Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S15 Ep 5: Andy Serkis

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

If you haven’t seen it already… there is a brand new Luther film out on Netflix - and this week we have star & psychopathic villain of the show, the glorious Andy Serkis on Table Manners. Andy talks to us about his Iraqi influenced upbringing, eating Wimpy's with his mum, where to get the best tiramisu in London & first dates in character.  We discover his musical hobbies, his love of mountaineering and we don’t even ask him for a Gollum impression! It was such a pleasure to have this national treasure and absolute gent over for lunch, such an interesting meal. Thanks for coming over Andy, we loved it!Luther : The Fallen Sun is out now on @netflix Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Taylor Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and we are in Mum's living room. It looks like I am the biggest hoarder because your brother's finally moving out and all his stuff is at the far end of the sitting room, ready to go in two days time into his new little flat. Very, very exciting but the place looks like a junk shop on top of that we've got bloody builders next door drilling and they're doing cement mixing you know you can't stop the cement mixer so it's just that's a song in that you can't stop the cement mixer you stick to podcasting okay um We've got a really incredible guest on today. I'm so excited. It's Andy Serkis, who is one of our kind of most treasured actors.

Just such a great actor. He's in everything. He's been Gollum. He's been in Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, The Hobbit, King Kong. And now he's playing a psychopath in the new film of Luther. I stress out watching Luther. I kind of can't watch it. Love it.

Because it's so terrifying. And Andy Serkis is playing the bad guy. The bad guy. Actually, he doesn't often play a bad guy. Doesn't he? No. I don't know. He's very versatile.

A misunderstood guy. Like King Kong. He can be good. A misunderstood guy. Like King Kong. He can be good or bad. Gollum. Yeah. What also I'm incredibly excited about when I was doing a bit of reading, he's married to Lorraine Ashbourne, who is like somebody that I've watched on my television forever.

She was just recently in Sherwood. She used to be in that really good football programme, Playing the Field. Do you remember it? Yeah. Leslie Sharp. Yeah. Anyway, enough about brilliant lorraine ashbourne um we have andy circus in the building coming for a lunch um very exciting pescatarian so i've done fish what have you made i have made a smoked fish pie which isn't like a fish pie at all a friend is it pastry no no no so it is a fish pie

it is fish but it's whole potatoes on top oh it's made with all delicious things like fennel spinach leeks and this is the tart recipe yes the tart recipe and it's got like um what spices has it got in it it's got tarragon parsley sage it's got everything it's got every spice you can think of and lots of different herbs yeah herbs and lots of cayenne pepper has it got has it got fennel seeds no it's got whole fennel in so and you've made this before no never but you've tasted it tasted it but it doesn't look like I remember it, but it doesn't matter because I think... Were you a few glasses in? No, I think all the ingredients are so delicious, I don't think we can go wrong.

And what are you going to serve it with? A salad. Yum. Because it's got everything in it. I mean, it was looking like it was going to be spring, and now it's kind of gone away. It ain't spring today. It was snowing last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and it said snow flurries.

Did you have any snow? Why did you wake up in the middle of the night? I'm always waking up in the middle of the night. What, and checking the weather? Sometimes I do. Well, let me just explain. That's really strange. No, I was checking the temperature because I was so worried that my central heating was going to go off again.

And in fact, the man left it on permanently, so it was on all night. Then I thought it was going to overheat, which it did yesterday. So the pump went off because the pump wasn't working and it overheated. But... It's thrilling stuff.

Sorry. It would have been thrilling if I hadn't had a shower after cooking all that smell of fish, I'm telling you. It does smell like Gaga's flat. Does it? I'm so sorry, shall I light a candle? Oh, is he here? Andy Serkis, coming up on Table Manners.

Welcome, Andy Serkis is here. Hello. Hello, thank you. You've just come from doing loads of radio stations and you're hungry I am so hungry I can't do this we'll be here

yeah very very excited about eating so intimate and fasting is that your thing well I do and have done it in the past

so Lorraine my partner which also by the way I didn't know that that was I love her oh do you so much I used to be brilliant

I quite like her yeah she's not bad playing the field I remember watching it god do you? So much. I used to be mad about her. I quite like her. Yeah, she's not bad, right? Playing the field, I remember watching it. God, do you really? I remember watching it because I loved football so much and I just found

she was a great character. Also at Sherwood. Everything. But she's in everything. She's on fire this year, I have to say. What else is she in? She's doing another series of Sherwood.

Are they doing another one? She's in Bridgeton at the moment. Oh, yes. She's got filming. She's got a new series that she's doing another series of Sherwood are they doing another one she's in Bridgeton at the moment she's got a new series that she's starting she's doing another series

of a thing called Alma's Not Normal I don't know if you ever saw Sophie Willen and if you haven't seen that then you should

check it out it's so funny Sophie's really when do you ever see her well we bump into each other maybe that's why it works.

How long have you been together? I think it's 32 years now. Wow. Did you meet at drama school? We met at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Of course. It's romantic. Doing a play.

We were doing She Stoops to Conquer. And we, and God bless her, Eunice Stubbs was playing, I was playing Tony Lumpkin and Eunice Stubbs was playing my mum and Lorraine was playing Kate Hardcastle and it was a really great production

have you ever been to the yeah I've been to I come from Manchester so in the round was it when it was new

when they yeah because it was in the round theatre in the old in the glass correct yeah it's really strange the way it's encased in glass.

