That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Ann Akinjirin

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Ann Akinjirin (star of Strike, I May Destroy You and The Famous Five) joins Gaby for a chat about all things joy!They talk about her brilliant career, rollerskating, turning 40, to LA or not to LA and working with some brilliantly creative people. Ann and Gaby also try their hand at a little bit of improv...to...some...degree of success... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anne Akinjurian, it's such a pleasure to see you again. You just smile. You smiley person and you do so much and you're so busy. And it's just a joy to see you. So thank you for coming on the podcast. I'm so happy to be here. I had such a great time last time. Oh, it's so lovely.

When we met on the radio show, we spent most of the time laughing. So we can do that again, which is fine. So since I saw you on the radio show, Enid Blyden show has been out. It's been aired. It's had fantastic reaction and there were two more to come, which is very exciting. It is. Were you, did you watch it over Christmas?

It is, yeah. How was it watching it? Well, it's fun. It's so interesting because I watched it a few times. I watched it at home. I went to the screen and so I watched it on the big screen. And then, you know, I've got young, there's kids in the family as well. It's really lovely, actually.

I don't, sometimes I don't watch myself on the screen. There's been a few shows that I've been. and I just didn't watch it, not because I hated it or anything. I just didn't want to, but I really loved the show. And it's so warm and... It really was.

Famous Five is such a classic, but it didn't feel old-fashioned. It felt very up-to-date, but also it was so... You used the word I was going to use, and I said this word to your publicist earlier. It was so warm. And it just gets more fun.

Really? I think it's a really good beginning episode. It just lays the foundation. you meet everyone, and then the pace picks up from episode two. So the three that you've done, you vaguely know, I think there's, is there one at Easter? That's the rumour. That's what everyone's saying.

And then one, you're nodding. Why was it so much fun to do? Why was it one of those things that just leaves you smiling when you talk about it? People. We just had really awesome people on it. The kids were incredible. I'm very, very silly. and having kids on set just gave me the allowance to be as silly as I wanted

and no one could tell me to stop because the kids were part of it, you know? I just had so much fun. James, like Jimmy Lance, James Lance, who plays Quinton, we were the only two adults that went all the way across it. And we, from the get-go, we'd never met before. And from day one, were just connected. And he's so funny. So we had a lot of fun.

Just the two of us, we were able to sneak that dynamic into how we played Fannie and Quinton, just an amazing, amazing group of people, both on screen and off screen as well. We were really, really lucky. So when you got the call about doing the famous five, Enid Blighton, was it a quick yes or was it, I mean, because you've done some super cool stuff as well. I may destroy you, which we'll talk about later on.

Of course we'll talk about that and strike and so many other things. And you're part of the universe, all of those things. But was it an easy yes or was it one of those ones you thought? Oh, gosh, that's quite dated. I mean, you know. It was a, huh, because it was a straight offer. So I didn't really, I didn't know that. I love that.

Isn't it? No, no audition. It's yours. But Dan Hubbard's casting office are really lovely to me. And he's casting a few projects. And it was, so as soon as I saw it was Dan, it was an easy, oh, I'll have a look at that. You know, I'm more on board than I would be if it was cold. And, but I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't.

fan of the books growing up. I just didn't, I didn't read them. They weren't on my radar, even though I am a bookworm. So I read the script first and the script after the script, it wasn't easy yet. Oh, okay. That's interesting. Yeah. Because, so do you find it hard when you take off your, do you put on an acting hat to read a script? Because you're a writer, a producer, a director, you do it all. You've got your own theatre company, which we'll also talk about. So when you read a script, how do you read it? I don't put on an acting act actually I try as try as best as I can to put on

to read it with the gaze of an audience member like is this something I want to am I intrigued by this so yeah I just really like the way it was written it was written really really well and it doesn't feel dated at all no it doesn't I loved it anyway everyone can watch it on eye player

where should we go next where would you like to go I want to be led by you okay let's go to strike Okay. Because that was, so, are there more strikes coming out? So we saw you in the first few. Yeah, the first three.

