Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S16 Ep 14: Jessie Buckley

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

On our latest episode the absolutely wonderful Jessie Buckley joins us for lunch in the middle of promo for her new film Wicked Little Letters. Jessie zoomed round to mum’s on the back of a motorbike & Mum rustled up a rare Table Manners plate of pasta with prawns & tomatoes. We heard all Jessie’s fabulous stories about her colourful and loud household she grew up in, her wedding catering, drinking Twinkles with the stars at The Ivy at 18 years old old and she offers up a stellar last supper that includes oysters and giant chocolate buttons. The most brilliant actress and singer, we loved having the divine Jessie on. Jessie’s brand new film Wicked Little Letters is released in cinemas on the 23rd February. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

hello and welcome to table manners i'm jessie ware i'm here with mum in clapham hi mum yeah hi darling um we just came back from glen eagles in scotland scotland and uh there was a lovely gentleman who was front of house which we said we would give a shout out to angus hi angus angus was very very happy about some of the choices on the podcast recently. And the big one that he wanted was Amanda Holden. So we'll see what we can do for you, Angus. But we had a gorgeous time in Glendale. Beautiful place.

I now want to get a ferret as my pet. They're fabulous. What does Sam say about ferrets? I mean, it's not going to happen, but they were really fun. Can you keep them in hutches and things? Yeah. What about the foxes? Do they like a tasty little ferret? Maybe, but I didn't realise that ferrets are there to scare away the rabbits.

Oh. So they can go, and they've got like bendy spines. I mean, I'm really sounding like a food podcaster. I think it's the foxes you need to worry about, not rabbits and peckham. Yeah. Did you see the chickens that David Beckham got for Christmas? No. Oof, they were the most beautiful chickens I've ever seen in my life. Of course

they were. Yeah, of course. Did Victoria design their outfits? Their plumy feathers were fabulous. Anyway, so Glen Eagles was fab. Just love Scotland. Yeah. What else have we been up to? Not a lot, because we've all been so sick. We've all had flu. Anybody else had flu listening up to? Not a lot because we've all been blood, we've all had flu.

Anybody else had flu listening to the pod? Three week flu I was told by my friend today. The shivers, the headache, the sinuses. Yeah. Oh, brutal. Yeah. Still sounding a bit sinus-y. Anyway, on to our guest. Yeah.

It's going to be a day of the two Jessies. A day of the two Jessies. She is, I'd like to call a friend of mine. We made friends from, for a mutual friend. Who's your mutual friend? Mark Robinson. Okay. And I've always loved watching her on screen, on the stage.

And she's coming over to promote, well, she's talking about her new film. But you haven't said her name yet. Wicked Little Letters. It's Jessie. Well, you say But you haven't said her name yet. Wicked Little Letters. It's Jessie. Well, you say it then. Oh, Jessie Buckley. Who is, you know. She's kind of.

A treasure. A treasure. Acting royalty, I'd say. She's unbelievable. Yeah. Whether you were seeing her in, you know, I'd Do Anything, where she came second. I've not seen her in a bad film. Women Talking, Lost Daughter, Cabaret on the West End.

Wild Rose. She's got a great voice. She's just amazing. She's got like, up for Mercury. She's just amazing. Anyway, she's coming on to chat to us. And she's very excited. She's just messaged me to say she cannot wait to eat food and have a natter.

And it's fecking snowing, she said. Fecking snowing. I'm here for anyone that says fecking. My feet are fecking cold. Jessie Buckley coming on Table Manners. Jessie Buckley has come in like a rock star on a motorbike,

made herself a tea, and me. Hi, babe, how are you? Hiya! I'm so happy to be here. Have you been doing promo this morning? No. What have I done? I went to the gym because post-Christmas, it isn't it and i had it because i had a fitting this morning at 9 30 i was like why do you do that after christmas so you thought you'd lose a couple of inches before you got to the fitting i did obviously she did i do that all the time

i've only got to lose three stone i've been trying to lose a couple of inches before a fitting my whole life. And it's never. Anyway, I'm joking. How was the fitting? Amazing. Sandy Powell. She's just, you know, do you know Sandy Powell? Is that your stylist? No, no, no.

She's designing this film that I'm about to do. And she's this like, she's basically David Bowie of costume design. She's got amazing red hair and speckly glasses and it was great what did she dress you in uh dresses fantastic and boots are you allowed to talk about your next project i don't think i am fine well it's a very good project that will be very exciting what would be your favorite genre would it be science fiction well What? Really? Have you ever done science fiction? No, I've never, I never watched science, if someone says it's science fiction, act in. But there's very popular, these Marvel things. Oh yeah, no.

