WEBVTT - Ruthie's Table 4: Olivia Colman 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.840 Welcome to Ruthie's Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:05.480 Adamized Studios. 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:09.720 The films of Olivia Coleman have the power to move 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:13.119 us to tears, make us laugh, and inspire us to 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:17.160 try something new. They can also make us feel really, 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:21.959 really hungry. In the Favorite playing Queen Anne, Olivia Coleman 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.760 conveys her authority by insisting on a cup of over 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.120 rich hot chocolate, and there are tables laden with roasted venison, 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:35.720 lamb cakes, desserts, the symbols of wealth and privilege. None 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.440 to the Queen. What what you cannot have hot chocolate? 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.920 Your stomach sugar inflames? It I begat having that cup? 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:43.280 Do not? 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.880 I'm sorry, I do not know what to do. Oh fine, 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:48.760 give it her and you can get a bucket in 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:53.080 a mop for the aftermath. I met Olivia over food 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.600 one night in the River Cafe. She was with my 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.040 friend Maggie gillinol and they just wrap filming for their 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.080 movie The Lost Daughter in Greece. It is not an 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.959 exaggeration to say they pretty much ordered everything on the menu. 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.160 We immediately got into talking about feeding our kids, cooking, 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.160 and inflicted distance from family when working this was a 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.840 conversation that could have lasted for hours, but I had 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.000 to go back to the kitchen and she needed to 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.720 finish your lemon pasta before it cooled down. Today we're 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:24.800 here in the River Cafe and she is the one 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:28.000 who's been cooking the lemon pasta. Now we're going to 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.200 pick up where we left off. Conversation with a woman 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:35.679 I admire, I respect, and I adore lucky me. Oh, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:40.160 that was the best introduction. Thanks, that's true. It's true. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:43.440 So you're in the River Cafe kitchen with Alex, who's 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.600 on the section called Hots two, which does pasta. So 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.040 what was it like? What did you just say? Lovely, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.560 you chose for your recipe tag you Telly with lemon, 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.720 cream and parsley, and I wonder if you would like 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.200 to read it. 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.040 Four hundred grams taglete, mold and salt and coarsely ground 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:07.280 black pepper, three hundred miles double cream, one hundred and 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:12.040 twenty grams unsalted butter, softened zest and juice of four 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:17.080 juicy lemons. Six tablespoons roughly chopped flat leaf parsley, one 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.040 hundred and fifty grams of grated parmitan. 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.440 This is the one you chose. Sure, yeah, I mean 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.079 it it is absolutely lovely and classic and I think 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.040 sort of as you start being this time of year, 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.359 is you know, it's like start a bit more light 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.440 in summary that still on its slightly miserable. 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.240 Well have I picked that too easy? You? 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.200 No, No, this is great, it's fantastic. What we want 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.560 to do is we basically just get everything in in 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.239 the path that we need. So we're going to have 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:50.640 a bit of butter, of bit of cream. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.880 In a large, thick bottomed saucepan. Gently heat the cream. 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.800 When warm, add the butter, lemon juice, and zest, stir 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:57.680 briefly together. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:02:59.080 Then remove from the heat. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.000 Cook the taglitarian a generous amount of boiling salted water 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.120 until al dente, and then drain, stir into the warm 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.960 cream and season. Add half the parsley and tossed together. 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:13.720 Do you want to like toss it? 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.080 Can? I? Yeah? 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:17.919 Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I feel like, sorry, that's a 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.880 bit you know, we've still got a bit of you know, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:23.519 we just give it a good old. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:31.920 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.480 Serve immediately on warm plates with the remainder of the 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.840 parsley and the parmesan as it cools. 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:40.760 It will sort of thicken up a little bit and 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:42.840 then a little bit of parmesan on top, and that's 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.040 sort of what we're looking for. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:47.760 Looks pretty Oh. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:53.200 Thank you. 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:58.160 What did you observe? Yeah, just amazing. He said you 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.640 cooked it? You actually did well. I think you definitely. 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:04.760 It's not easy to go into it. Let me do that. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.200 I did the tossing. Yeah, did you catch it? Yeah? 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:09.760 Well I did make a bit of a mess of 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:15.360 your floor. Sorry, Oh dear, okay, wanted no, we didn't 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:24.560 want to do. Do you see food and your ability 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.800 to eat, well, it's a kind of measure of your success. 