That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Kate Winslet

Episode Date: April 18, 2021

In this episode, Gaby chats and giggles with Kate Winslet CBE. They chat all about her new TV series called ‘Mare of Easttown’ which has received rave reviews and is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and the Streaming Service called ‘NOW’. She talks about knowing she wanted to be an actress at 5 years old, her pet chickens, and some hilariously sweet family stories about words her husband can’t pronounce and her son’s school dinners. Plus, her childhood crush on Guy Pearce, her icon Jodie Foster and the newfound popularity of her film ‘Contagion’ throughout the pandemic.For more information on the sponsor of this episode Symprove visit www.symprove.com or follow-on Instagram on @symproveyourlife. To claim 15% off the 12-week programme use discount code GABY15 at checkout. For new customers only in the UK. Symprove customer care team are available 8-8 to answer any questions or queries, call 01252 413600. Produced by Cameo Productions, music by Beth Macari.  Join the conversation on Instagram and Twitter @gabyroslin #thatgabyroslinpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabby Roslyn here, thank you so much for listening to this podcast. In this episode, I have a very special guest for you. It's the gorgeous and extremely talented Kate Winslet. We chat all about her incredible new TV series called Mayor of East Town, which is getting rave reviews because it really is brilliant. I've watched it and I'm obsessed with it. You can watch it on Sky Atlantic and on the streaming service called Now. Also, how she wanted to be an actress since she was five years old, her pet chickens, and some hilariously sweet family stories about words her husband can't pronounce and her son's school dinners.

Plus, we talk about her childhood crush on Guy Pearce, who she's worked with and is working with, and her icon, Jodie Foster. And I promise you loads of laughs in this episode, Kate has a wicked sense of humour, and we both giggle a lot. I am hugely thankful that this episode is sponsored by one of my favourite companies, SimProve. It's a food supplement containing live and active bacteria, which has done wonders for both mine and my family's health. More information at Simprove.com with the discount code Gabby, that's G-A-B-Y-15, for 15% of the 12-week program. And I'll tell you more about them later. Now, please can I ask you a favour? Would you mind please subscribing by pressing the subscribe or follow button on the show?

And then if you wouldn't mind, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, which is the purple app on your iPhone or iPad. You simply scroll down to the bottom of all of the episodes and you'll see the stars where you can tap to rate and press write a review. It would mean the world to us. Thank you so much. Listen, I've got to tell you, a friend of mine has had this expression ever since she's sat in the audience when you. when I first interviewed you in 1995, she has this expression that is, but what would Kate Winslet do? And she always says, what did Kate do? So I let her know yesterday that I was going to speak to you.

She said, yeah, but what would Kate do? I have no idea. I'll find out tomorrow. Do you know, that's, that is really funny. I'm flattered and I'm honoured. And, you know, I have to say that I do, I do have friends who will phone me, you know, and say, you know, we went back and forth on this. We just weren't sure.

And then we decided, you know what, let's just phone Kate and ask her what she would do. There we go. You do realize you need a book now. What would Kate do? That's very funny. The answers to questions. All right, before we start on the amazing mayor of East Town, oh my God. What did your husband wear to Buckingham Palace, please, when you got your CBE?

No, it can't be said. It can't be said out loud, I'm afraid. The world is going to have to guess forever. you know, the things that have gone through my head. I'm sure. Okay. Can I say what it wasn't? You can try.

Oh, you're so naughty. See, I love that about you, Kate. So we did. We first met, I think it was one of your very first live television interviews. And I remember coming off afterwards and you just on sense and sensibility and came off afterwards. And I remember saying to you, you're one of the naughtiest people and you said, I'll always be naughty. And I love that all...

I'm afraid it's true. Yes. Yeah, I'm afraid that's absolutely true. And then what I hadn't counted on doing was meeting the man of my dreams, my husband, Ned, and then discovering that he's also quite naughty. You know, we have friends who will call us and say, going to a fancy dress party, you know, on Saturday,

this is obviously pre-COVID. Go to a fancy dress party on Saturday. Now, have you got a headdress and have you got a corset and do you have a, you know, rah-rah skirt and some, you know, flowers? Yep, sure, come on over. We're just one of those houses who we've just got sort of dress up everywhere and, you know, head attire and wigs and fun things. It is quite a fun home, actually, I have to say. Before we talk about everything else, Mayor of East Town, it is phenomenal, Kate.