You get a Marvel thing, you've made for life, haven't you? I don't know if I'm good for Marvel. No. I just don't think I should be in a catsuit. Do you have to? You know, like when they painted Jennifer Lawrence blue and she looked amazing. Like, I would look like a Smurf. Like, it would just be like one of these little stubby Irish little blue things.

No, I don't know. I don't really think about genre. Like, when you sing songs. I guess I think about genre when I'm doing, making the album and, not like it must be this, but I think they always kind of come in. But I guess when your projects are so different, it's's I just think if I like reading it then the script

and who's doing it and and if I'm really scared then I usually really want to do it if I think I have absolutely no idea how to do it but there's like a tiny little nugget of like like an itch how do you navigate that like fear and change it into a productive fabulous experience or is it still terrifying when you're doing it it's still terrifying when you're doing it and you're always like why who thought this was a good idea like oh god like every night when I do cabrio I would just like I'd have to go through a whole thing before you go upstage and you just be like oh my god this is the worst idea emotionally and physically taxing to do that oh my god it was the hardest thing I've ever really done do you think it's the subject or do you think it's the character or do

you think it was because you haven't done musical theater for a while what do you think it was do you think it was I think I mean I like being in a musical or being a musical theater performer or you know you have that with dancers like they're athletes like anybody who sings and uses their body in any way they're athletes and if you're doing eight shows a week for six months on with that you know and you don't really you can't really have a life out of that like I had to stay completely silent during the day so that voice well by the sixth month that there was enough to kind of squeak out um but Sally as well is like she's just like inflammable you know you get on a train with her every night and then you get off and you're like no idea what happened and the hardest part

was that you can't save her right yeah like there's no redemption so you go through the whole thing she's so like full of hope and just wants she wants the life that she believes she's meant to have lived and she keeps trying to like reach her hand up to this light and the world slowly and slowly like pulls away the voices of all the colorful people in that world and that's what happens right at the end is like everybody's voice gets taken away would you do would you do musical theater or theater again or was it too definitely oh right okay oh do you take it absolutely they move that production to new york they are eddie's doing it yeah i'm not no like a lot of the shows in town now like i think when i in my last month on cabaret i'd also done like two films back to back and had like a week off before I

started rehearsals and by the sixth month it was also a bit of a mad time because I was so physically mentally like exhausted and then at the same moment Lost Daughter was coming out and I got nominated and so in one part I was like the I was at the bottom of the well in myself and then it was like well done and it's also a good lesson of kind of you're only human you know and like you kind of have to mind yourself you know it's no joke putting your body and your mind through that and you've got to figure out like, and you, none of us are going to phone it in. Like there's not for me anyway,

there's not an ability just to like half step in. Maybe that's what you're going to have to learn to do to sustain a six month run. But anyway, I don't know why I got that. You must, you must feel related to Olivia Coleman. You're always together. You're often with her. Is she lovely? She's aman. Yeah, you're always together. You're often with her. Is she lovely?

She's a bitch. No, she isn't. I can't imagine that, actually. She's great. She's like, she's one of the best humans, you know? Yeah, she's a good person. She's such a great human. When you act opposite Olivia Colman do you feel inspired or do you feel

intimidated or do you feel like you're like completely like rare and you're like okay this is going to be the most exhilarating moment or is that with like particular acts if you had these moments where you're like what is going on I'm actually acting opposite you and this is going so well. God, all the time. With Olivia, it just feels like, we've become good friends and it just feels so fun. And she is the naughtiest person. Is she?

Oh my God. In the world. What, pranking? Everything. You know, like you just, A, you don't know what she's going to do. She might fart or burp in the middle of a scene. Okay.

She's like a Trojan farter and a burper. Like, she's like... Oh, she should take on Miriam. Yeah. But also, she's just... She's so good. It's so easy. You know...

Okay, we're going to talk about food now we haven't talked about food yet because we're just gassing yacking can I tell you what's on the menu

yes we're having pasta today getting is that okay yes it might be okay and it might not well it's pasta

and with enough parmesan so we're having oh sorry it's going to be delicious excuse me sorry it's going to be

amazing so what are we having we're having we're having pasta with prawns and cherry tomatoes delicious and then i've made oh and we're having a little caesar salad a caesar salad which jesse has done with nice croutons with half a pint of olive oil in each crouton crunchy very crunchy and then I had some parsnips left over and saw a recipe for parsnip and maple syrup cake yum who knows who knows what that is amazing you serve it with mascarpone it's it's sandwiched with mascarpone yeah and if it's not we've got the amalfi lemon and pistachio

from jesse and my sperm and my sperm flush yeah I thought I might wear that around my neck, like a statement necklace. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's start from the beginning. Do you want to eat? Shall I get cracking? Yeah, are you hungry? Yeah. Great.