Three. Then we didn't see in the last one. No. Well, the deal with Strike and the BBC is that every time JK releases the book, they're going to adapt it. So it's got a kind of indefinite lifespan, hasn't it? That's exciting for an actor. It is exciting for an actor, but as you said, I wasn't in the last one. And even though Quenzie was in the last book, I, you know, the books are mammoth.

and they only do a few episodes. So trying to make sure they stay true to what's the most intriguing, drama-worthy, thrilling parts of the book is what makes it to screen. And I didn't make it to screen last time. So as long as a... Oh, that must have...

Come on, that must have been frustrating. Huh. I feel frustrated at the time. I don't know if I did. I've paid a lot of police officers, Gabby. I've played a lot in my time. What is that? Why are you always police officers? I don't know. My agent and I have had the conversation so many times.

I think I've got quite an officious voice, maybe. Okay, let's pretend you're a police officer. Okay, let's do it. Okay, okay. Oh, this is, you're an actor and a writer and a director. This is Gary. Okay, so am I being arrested? Are you being questioned?

I'm in question. Okay, I'll come up. Okay, what have I done? Gabby, I need you to relax. Okay, okay. So I want you to think about what you did, what you were doing yesterday at 9pm. I didn't steal the car. You didn't steal the car?

No. But what were you doing? I was polishing the car. Who are you? Because my friend Ed said he needed it cleaned. So that's why I was there with the car and that's why I drove it away. That's interesting because we spoke to Ed. What did Ed say?

Ed said he has no recollection of saying that he needed you to clean the car. Do you know what's really funny is a police woman person But Ed is sitting behind the glass And he's giving me a look to say I never told you to clean Exactly Exactly Do you know I can see why you've been a police officer

I was actually scared I actually felt like I've been arrested I think it's a voice I don't know what it is But yeah So I don't know if I was too too frustrated Not having to play another police officer I'd like the idea of kind of having a lot of range

and to be challenged with the roles that I play. So where does it all come from? Which came first for, I did. I mean, were, were you at NYT? National Youth Theatre. So I did a lot of facilitating and I wrote and I directed with NYT, but I never was, I was never a student. Well, it's an amazing place, National Youth Theatre.

All hail that place. Amazing people come out of there, but I know young people who've gone there and it's changed their life. It really has. National Youth Theatre, so you facilitate there. But where did it all start? Was it the writing first? Was it the ideas first?

Was it the acting first? Okay. So I started, I went to Sylvia Young part-time when I was 11. What did you do for the other time if you were part-time? So I was at just a normal regular school, but I just used to go on Saturdays. And I used to, but before that point, all of my siblings are really creative and really musical.

So that just used to be the thing we did. did for fun in the summer or when we were messing about we would make up dances together or we would my older brother was an amazing musician so he would steal dad's records and show my age ever so slightly but he would still dad's records and he would give us to different parts to harmonise and stuff and I didn't really think at that time I just thought it was the thing we did for fun really rather than I want to be a singer I want to dance or anything didn't think about it like that but when I got to secondary school I auditioned for the play in year seven the first play it was a little shop of horrors

and I just had a really enthusiastic reception from the older kids or the teachers who were auditioning me and I suddenly thought oh is this like oh is this something I'm good at rather than something I'm doing for fun and then a friend of mine said have you ever heard of Sylvia Young and I hadn't and her and her mum took me to my first ever class

yeah and then I suddenly was just like oh this is this is cool and I from there that's how it started. So I was 11 years old and I just wanted to perform really. So it was you found your tribe that click and then suddenly ah this is what I want to do. Yeah and it was interesting because even though I'd seen kids on TV and films and TV shows I just I didn't cognitively connect that it's something that you could do like kids could do so it wasn't until again because Sylvia has the agency and they would have on the Saturday sometimes the agents would come and they would kind