Have you any idea how good it is? How many episodes have you seen, can I ask? Two, I'm only allowed to. I'm desperate. Oh, you're only allowed to. Okay. Desperate for the rest. So wow. Okay. So, oh, the cliffhanger at the end of two is kind of a juicy one.

Oh, my. So look, I mean, I have to be honest, you know, I do feel very excited about Mayor of East Town. And it was an enormous part of my life. It was, you know, it was about 20 months of shooting because COVID got right in the way of the middle of it. And a good deal of preparation for the role on my part. And I fell so in love with this character. I'd had a sort of a love-hate relationship with her because she was so all-encompassing. And yet she sort of got under my skin in a way that, you know, I've genuinely found really hard to let go of her. I sort of miss playing her. And I love this show. I truly love it.

Being a part of it was amazing. Being a producer on it was even more extraordinary because I was able to really connect with the crew and work with the actors in ways that I haven't been able to do quite so much in the past. That was very rewarding. But the story as well, it's, you know, it is about, it's about community, it's about family, it's about mercy. It's about, it's about a woman who's a mother dealing with the trials and tribulations of, of quite a hard life and a personal crisis that occupies her every waking minute that she has not dealt with and starts to process throughout the series and becomes completely unraveled by her own crisis by the time you get to around episode five, six.

but I do love this show and I'm very thrilled to hear you say that you also enjoy watching episodes one and two that's really cool. But so much so that I haven't stopped thinking about it's one of those shows and it's very rare to get a TV show that completely draws you in

and now, I mean I think I probably count on one hand and I'm obsessed with Telly, I always have been but this is one of those ones that has really affected me and the characters are also completely real. It's like it's not scripted. And it's, it's, and I mean that as a compliment, you know, it's so, and I'm not going to use those awful words that people use about these sort of things where they say, it's gritty and it's, it's not, this is, it's real, it's raw.

No, it's very real. It is, it is very, very real. And because it is set in a town that does exist, East Town is a real place where I spent a good deal of time. And the, the police departments in East Town and Marple, both in Delaware County, which is where the show is set, those police departments were very helpful, really instrumental to me in terms of my prep. And actually we did have reps from both of those townships working with us on set just to make sure that not just we got policey things accurate, but kept it real.

You know, they kept saying to us, look, you know, a lot of those cop shows, you know, are so by the book. And things do go wrong. It can be messy. Just, just deal with whatever situation, you know, comes at you and face it head on. And sometimes things don't always go according to plan. and that's okay. And so that's what I really wanted to do with this character. You know, I didn't want her to look like the sort of television version of the cop.

So trust me, I look like a bag of CRAP most of the time in this show because, you know, this is a woman who didn't have time for herself, didn't have time to look in the mirror. She's so busy dealing with her family, her little grandson who also lives with her, as well as her daughter and her mother lives in the house as well. And she's this, you know, much revered local figure. She's seen as something of a hero in the town because she, made a winning shot in a basketball game in the national championships when she was 16 years old. And so people have always sort of look up to Mare Sheem, my character, and held her in such high

regard. And yet underneath it all, she's got a lot of her own stuff to deal with that she never talks about and has no idea how to begin to cope with. And it sort of consumes her in many ways, whilst being determined to solve this crime, to find the killer of the murdered teenager that this happens in episode one. And it's such a tight-knit community of people, all of whom mayor knows that it's highly likely that it's probably somebody in our midst. And that's very sad and makes it, makes it harder, makes it harder. I thought you were going to do a spoiler. Of course you wouldn't. I mean, you're the sorry of it. That was really weird. I jumped in to say, well, don't say anything. No, I would never, never, never, never do a spoiler. No.

Oh, congratulations. I not really, and I don't want to call it a cop show because it's not. To me, it was, it's not. It takes you in. It's all in company. And that accent, you're incredible with accents. Delco, drove me crazy. It was a really difficult one. You know, people don't necessarily know that, you know, there really are a lot of American accents. You know, it's not just the difference between, you know, New York and a southern twang, you know, or a Los Angeles, Californian drawl. You know, there's, yeah, there are so many different dialects.