Start from the beginning. Who was around the dinner table? Where were you eating? And what were you eating? When I was young? Yeah. Oh. Start from the beginning. Who was around the dinner table? Where were you eating? And what were you eating? When I was young? Yeah. Oh, God. Well, there's five of us in our family.

Okay. And we're all quite spread out. Five of you, three siblings. Two siblings. Four siblings. Oh, five kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay.

One boy and three girls. And we're all quite spread out. My youngest sister is 16 17 and then 22 23 13 34 um everybody should know the elders um and we grew up at first it was me and Killian my brother and we grew up my dad used to own a guest house and we lived in the like shed at the back and so when we were babies he was he my dad's a cook and family so okay we'd be around like breakfast where and he'd put us all into like one half you know those double sinks yeah so one we'd be sat in one half of the sink and he just like load loads of ice into the sink and we just throw because he you

know had to cook so we'd be throwing ice into the kitchen while he was cooking and then that was like your form of entertainment and throwing up being in a sink a double sink throwing ice yeah that sounds quite stressful for your dad whilst he's cooking I don't think even my dad he's quite like he's an amazing cook and he was always like quite uh like like I guess kind of exotic cook in some way and sometimes when you're a kid you just want like a tuna sandwich yeah right I wish you could get my kids eating fucking tuna sandwiches what do they I mean don't even the middle one is a pain in the ass so so what would what would be exotic that you'd be like dad not so we get like an aubergine sandwich or

something which in Kerry was quite like quite a bold thing and at one point I started to steal poor Shona Madden's lunchbox because she did have

tuna sandwiches until I got her Shona's in therapy now still talking about her missing tuna mayonnaise sandwich and things like we there'd be like

There's this great food market Up in Cork And we'd come home Like for Christmas dinner And there'd be a cow's tongue In the fridge I don't know if I ate it But it was

You know Kind of It was kind of like Charlie and Wonka's Anything could happen Right You'd be put into an ice Sink

Yeah Or you could get A cow's tongue or whatever um and he loves spices and i don't know so it was a bit there was lots of us we were all sitting at the table you could have like he used to own a guest house and we were actually like we would all be involved because we you know we'd make the beds and then if there were American tourists part of our job as kids was to like serve the food right and then we'd all put Irish dancing dresses on and have to give them Irish dancing performances that's amazing so you were the evening entertainment we were the evening entertainment it's all now making sense yeah yeah were you good at Irish dancing no I was Robert

I was the girl who like broke her foot kind of before the dancing championship this was when old Michael Flatley was really making waves right was river dance like I mean it's always been big but like was that like it was quite sexy at that time right when you were a bit younger it was it's kind of I mean it's a mad world it's like beauty pageants right now and then it was beginning to be beauty pageants because all the to be like a young Irish dancer you had to have like at the age of six be wearing fake tan and like huge wigs like those big curly wigs that were like heavy and then these dresses and I was so shit at it because I on my hands everything was just like wanted to be out and express and you have to keep everything completely in so and anytime my dad would put curlers in my hair

he'd then be like let's go swimming and so all the curlers have come out so I just your dad was doing the curlers as well yeah times yeah yeah he sounds he sounds like a a kind of metrosexual a kind of complete package it sounds great he was like her I guess my mom was a harpist and a singer and she was always out it was kind of her my dad was the stay-at-home dad and my mom was out working. And were they together? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she was a harpist? Yeah. So it was a creative, it sounds bohemian, it sounds very creative. Yeah, it was wild.

It still is a kind of wild house. And where we grew up, it's like a lake district, so lots of mountains and lakes and things kind of just grow because they grow, you know, nothing's. But it's also like a small town and quite touristy. And there's always things coming in and out of there. Like sometimes in dad's guest house, you'd get barbershops coming to Kerry to do some kind of tour. So like a quartet, like barbershops. Yeah, yeah. but they were like American

and it was like so like the Jersey Boys yeah oh my god and I used to just sit and kind of I couldn't believe that we had like it sounded like something from the 1920s or 30s we're in the side sitting room practicing and um and then mom would play harp and sing. I think kind of a mixture of being, you know, tonight's entertainment. And then seeing my mom sing. Is she a beautiful singer? Yeah, yeah. And she still is. Sorry, hold on one second.