So we met there, but we didn't get together then because we were both in other relationships. And then a year later, we were both not in other relationships. And we were doing another play

called Your Home in the West. And the story of the play was that this couple that we were playing were about to break up. And we thought, we've got to improvise what it was like at the beginning of their relationship Oh yeah, a little bit of method

So we met each other in character at the back of Manchester Piccadilly Station in a pub in a pub called the Moulders Arms and she was playing this lady of the night from Newcastle and I was playing a kind of roguish, gambling Irishman.

This sounds like lots of men's fantasies. Yeah, it is. And so we both turned up in character and met at the Mulder's Arms and this was in 1990-ish, something like that. And we stayed in character for the whole night and she got very, very drunk and I got very, very drunk and it was all a big veiled attempt to get off with each other.

I love that! But we literally stayed in character about three o'clock in the morning. When did you start? When did you come out of character? We said goodbye to each other and we were relatively poor actors at the time and we got on a night bus to go home

and she went off her separate way and I went off my separate way. I think I threw up actually. And then, and then the next day we came in and went, what was that about? What happened there? Did you snog? We did snog in character.

So then how was that first kiss when you were out of character? Was it a different kind of kiss? Well, kind of, I suppose. But that was reality, fantasy, kind of crashing together. Oh, God, Andy, I'm here for this. Oh, I love it. So that was the beginning.

And that was, yeah, 91. So it is. It's 32 years. And you live in London? We live in North London, yeah. But tell us about where you began and where you grew up and what were you eating?

Who was cooking around the dinner table? You mean like when I was growing up? Yeah, when you were growing up. Okay, so my heritage is my dad was Iraqi and so I grew up... Really? My mum had three,

who was a teacher, teaching special needs children. My dad was a doctor in Baghdad. She... So I'll just have to go backtrack a little bit. Her father worked on the oil refineries in Kuwait and met her mum. And they got married.

She was Iraqi. Had my mum. Then they got separated during the Second World War. She didn't see her parents for nine years. And then they got separated during the second world war she didn't see her parents for nine years and then and then she got tb went out to convalesce in baghdad and met my dad who was an aspiring doctor they fell in love got together they had three of my three older sisters kath and etha and carol and then um when i was born and they lived out there for about all together out there for about eight nine years then when i was born my mom had had

enough of the culture there and wanted to move back. But my dad had built a hospital with three other doctors. And so he stayed out there, still married. She came back to England and we grew up. My gran, who was Iraqi, lived in Wembley.

We lived in Reislit. So I grew up a lot with Middle Eastern cooking. We used to go back every year to Baghdad in the summer holidays until I was about 12 or 13 so I grew up with Iraqi food you know, khubar and lemon chicken

and orange chicken and dolma you know, sort of Middle Eastern very Levitan Orange chicken is it just chicken with oranges? what kind of spice well you know

it was all very I was very young and I probably it was a kind of citrus it was well obviously very citrusy but it was sweet

it was a sweet taste it wasn't peppered it wasn't peppered as such whereas the lemon chicken was a lot more more peppered I think tabbouleh of course

you know all that kind of that Lebanese cooking you know uh kubba and kubba is kind of like dumplings with with meat in with meat at the time because you're a pescatarian now pescatarian now was a vegetarian since I was kind of 18 and then started eating fish again actually Actually, no, started eating fish, then went fully vegetarian, then started eating fish again. So when you decided to be a vegetarian at 18, how did your family feel about that?

They must have wanted to disown you. Well, they thought it was very freakish and strange and kind of odd. Yeah, because it was so out of... I mean, if you can imagine a mixture of Baghdad and suburban rice slip, that was our family. You know, we used to, my mum hated cooking. Whereas my gran cooked, so at the weekends we would have all this Iraqi food.

My mum despised cooking and she was teaching, so she didn't have time. And so we existed on Coleman's cheese sauce, tins of tuna, packed with, you know, all the convenience foods of the late 70s, you know, Wimpy's, we'd go out and get, you know, a Wimpy every now and then. Was that quite a treat? That was a treat, yeah. The whole milk bun, I always remember it. Yes, and the brown derby. Good for you.

Do you remember the brown derby? The brown derby, the dessert. It was like chocolate cake with ice cream in the middle. That's right. It was basically a donut. It was a donut cake with ice cream in the middle. That's right. It was basically a donut. It was a donut with a dollop of ice cream on top. But it had a hole in the middle so they could put the ice cream in. So it looked like a hat.

Yeah. Oh. I think that's the derby hat, isn't it? That's it. That's it. Absolutely right. That's absolutely right. So we generally have that on a Friday evening as a treat.

But we were sort of left to our own devices because she was busy. So it was all those kind of packet convenience foods. And then on the Sunday. Then on the Sunday. Thank God for Grandma. Thank God. I mean, bless her. When my grandma died.

Did you call her Tata? Was she called Tata? No, we just called her Granny. Granny. We were too suburban. Although I did know a little bit of, as my mum would call it, kitchen Arabic. But when my gran died she actually

she was a big cooker of food and then she would keep and store it and freeze it so in fact her wake she had these huge huge freezes she catered her own wake she catered for her own wake how cool is that that's amazing how cool is that so yeah Huge, huge freezes. Did you have enough food? All the food. She catered her own wake. She catered for her own wake.