of scout and things like that and that's when the biz was on TV and a lot of the kids from Sylvia's in that so I suddenly realized oh this is this is something I could actually you know aspire to be and have as a job so it was also one find in my tribe but the realization that it's something I could be came when I went to my first Sylvia Young house I find that really exciting yeah because 11 suddenly that that trigger moment because lots of people always say you know they never find what they want to do but to be able to have that light bulb moment yeah it's so precious it is but it does also mean that from the age of 11, you then suddenly become someone who is trying to be something, rather than just going, I don't know, what I'm like and I'm into, I want to be a doctor now,

now, I want to be a surgeon now. And I had, from the age of 11, I was determined to do something. I was trying to be something. Is that a bad thing? I think it's a combination of both. Not a bad thing. It's a great thing because you have, like, laser sharp focus, but also you don't, you know, when you're aspiring to be something, you spend a lot of time trying to be. You spend a lot of time trying, to get there and part of that journey comes with frustration. So there's that element of it where for as long as I can remember I've been

pursuing something you know and it's great. Have you used the J word so have you enjoyed that journey? Absolutely. Yeah, I completely have. So it hasn't just been determination and I've got to do it, I've got to do it. You were aware of what you were doing along the way. Yeah, I've always

I think been good at being wholeheartedly determined to be something or pursue something, but also remember that there's other things in the world and other things to life that I enjoy. I'm quite interested in a lot of things. So in as much as performing and acting has always been my outlet, I have so many hobbies. I pick up things. I drop things off. What's your hobbies? What are your hobbies? At the moment, roller skating is a massive thing for my...

Why, don't be embarrassed. I'm not embarrassed. You suddenly laughed like, oh no. Because anyone who knows me knows, like, every few years, I'm suddenly into something new. But I like that. You know, there's a roller skating place in Wembley. They've got a roller, they've taken over the Trubador Theatre. Oh.

It's become a roller skating place because they're getting ready for Starlight Express. I didn't know that. It closes in a few weeks. You need to get there. And they have, they have theme nights. Oh, that's fun. Yeah, I definitely will get there because I'm obsessed with, well, I was really obsessed last year and just, I'm so intense. It's how I'm like, no, I need to be like a jam skater and I'm going to learn all the tricks and I'm going to spin and I'm going to skate back.

Can you do it? You can do all of it? I do it, yeah. Okay. Do you know what? If they know that, they'll want you for Starlight Express and you're a singer. Wow. Have you?

Oh, you know, I haven't seen it. I haven't seen Starlight Express. Answer me, yes. Can you hear me? But you have. Oh, it's amazing. Yeah. I mean, it's a real spectacle, but they're bringing it up to date.

Yeah, I heard. big advert for Andrew Lloyd-Weber's shows. It's not at all. But you could go and do that. I'd love that. I'm really into it. Get your agent on it now. I'm really into Threl of skating. I can see you in that show though. Can you? Oh, I love that. Oh, there's some great numbers in it. Oh. Okay. What's your agent? Let's call. Hi. Hi. Debbie. Debbie, she would like to be in Starlight Express. Actually, that must be really nice because you said you didn't have to audition for Famous Five. That must be an extraordinary change in a career for an actor and performer when they don't have to audition. I still do audition though.

It's not like I'm completely just offer-only. Auditionless. Yeah, I'm not offer-only. It's just sometimes I get straight offers and sometimes I have to audition. So let's go to your own stuff now because, You have definitely theatre group. I have worked with deafly. I haven't worked with them in a while, but I worked with them.

I'm obsessed with Paula Garfield and the work that she does at Definitely Theatre. And this is inclusive theatre for people who are deaf and people who are hearing, is that they work together. Yeah, yeah, they do. And she adapts a lot of plays into, there's no such thing as fully accessible. So I'd use that term loosely, but she will work with death. and hard of hearing actors. She is deaf.