I mean, Chicago, they speak differently to the way that they do in Manhattan to the way that they do in Delaware. county. And it was a hard dialect for me to nail because, you know, for me, doing an accent and pulling it off means that you have to do it so well that the audience can't, can't hear it. You know, can't, can't hear what you're saying. And very much feels like it's from that world. And so, yeah, I did spend a lot of time actually on the accent because it's one of those ones that people are very quick to comment on if you get it wrong. So I'm a bit nervous, to be honest. to know what the Philadelphia and Delaware County locals really think of the dialect when the show actually airs. But yeah, it's very exciting.

What do I know? But to me, it's perfect. Oh, my God, it's a good show. But, okay, is this true that your childhood crush was Guy Pearce and you're playing opposite? Yes. Yes. Oh, my word. I know.

I know. So I have been in love with Guy since I was 11 years old and he was Mike from Neighbors. And actually, I was so obsessed with him. Do you remember that Neighbors used to be on? on, it might still be now, it used to be on at lunchtime and at about five o'clock or something. Twice a day. Yeah, twice a day. So if I really needed a guy fix, I would actually scyve off school.

I would pretend to be ill just so I could watch the one o'clock and then watch the five o'clock as well. I really did. So then when I did actually work with Guy for the first time ever in 2010, we did another HBO show together called Mildreepie. When I walked into the rehearsal room on the first day, met him for the first time in the flesh, I put down my bags, I looked him and I said, please don't say anything because I have to come clean. I said, I have been in love with you since I was 11 years old. And our birthday is on the same day.

And I have known that since I was 11 years old when I read it in a teen fanzine at my friend's house. So then of course, Guy and I became great, great friends. And our birthday is on the same day. And every year, for the last 10 years, we message each other a happy birthday. But last year, what was so lovely was we were actually together on our birthday working on that very day. And that was really, really lovely. And so to get to actually, I mean, you know, hey, dreams do come true. What can I say?

I got to spend my birthday with my real childhood crush. There was no one else. No one else? No other crushes when I was younger. It was just, it was Guy Pearce for me all the way. Now, as promised, I'd like to tell you more about our fantastic sponsor of this episode. Simprove, that's S-Y-M-P-R-O-V-E. Now, I've been telling everyone about this company for years

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You can get 15% off the 12-week program by entering this promo code when you're at the checkout. It's G-A-B-Y-15. That's Gabby-15 for new customers in the UK. They have a helpful customer care team who are great and answer any question and will put the phone number in the episode description for you. Am I right and thinking your icon was Jodie Foster? Yes. She's just incredible. She's like you. Well, that's a huge compliment, which I will take. Thank you.

But Jodie, you know, there's something about her acting. And certainly for me, when I was younger, watching her, that it was almost as though she wasn't acting at all. She was doing something else. It seemed different to everyone else. And to me, she just is. It's more about being and not sort of acting. or performing. I always sense this total sort of immersion from her in any of the roles that

she was playing. And that was a separate whole other level of inspiration for me. And so I've always just held her in such high regard and was lucky enough to work with her in 2011. We did a film together and we just got along great. And I think she's a very, very wonderful person and extraordinary actress. And I've always really, really looked up to her, really admired her. How does it feel, though, for you to hear people saying that about you? And this always sounds like such a name drop, but this is completely true, and I know you know her very well. But Dame Judy was the first guest on these podcasts. And she's so, oh, gosh, she's wonderful.

But how does it feel to have people say, as you've just said about Jodie, to say that about you? Well, I mean, it's obviously really wonderful. I mean, I can't. there's no other way to sort of, I suppose, answer that question really. It's, it's, it also feels like a, you know, it feels like a responsibility too, but in a lovely way, you know, because if people are, are sort of comfortable enough to say something complimentary about my work or me as a person or something like that, you know, I really do appreciate that because I care very much not only about my job, but also I care, I really care about being a steady, decent human being. And I think you can often tell, you know,

whether a person is a good person or not, or whether they're out for number one or not. And certainly with my, with my job that I do, I really try and, and really consider just all forms of humanity, really. You know, there are some, there are some actors you can often sort of think, oh, are you communicating with everyone in the room or is it just yourself? You know, and I always want to make sure that it's very much about everyone around. You know, community for me is in my DNA. And so actually COVID and lockdown, this particular last lockdown, I have found really, really hard.