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.760 People very often see that that we've talked to would 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.960 say as their success increased, they measured it by being 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.480 able to go to a good restaurant, better bottle of wine, 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.839 even not have to look at the right hand side 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.279 for the prices before they looked at what they wanted 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.960 to eat. Yeah. The difference is, so is that how 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:47.640 is that measured in your career? 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.960 I remember, we've got a close group of active friends 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.560 that we all were drama school together and we've all 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.080 stayed very close. But when we first left drama school, 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.000 sometimes we'd go to you know, a pub for someone's 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.960 birthday to eat, and it was very much sort of 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.800 how about should we share that all of us were? 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.720 You know, really there wasn't much lots of money going 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:13.599 around and renting terrible places and trying to share something 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.760 between us. Or if we clubbed together and buy one 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:18.640 bottle and then we could always get something from the 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.360 offfee on the way home and have more to drink 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.880 because it's cheaper at home. And then cut to you know, 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.800 years later, I could say, let's walk out with dinner 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.160 my shout, or you know, what. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.400 Did you eat after we had the ark? Was that 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.320 celebrated with food? No? 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.480 I think that was entirely booze. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.680 You could do another program called you know. 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.880 I think I was so out of it sort of 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.320 I couldn't believe what had happened. 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.600 You did seem very sharp, yes, And why why were 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:57.320 you so surprised? I didn't think i'd get it, you know, 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:01.080 the first time I'd been nominated, and we were so 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:02.640 proud of the film and everything, but I just thought 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:04.080 that that's never gonna happen. 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:08.640 That's well, it makes you emotional. It was such a 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:10.400 ridiculous thing to have happened. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:10.880 In a way. 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:13.760 Yeah, I can't believe it. Still can't quite believe that happened. 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.599 I did afterwards. 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.240 Yeah. Do you are you an emotional eater? Do you 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.120 eat when you're happy or sad? Do you both? Yeah? 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.240 Yeah, I do love you know, the comfort foods or 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.599 hot buttered toast butter place. 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:36.320 I love butter. Toast is basically just a vehicle for butter. Agree. 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:38.280 My mother in law used to say that butter is 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.040 the best cheese, you know. She treated it like cheese. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.880 You just have a piece of slab butter until she 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.760 decided that it was would kill you, so that I 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.120 was never allowed to cook with butter after that. But 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.599 it is really Yeah, I like it. And when you 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.200 make a film like, for instance, going to Greece, when 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.359 you made The Lost Order, what. 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.760 With Maggie too, Yeah, all of the casts were in 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.000 the same hotel. Maggie had a little house separately because 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:06.919 she had to do grown up things think about the 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:07.360 next day. 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.520 And we were all quite badly behaved. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:14.680 Who you were so me Jesse Dakota, Dakacha Johnson, Jesse Buckley, 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:20.360 to Coach Johnson, Paul Meskill, Ollie Jackson, Cohen, Dagmara demin 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.400 chic who else? 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.440 I feel awful if I'm missing anyone else out. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:30.080 But we were all together and quite badly behaved and eating. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:32.640 We knew exactly the menu because we'd all been the 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.800 same hotel for I think six weeks, so we knew 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.920 the menu back to front. And they were very sweet 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.360 and would do very But I remember they had a 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.560 deconstructed fetter, you know Greek salad, so it was a 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:46.840 really different fetter, not a solid one, but quite a 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.280 soft one, laid out sort of prettily rather than you 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.360 know what. But I remember from a childhood holidays degrees 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.720 which is great big chunks of everything in a bomb 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:57.920 or I have you even got pictures of the food, 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.920 and they did a savice something with mango and mm, 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.560 lovely things. This is when Greece in Greece, sorry, in 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:12.920 the hotel in the Posidonian and your parents as well, Yes, 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.040 we did go to Greece as it as yeah, as kids, 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:21.640 and I remember then eating octopus. I couldn't eat octopus 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.080 now because i've you know, the multipus teacher and learning 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:25.520 so much about how clever they are. I can't do 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.400 it but to eat it straight out of the sea 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:30.640 so fresh and squid. 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.720 And so did your parents travel with you when you 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:34.520 were a kid, did you know? 