Oh God, it smells amazing. Right. Thank you. It's a pleasure. You need to tell me if it's taste of anything. Hold on, let me see. What, because you can't taste anything? No.

Do we need to put... That's delicious. How is it? Nice. I'm just going to put... Oh my God. You don't know how much salt was in there at Jessica. Please can you pass the parmesan, darling?

We need parmesan. Have you ever had a big food fight? Yeah, we have fights all the time. My friend has the best. You know what? Sometimes it's really nice to hear when couples, how they fight. You know, like, oh God, thank God. My friend said that him and his wife

were having a fight and she was making, he was making a dal. Yeah. And he got a spoon of it and he just flung it at her. Oh. And she looked at him

and she goes, well, look at me now. All dalled up and nowhere to go. They sound great. They're great. They're great. Dalled up.

They're very good. It's good. We haven't thrown things at each other, have we? No. This tastes nice. Tastes nice. It's delicious. Subtle.

Very nice. Subtle. I like the lemon. Did you get the lemon? The lemon. The hint of lemon. There you go. We never do pasta.

Really? No. I think I'll do it again. This is nice. So your childhood just sounds so colourful and fabulous and loud and... Mayhem. Mayhem. Mayhem, but with loads of love and sometimes terror.

And you'd watch your mum performing in church, singing in church. Yeah, yeah. And then was that, so was it the barbershop group or your mum that made you think, Ashley, I kind of want to be on stage? Oh no, it was mum. Was it? Well, also because she wanted to be an opera singer when she was young and she is so brilliant, like a classical singer.

Would you like some? Would you like some? Yes, please. Some greens, some greens. Right, some greens, yeah. But you know, it just, things happen in your life but in church you'd see all these because it kind of

she's not uber religious but it was her way of going and you'd see all these old men come up and they'd just be like crying their eyes out because she sang so lovely because she sang with all of her heart so it was her really all of her heart. So it was her, really.

Which cookbook do you use the most for cooking? Because I go through phases of cookbooks. We use an app at the moment, the New York Times cooking app. So good. But the measurements are really weird. They measured the tomatoes in pints. And I don't know what that means, really.

No. I'm surprised. I didn't... I... We use... One of my favourite ever dishes is anchovy pasta. It's our, like... How do you make it? Freddie makes it.

I'm rubbish at making it and Freddie your husband my husband and it's from a New York Times recipe but it's just capers

chillies and chabit a pint of oil great parsley and garlic gorgeous perfect

we're into Anna Jones at the moment oh yeah Anna Jones is great I've just got her her first one for christmas but her like tray bake one is great so do you cook a lot yeah i love cooking i i'm crap at cooking when i when i'm in london and i love going out to eat when i'm in london but when i'm in at home in Norfolk I don't see anybody and I just love

cooking so you do spend a lot of time in Norfolk would you say that's more home than London it's like my it's our heart home yeah we probably split 50 50 between there at the moment but it's new you know we've only been there for three years so and do you have a place in london as well lucky we just have a little flat in dalston and yeah but um why did you choose norfolk never been there before and we were originally going to like want to move to suffolk because we'd fallen in love in suffolk right lovely um and then friends of ours had moved to Norfolk and bought this old place for like nothing on an auction like pulled weeds out of it and just did the whole thing up and then they showed us this house that we live in which is like 1500s and falling down

and orange and got it's just it's a really amazing old house that's been there forever is that when you got married yeah that's so romantic yeah what was the food like at the wedding well when we first started dating we because we live in dalston we would go to the towpath all the time the best she loves it and i I just was like, fell in love with Laurie so much. And Laura. We love Laurie and Laura. And so I guess with food, it's like places. I always feel like it's like memories of places.

We did that at this time. We ate that at this time. And that's what made me feel. So they came and did the food for us. Oh my God, that's such a good idea. It was amazing. And they're such great people. that's what made me feel so they came into the food front oh my god that's such a good idea it's amazing and they're such great people and i one of my favorite memories of the day was like we i i wanted a keg of guinness and i definitely wanted their cheese toasties at a

certain hour oh with the jelly after after they like served on a delicious thing so at one point laura and laurie were out on the dance floor with a pint of guinness and a cheese toasty all dancing on the dance floor with us all and um yeah and then they came and gave did breakfast the next day there yeah that's so perfect is he english he's english yeah he's from your parents mind no but actually anytime because i moved to london when i was 17 and any time i brought an english boyfriend back to ireland my granny would call him seamus whatever his name was seamus any whatever my name my english boyfriend at the time's name was it was just shameless how are you shameless do you think that was a compliment or a way of being like you're

not going to stick around mate did freddie get to be kind of did freddy get to be freddy freddy's stayed freddy okay yeah well then that's why he's a keeper i don't know why she did it maybe she couldn't remember that's brilliant so if we were coming to norfolk yeah and we were coming for dinner what would jesse buckley be cooking for us? You don't eat meat? I don't eat meat, no. But I eat fish, obviously. I would cook either, I often make that