How cool is that? That's remarkable. That's amazing. How cool is that? So, yeah, that was... So whenever you went round, there was always enough food? Yeah, she was a total hoarder, my gran. Okay. Yeah, total hoarder.

I mean, you opened the cupboards, there were tins of sardines, tins of... I mean, food was a big thing for her. Did your dad ever come back to live here? He did. Obviously, during the Gulf Wars, it got too dangerous for him. And so he actually disappeared at a certain point.

We thought he was, as a lot of his friends did, and didn't come back. But he was disappeared because they thought he was a British spy. And then he was released, and then he came back to to live in England and and so he used to do his I mean he he really he then really missed his home culture I mean he did settle here but his heart was still was in Baghdad really um and so yeah food wise he would he would cook occasionally cook dishes but but

by then I'd sort of left home so so yes and become a vegetarian but you look the least Iraqi person and you've got blue eyes well I'm the only one

in my family who does actually oh really yeah yeah yeah strangely maybe I'm just thinking about it maybe

I'm not who I think I am no no but no I know all my sisters and my brother they've all got very strong dark eyes what happened to your dad's hospital it's still there

and it's still operational actually one of the things I really want to do or am planning to do is to make some sort of show, a TV series about the three stages of that hospital's life you know the kind of pre saddam hussein era the the saddam hussein era and then the poke poke because it because it sort of it went from being a hospital that was built for all iraqis to um in fact i've got to tell you a story which is quite hilarious Jim Al-Khalili

you know Life Scientific on Radio 4 came up to me, I was just about to do a presentation at a show and he came up to me and he said Andy it's so lovely to meet you and I love the films that you do and everything and my name's Jim Al-Khalili and I'm a big fan of your show

Love Life Scientific, do you listen? It's wonderful and he said, I got this bizarre connection to you, but I have to tell you about it. And I was like, okay. Okay. And he's Iraqi Jewish.

Oh, I'm a lady. I'm trying to work out the name. And he said to me, your dad circumcised me. And I was like, that is the most bizarre connection I think I've ever had as an introduction

to anyone in my life but thank you very much for that information did he do a good job did you ask exactly so anyway

how did I get onto that that's so funny in Iraq in Iraq this is in Iraq you were talking about wanting to make this TV show yes

so about the hospital a film or TV show yeah TV show a TV show I think so it's about the three and show. Yes, so about the hospital. A film or a TV show? Yeah, a TV show, I think. So it's about the three, and then, of course, and then about the green zone when the American military moved in and took it over. But it's still there, and apparently their pictures, the four doctors who started it, is still there.

So I've, you know, as you get older, you want to reconnect with your, I mean, because actually, where are you guys? What are your roots? Jewish. Do you think we look exotic? You do look a bit exotic no we're mum's manchester right cheedle you cheedle no cheesham hill cheesham hill

actually that was has become one of these places in that i was there last week the police have closed down and there's big signs why because it's counterfeit goods and drug dealing. Really? And they've actually barricaded it down and it says not to be opened by order of the Manchester Police. Oh, you know, you see. Yeah, and all by strange ways as well. Just these big banners up saying you can't open it.

They've been doing raids on it. So I come from, yeah, North Manchester. North Manchester, yeah, yeah. And my dad actually was Northern Irish. Oh, really? Northern Irish, Russian Jewish. Wow. And I've just got my Irish passport.

Oh, yes. Yes. So I've got my Irish passport. And my mum was from Birmingham, really. Yeah. So not as interesting as you. So, you know, you must have had to have been quite imaginative being a vegetarian at that time.

It wasn't like, you know... Spudgy-like in Manchester. It was about as... Spudgy-like! Whatever happened to Spudgy-like? They were great. I liked jackets as well. Do you remember jackets? Do you remember when Grandma went mad about Subway? She used to go every day on a mobility scooter.

She thought it was... she'd arrived but so so are you a good cook i do you know i used to be not bad i've become really atrocious because i just i've run because i'm not practiced anymore and i don't have the time so i'm i'm a bit lazy and and actually lorraine has gone the opposite way she i think i think it's fair to say that i mean she i don't know how it's happened, but she has become a really, really good cook. Are you all vegetarians? No, no, we're not.

No, Lorraine and I eat fish. But we didn't eat fish for a long time, and it was actually, bizarrely, this wasn't a character thing, but when I was in New Zealand doing Lord of the Rings and being on a film set without, you know, at those days, like you say,

it's quite limited. You know, you basically eat pasta or mashed potatoes. Since the early 2000s. Yeah, yeah. There wasn't, you know, so I really felt I needed protein, so I started eating fish again. It wasn't because of Gollum. It wasn't because of Gollum.

Don't you think there's two eras in cooking? There's pre-Otto Lenge and post-Otto Lenge oh 100% and it's just made such a difference to how people eat and I think vegetables

was so celebrated by him that you can definitely be vegetarian and enjoy life I go through phases of being I have been vegan for a little bit

a bit of a flexitarian to be honest you know so if you were going to invite us around you're not cooking, Lorraine's cooking. Probably, yeah. I mean, I'm a very good sous chef. I'm already loving Lorraine even more now. No, I'm a good sous chef.