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.960 No, they weren't really travelers. But my dad's best friend 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:41.520 moved to Naples when I was twelve. I don't think 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.960 they'd ever been to Italy, and we decided to go 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.760 and we stayed with them. 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:47.480 In the summer. 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.760 Yes, in the summer, we went to Ischia in the 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.240 Bay of Naples and just had because they lived there 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:55.440 and he married an Italian woman. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:56.880 We had incredible food. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.040 We went to amazing restaurants, and we didn't know what 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:01.800 we were doing, so he would trust me and he 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.120 would order something of everything and try these beautiful things. 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:09.280 We went to little restaurants in people's houses in the hills. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.520 Oh yeah, is it when I was twelve? I was 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.800 born in seventy four and I can't do maths. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:19.360 Yeah, so that's eighty two, well done, No twelve, No maths, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.880 it's either seventy four eighty eighty six. How long did 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:30.199 it take us to add twelve to seventy four eighty 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.080 that's the year before we started here. And it's interesting 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.320 that you know your first introduction to Italian cucoo was 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.400 southern you know so regional. Isn't it that the different 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.719 said you go on to Venice, you would have had 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.560 completely different food. Yeah. And I love the food of 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.160 southern Italy. I did that last year. I went sailing 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.280 in that area and it's lemons and basil. Yeah, you know, 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.880 fish fresh, yeah, fresh, really good. So let's go back 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:59.480 to the beginnings. Yes, born in Norfolk, Yes, not really. 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:04.440 Family of food. Food was always love. We'd always sit 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.000 together and we had dinner. Yeah, I mean a lot 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.280 of My mum was a nurse. Often she'd come in. 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.240 It would be quick. We might sit on the sofa 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.320 watch Telly with food on our laps and you know, 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.920 doctor who. But when people came around, it was an 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.760 excuse for my dad to open a bottle of wine 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:24.040 and entertain. 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.640 And who did the cooking? Then? Would he ever cook? 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.560 My mum did the cooking. She never really loved cooking. 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.559 And her mum, I remember my granny sort of dreaded 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.360 people coming around, and we'd always have slightly overcooked salmon, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.559 new potatoes and green beans. 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:42.160 I think that was it. 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:45.280 Every time I went to my granny's house, and then 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.720 my mum whenever anyone came for a dinner party. 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.600 I can just remember cold Morney that's with cheese and 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:55.600 kind of crepes and spinach I think, yeah, yeah, and 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.000 new potatoes, as simple as possible. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.480 She really didn't want to spend much time after that 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.960 trip to Italy. My dad decided he wanted to get 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:08.320 involved and started to particularly pastors. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.240 And things, and that's what did you do. 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.160 He was a surveyor, chilter surveyor, but he quite liked 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.319 the glass of wine feeding everybody. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.680 He wasn't great, but he was enthusiastic. I think it 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.679 is hard for a woman who was a nurse, you know, 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.160 to think about did she work nights? 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.640 By the time I came along, she wasn't doing nights 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:31.560 because she wasn't working in the hospital. She was working 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:36.000 on the district, so I can't even remember. She must 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.520 have been on call if someone needed her at night time. 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.200 But she worked Christmas Day, you know. She always took 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:43.679 the shifts that she knew other people didn't really want 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:43.840 to do. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:44.200 I think. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.040 And your grandmother lived near you, often i'd go and 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.079 stay there. If Mum and Dad were very busy, I'd 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.360 go and stay with my granny. And she always had 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:54.000 orange club biscuits in her. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:55.960 So, what are your memories of your grandmother? 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:01.400 My grand orange club biscuits, Rabina hilariously bed so that's 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:03.000 sugar all night. 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.000 Probably they didn't think about that. No, no, not at all, 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:14.160 and look pretty okay, So the memories. What about your 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:18.920 father's mother. She was an amazing baker girl. We found 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.480 someone in the what did she make? 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.280 Just there was always she had a little larder and 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.720 she'd always go we have a little look in the cupboard. 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.240 There go on and there was always been at a 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:32.720 little bit of cake and made you a little bit 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:36.840 something or shortbreads, fruitcake which I'd ever liked. So she'd 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.720 always make me a little chocolate cake. And yeah, just 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.120 we were always allowed to go in and help ourselves. 