And they use a lot of accessible elements, creatively accessible elements to bring these plays to life. Do you know, it's very interesting because I think I'm talking about mainstream television now. I think just a couple of years ago when Rose was on Strictly Come Dancing and they did the silent moment of dance,

and now she's made shows about it and she was in EastEnders and all the rest of it. I'm really shocked that we have. haven't, we don't have more deaf performers on television on stage. Why is this, why is they not? I think because a lot of the time with creating work, they think about the accessibility at the end, right at the end. So to kind of have,

that's interesting. Rather than having it from inception, right? So it takes a lot to get a performer who has access, access needs. You're going to need different things in place. And then when they're thinking about that after the fact, they haven't got the funding for it. They haven't put that in the, a budget. They haven't written it in a way. They have, you know, they don't have budget for

interpreters. They haven't thought about how to write a story that is aligned to that access need. It's all willing good, writing a whole play and then at the end going, let's get a deaf performer. But if it isn't actually aligned to the truth of what it's like to be a deaf person in that role, then it's not true, you know, or have you thought about the deaf audiences that might want to come and watch this? There's so much. And I think all of that comes right at the end, rather than from inception. So do you think it's changing, though, of it? A bit?

A tiny bit. Yeah. I think there's been some great deaf representation, like in The Last of Us, did you see that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where they had the young boy who was deaf, and it just was part of the show. There wasn't no, we're going to make a big song and dance

of having this deaf kid and he's got his brother who's signing, and he was a deaf performer. And I love that. There's more representation, I think we saw a long way to go, but having different access needs, just there. It's not a big part of the storyline. Let's make this big thing about blah blah blah was deaf

because this accident happened and that, you know, no. Yeah. It's just part of it. But that's how it should be. Yeah. And I think it should be with with, with colour, with disabilities, with sexuality, with age, all of that. It shouldn't be, oh, look, there's a show about.

Yeah. I totally agree with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So can we talk about your writing, you're developing, your acting, you're directing in everything. Where does that fit in with you as a performer? Do you write stuff for you? Do you think of doing stuff for you? Are you at the forefront of what you do? Or is it about gathering people to, is it about the whole creative process? So I had a theatre company for 10 years. You just don't

look old enough to have done all of these things. I have to know how old I am. I have absolutely, I have no idea. Today is, this year is my 40th year on this planet. Happy 40th. This year? When's your birthday? 28th of May. Oh, very soon! Yeah. Are you going to do something special? I don't know. We'll see.

Celebrate life. I just saw, I always take myself on a really, really gorgeous holiday every year for my birthday. So I wake up somewhere else. Last year I went Vietnam and it was delicious. So where else have you been? All sorts of places. Indonesia, New York. Sometimes I go to Barcelona.

It just kind of... Okay, so this year, roller skating in... Miami No, it's not a delicious place But there's some white sandy beaches Oh, okay, fine Really nice South Beach

White sand Yeah, you could go roller skating Oh maybe You see roller skating Is LA isn't it? You don't want to do that I don't know if I want to go L.A. As a birthday treat

Have they asked Have you had Yes, of course you've done stuff over there as well Of course you have I'd say have they asked you What's life like there? Is it very different When you're acting in the

I think LA is a really interesting place. It's a funny place. I find it personally, I find it a funny place. I think I'll put it that way. It's an interesting place. It's not somewhere that I think of as a leisurely, I'm going to go on a vacay to LA. But I do love how it feels to be there.

I get frustrated that you can't walk anywhere. That winds me up a little bit. Or people think I'm really mad because I walk to block. And I'm like, why can't I walk? But I remember the one of the one. One of the weirdest things that ever happened that one of the times we were going to fix a show with some very lovely people

who were in a very famous sitcom. But we all went to the beach with these very famous six people who were in a very famous sitcom. You can probably gather which one. But we all went to the beach. And all the servers, because they're not waiters there,

the servers came up. They went, what would you like? What would you like? And those three women and those three men chose the thing. And I said, oh, can I just have a plate of vegetables? I was still a bit jet-like, the whole thing. The guy just said, that is the greatest order I've ever taken.