I'm a really good sous chef. Good at opening the wine as well. Good at opening the wine. Yeah, and I'm good at laying the table. But what would Lorraine cook for us? And you would be on sous duties. I mean, the dish that all our kids were brought up on, and they will tell you,

is grilled salmon with roasted potatoes, with roasted, with onions, sort of potatoes. Onion and potatoes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. You know, onions fried and then roasted potatoes in. Oh, nice. That's a really nice idea.

And peas. Or, if it's during the week and we're in a rush, mashed potato and peas and salmon. We eat a lot of salmon. My kids don't like mashed potato. They gag at it. Really? It's really annoying and weird.

And they need to get a grip, basically. It's like bangs and mash out the window. No, can't do it. We brought our kids up, you know, being just pescetarian until, of course, you know, they start going to school and everybody's eating McDonald's and that's it. And now it's... I mean, there was no chance. I mean, the first party that they went to when they were kind of, you know, four or five years old, it was...

And McDonald's was handed out. A cocktail sausage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry. The worst. How many kids have you got? Three. We've got Ruby, who's 22.

Sonny, who is... No, sorry. Ruby's 24. Sonny's 22. And Louis is 18. How do your kids feel about both of their parents being actors? Are they all kind of shunning it and deciding not to do acting at all? Oh, the complete and utter opposite.

They're all actors. How do you feel about this? Look, how can we possibly... You can't complain. You can't say... Yeah, I know. No, we've, you know, I mean, Lorraine and I have been very fortunate and had, you know, careers which are, you know, we work a lot.

And so it's unlike my parents, you know, who absolutely were horrified when I told them I wanted to become an actor. I bet they were. Your dad's a doctor. Yeah, exactly. They were like, get a proper job. Well, you've got to be an actor. How did it come about, the acting? I went to college to study visual arts. I went to Lancaster University and that's what I wanted to do. I mean, I wanted to paint. It was bad enough in their eyes that I wanted to be a painter and graphic designer.

But then in the first year you had to do a subsidiary course. I had no idea. I didn't even know. In Freshers' Week it was just like, oh, I can't just do art. And they were like, no, you have to do one other course. And I was like, well, I haven't even know on my in freshers week it was like I can't just do art and they were like no you have to do one other course and I was like well I haven't got a clue um and and then but there was a strong theatre studies department and so I started making um designing posters for their shows and props and got sort of involved in backstage stuff and then tiny little roles in various different things and then by the end of the first year i played a really cracking role and realized why i didn't want to be behind a

drawing board for the rest of my life i i this was it that the ability to walk in someone else's shoes and fully empathize with you know another you know a being and and and become someone else was so intoxicating and it's an extraordinary kind of you know just voyaging into some to the unknown in such a profound way and then that was it and then I and then I changed my degree and and made it about the good thing about Lancaster was you could construct your own degree and this thing called independent studies so i built the modules of my own degree and did theater dance movement design all the things that weirdly would end up being the things that came together in what i do so i still had an artistic sort of part of it you know to production design and theater design and so uh and. And then I was lucky enough to get my equity card,

which of course in those days... How did you do that without a job? A local theatre. In the last year at university, we had kind of... We were tied into... I went down and helped with production design down in the local theatre and just kind of got involved. Then I met the director there and they give out

two equity cards a year at those rep theatres and I got one of them. And then I did 14 plays back to back in the Dukes Playhouse in Lancaster playing lots of different characters and I sort of learnt my craft on doing it. Let's talk about Luther. I'm terrified to watch it. I'm always terrified.

I haven't seen it. I've seen Luther. Can I just explain? I didn't get the pin number. Oh. And then I gave it like yesterday. It was complicated and I only got it at half past eleven last night. And I really wanted to watch it.

We will be watching it. But we haven't seen it. I'm so, so sorry because I was desperate to see it. No, no, no. But look, the fact of the matter is, I mean, so Luther is... This version of Luther is... What's great about it is that it retains all of the kind of the darkness

and the complexity of the characters and the brilliant writing. But it's elevated into a bigger one-story movie with... And so it feels like, you know, it's just, it feels... It's a proper one story movie with, and so it feels like, you know, it's just, it feels, it's a proper blockbuster movie version of it.

The character that you're playing, I presume you're the, well, I know you're the baddie. You're the baddie. Well, yes, I mean,

that's a value judgment. I'm prepared to. Do you, you don't often play a baddie though. I actually do. Do you? Yeah. I've played a fair few in my dim and distant past.

I know I've played some horrible people. I played Ian Brady. Oh, yeah. Good guy. Okay. Who actually, when we made, I have to say, Ian Brady, possibly one of the darkest characters. Well, the darkest up to this,

because this is even darker than Ian Brady, I think. Oh, really? Wow. In a way, yeah really in a way yeah in a way um but why did you why did you stumble over saying that I said he's a bad guy and you went well well because you found the MP yeah because I'm an actor and you and you have to climb inside the role from a perspective you're a method actor as well clearly yeah I've got I've become less of a method actor over the years because you know

when you have children you cannot walk home back into the house being a psychopath being a psychopath well any more than you are normally

when you're a parent you know so it's like it's no it is a very dark role this and and this is true

when I read it I just thought I literally wanted to chuck the script in the bin and I wanted to have a shower. It was very, very, yeah. Oh my God. He's not a nice person. But what I, and then I kind of thought to myself,

this is really actually the subject matter that this particular version of Luther deals with without any spoilers, which is about technology, the internet, how we have given over and sort of taken our own responsibility of monitoring all of that stuff that we take for granted now, our Alexa's, our cameras, our phones, our devices, all of that stuff. The villain, in a way, although David Robey, the character that I play, manipulates all that.