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:47.360 So growing up Norfrika's see only place incredible secret. 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.640 We used to also our holidays were also camping in Norfolk, 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.520 just a few miles away from where we actually lived 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.840 on the coast, and we'd camp in a campsite and 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:56.720 picked Sanfa. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.400 We in Norfolk we call it Sanfa. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.080 And when I first it written down on our menu 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.320 in London it said Samphire, I have no idea what 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:03.920 that was, So I. 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:05.640 Thought it was pronounced. 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:07.839 I thought it was spelled as a kid s a 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.520 n f e r sanfa. But I think that's just 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.640 the Northern way of saying it. But the way we 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.120 ate it as well was so shake off the mud 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.160 in the seawater and it's sort of blanched, but it's 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.600 still so you keep the rooting, yeah, and just dip 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:27.559 it in butter and put it like that. You get 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.400 the meat off the meat, you know. Yeah, Yeah, And 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.120 we'd always just have it like that. You'd never have 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:33.880 it with something else. 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.520 You eat it. That's how we ate it. We take 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.000 that little twig off at the barroom and then we blanched, 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.520 but we put it with a fishert and yeah, sea burst. 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.680 It's great. It's a short season though, isn't it. 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:46.000 Yeah. 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.040 I think you're not allowed to pick it anymore. 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.440 We used to really go and pick it, just go 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.560 to the beach, pick it off the marshes and fish 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:56.360 and fish. Yes, we used to go cockling as well. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:01.800 And muscles. I have always loved muscles. Oh that creamy, 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:16.880 garlicy dunk bread in it. Yeah. I did my first 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.120 school play when I was sixteen, and suddenly i'd always 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.200 been so rubbish at everything at school and then suddenly 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.680 did a play and went a light went on. 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:25.880 I love this. 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.480 I wonder if I could do this, but I didn't 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.800 know anyone who did it. I assumed you had to 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.800 come from that place in order to do it, so 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.720 sort of had a secret yearning that never said it. 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:43.520 And then I went to Homerton, which I think still 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.920 is a teacher training college in Cambridge, but I left 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:51.480 after a term or so, so I never They call 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.720 it matriculation when you become part of the university, but 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:55.560 I never did that, so I was never part of 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:59.200 the university. And I left because I just couldn't do it. 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.920 And then went off to the town of Cambridge and 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.920 ended up working as a cleaner there for years. 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:07.960 And I had a bicycle. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.080 I had the same major, so everyone else nobody questioned me, 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.840 and I went cycled around, went to lectures of people. 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:14.440 So I went to an. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.520 Architecture lecture, went to an EU law lecture with when 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.440 I was totally in desperate in love with Ed and 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:21.120 just trying to you. 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:26.040 Were being an actor. Nigella Lars and a friend of mine, 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.600 you know, she worked as a cleaner in hotels and 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:34.040 Florence and she said it was the most revealing you 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.520 could have, particularly in the hotel the way people left 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:42.040 their rooms or so you did that for how long? 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:46.600 Yeah, a couple of years, and then did a secretarial course. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.160 That was my mum's suggestion that if you're going to 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:50.640 be an actor, you need something for it. So you 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.920 knew then that by then, Yeah, I had done in Cambridge. 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.560 There's about thirty drama societies and I would just cycle 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.880 around all that. I did my shift and auditioning for things. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.440 Don't play his learning lines, going back, cleaning all the 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.800 loose and chasing head around. 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.720 Yeah, it was your husband to be was a student Cambridge. 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:12.400 Yes he was. 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.360 He's proper clever and he was there doing it properly. 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:17.960 What does he do He was doing law then, but 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:18.600 he's a writer. 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:19.960 Yeah. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.640 And then we went off to Bristol lol VIC Drama 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.600 School together and then we sort of you know, the 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.520 food is love thing. We went to Thai restaurants and 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.840 discovered new food together and there's a Thai restaurant in 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.240 Cambridge and it was so delicious we took it back 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:38.960 with us. We asked, it's first of a time I've 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.360 asked for a doggie bag, and I didn't want to 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:43.280 leave any of it, and we left it on his window, 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.600 still outside, putting arms out the window and. