothers.

You didn't let them see the sort of emotion that was coming when you watched films?

I can remember sitting there

and really being engrossed in these stories that weren't action movies

and having to cover my face and think,

"Oh, please don't look over here because I am really crying."

I used to go on my own to the cinema quite a lot and sometimes

used to go right down the front, so it was huge

and sit and just look at it and be completely absorbed with it.

So I always loved it and I don't think they ever had the projector quite right

because I remember watching Flash Gordon and everybody was squashed,

the film had got so old and there was all these little fat people!

I remember things used to fly like ice-cream cones, and when the kids got bored...

Pura cartons, those little plastic cartons.

I remember coming out of the cinema once, feeling on my head

and I had a top of an ice-cream tub stuck to my hair, someone had pitched it and it had stuck on there.

This is good - I have this for tea now as well.

Tell me a bit about mum and dad.

My dad was an incredibly...

chipper fella, my mum was a very, very smart woman and still is to this day, extremely...

Would never leave the house without full make-up on and looked like Alma Cogan or Diana Dors.

And what were the, sort of, family meals like?

-I remember my dad's favourite was rabbit and pearl barley.

-Lovely.

-It was beautiful.

-I love pearl barley and it's slightly...

-You don't see it any more.

-It's not fashionable but I am waiting

for some chef to and make it fashionable again because I love it.

'Rabbit stew. Though it is often a wrongly used phrase,

'rabbit really does taste a bit like chicken, so don't shy away.

'Buy wild rabbit rather than farmed, but that doesn't mean investing in a shotgun.

'Farmed rabbits are bred for size, not flavour.'

There is an awful lot of rabbits around that do a lot of harm

to the crops and things, so let's get them in a pot.

Absolutely. You are seeing a lot of rabbit in gastro-pubs.

I remember one where it said, "saddle of rabbit" and...

Do you ride this thing?

That's a bit cruel, isn't it!

It's like loin of tuna and you think, where do they have legs on tunas?

'Pearl barley is the milled grain from barley which is our most ancient grain.

'It is a little heavy as an accompaniment

'so it works best as an ingredient,

'not only in stews such as this one, but also broths and soups.'

Rabbit stew with pearl barley.

Yes, or Pearl Bailey as I used to think it was called!

Pearl Bailey, the jazz singer.

Were you a close family?

When I was born, my mum was a... worked in a chip shop...

Not WHEN I was born, I wasn't dropped into the batter, that doesn't account for my love of...!

And my dad was a scaffolder and when I decided to be an actor,

my mum was very, "Yes, well, I will support you," and my dad was as well.

Was it you or was it your mum who said you were a bit like a vulture

when food came on to the table?

I was a little vulture, yeah.

I would always eat incredibly fast, I never planned it,

it was just gannetry, I would just eat the lot as quick as I could,

then I would be sitting watching everybody else to see if they were going to leave anything.

I would say, "Are you going to leave that?" And the hand would come out...

What sort of teenager did you develop into?

I was fat, I remember that, being fat, but I have always

been quite agile, I have always been quite tubby but quite agile.

I was very lazy at school.

-You weren't academic?

-No, no, useless.

You didn't want to be a train driver, then?

Well, actually, firstly I wanted to be a fireman,

and then I wanted to be an architect because I liked the sound of it.

It was a toss up being a tank driver or a surrealist.

With encouragement from his teacher, Tim decided to pursue a career as an actor.

He applied to RADA.

Because it seemed to happen so quickly, I thought they had got me mixed up with someone else.

I remember going to Freed, the ballet shop in St Martin's Lane

and trying these tights on, thinking "What is the point of this?

"They are only going to say that they have got the wrong person."

Well, I caught up with somebody from that time and they have left a little message for you.

Oh, lovely.

We are upstairs in Greek St,

which is just opposite the Prince Edward Theatre in Soho.

-This is a patisserie.

-Ahh!

He might ask what have you done to your hand, Michelle?

I did something stupid, I thought it was cold water and I put my hand in

to do some cleaning and it was boiling water... It is ok!

Sounds about right!

I remember on the first day when I was auditioning for RADA,

we were just both waiting to go in and I heard him audition first.

You know, he has got that thing like Ralph Richardson, or someone like that.

He is of that kind of magnitude and eccentricity and deliciousness.

He will be remembered, won't he, as the others sail by?

He will be remembered.

Oh, my, God, Kim what are you up to?

He knows the bitter side and the sweet side of life

so he knows the pain of life and that is why he is very funny,

because he has had a great illness and survived that,

so that must inform him even more now. Lovely.