He's a tech whiz and observes and studies people and surveils them in their homes. I mean, you will want to throw away your Alexas if you've got them or any other devices. Or even your TV, which actually has got a camera in it. So he's really dark. It's a very dark character. And then he manipulates and exposes people.

So really the character is a reflection of society. And he as a character is almost... He's not there. He's actually... And he observes people. He's a construct. He's someone who observes people and tries to copy their behavior because he can't he actually doesn't have any way of linking with humanity sounds like almost like AI yeah well yeah yeah yeah absolutely

he's a he's a non person in a way and and and therefore his whole look how he's put together how he manifests himself is a sort of rather not very successful way of morality he would think he manifests himself is a sort of rather not very successful way of morality he would think he has morality okay and one of and and the thing that he does hate uh hypocrites and and what he would see in his own sort of moral dimension he would see uh he would think that luther was a hypocrite because he is a vigilante cop. He does his own thing. He doesn't follow rules. He thinks of himself as above everybody else. So he hates people who think they are,

as he says in the story, the good people. Were you able to, I mean, obviously you're acting opposite Idris Elba, who's brilliant, but were you, because I know Idris was so thrilled to have you in this project and kind of talks about fanboying out because you were a part of this and just being so enthralled and amazed and inspired by you. Were you able to kind of separate and go, like, we're going out for like drinks with Idris after a hard day looking each other in the eye and wanting to kill each other? Or did you have to keep it quite separate because it was such an intense role? The thing is, with both Idris and I,

we're both... It's interesting. Both our careers involve a lot of other things other than acting. And so we, much as though I would love to have gone out and had a drink with Idris every night, there just isn't the time for either of us because he's a DJ, he's a producer,

he's got a million other things on the go. I think we, and I too, I'm a director and I've got a motion capture company and also a production company that's got a slate of projects and so on. But we did come together, there were moments where we were able to get together during the shoot and park the characters

and actually talk about things that we ambitions beyond acting actually storytelling in a telling underrepresented stories charities that were involved in all of that sort of stuff kind of almost beyond the characters we talked about but there wasn't

much much more time to do that than that, sorry to do anything where did you film it all? we filmed most of it in London and some of it in Iceland Iceland? without giving too much away yeah say no

there's a little bit in the trailer but I won't give anything away but I truly think I mean as an acting experience working with him was just phenomenal he's brilliantly honest and phenomenal he's a brute brilliantly honest and when he's in the Luther mode and of course he's lived that character for 10 years he almost is it yeah it's very hard to separate when he's on set you know he's in the zone and

you know and of course you know of course I'm in the zone as a character and it's it's we're sort of squaring up with each other and it's there's with i can't talk too much about it other than the the the few moments that we come together as of course in all of these stories the villain and the cop don't really meet that often but when we do it was he's an extraordinary actor and and i say being in his presence as Luther, it was quite a marvel to behold. One of the greatest recent villain and cop meetings up was bloody Catherine and Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley. I read that James Norton found playing such a hideous person,

this psychopath that was so bad, he found it quite hard. Yeah. And thinking about it about is that how you feel yeah i mean you you know when you go into those roles you have to examine yourself you have to transpose part of your personality into that you have to which is why i was saying at the beginning you know he's not all bad but my character is all bad but but it's but there's enough that you have to examine you do put yourself under the microscope and that there's a there's an album that's been released recently called who are you and nobody's watching and um it's a jazz album and i can't remember who it is by but i just think it's such a brilliant title that is very much what this is you know this is the honesty about who we who we actually are you know

when if something really annoys you how much you reveal about yourself and and actually looking at into the darker part of yourself or or you know looking into that into the depths of you of you and how you how you behave like why are we obsessed with true crime as a species why are we obsessed with slowing down and watching a car crash and seeing you know what what is that about our personality yeah it's braxton cook braxton cook that's it sorry are you into jazz i love jazz i'm a saxophonist actually oh wow do you want to come on tour with me and Andy, and play the sax? Oh, yeah. When you've got a moment. Definitely. Yeah, Frost sounded great. Oh, man. Do you get to play the sax that much?

I do, I do. Actually, do you know what? Recently, weirdly, I was asked to play with Katherine Jenkins at her Christmas concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Yeah, I did. We did Chestnuts Royston. Oh, lovely. And I serenaded her on the saxophone.

Why did you take up the saxophone? I've always been a massive jazz fan I think when I was a kid in Ryslip I started playing the clarinet and heard Ackerbilk playing Strangers on the Shore and then I wanted to just be you know I loved it, so I started when I was 7 years old

playing the clarinet and then when I was about 12 I started playing sax. We ask everybody what their last supper would be. Oh, wow. So you're about to go off to... Well, let's not say New Zealand because we love New Zealand, but maybe like, OK, somewhere, a desert island, you're going off, and you're not going to be able to get all the things that you love.

You've got a starter, a main, a pud, a drink of choice, and I want to know who you're going to have your last supper with. You can mull it over, we're going to eat a bit, you can come back for it, but we're going to need those answers.