Ottolenghi Parmesan dumpling thing. Have you ever made that? No. Have you eaten that? You basically make Parmesan but dumplings thing have you ever made that no no no it's have you eaten that what are they like the new deal no no you basically make parmesan parmesan but dumplings and you make the sauce like three days beforehand yummy tomato sauce and then you sounds about right three days beforehand of course love

you some some spice that you can't get yeah of course love you and then you fry off the dumplings and then you put them into the sauce and you bake it in the oven for like an hour how delicious delicious okay so would that be the main or would that be the starter oh that'd be the main okay are you a sweets person do you like baking i'm crap at baking me too i can't do it me too i did make a great christmas dessert though and i was really i was went for dinner with um a friend to noble rot in soho oh yeah i love it and they gave us the filthiest dessert this chocolate mousse with some ginger cut and i was like what it was the nicest thing i've ever eaten and Did they give you the recipe?

Oh, gotta love Noble Rot for that. I don't know if I'm allowed to, but anyway, I had it, and I made it. It was good. I was really pleased. I had to get a little temperature, what do you call those? Thermometer? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was great.

So, okay, so we'd be having the Parmesan Nudieie we'd have the chocolate drinks a drink of choice it's dry january at the moment but oh what's your drink my cocktail is a dirty martini with an olive yeah gin gin gin i'm vodka i don't like vodka but i love a dirty martini gin. Really nice. Can you make them? No. I've never really tried. I have tried.

I got quite good at them during COVID. I think lots of people got good at that. And then wine. Light-bodied, chilled red wine, girl. Always. Light-bodied. Your Pinot Noir, gal? I don't even know the name. I just know it's a chilled, light-bodied red wine. Where gal i don't even know the name i just know it's a chilled

light-bodied red wine like myself that's what you thought in the gym this morning exactly cold january dry january goals so so last supper now this is your time to tell us, you're going off to a desert island or to do a film in the desert. You're not going to get the catering or the food that you want and your comforts. What would be your starter, your main, your pudding, and your drink of choice?

Well, I think we know the drink of choice, potentially. I love this question, and I ask everybody this question. I think it's important to know what you're going to have for your last... And whether you want to be carrying on being friends with them after they've made their decision. Yeah. Yeah, right. I would have...

I feel like it kind of changes, but for starters, it's a bit like a schizophrenic's last supper so i would have oysters and chips and a dirty gin martini from sheiky's for starters that's sexy so that's my sexy where are the oysters from i don't like i mean oysters island somewhere somewhere they've got to be nice not dirty nice ones yeah maybe aren't they from Ireland I don't know yeah some of them some of them from Ireland yeah right great okay and then I would have my dad's like this this is definitely on the list but my dad's homemade hot out of the oven brown bread he makes is it a soda it's the best It's the best. It's the best bread in the world.

Can you disclose the recipe? I can disclose. He uses this flour that's from Ireland called macroom flour and it's like stone rolled grainy oats. Can we get it? I'll send you some. I think you can. I've never made bread. I think

Jessie and I are going to go on a cooking course soon. Yeah. And one of our one of my goals is to make bread. I'd like and I are going to go on a cooking course soon. Yeah. And one of my goals is to make bread. I'd like to go to Ballymaloo, which is in Ireland, and it's gorgeous. Yeah, should we go? Maybe we should do that. Yeah, do that. So, okay, it's not a soda bread, is it? It is soda bread.

That's the easiest to make, then. Yeah. Don't just... No, because you haven't got to do the yeast business which is a nightmare but you use like buttermilk which is like i don't even know what that is it's like gone off when you smell it smells like gone off milk i don't know what it is is it the top of the milk i think you get the yeast from the buttermilk okay maybe. Hello. Has it got like a yeasty... I don't know. Who knows? Anyway, it's delicious.

It's my favourite thing in the whole world. It is, right? With lots of butter on the top. Would you have Kerrygold? Kerrygold. Love Kerrygold.