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.680 Going, oh my god, it's amazing. The lemon grass and 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:53.320 the coconut Milcolm so Cambridge. And then you started acting 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.680 more and more and you went to Bristol. Yeah, and 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.240 when you actually then started working in the theater, that 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.200 must have solutely changed your way of eating. Did it 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:05.760 give you a routine or did it give you restrictions 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:06.840 some what you could have? 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.119 And well, once we left Bristol and we were working, 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:14.159 you know, trying to earn our keep as actors. I 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:18.040 did my first few plays and things. I think I 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.840 ate quite late after the show because you was sort 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.320 of on a high, certainly wanted to have a drink afterwards. 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.480 When I worked at the Noel Coward Theater right next 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.680 to Siky's with Amy Morgan and Phoebe Wallerbridge, the three 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:34.240 of us would sort of go to Cheeky's afterwards and 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:38.400 sit outside and I think we all smoked then and 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.760 we would order the little croquettes and the Scarlett Burgers. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.880 Oh, and that was a true and just drink. This 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:49.240 would have been. 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.840 After Iron Lady Excep's when I first met Phoebe, which 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.120 was Meryl Street playing Margaret Thatcher. 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.320 So a couple of you after that, three is after that. 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.880 I don't know, I'm so bad with but you can 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:08.399 remember what you ate, you can always yes, Yeah, loves food, 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:10.359 she does. Yeah. 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:12.760 And it's really annoying that she's so tall and lean 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:13.760 and she loves eating. 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:20.320 It's annoying. It's annoying. I will, I will. But sure 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.320 you were eating out, so when you because it's you know, picnics. 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.440 Would you eat before if you were in a martine 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.880 would you We'd sometimes have a picnic on the floor 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:33.679 of one of our dressing rooms, so go to you know, 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.359 get sort of little little cheeses and meats and pretend 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:38.760 you we're having a normal life and not going back 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.439 on stage. And there are men involved as well. Was 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.600 it most of the female It was mostly just the 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.560 three of our girls, and we'd have a kip. 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.280 We'd sort of put we had some roll out mattresses 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:49.560 that we could put on the floor and we'd have 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.720 a snooze and eat nice food and then do the matinee. 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.159 Do you think that it binds you together? Food? When 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:56.719 you when you go on a set and you know 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.719 that you're medi you know. I don't know if the 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.600 all the other actors were friends of yours before, but 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:03.679 does it something that holds you all? 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.919 Before COVID happened, everyone would eat together on the dining 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.560 bus and I loved that you're eating with the crew 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:12.600 and what did you go for? What you go for, 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:17.479 and having a lovely time together, so social, and then 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.320 time to sort of all be equal and to let 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:24.119 your head down. And then now the dining bus hasn't 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.160 really come back, and so people sort of eat separately, 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.560 and that's such a shame, and you sort of sit 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.480 on your own in your little van. And I missed 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.719 that very much and hopefully we'll come back. But also sometimes, 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.560 you know, some actors are having to have a particularly 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.080 strict diet because they've got to look a certain way, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.080 and that's sort of awful. You try and hide the 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:47.960 pudding option that you went for. 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:54.040 How is weight and physical appearance with food? How does 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.720 it affect your work? I was just talking to someone 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.520 who's coming to London to be in a movie, and 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:03.640 his assistant said to me that he has a nutritionist 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.160 and a trainer because he's on a very special diet 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.120 for the film, and I thought that'd be interesting. I'd 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.560 like to know about that, because maybe I could go 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.679 on that without the nutritionist. And it turned out that 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.040 he was actually eating eight thousand calories a day because 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.480 I had to gain so much weight. It was completely 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.280 and I just was wondering how that, you know, when 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.800 you were a princess, when you or when you're okay queen, 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:30.399 and I had to put on weight. You had to 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:32.840 put on about two stone, did you? And how did 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:37.320 you do that? I mean, that's easy. Yeah, you didn't 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.720 need a nutritionist in my feet. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:47.360 But you know, and Rachel and and Emily Emma are 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.840 very healthy, clean eaters anyway, they love food, but it's 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.920 sort of clean food, so well, they had their healthy options. 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.399