Okay, all right. That looks so nice, Mark. God, that looks amazing it's smoked fish oh wow wow wow okay well

as we're starting eating what would I have for a starter I would have do you know what I really love dorset crab

in a shell oh I do too recently there's an amazing are we allowed to talk about places oh yeah we'd love to talk really love dorset crab in a shell. Oh, I do too. Recently, there's an amazing... Are we allowed to talk about places where we live? Oh, yeah, we love to talk about it. People love it. There's a great pub in North London in Highgate called The Red Lion and Sun

and they make a great dorset crab sort of... What's it called? Provencal? I can't remember what it's called. But anyway, it's amazing. Very often, I just have that as a as a main it's a starter dish but it but often it will anyway that would be 100 on the list for being in my last and i've heard loads of good things about

that pub have you yeah for the food it's really very good roast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's actually quite hot. This smells so good, Mum. It smells great. So, okay, that's your starter. Thank you. This is just a starter. Do you think you'd do a lot of eating out in this last supper then? Do you think you'd be going to different places? Yeah, because as I say, I've sort of lost the,

I've literally lost the ability to eat. What about Lorraine's, your favourite dish of Lorraine? The grilled salmon, is that going to be on there? I probably wouldn't have that as my last supper because, you know, I would have had that as my second last, I mean, third last and fourth last and fifth last supper. But my last supper with Lorraine, tell you what, she does make a very, very good sea bass dish

and sweet potatoes. Actually, I love sweet potatoes yeah I mean maybe Lorraine's not getting the main course she's not getting the main course is she you love her to death I actually think I've under given you food no you haven't this is great

oh wow I've never really had anything like it. It's really nice, Mum. Mmm. So, main course. I do... What do I do? What do I like?

I like... I'm massively into Italian food, so I do love... I love linguine with, like, seafood linguine, actually. Yummy, too. I really do like that, actually. Where do you go for your favourite one one or do you make it at home actually I'll tell you what's really the Ivy do a brilliant sort of lobster

and a lobster linguine with chilli flakes and chilli oil thank god you like hot this is awesome I really love I really do love the one that they do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you like the... I'll tell you what I also do like. I mean, I know I'm sort of jumping about a bit, but I was filming in New Orleans, and I love Creole cooking, and shrimp and grits, and that kind of stuff.

I love... Where were you... Did you go to any particular places? Some of those po' boy sandwiches as well. They're so good. Soft shell crab, yeah. I love that. Andy, you're going to have a bit more.

I am. Oh, good. Yeah. I'm happy. Now, what are we doing for PUD? You see, I'm actually a massive tiramisu. Oh, I could have done... If you would have told me, I'd have made it for you.

Oh, really? You're one of the least demanding actors yeah very well am i what in terms of my quite we just said pescatarian and i kept saying are you sure you sure what's the eat do you know what i'm a big outdoorsy person they're like are you yeah yeah you're huge well climbing mountaineering and you do everything well um how'd you get your kids to walk up hills oh tell them there's a cafe at the time okay great yeah um no but i i've always always been in i mean mountaineering is a huge part of my life and uh but when i was 18 i was no no 16 i was lucky enough to go to Iceland on a trip with an organisation called the British...

It was called at the time the British Schools Exploring Society. And it's an amazing organisation, and they take kids from all over the UK, and you go off and you do... You get into teams, and there's a scientific part of the expedition, and it was six weeks, and then there's an adventure part of the expedition. So it's two... Wow. Right.

And we were camping on the Vatniokal ice cap in Iceland for six weeks, and there was a bit of an error in the food distribution, and we didn't have any food for a few days. Good God. And so we were living on primula cheese out of a tube and crackers for days and days and days and days and days and it was freezing and you know we were on an ice cap um it was we dreamt about food that's for sure and certain but since that day since that time when i was that you know i have never ever ever left anything on a plate it really affected

me hugely that I've never been so hungry in my life and it in fact it was long it was probably between one and two weeks where we had very very very limited food so I can't imagine starvation I can't I mean I can imagine it because I felt that that was it but I always I will always finish a meal and I never leave anything on the plate. So tiramisu would be your last pud. Do you make a tiramisu?

Have you ever tried it? It's actually quite easy. Shall I tell you something? You made it that time Jesse, it was a disaster. Alright. I've got to tell you. We've been to Italy and we spent quite a lot of time in Italy. Some of the best tiramisu I've had was from Lidl's. In Italy? In Italy, yeah.

How funny. God bless Lidl. Absolutely amazing. Absolutely brilliant tiramisu. Do they do it here? I don't know. They must do it. I don't think they do.

I've never seen it here. Wow. But it is absolutely it's it's fantastic it's really really good

that's so brilliant I love that I'm a cheap date what would be your drink of choice I'm a big red wine drinker I do love red wine oh I could have given you red no no

it's actually not a lunchtime I would have been asleep do you do you have a certain red that you'll drink with fish then that kind of works nicely I like light I mean I like Pinot Noir basically I do like I like do you have a certain red that you'll drink with fish then that kind of works nicely I like light I mean I like

Pinot Noir's basically I do like I like do you I do actually but I do love Italian my favourite wine is

is Brunello's my favourite wine from Italy which is from from Montalcino the Montalcino region just south of

Siena in the CroteSienese area. That's where we go. And it's, yeah, I love that wine so much. And also from New Zealand, there's a great red wine from the Amsfield. I don't know if you've heard of, on the South Island in New Zealand. I mean, they've got amazing wines in New Zealand as well. But Amsfield.