I think with it just being, you know, the depths of winter and we're lucky that we do have some outside space and things that make an enormous, enormous difference to us. But that lack of community and diversity, and inclusivity, just that I ordinarily experience in life. I have found it really, really hard. I've been definitely, I've had a couple of quite down weeks for sure, like everyone. And so for me, when I hear someone pay me a compliment, you know, it means a lot. It really does. I've been doing this job for a very, very long time. And, you know, God, people could be sick of the sight of me by now.

You know, God, not that Kate Winslet again. And I'm sure there are some people that do roll their eyes and say that. too. But it's nice to still be spoken about in pleasant ways and, you know, because it can be a harsh world up there. You know, people can be quite finger pointing and judging and, you know, it's nice to know that people have nice things to say. Well, they have to get through me, quite frankly, because I've been your, I don't know why. There's some people that I've interviewed over the years and you're one of those. If anybody mentions you, I'm like, yeah, no, I love her. You don't understand. And no one's. anything bad about her because I'll come and get you.

You're talking about lockdown and it's very funny that watching yesterday going through all the sort of interviews that you've been doing, everyone talks about your sourdough and also your outside space. And I saw on the Ellen show five years ago and my 14 year old was watching over my shoulder

that Ellen gave you a wheelbarrow with your name on and lots of plants that she brought in by a naked half-name naked man. And my daughter wanted me to ask you, did you actually take the wheelbarrow home from the States to your place in the UK? I mean, you know, it's the vital questions. I have to be, I have to be completely honest. I don't remember. Isn't that awful? I know, isn't that absolutely awful? That's hysterical. There's no reason why we wouldn't have done. But I don't know what, because I, I remember it all being shipped and thinking, oh my goodness, you know, all of these things being

shipped in this wheelbarrow and seeds and planted. I remember I've been quite worried about, well, is someone going to open it and wonder what on earth is being sent to me? Look, the honest answer is, I don't know where the wheelbarrow is now. So sorry about that, Ellen DeGeneres, but I genuinely haven't got a clue where that's gone too. Do you still have pigs and chickens and everything? We don't have the pigs. They just kept sort of escaping. They were quite agitated and And, you know, we tried very hard to look after them as best as we could, but they weren't too happy. But actually, they ended up, and they're still very much alive, the pigs, Maple and Sox.

And they went to the children's school. And they are really, really happy there. And they have a huge amount of space and an orchard that they roam around and they're really, really happy. So that's good. It was probably better. And also, you know, I knew that I had a job that was coming up and it wouldn't have been right to leave them. So it was nice to sort of rehouse them, give them a home. But we do have chickens at the moment.

We do. And there's a cockerel and a hen who appear to be married. Married. So they just sort of roam around. Yeah, we call them Mr and Mrs. Chicken. But this weekend actually Bear did give them names. Apparently they are now Agatha and John. Oh, I like that.

And Agatha and John chicken, they are getting tamer by the day. And this morning I came downstairs and I promise you they were tapping on the kitchen door. Oh, wow. tapping on the kitchen door. I know. Did you let them in? Well, no, I didn't. I did open the door and, you know, and fed them and sort of, you know, said good morning. But I don't know how I feel about that. I don't, I didn't really count on the chickens like, you know, becoming quite so friendly with. But the dog, so our dog digger, who's a wonderful, very good-natured golden retriever,

he'll chase pheasants, he chases seagulls. He'll, you know, he chases the turns. He gets so excited about birds, but somehow he seems to know that it would not be worth his life if he were to chase Mr and Mrs. Chicken. Don't forget they've got real names now. They're not just Mr and Mrs. Chicken. No, they're not. They're Agatha and John. Agatha and John. Actually, this morning I said, oh, look, Bear, it's Agatha and Ron. He said, John, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. Isn't it extraordinary, though, about John? He said, John, mommy's John, mommy name. Isn't it extraordinary, they're about contagion though. I mean, what was that? I know. I know.