-That's for him.

-Wow, delightful.

I wish to say that it is a pity we don't live for longer and we haven't got all these things to do because

if we had more time to spend together, it would be a lovely thing, but the days just rush by.

I don't know why I am getting upset! Stupid!

Oh, that's lovely, absolutely delightful. Oh, goodness me, look at that.

-Have a bit of cake.

-Cor it is like... And as if my magic.

Look at that, look at that.

I had better shut up and try a bit of this, hadn't I?

She is a delight.

And so is this cake.

As Tim's friend Michelle mentioned, in 1996,

Timothy's life was turned upside down by a frightening diagnosis.

Yes, I had a rather hellish bungee jump into hell

when I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia

which I am in complete of remission now, and it made me realise

how important my family and my friends are to me, you know.

So it is when you get people being so lovely, it is a bit, you know...

I will try not to cry...yet!

I will do it for the finale.

Still to come on Taste Of My Life, Hollywood actor Sam Neill remembers

catching salmon with Tim in New Zealand.

It is exactly the same size as the one Tim fought with so manfully for at least three hours.

Tim's family Christmas is brought to the studio.

A toast to the lord of the household, Dad. To Dad.

To my wonderful son.

And while I cook up a steak and kidney pie, Tim makes fabulous gravy.

Hey, I'm cooking! I'm cooking!

Do you like the whole big Christmas lunch thing?

I do and we do tend to have quite a big do.

I am encouraged to keep out of the way because I can't cook

and I start worrying about things that are of no concern of mine, so...

I am often sent away and then I come back with a bottle of wine

with a teat on it and, you know, people work hard, why not?

-I have got another message for you.

-Have you? Oh, this is intriguing.

Behind Tim's back, his family have been preparing their unique Christmas dinner.

Goodness, me!

He's a wonderful father, one of the best dads you could possibly have

and he is fun and Christmas has always been a really special time in my house.

So what would Tim be doing at this stage?

Tim would be shouting at the television!

Shouting at the television. Not allowing us to watch the EastEnders Christmas special, screaming!

This is the one job I do on Christmas,

on the whole of Christmas, and this is just for show,

I don't even normally do this.

Dad said once that he liked a mug, so... and he liked novelty socks, so that was a bit of a mistake,

-cos for the next ten years, he got mugs and novelty socks.

-That's what he says now,

"What have I got? A cheap mug?"

Tim says that we are not allowed to have...

If five minutes goes by and we are not eating or drinking,

then it is not a proper Christmas,

So he just goes, "Eat, drink, what is the matter with you?!"

I am extremely proud.

I saw it in him when he played the lion in the Wizard Of Oz

and I never laughed as much in my life

because he played the lion as gay - "Oh, Dorothy!"

He really played it like that and the whole school was absolutely in fits.

I take it for granted you know, he did say the first time we ever went out to the pub

that he was going to be the actor of his generation.

Arrogant sod!

He was only 22 and I was 23, but he did say that and I did believe him.

Recently, it is amazing to have Timothy Spall being at the end of your line

if you have acting questions, there is no better mentor.

Tim will not have anything to eat unless there is red cabbage with it.

-No, he won't.

-And the more disgusting, the better the red cabbage is.

I am a waif and stray so they have just let me become part of their entire life.

I am just thrilled and lucky to be one of the family.

They are just gorgeous and generous and open and honest, I think that is the most fantastic thing.

I just wonder how other people can get by without having a bit of the Spalls in their life.

Tim is Tim, nothing about him is false.

MUM: When he was eight years old, he thought he had cancer up his nose

because there was a man that used to walk about that had no nose and he was that sort of a...

It would impress upon him and he laid in bed one night, really,

really crying and he said, "I think I have got cancer up my nose, Mum."

No, he really is a very, very lovely, kind man.

I am going to propose a toast to the lord of the household, Dad.

-To dad. To Tim.

-A toast to my wonderful son.

To the lord of the household.

Cheers, Dad.

What a delight.

-Oh, my God.

-Lovely...

-That's Boxing day!

-Boxing Day.

It is so lovely to see them all there, a peculiar experience

to see all your family and where you live on the television.

'Tim was first discovered by Mike Leigh back in 1982 and has gone on

'to collaborate with him on films such as

'Life Is Sweet and Secrets And Lies.

'But he really broke through to a wider audience on the small screen.'

It is funny that you have done so many films but you are,

I think...a lot of people know you through Auf Wiedersehen and Barry.

I didn't expect it to be the success that it was, but it was an absolute humdinging hit.

-Rodney.