Cloudy Bay. Cloudy Bay, lovely, beautiful white wines. You can get it now, but at one stage you couldn't get it. They only used to kind of release about 100 cases and you'd have to queue up to try and get one bottle that was 30 quid.

And who would be at this Last Supper? Any actors that you've worked with that are really good eating partners? Can they be like... Can be anybody. Can they be living or dead yeah yeah if i was having my last supper i'd have it with nina simone yeah john coltrane oh okay it's jazzy okay i'm liking it it'll be a jazzy dinner um tom waits uh as you can see my my heroes are probably more musical than... And actually, Anthony Hopkins, because I think he's just a supreme, supreme actor. Can you sing, Andy?

Of course, you can do everything. After Fashion, I played Ian Jury. He is a singer after sorts, but he's more of a performer. He walked it. He talked it rather. He did, he did. But I do love ian jury's music absolutely love them stickies yeah one of the best songs isn't it it always makes you happy when you listen yeah yeah so i played him in i did a biopic of ian jury played

him and it was one of my favorite acting experiences because i did know i got to know in a little bit but then his family... Do you know Baxter? We've got mutual friends. I've never met him. He's amazing. And Baxter and Jemima, his sister, were very involved in the production of the film and in fact they opened up their lock-up

and Sophie as well, his widow, they let me wear his clothes and all that. So what was his build like? Was he... He was very slight. He was quite... I thought he was stocky. He's stocky up top, I should say.

Okay, but slightly... Of course, he had polio. So he had a withered arm and left leg. But that was one of... Other than playing you know the great sort of CG characters

that I played that characters I absolutely adored that whole process and working with my really good friends who had been Matt Wycross

great director and Paul Viragmo really good friend who's a writer and we it was so sort of intimate it was a really

intimate film he was an artist as well Ian you know he started off writer and we it was so sort of intimate it was a really intimate film he was an artist as well Ian he started off painting and so there's so many things that are

connected to that character are you directing I think soon I'm directing Animal Farm at the moment yes

so what's happening with that at the moment and is it going to be a CG it's an animated movie are you in it

not at the moment I don't movie are you in it mm-hmm I tell you he's in it which animal would you like to okay go on tell me who's in it the only person I can tell you is in at the moment is Jerry my publicist who's just round the corner who is he well we've did us when you do an animation you do a thing called a scratch record or a kind of for the animatic so the beginning process of when you're actually making an animation is you you start to oh look here he is he's poking his head jerry do you want to come and give us a little he's got a very nice voice he has got a lovely voice

what animal are you jerry jerry played jerry played squealer in one of the pigs One of the pigs So but you what you do is you do a scratch record of the whole thing like a radio play and so Jerry Larry

my manager and Lorraine and I did all the voices for all the characters and then and you live with that for quite a long time

you live with it for about a year or so whilst you're building the storyboards designing the characters putting them all together and then you start to bring in the actors

to do the final records and then you build the animation around those performances. So it's a long process, a two year process and we're halfway through it. And so I'm still listening

every day to Jerry. Hello Jerry. Squealer. Squealer. Who is very, very funny I have to say and it's very sad

to think that at some point... He might go. Can't you give him a little bit like Glenn Close got the boo-boo box in Hook? Or put me in the boo-boo box. No, no, no. Jerry's definitely going to be in the movie. Oh, no, Jerry and Larry are both going to be in the movie. That is so far.

So that will be... I mean, when will that even be out? If it's finishing, it'll be out in kind of 2025. 2024. 2024? Okay. That's not far. No, only a year to go. There can't be any more

Gollum performances, can there? Other than the ones I do every day for people. Oh my God. I know I was going to ask. No, no, just don't do it. The poor guy's probably done five already today. Gollum. Are your kids sick of it? They're very tolerant

incredibly tolerant and I do actually, we'll be out in the streets and people will ask for a picture or whatever and then my kids are so beautifully patient and kind of go I'll take it for you

don't worry they are amazing in that respect, I have to say. You know who did a really good Gollum impression on this podcast? On our first ever episode? Sam Smith. Have you ever heard Sam Smith's Gollum impression? It's unbelievable. Very good. I'll send it to you.

Or listen to the podcast. I think we kept it in, didn't we? It's so good. Oh, that's amazing. Because have you heard my Sam Smith? No. I've made chocolate cake for dessert. Oh, amazing. A chocolate and beetroot cake.

Oh, my God. Honestly, that dish was so fantastic. Do you think you'd try that at home then? Yeah. That was a good... Did you like it? I really liked it. Did you like it?

Very unique. 100% loved it. It was very spicy, though. No, it was not. Not overly for me. I love it? I really liked it. Did you like it? Very unique. 100% loved it. It was very spicy though. No, it was not. Not overly for me. I love it. I've realised that actually when I cook, I don't think I've ever, ever once in my life

followed an ingredient. What do you call it? A recipe. Thank you. That's the word. Ever. I've always just made stuff up. You improvise.

I've always improvised. And sometimes it works. And sometimes it really hasn't worked. It's, yeah, it's hit and miss. And then you try and then you do. But I do like that. I do like kind of going off piece. Sorry, I'm just moving this away

only because I'm desperate for you to have the chocolate. Oh, no. Any other places that you absolutely love eating it? I always forget the name of it. The Crooked Billet. The Crooked Billet in outside... In Catton? No, Stoke Row, just outside of Henley.