Eight years ago, you did contagion. No, I think it's a lot. It's more than that, actually, because I filmed it before I met Ned and we've been together for almost 10 years now. So, yeah, I think actually about 11, 12 years ago maybe. But doing a film about a killer virus and don't sneeze. I know, and phomites and the arnart. I mean, it's insane how, you know, how accurate that film was. I mean, I say it's insane, and yet it isn't at all, because we worked very closely with CDC

when Scott Bairns, Scott Z Burns, the screenwriter, was putting the screenplay together. I mean, you know, incredible scientists from CDC really participated in creating our film virus and everything was as factual as you could possibly imagine. I definitely did feel like I had, yeah, well, I suppose it was a bit more fear, really, because I had done contagion and certainly a heightened awareness because I had. had spent time, you know, with people who really knew about how these things turned into pandemics and get out of control really quickly. But even crazier is why would people go and start watching contagion? I know. We're in the middle of a global pandemic. My God, I was like,

why would you do that? I'm going to go and watch the Wizard of Oz. Every, it's a huge, there's a huge surge in everybody was watching and everybody was talking about it. Yeah, they were. They really were. So on this podcast, we always ask people, what makes them properly belly laugh. And I've heard you belly laugh, I mean, uncontrollably belly laugh, which is brilliant. So what makes you properly laugh? Things that make me properly laugh. This could sound potentially mean, and I really say it with the most enormous amount of love in the world. But my husband, Ned, he often has difficulty pronouncing certain words, It's like the word impromptu, he will say improntune.

And the children and I are like, Ned, there's no, there's no no in the word. It's a muff for mummy. It's not enough for nut. He's like, no, it's impromptu. So then you take a word like philanthropical and you ask Ned to say philanthropic or philanthropist. And he will come up with things like trilampur, trilampil, trlamp. So I know it's absolutely adorable and slightly heartbreaking, but he's so earnest and determined that he's going to get the words right

that it becomes some of the funniest things you will ever see in your life. So the children and I, we have this thing where we will sneakily video him when he's desperately to say quite a long, complicated word. Sometimes they can even be quite short words that aren't that complicated at all. and still it will be hilarious. So I'm afraid that's one of the things that will put us over the edge, absolutely over the edge.

He spent almost 10 minutes once just trying to say Dustin Hoffman. What was he saying? It came out, it was Dusman Hoffbin. Dustbin, dustbin, no. And they'd be like, okay, no one talk, no one speak, and he'd have to close his eyes, block his ears and really trying to,

and still it would end up Dustin Hoffman. Anyway, so I'm afraid that's something that really sends us over the edge. but something else that does really truly make me laugh are things like, you know, YouTube videos of like small dogs with ears that are bigger than their heads. And when they trip over their own ears,

things like that make me really, but dogs tripping over their own ears, that's something else that will really make me laugh. Or my son bears descriptions of the lunch that he had at school, that's often something that will make me laugh my head off because he... What does he say? Well, he will often try and find the right words for things.

And, you know, it's a, it's a... It's such a wonderful age. He just turned seven. And of course, trying to sort of empower him to make sensible choices. And, you know, so trying to sort of say, well, maybe you only have pudding on two days or, you know, and have a carbohydrate and a protein thing and a couple of veg, you know, just trying to be as basic as possible. He came home the other day. I said, how was lunch on? And he said, oh, mum, you would not have been happy. And I was like, right? Okay. Trying to keep a straight face. I said, why? What happened? He said, okay, so you know you told me that I should not have a meal that is completely white. I'm like, yes. He said, I had, my entire meal was basically carbon dioxide today. Carbon dioxide. I'm like, and I am trying so hard not to laugh because of course it's hysterical. I said, carbon dioxide. Hmm, okay, dying. And so what was it that you had? He said, oh, mom, it will. was really not good. You would, it was so delicious, but you would really would not have liked it. And he's slightly smiling at me in a like little sideways, cute way that they do. He's like,

you would not have liked it, mum. And what did you have? Potato chips and Yorkshire pudding, which he calls orchard pudding. So he's like, potato chips and orchard pudding. I'm like, okay, well, you know, and then he said, oh, no, I did have something else. I had, what's it called? It's called hip. Is it hip? Hip? I'm like, I don't know. is it hip? What do you mean? I said, do you really mean hip? And then he tapped his actual hip. He said, yeah, hip, hip.