And I just went, really British, and went, no, it's not. He went, no, I find that really, really good. Why, because it was vegetables? Because he was an actor and I think he was, but it was, you know, he meant it very nicely, I'm sure, but it's always the picture I have of L.A. Being with six of the biggest stars on the planet and a man telling me my vegetables were a great order. But if he was sincere, then he was sincere. Was he?

Was he? Yeah. So, right, so working there and then working here, there is a big difference, I presume, for you. Yeah, I think so. I just, I just, I just,

love the UK. Oh, you do? Okay. I love London. So if they called you back and they say, right, we want you really a deep part of the universe,

you're going to be the lead and you're going to do this on whatever station or in the movies, you wouldn't, you'd do that, wouldn't you? Yeah, I mean, I'd do it, yeah, but it's not a place that I'd want to live. Okay. And that's nothing against LA or anything, but just what serves me

and what makes me feel grounded is different. Okay, that's good answer. Okay, so if we're going to America. Oh, no, we haven't finished your holiday. Your holiday roller skating for your 40th. No, we were talking about me as a creative. No, we've just got to find you where you're going for your 40th. Where am I going for my 40th?

Because I said Miami, you didn't look very. excited. No, I think I, do you know what? I haven't been to, I've only been to Barbados, I haven't seen a lot of the Caribbean. Okay. The Caribbean. Okay. So maybe, I tend to always go towards South East Asia. So maybe I want to go towards like the Caribbean. Okay, nice. Or South America. Oh, I've, I've been, it's amazing. Really, really some incredible places. But you have to take your roller skates because in my head, you're on your 40th, you have to go roller skating. Oh, yeah, for sure. Wherever you are. For sure. Once I tried to take my roller skates on a plane and they were,

I didn't check them in and they were like, well, you know, so I took them separate then. So I checked in my main bag and then I had them on a strap and I was trying to get through and they were saying, you can't go through with those

because you could use them as a weapon. Right? Yeah. I was like, What were you going to do with them? What sort of? What are you talking about? Why are you whispering?

I don't know. Because it's bizarre. So then I had to have this big, like, debate. I had to barter that I could take my roller skates through the airport. Did they let you? Eventually, I'm really good at debating.

Are you? I'm excellent. I'm excellent. I either tire you out or I make it very hard to be to come out. So eventually they were just wanting to get rid of me. But they wouldn't let me through because they thought I'd use them as a weapon.

Okay, but you didn't. I didn't. But you had them and you went, where did you go with for them? I was in Budapest. Oh, you went roller skating in Budapest? Just had them with me, just in case. Just in case.

Are you being serious? I am. I'm being serious. so serious. I went to visit a friend out there. We were filming it. We filmed in Budapest for a while and then she just happened to be there again the following. Yes, I went to visit her and I just was like, well, I'm going to bring my skates. Did you skate?

I did it. After all that? I did the bit of skate. Yeah, after all the fighting in the airport. I did a little bit of skating in the, in the hotel room. In the hotel, on the carpet. No, we had like herringbone, like, wood floor. Okay, so you were roller skating. It was worth it for that argument in the airport. Exactly. And coming home, did they say anything? Not a thing.

So in Budapest, they don't mind you traveling with your roller skates. I always seem to argue in the airport about either skate or I always have 33-mill film. I don't know what you were going to say. I just thought, what is she going to say? Well, you have film with you. I'm full of surprises, yeah. And you shouldn't really put them through the scanner. And I'm always having to fight with them.

I'm like, it will ruin the film and we have to go back and forth and back and forth before they eventually let me through. But that, if you say you're a film crew, They don't give a flying to doodles. Is that even a term? No. I made up, but it's good, isn't it? I like that one. Yeah, we'll keep that one. Okay, so your creativity.

We got there, Red. Yes. So you're going to be 40 this year. You're going to take your rosegates somewhere in the world, probably South America. But before that, we were talking about you and your creativity and what you're doing and how you see it all. Yeah, so I ran a theatre company for 10 years up until 2020, the top of 2020. and I predominantly was about producing and creating creative opportunities for other people. It wasn't really for me.