Do you like salty butter or unsalted? Salty. Yeah, salty. More unhealthy depending on... Yeah, okay. That's why I when going to the gym

absolutely and one slice I'd have marmalade maybe some cheese do you like cheese and marmalade? I could get into that it's like the bloody cheese toasty they do crisps

does anybody want any more? there was 8 cloves of garlic in that my dentist is going to really appreciate that in a few hours. I can taste it. I can't taste it. You're hurting yourself with your cooking. No, Jessie's looking at me. Oh.

She's going, yeah, well, it's subtle. Do you like cooking? Not that much. Oh. This was made with love, Jessie. So, okay, so you've got bread with cheese and marmalade. Love this. On one slice.

Okay. Maybe not all cheese. Which sort of cheese? marmalade. Love this. On one slice. Maybe not all cheese. Which sort of cheese? Cheddar? Manchego. Manchego. That would kind of work. Because of quince.

Yeah. Yeah. And then the other slice would be for, we used to have a caravan by the sea when we were kids where we spent all of our holidays. And there's... Which bit of sea? Right near the Atlantic. So near the Skellig Islands, which are these like amazing...

I don't know of them. It was in Star Wars, these islands. Oh my God. But they're like beautiful... It's not in The Tourist at the moment, is it? Where he's in the most beautiful scenery. I don't know what's going on, but the scenery is completely sensational

with big cliffs that go down. Oh no, that's the burn like near going okay so i don't know this is more like south south okay but there was only like a post office and a pub and a load of caravans and it was the best childhood like place to go we'd all run onto the beach but dad loved fishing and you could get like amazing fresh crab claws and he'd come up from the sea in his like he'd have gone out in his underpants onto like a canoe and like pulled up mackerel and then chopped their heads off or he'd gone to the like local fish mongers and got the most delicious crab meat and he would put it into you know there's a beautiful

like um spanish kind of pat they're like ceramic pots that you put into the oven i don't even know what they're called and he'd shove it into the tiny little caravan cooker loads of oil and garlic and chili and so i'd have his brown bread with crab claws that sounds so delicious it's so delicious in the caravan as well when you're all like salty and a bit like, you know, smelling. Are you good at getting the meat out of the crab claws? I'm not very good at it. I can suck things.

You suck it out. Yeah. And then, can I more? Sorry, I'm a pig. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I've thought about this a lot.

I love this. And then I'd have my light-bodied chilled red. Yeah. Light-bodied. With Freddie's home-cooked anchovy pasta. Which is the New York Times one. Which is the New York Times one. We're going to look that one up.

And I saw you're a gal that puts parmesan on her fish. Pasta. Parmesan on everything. Me too. I don't, yeah. Why are people so snobby about it? I didn't even know that was a thing. If you go into an Italian restaurant and you have seafood pasta

and you say, could I have parmesan? They go, look at you in a very disapproving way. Did you have a honeymoon? We had many moons. That's a good way of saying it. We had such a nice... We actually just kind of bottled into friends' holidays. Loads of friends were going away and they just like rented a place and they were like,

Oh, that's a new thing now. That's great. That's a new thing, spending your honeymoon with your friends. It was really nice. We've actually had such a, usually I'm away shooting or something and because of the strike everything got moved. So I've had a whole year just to like hang out. Where did you meet Freddie? On a blind date.

You're kidding. So friends set you up? Mark Robinson set us up. He set you up? Of course, because you'd worked with him on Wild Rose, right? Yeah. He set you up. And what does Freddie do?

He's working mental health. He's gone back to university to work in mental health very handsome is he gorgeous he's gorgeous okay so we've got the crab we've got the pasta i've got your dad's bread pudding is that important to you yeah i want everything it's my last meal do you want some more darling to make it hotter. No, no, I'm good, I'm good. Okay, good. It was delicious, thank you. It was such a pleasure.

You must know. I don't think it was. I mean, it was lovely. Oh, Lenny. But you couldn't taste garlic. No, but I can't taste garlic. I think you could taste garlic. I can't.

Alice, could you taste garlic? I can't actually taste anything. Taste the garlic now. Oh, okay, God. Taste it now, yeah, it's a lingerer. Oh, yeah, well, there you go. That's a good thing about garlic. It garlic now. Yeah, I can taste it now. Yeah, it's a lingerer. There you go. That's a good thing about garlic. It carries on.

Yeah. So, pudding. Puds. I don't know. I mean, this is going to sound... I think I just want, like, a bottomless bag of chocolate buttons. Why chocolate buttons? I don't know.