It was this bit of hip of goat. Hip of goat. So I had carbon dioxide and hip of goat. That was what he had for lunch. I mean, I properly wet myself. I properly was on the kitchen floor, cross legs, wet myself. I mean, that is just, I mean, out of the mouths of babes. I mean, it's just scorched.

It's just gorgeous. And of course I just had to scoop him up and say, well done, darling. That was just, thank you so much for telling me absolutely everything about your question. It's brilliant. So, yeah. Oh, perfect. Those are the things that will set me off. Well, I had, I wondered whether also something, because the story about you cutting off your friend's ear had me weeping. Is this actually really true, a real ear? Yes, it's really true.

So what happened? But it wasn't a whole ear. Oh, okay. Okay. So let's get this straight now. Let's clarify this whole thing because I think I've only ever maybe talked about this in print, which things can get very lost. So my mum and dad, one of their dearest dearest friends, was a wonderful man named Mick Vedmore, who very sadly died a few years ago. He was a wonderful, sweet, dear person. And for whatever reason, he seemed to think that, you know, it would be nice to come and get a haircut by Kate, aged 11. So my family, my mum and I would say, oh, Mick's going to pop by on Sunday afternoon. You know, he's going to join us for Sunday lunch and he says he'd love a haircut. Oh, okay. And he'll pay you a bar of chocolate.

So he'd pay me one of those gigantic dairy milks, which, you know, for chubby chubster Winslet, that was a perfect payment. So I was delighted with that. So I remember cutting his hair with awful probably, you know, paper scissors or kitchens or something terrible. And I would just sort of hack into this head, you know, thinking that I was being all cool and stylish. And I did. I cut off a little piece of his

earlobe. But did you see it? Yes, I saw it tumble. Tumbled down his front. It tumbled. It sort of like did a little flip and a fall and a bit of a land on his thigh. And honestly, it was a sliver of earlobe that must have been about the size. It must have been.

Honestly, what are people going to think of this podcast? You're going to have to edit so much out of it. It was the size of probably about, you know, I'm looking at my little fingernail now. And it was probably the tip of my fingernail, like the white part of your nail, of your nail. It was probably about that much, which is quite a lot, considering that an earlobe's not that big anyway. So, yeah, a little sliver of tumbling, tumbling earlobe. And of course, it gushed with blood.

I mean, you would have thought, I mean, honestly, you would have thought I had cut his whole and tarry it off. And he was very sort of sanguine about it. He went, oh, that's all right. Don't worry, it's all right, these things happen. I was like, Big, I've cut your ear off. That's all right, Kate, don't worry. We all make mistakes. I thought, oh my God, you darling man.

Poor man. He was a magical, lovely, wonderful person, wonderful person. Did you get the chocolate, though? Oh, yeah, I did. And that was actually, I think probably secretly my biggest fear was like, you're still going to give me the chocolate. But he did. And I remember actually it was Galaxy on that occasion.

And it wasn't dairy milk, it was Galaxy, which I was delighted with, at the whole thing in one sitting. Fabulous. You got the chocolate. It doesn't matter about his ear. Bless it. Did he always, did he show people the ear and say, look, this is the ear that's been cut by?

Yes, he did. Years later, he did admit to that. He did. Because there was a little scar. And I would say to him, oh, Mick, have you still got that scar? He'd say, God, I have wins. Look, look. And he'd show me in this little sort of bit missing.

And I'd say, God, you can make a friend. I said, I've tried, it hasn't worked, but I have shown people. He was quite delighted by that. I'm very pleased you didn't become a hairdresser when you became an actor because I know that's what, I mean, that's what you wanted to do since you were teeny weenie. You were five or something and you went, okay, I'm going to be an actress. I absolutely, I mean, all I ever, ever wanted to do was to be an actress. And yeah, I was, I was five years old and just couldn't have imagined ever doing anything