So I worked with a lot of emerging writers and sometimes established writers because I had this really cool new writing festival with the lyric and I did this really cool which I really loved. My younger brother is very musician-oriented, if that's the right term. We would do this mental health music festival called Sound of Mine, which was really cool. And it was less so. It was less so.

Yeah, do you know what? I was actually, we hadn't done it in a few years. And I was thinking about it recently because through the company, when I used to do a lot of mental health work, it was kind of before this boom, important boom of mental health awareness and the wellness kind of industry. It was before that. When I first started, no one would even take the workshops for free.

No one was interested in mental health. And we did this for years and years and years. And the final festival was at this really cool venue called Sticks in Tottenham, which has closed down and well, been developed over. And we had these really great jazz musicians when we were talking about jazz earlier, London jazz musicians and stuff and DJs and talks. I used to work with mind and I kind of miss it. Do it now.

I kind of miss it a little bit. That's such a good idea because I think there's so much research and scientific research into how important music is for mental health, for dementia patients, for autistic people, young people. It's really cool. Do it again. And also I used to work with this really cool. great charity called Siblings Connect

and because sometimes you forget about the people who are connected to someone who's got your mental health and how important it is for them to think about their wellness you know anyway so yeah I did that for a while but it was mainly about producing

and creating opportunities out outwardly rather than inwardly so I kind of stopped actually so I don't run the theatre company anymore it was a community based company and we did a lot of work with new But is it still going? No, not really.

But I have kind of picked the pen. I have picked the pen back up. Do it. There's some really cool ideas that I'm working on. Oh, I'm so pleased. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that, that smile was like, yes, I want to do that.

Okay, so let's talk about your friend. Has she texted? Has she texted? Let's have a look. Everyone's going to be thinking, what friend? She has not. Okay. But we've got time.

Michaela. We've got time. Michaela Cole. I think people know who you're. Who we might be talking about. I may destroy you. That was pretty damn massive. Yeah.

Did you know it was going to be like that beforehand? You really didn't. No. I remember at the time, it was quite a busy year, the year that I shot I May Destroy You, and I was filming two or three different shows at the same time. And I remember thinking of other shows

and thinking, yeah, this one, this one's going to be fab. And it's just going to... this is the one for me. This is another show you're talking about. Different shows, yeah. So I was filming strike at that time. I think my last season of series of strike that I did was during that time. And I was filming another show called Trigonometry.

There was different, I was filming Brave New World, all at the same time. All at the same time? Yeah. When was the Salisbury Poisonings? Was that at the same time as well? Oh my God, it was. Yes. It was the end of the year.

Wow. Yeah. That was a busy year. That was a busy year. And I just, I don't know. I knew it was a good. show, but I never thought it was going to be as massive. I mean, it really, it really was one of those.

And still, and it came out in 2020 and 2024, it still is just as massive as it was then, you know. I just didn't anticipate it. But the reaction was extraordinary. Yeah. It sort of went from zero to a thousand. Really quick. It seemed to be overnight.

And I know Michaela will probably scream at me in a nice way for saying that. But it was, it was. I mean, I'm fascinated by how it got to a thousand so quickly. It deserved it. Don't get me wrong. But you know how some things just go, I do wonder if some of that was because we were in the pandemic and everyone was at home.

And then we were watching something that was like nothing we'd ever seen before. It isn't. I can't remember anything being like that or since. Although you feel that some people are trying to not copy it. echo it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and the beauty of it being, I think it always would have been the success that it was,

but it might have been a slower burn because everyone was, you could say everyone watch it and everyone had time because no one was doing anything else, you know? She had the worthy attention of the world at the time. But then it wasn't just that because it was all the awards and the suddenly stratospheric world that you guys were all in.

it must have been I know you say you were busy that year but because of all that attention was it quite tough to handle all of that was it a strange thing to handle when the show came out yeah

because everyone was it's sort of like a show you know saltburn I'm trying to think of something at the moment that everyone's talking you know it's and I know you've done lots of shows like that but I may destroy you

it was just the show that everybody talked about it must have been an odd time because everyone was closed down and yet suddenly everyone knew you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the times I would find it a bit strange because it was a pandemic, I was on the bike a lot.