-Rodney?

-Well, so what, like?

No, no, no, nothing, that is a very nice name.

-It was a shock to all of us because it changed our lives.

-Yeah.

It changed my life badly to begin with

-cos I had a period of unemployment after the second series.

-Because you were Barry?

They must have just presumed that I was.

Do you think that with success, what you have eaten has changed?

Discovering duck confit is...

For some reason I thought it was jam, but I...

Yeah, confit, confiture.

Confiture, and then I realised that when I saw duck was involved

and I thought I would order it one day and I had been avoiding it,

looking at it on menus, and then eating it and thinking, "My goodness."

Because sometimes it comes roast and sometimes it comes sliced and looks like a dead man's bum or something.

Exactly, a silly little... .

I know, you think, "Oh, bear it away!"

Duck confit is a classic dish from the southwest of France.

It can be made with goose or duck - it takes two days to prepare

so if you have got a spare weekend, it is well worth the effort.

It is essential to submerge the duck entirely in the fat.

It is food that you go... when you see it.

-That's right, exactly.

-Even being able to say it in the right way means that I must have learnt something.

I am making some cream spinach in addition

to the traditional accompaniment that is served with confit.

Simple but delicious braised lentils and vegetables.

Timothy Spall's taste of success -

duck confit and not a jam jar in sight.

Considering I am a maniacal actor who loves good reviews and awards and food,

you know, I am personally very, very interested in what makes people tick,

what makes ordinary things extraordinary.

There is a lot of actors who probably looked at those parts

and thought, "That's not for me, it is not loud enough, I'm not a hero."

I am a little bit uncomfortable in playing the people that are adored and are looked up to.

They are characters I always want to give a big hug to.

Well, you know, I love it when people say, "You made me cry,"

and I think, "Thank you very much."

Now very much at the other end of the acting spectrum, really, I suppose...

-Harry Potter.

-It is one of the smallest parts I have ever played

and it is the one that everybody goes, "Hey, are you the rat guy?"

You know, I have been in lifts with middle-aged people and you think

they have had an argument and they are going to bed.

Patrician-type Americans. AMERICAN ACCENT: "Would I be wrong in thinking that you are Wormtail?"

What sort of friend do you think you are?

I don't feel I have a duty but I have always felt that somehow I like people to feel good, you know.

I try not to burden people with things - I don't use friends as psychiatrists.

I caught up with a friend of yours, actually, and they have got another little message for you.

Ahh, this is a delight, this is a bit scary, but delightful.

-Ahh!

-'I didn't meet him until I was working at Pinewood'

doing something and Tim was on the next lot

and he was having his lunch, and I got introduced to him and it was a big day for me.

It was lunch time for both of us and I think that set the pattern,

because our friendship...

seems to be delineated by food and drink, that is what we do and that is what we do best!

There is something very nice about cooking something that you have actually caught yourself.

I didn't catch this chap but... I am sure he is up for it!

He is such great company and they came to stay once at my house in New Zealand. We went out on the lake

and we went fishing.

And to Tim's complete astonishment, he caught a salmon.

This is exactly the same size as the one that Tim caught,

and fought with so manfully for at least three hours from my boat!

We landed it, we took it back and we cooked it and it was one of those meals, you know.

The thing about Tim is that he is someone that loves being alive.

It seems a banal thing to say, but he wasn't nearly alive for a bit

and, um, being alive for Tim...

I am just guessing, but my observation is this,

that he loves discourse, he loves company, he loves...

He adores his little family, he has got great friends.

He loves working and why not, he is so good at it.

You can never have enough salt or pepper on things.

I will put our little friend in here.

Good luck and God bless you and hope for the best.

A marvellous host and marvellous guest

and just a great man to sit at a table with.

That's a real delightful surprise.

That is a delight. I can't take all this love -

I am going to pass out in a minute!

Tim, what are you like under pressure?

It is a mixture, I either panic or I will go in to a place

where I deal with it, but I deal with it at about a million miles an hour.

I have caught up with a friend of yours - he's got a message for you.

We are both fervent that we have never bought

a bottle of water in our lives, we've never...

We drink tap water and it's something we are fierce about!

What I would like you to achieve is to work alongside Mr Slater

and for Mr Slater to produce a wondrous pie of steak and kidney, or something of that nature.

And for you to make an accompanying onion gravy and for a piece of it to come my way, is this possible?

That is not too bad, that doesn't frighten me.

-We can do pie and gravy. Pie and gravy. Let's make him a pie.

-All right, let's do that.

So Ken's challenge for you - we have got some lovely beef bones there.