else. I mean, it was, I don't know, I don't know why I felt so, so determined that that was what I wanted to do. I just didn't consider anything else. But I don't think I really understood what it meant. I mean, I certainly didn't think that it meant I would be in films or anything. I just sort of hoped maybe that I might be on the stage or something. And as I got older, that sort of desire to be on the stage turned into, you know, a slim hope of maybe getting the odd episode of, you know, crime watch or something. And I was in an episode of casualty when I was 16. And I remember thinking, oh, wow, if I could just like get your odd episode of things here and there and maybe do a bit of theatre. But I always thought I would have a part-time job as well that I

would absolutely have to do that. And after my, the first film I ever did, Heavenly Creatures when I was 17, after making that film, I just, I went right back to the delicatessen I worked in, in, in Reading, because that was just what you, that's what you do when you're, when you're a jobing actor. You know, it's very hard to make a good living from acting, certainly when you're starting out. And that's the way it is for most actors. You know, most of the actors I know are deliveroo drivers as well. And that was that's how I had grown up. My dad was an actor, but he also worked for a tarmac, Thurman, drove a minibus for the National Trust and sold Christmas trees and it was a postman. You know, that's what, that's what a life of a jobbing actor for most

actors really is. And so I just assumed that that's what it would be like for me. But I do feel very fortunate, not only because, of course, I do have a lovely career of which I am proud and deeply grateful, but I was surrounded by actors who were only doing it for the love of it and never making a living from it when I was younger. And so to be surrounded by such great energy and sort of excitement and passion and fun, you know, people who were making it fun, going to work and pretending to be somebody else. You know, that seemed like fun, that seemed like fun to me, a huge amount of fun to me. And it still is to this day, you know, I still love it. I do, I do find it very hard and I, and I, you know, I absolutely have moments where I think, okay, okay, this is getting to me now.

I'm, it's, it's tough. This is a tough day or a tough week, you know, that will happen. That happened a lot on there because the backstory of the character, which I won't reveal, but there is a crisis and some grief that she is struggling to come to terms within the story. And in order to, create that emotion for myself and to sustain it and hold it for such a long period of time because we were filming for so long. That was very hard. So I had to layer, layer upon layer this sort of internal trauma for myself. And I really created a lot of trauma around this particular part of the story. And it is the first time really in my entire career that I created something that is utterly imagined, but became so real for my.

myself that I have really found it very hard to sort of unpick from my system. You know, the kids will laugh me. They're like, Mom, it's not real. You know, you can talk about it. And I'm like, actually, I still can't really talk about it. It's very strange and it sounds quite indulgent. And I'm well aware of that. But, you know, there are times when the job can really get under your skin and can be quite painful. But anyway, it's worth it. And I'm very proud of the show and and really, really excited for people to see it. I do feel very excited for it to be released. Because it's episodic too, you know, there's no streaming of it

until each episode has aired one week after another. There's something quite old-fashioned about that that I love. And so I'm hoping that, you know, mums on the school run might come up to me and say, oh my goodness, can't believe what happened last night at the end of there. You know, I'm excited about that happening. Oh, it's so good. It is so good. But actually, it's weird. I'm nothing to do with it, obviously, but I cannot wait for people to see it. That's how truly brilliant. I think it's one of the best things I have, honest, like I said at the beginning, in my hand, I probably count on the fingers of my right hand. That's in there as the top five things I have ever seen on television. That's how I've blown away by it. Honestly, Kate, it's brilliant.

Oh, that's great. Oh, I'm so pleased. I'm so pleased. Well, each episode, the end of each episode, there's a, there's a cliffhanger at the end of every single one. Yeah. And by the time it gets to five and then into six, it's just, yeah, there are some things that happen that completely flaw you. And yeah, it's, and you just, things that you just don't see coming. It's really cool. Well, the cliffhanger at the end of episode two, oh, oh, my word. Oh, my word. I screamed. I screamed. I screamed. But do you know what? The thing that you have, is that, and a friend of mine said this the other day about you, what you have is when you cry, we cry. We get what you're doing. It's fantastic what you do, Kay. I am a huge of mine of yours, but also as a real person, you are genuinely one of my favourite people on this planet.

I know I haven't seen you for quite a few years, but you really are. So thank you for doing this, my lovely. Congratulations on me. Thank you. And so nice to chat again. Yes, great to chat. Thank you so much to our exclusive sponsor of this episode.

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