And there were, I never forget this one time I was cycling. I was in a cycle lane and I guess I didn't have a helmet on and this is, don't do this people. I didn't have, I must have not had a helmet on because I was cycling and I just looked, I went to look back at something and then this guy came from behind me, came in front. to say, you're an I may destroyer, aren't you?

And so I'm having this conversation in a cycle lane, and I'm just like, this is so bizarre, you know, especially because it wasn't like, I literally just turned back for a second and came back round. And it was that and walking into the supermarket that's at the bottom of the road. Suddenly people look at you differently. Yeah, there was a bit of that. Do you mind it?

Does it come with the territory? It does, but, you know, for me, I, now because my hair has grown, people kind of just see, have this kind of, do we, do we know each other somehow? Have I met you before? Are you you?

But no, people don't. And they don't do that. A lot of the time, closer to when those shows were out, people would know exactly who I was. But now people just think I'm familiar in some which way. And then I go, oh no, I just got one of those faces. Oh, do you?

You don't say who you are? Absolutely not. No, it's not aligned to my personality at all. I can't imagine you're doing that. I just go, no, I don't know. Do you want a selfie with me? Can you imagine? Yeah. I don't forget this one time when I was working in a call centre years and years of years ago,

which was a cool centre for basically out-of-work actors. And there was this girl and there was in the toilet and I was like, do we know each other? And she went, do you watch TV? I was like, no. We're in a call centre full of out-of-work actors. Are you joking? And it was because we went to the Brits school together. We were at the Brits school at the same time.

So I was just like, But I just thought what weird thing to say in a room full of out-worked actors? Do you watch TV? Do you know what? Here's the thing. Why is it that actors always say they're out-of-work actors? Why don't they just say they're actors? It's true.

That's a good question. I know many of them. They're family members. One could be possibly related to me very closely. And I always say, just say you're an actor. I say that about when people decide to change career. I say, why do people say they quit? I said there's no other industry.

where they go, someone quit being a doctor. Like, they failed it. They just say, oh, they've retrained or they've changed careers. But in acting, we just, we have this negative connotation to not being in work or deciding to do something else.

It's that ridiculous thing where people say, and I'm somebody who went to, I went to Guildford School of Acting, although I knew I wanted to be a presenter, but I went there. But the amount of times that people would say, are you sure you want to go there?

I mean, you know, you'll be out of work, of your life or they'd say, now they say, did everyone, you know, did anyone stay in the industry? You just, don't be like that. They're working. They're doing, you know, it's really weird connotation. No, but I respect that actually pulling me up on the out-of-work acting thing. Because we are, yeah, just actors.

You're just actors? Right. So if you go to a party and you're not actually filming at the time, you're not going to say I'm out of what, you just say I'm an actor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then somebody will say, what are you in? You go, all sorts. All sorts.

I always go, I don't know what you watch. Has a good answer. Have I seen you in anything? I don't know what you watch. Oh, I like that one. Oh, you're a joy. Okay, so let's see if Michaela, let's check your phone one more time. No, she's busy, busy, busy now.

How is she doing, she's busy, being happy, doing her stuff? Yeah. How was she coped with all of the craziness in her stride? I'd say so. So I interviewed her before it all. I mean, I'd say, when was during, When was it? When the show came out?

So you're saying 20... I reckon it was the two years before that. Oh. Yeah, a couple of years before that. I thought she was lovely. She's the best. And then watching it, I thought, oh yes. She deserves it.

No, but I feel that about you. I just, I know I'll be watching you doing everything and I'll just be going, yes! Oh, bless you. Yes. So carry on doing what you do. I shall.