The food there is... And it's a real hidden gem. Beautiful place. I've never heard of it. In the middle of the countryside, near Henley. OK, great. Do go and try the food there. That sounds really good.

Absolutely spectacular. So you quite like a pub? We love a pub because we do a lot of walking in the Chilterns. You know, so... So you need good pub grub after you've...

Mmm. Mmm. Fine dining. It doesn't have to be fine dining. It could be like... I mean, you've given us a semi-local to you with the crab.

I'll tell you where I love going. Where? Is the Woolsey. Me too. I went there last week. I love it. Makes me happy. All of them do, really.

The Delorney. All of them. I do love the Woolsey because it's just, it always feels Christmassy in there. What's your order? Do you go for breakfast or do you go for lunch? I like the Kedgeree. Oh, I'll have that next time. It's just, it always feels Christmassy in there. What's your order? Do you go for breakfast or do you go for lunch? I like the kedgeree. Oh, I'll have that next time. It's really good.

No, they've always, they always, I always do meetings, you know, try and do dinner meetings there. And they're really nice when they remember you. They welcome you like old friends. Yeah, absolutely. It goes a long way. Yeah, 100%. I really like it. Do you want some chocolate cake Yeah, absolutely. It goes a long way. Yeah, 100%. I really like it. Do you want some chocolate cake?

I do. A tiny bit. Thank you so much. That was delicious. Such a pleasure. Would you like a hot drink to go with your cake? No, I'm fine. Okay, great.

Would you like ice cream or creme fraiche? We could almost make it. We could remake the Wimpy Brown Derby, just cut a hole in it. Would you like some ice cream? Oh, fraiche? We could almost make it. We could remake the wimpy brown derby. Just cut a hole in it. Would you like some ice cream? Oh, I don't know. I'm confused. What do you think?

Or cream. I don't know. What's it like? Oh, don't look like that. Why don't you have a bit of both? Yeah, a bit of both. You may need a little bit of sweetness. I actually like a bit of both.

Yeah. Exactly. Me too. I'll just take a little bit of sweetness. I actually like a bit of both. Yeah. Exactly. Me too. I'll just take a little bit of that. It's quite dense. It's kind of... It's nice. It's nice.

Do you hear the tone of a bloody voice? It's nice. No, I like it. It's nice. It's healthy, but actually it's not made with butter. It's dairy-free. So what is it? Oil?

Oil. But it has... Beet not made with butter. It's dairy-free. So what is it? Oil? Oil. But it has... Beetroot. Beetroot. And what is a nostalgic taste or smell that can take you back to somewhere? Basil and tomato in a very hot baguette. When Lorraine and I went on our first climbing trip together to Chamonix well that was part of the deal I was getting together so that was our literally our first holiday

together was mountain it was a mountaineering is that your idea kind of yeah she must really have loved you she must have done because she bless her I you know i had to teach her how to rock climb and ice climb quite quickly before we went and bloody hell it was quite i mean it could be you could have been it could have been your first and last holiday it actually nearly was our first and last because the mountains are quite unpredictable and we ran into some interesting situations but um she did forgive me and uh I remember very much the taste of sliced tomato and basil

which from Chamonix in you know in France was this when you just nearly kind of fallen off the side of a cliff

and so it tasted that much sweeter yeah pretty much pretty much yeah pretty much Andy thank you so much for coming round

thank you my god it's been such a pleasure chatting to you you too and learning about you pretty much Andy thank you so much for coming round thank you my gosh it's been such a pleasure chatting to you you too and learning about you and feeding you and please just send

our best to Lorraine of course I mean we'll be back for dinner come back with her yes when she's promoting Sherwood

or whatever we should get her on can I come with her you absolutely can you're on sous chef duty. Well, I'm very happy because it means you enjoyed the food. Really wonderful. Amazing.

This is really, really cool. It's good, isn't it? It is good. Who's this by? BBC Food. Thank you. We love them. It's just beetroot and lots of cocoa.

Are you serious? Beetroot? Yeah. No way. That was beetroot, yeah. It's actually good for you. Wow. So I wanted you to have your five a day today. Well, thank you. God, that's amazing. Beetroot.

Yeah. But it's kind of, it feels quite kind of... It's quite dense. Dense, which is nice. I don't understand why it's so dense. It didn't have many eggs in it. Can you taste the beetroot now? Has that put you off? No. Do you know I love a good eater? Nothing better. Nothing better for a Jewish I love a good eater? Nothing better.

Nothing better for a Jewish woman than a good eater at her table. I really enjoyed having him in our house. He was such a gent and so warm and interesting, Mum. I loved him. He seemed so appreciative of the food. I know. First of all, he enjoyed the food, which was lovely. And I think he was...

I think he was surprised. It was his first podcast. I think he was slightly surprised of how much of a good time he had. Yeah. And he just, I think it was relaxing for him on a day of promo really, wasn't it? But he's so interesting and he tells a good story. We loved having Andy Serkis on here.

Loved hosting him. Loved him loving the food. And I think he'll come back and bring all his friends. Oh yeah. Luther is out now. Go and stream it. Go and watch it. Go and be terrified.

Go and be enthralled, exhilarated, all of it. I'm clenching my bum as I speak about it because it absolutely, it's like waiting at the top of a roller coaster and being like, oh, God, is this going to end well? It's supposed to be absolutely brilliant as per usual it's on netflix go and watch it