Oh, right, yeah.

This is elaborate to make some gravy, you're gonna to put bones...

-It is but we like a bit of bone.

-We do like a bit of bone.

-Let's bung it all in, shall we?

-Yeah.

-Bung it all in there.

LAUGHTER

-You are a bit of a worrier, aren't you?

-Oh, yeah.

I like a good worrier - I worry if I am not worrying.

There is a bit of hypochondria in my family so one of the great cures

for hypochondria is getting cancer, I find.

-Did it help?

-Well, it stopped it, once I stopped worrying, things started to work all right.

You have enjoyed playing quite melancholy parts,

is Timothy Spall a bit melancholy?

On the whole I am pretty sanguine, pretty upbeat about most things.

I worked with Les Dawson once and he was joyous and wonderful and funny,

but there was always a slightly downturn look, there was something about him that was sort of like,

-it is all sad underneath but it is quite funny.

-Once that's melted...

-Is that too much of a knob?

-It is quite a big knob!

-Yes!

Whoop! There we go!

-Pop those in and let them sizzle.

-All of them?

-Yeah.

-Why not.

Hey, I'm cooking! I'm cooking!

Pastry is a mystery to me.

Tastes nice.

Worcester sauce, I love Worcester sauce.

Do you know, I think I was wrong, I think your knob was the right...

My original knob was the one.

You are a surgeon, aren't you, a mortician!

LAUGHTER

And then if you give that a stir round so the flour can cook a bit.

Yeah, and what's that in aid of?

That will just make it rich and thick.

-Rich and thickenness-ness.

-Rich and "thickenness-ness", yes!

-Do you like booze in your gravy? I would put Madeira in...

-Why not? Madeira sounds all right.

-Let's put a bit in.

-Madeira sounds good.

Now yours can just simmer quietly.

That looks all right.

Shall I give it a professional...

There we are.

Johnny! I have always liked that,

the painting and decorating side of cooking things.

We'll pop that one in the oven.

Listen to that! That's spot on, isn't it?

Crunchy, crunchy!

Pastry and gravy.

Where's that kidney? Right, I am going to try that.

-Pie perfection.

-Pie perfection!

Pythagoras!

'Time for Timothy Spall's final feast.'

-Your final feast.

-Mmm.

-Now, what have I got over here?

These are goujons, goujons of cod.

'Goujon means strips of fish, typically sole or plaice, coated and fried.

'Dip your fish in seasoned flour, then egg and then breadcrumbs.

'Be warned, if you don't follow this order and forget your flour,

'your coating will simply slide off.

'Don't overcrowd your pan and don't let your goujons touch each other.'

The last feast, I think,

would be about eating what you know might kill you eventually,

but who is going to care if it is your last feast?

This to me... I love mince meat, I love it.

All minced up and made into something else...

Let's have a taste of that. That is lovely to me.

'Sheekh kebab - this is a mild but deeply aromatic Indian kebab.

'I have added garam masala, garlic, ginger, parsley and onion.

'Ideally, this would be cooked in a tandoor oven, but it is almost

'as good on a griddle pan and is divine on the barbecue.'

Do you like the idea of looking through your life through what you have eaten?

As I said to you earlier, I would love to be very slim.

If there was something you could do that would make you eat this kind of food

and it wouldn't affect you in a bad way...

I know what someone is saying, I can hear them saying,

"It is called exercise, you fat BLEEP!"

Is there anything that you would like to have done but haven't?

-Apart from world domination as a Hollywood sex symbol...

-Absolutely!

I am pretty pleased... and happy at where I'm standing.

Before I was ill,

I was chasing my tail and I was worried a lot about what

you are supposed to achieve and what you do and what you don't, and now if, you know,

things aren't looking like they are as scintillating as they can be,

I think, "At least you are not ill and you are not dead."

Tim, is there a wish for today?

Being a hypochondriac, it's...living as long as I can,

not purely selfishly, but to make sure that my family are OK,

just so I can pop off.

I don't want them to be upset when I go so I want to live long enough

so they can say, "He's a BLEEP old git now so he can sod off"!

I don't feel particularly grown up.

I have had to been grown up cos I've had to leap over certain hoops health-wise,

but I don't really feel much older than I did when I was about four.

So if you can be four and maybe about 80 or something

that would be all right, and then make sure everybody is all right, and I just keep learning.

I just want to keep learning.

Timothy Spall, thank you so much for being my guest on Taste Of My Life.

-Oh, cheers.

-To you.

It has really been lovely to talk to you, Nigel, very, very nice.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

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