They're just nice nice aren't they? Do you like the giant ones? Giant ones not the big ones I've had like oysters and gin I've had pasta I've just wanted chocolate buttons now And a cup of tea, maybe an old fashioned After the buttons are finished

I really like this last supper I like it too I think it's fab Do you not have an Irish whiskey? You don't like whiskey I really like this Last Supper. I like it too. I think it's fab. I think it's a really good one. Do you not have an Irish whiskey? A nice... No. You don't like whiskey.

I like a hot toddy when I'm home at Christmas, but like... No. No. I want comfort and like, lush. So when you're on set, do you always have a bag of chocolate buttons? Do you always have a hot whiskey on set?

I mean, is that your kind of comfort food, chocolate buttons? Like, chocolate buttons is the kind of... When I was filming this Alex Garland film, we were filming over near Cheltenham, and I'd have to drive on Friday three hours back, and I would always buy a huge bag of chocolate buttons, stop twice for a cup of tea, them out slurp of tea and it was like the treat it was like the is that right piece de resistance like the end of the road you know like the thing that's just gonna like

get you back to your life that's what I feel So this is quite strange tasting, I think. Is it? Is it? I think it's delicious. It's like a carrot cake. It was more of... So what did you do? Did you, like, boil the parsnips?

No, I grated them. So will we make a parsnip cake again? So it's like a parsnip carrot cake. No, I think it's nice. You just said it was weird. No, I think it's nice.

No, I think it's nice. What spices have you put in it? Well, it said all spice and I only had, like, whole things. So I put cinnamon, ginger, a nutmeg. Mmm, I love a nutmeg. Me too.

I made a lasagna today for the kids. But loads of nutmeg in the beshna. We put nutmeg in our coffee sometimes. Ooh! Yeah. That's a great idea. It's a great, great, like, in the morning. Ooh, I like that.

Okay, let's talk about the film with your friend Olivia. Oh, yeah. Why we're here. Wicked Little Letters. Yes. And you're very naughty in it. I am. Was it fun?

And was it, and did you eat well with Olivia? It was so fun. Where did you make it? And I really wanted to do like a fun job. We made it around, when did you make it and I really wanted to do like a fun job we made it around when did I make it or where did I make it

when and where when like last not last year 2022 October 22 oh a while ago yeah I don't know

it takes a long time yeah um that was so fun it was so fun she Rose was is just so naughty.

And it's just great to have a good old curse. Was it built based on a true story? Yeah. So explain to the listeners the premise of the film. Okay. It's set in 19... I'm going to get all of this wrong because I can never even remember what I've done.

Okay. It's set in 1920s in a little town called little hampton which is in sus six yeah and these two neighbors rose gooding and edith swan rose moved into the area and she is a single mother and um but has a boyfriend and it's quite a pious kind of good goodie you know good British pious community

yeah and these letters start appearing around the town which are foul-mouthed and full of the most delicious

worse curse words yeah and it got what is that coffee did you just steal Jesse's no I think that's my tea

I really have lost my sense of taste you just drunk Jesse's cold coffee I mean tea that's enough so anyway it gets pinned on poor old Rose me the fallen woman, my niche. And she goes to prison and it kind of, yeah, they're like poison pen letters and it transpires that it wasn't Rose.

The police woman's trying to prove that you didn't do it. Yeah, yeah. Did you eat it out with Olivia? Was she a good eater? She got good yeah i think so when when you're in london you like just go home yeah right but uh at lunchtime i guess that's fun on set is everybody kind of sits out on their little stoops yeah just chat about what you're gonna to have it's like being in the

Irish summers yeah from one caravan to the next and then one weekend we got to stay in the pig down near I don't even know

where we were somewhere in Sussex and they did the best yeah it's so lovely there they did the best mushrooms these oyster and we were staying in these little

shepherd's huts out the back. And so the two of us would come back and we'd order each a glass of wine and chips and oyster mushrooms. That sounds great. So you obviously go back to, this is, I like this. It's delicious. I love mascarpone. Me too. Do you put anything in the mascarpone?

A bit of maple syrup syrup which is in that as well I think this is nice it's quite dense but it's quite nice I like it dense yeah because when they're

otherwise they're too dry it is moist but I mean it's not like a light cake is it no I'm enjoying it what would Paul Hollywood

say do you think I think he'd say you've got the flavour in there yeah you've got he had Paul Hollywood in there. He had him on.

I loved him. Yeah. So handsome. He's got big blue eyes. Those eyes are incredible. What did you bake him though? Oh, a mess. It was like a disaster.

Who do you get the most... Who's the most nervous you've been to cook for someone? You were nervous for him. Nigella. And Jay Rayner. Jay Rayner and Nigella. Oh, Jay's so lovely though. Jay, I knew Jay when I was 17.

He was one of the first people I met, was J Rainer. Why? Because my first ever job was in the chocolate factory doing a little night music. And then we moved into the West End. Oh, I saw that. Yeah, I was crap and tiny and so scared. But it was such an amazing job because it was like a proper like family and we were with each other for 13 months and they all kind of took me under their

wing and I'd go up to Maureen Lipman's house the weekend and she'd teach me how to act and like we'd read plays together and she'd like make soup for me and then I'd go off. Maureen Lipman taught you how to act? Yeah it That's. It was so sweet. And made soup. But then at the weekend we got like, it was when the Ivy Club was just kind of starting. And I thought, oh my God, I'm like Barbra Streisand. You know, this is so exciting.

And I remember we'd all go there on a Saturday night and have twinkles. Have you ever had a twinkle? No. No, what's a twinkle? It's like champagne and vodka or something so and it's like a fesby thing i love champagne and elderflower and we and they had in the club they had this like amazing piano player called joe thompson and we'd all get completely rat arsed

and we'd all end up singing and being on the tables till 2 a.m and jane rayner who's an amazing jazz pianist was one of joe's best friends from when he used to come along and Jay Rayner used to always sit up at the stool and he would order popcorn ice cream and I thought it was just like the most it was literally being that young

and coming to London and all these kind of decadent popcorn ice cream eating twinkly thesps it is just so gorgeous fabulous lastly before we let you go which is very sad apart from the towpath which we love which other food spots would you go to in Norfolk or London um we don't really go out in Norfolk because we cook when we're there but London oh god so we love going to Braun on Columbia Road love it well I go to Braun with my girlfriends and we sit at the bar

and we get really drunk on red wine and then usually have been known to go to the Dolphin or something afterwards but it's like my girlfriend what's the Dolphin the Dolphin Lenny you'll never leave we're going we're going there this evening you and me are going to the dolphin it's a pub that does lock-ins and yeah so brawn is the spot after and then the dolphin well brawn with my girlfriends and then um i like michelle canteen's oh babe we've got the same taste. I know. It's so good. That's why we get on. Yeah.

Where are we going? Where are we going? You need to bring it to South London. But then for like a little West End. Yeah. Sheekies. See, I've never been to Sheekies. Okay, we're going to Sheekies.

Okay, fine. We'll go to Sheekies. Sheekies is delicious. Is it? It's fish. it's fish and like andrew scott who did um that oh we we know that andrew scott thank you very much but he nailed his last he did a vanya and it was 90 minutes long or whatever he was like darling and he started at seven he was like darling i'll be in cheekies by half eight so you know it's like

he made sure then he i was like that is genius that's like what we've got to get into that's the way to do it yeah jesse butchery thank you very much thanks for cooking for me i've had such a lovely time she's been the most gorgeous person always too quickly i know she's talented she's gorgeous she's got good taste in food funny and warm and lovely I know thank you and good luck with the new film

and I I love you I love you both it's so also it's just so lush I'm like mum and daughter thing

it's just so beautiful she's so lucky and I want to do like a word count of how many times you say darling shit it's like amazing.

I love it so much. And it genuinely makes me smile when I hear you go, darling, Jessie darling. You're so good at accents. I feel like we need to get Jessie Buckley doing a Lenny. And thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Bye. and thanks so much thanks for having me well mum

I think it was a roaring success just got a text from Buckley tell me adore you and your mum thank you it was utterly delicious in every way

Oh good Love her Darling, how many times did I say darling, darling? I feel like maybe somebody should do a Lenny bingo Oh, table manners bingo It would have on it, Jessica And it would have darling And it would have fuck off, I think

Jessie Buckley's just the best She was an absolute delight. I just, she's so, she talked about- Passionate. Passionate. Bright and warm. And clever and warm and talks about her stories. I know.

And just her, the depth of her knowledge about all her parts and everything. Just wonderful. She's fab, love her. Loved the story about going and having twinkles that is fab i know i'd like a twinkle now i think i'd like a tinkle actually and thank you jesse for your lovely uh well her squash well that is a very suggestive squash i think i think you should take it home and show the children.

I thought you were going to say show Sam. Show Sam. Say this is what you're up against, mate. Oh my God, Mum! Jesus! Sounds like the fucking sequel to Salt Burn or something. Actually, but it was so twisted. I mean, it was anatomically challenging, I think. We'll see you next week for more Table Mothers.