The Frank Skinner Show - LEGEND! Kathy Burke

Episode Date: October 23, 2026

Frank and Em can barely contain their excitement today, as they’re joined by the one and only Kathy Burke! The comedian, actress, director and all-round LEGEND chats about her incredible life and career, and her brilliant book 'A Mind of My Own' (which even brought Frank to tears)! If you want to message the show, email us at [e-mail] or WhatsApp us on 07457 417 769. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We make Chevrolet vehicles, but what you do with them makes them so much more. You make them mobile offices, your kids' personal taxi, a concert shuttle, your hockey equipment locker, your recording studio. We make a Chevrolet, but you make it a Chevy. Discover yours at Chevrolet.ca. It's Frank off the radio, foe. It's the Frankskinner podcast, don't you know? The person in the village church

One Sunday morning said Our organist is ill today Will someone play instead? Leave you on a cliff angle This is Frank Off the Radio. I'm joined by Emily Dean And guess what? Kathy Burke is with us today.

Hold on I'll do it first. Legend! Follow the podcast on X and Instagram You can email the podcast via Frank off the radio at Avalon UK.com. As for WhatsApp, 07457. It's that one again.

It's not the one with... It is. Oh no. 69. Kathy, I'm so sorry. He lingers on the 69. That's to the tune of my perfect cousin, is it? It does sound a bit like, yeah.

It sounds exactly like it, not a bit. Oh, God, now you've exposed one of our... Copyright infringement. This will be like when Adam Hills interviewed the people, men down under, they're called. Men at work. Men at work. On an Australian chat show and he said that bit of flutes at the end sounds exactly like a song we used to sing at school. And they've got their arces soon.

Oh, wow. Adam Hill's investigative reporter. Like Donald McIntyre. Can I start, Kathy? I'm going to say, can I start Kathy Burke like they do on Radio 4 so you know they're talking? talking to. Yeah. We've read your book.

Me and Emily have both read it. It's great. I must to me, I was planning to skim. And then I liked it. Well, there you go. So, you know, that was good. And I kept the chat to short so you can't say. Oh, no, I love a short chat.

I love that you did that, Kathy. Yes, yes. It said on the back, it says, not just Kathy's story, but the story of her class, her gender and her time. But I still read it. Prime. I did let that determine.

But the first time I went to the theatre ever, ever, ever, was to see Norman Wisdom in Robinson Crusoe. You're joking. And then I'm reading the book, it can't have been the same production because I'm older than you should say. You are a bit older than me, a little bit older. How old are you? I'm 62. I'm 69.

69. 69. I know. Well, maybe he did it. quite a bit. I tell you what I remember. We should say what this is in the book. Oh, sorry, because Cathy says this in the book,

the first time she went to the theatre was Norman Wisdom in Robinson Crusoe. But what I remember is they were making a dough. Yeah. And they started throwing dough balls at him and he wallop them out into the crowd for us to catch. Right. Well, the people in the nice seats. Yes, in the nice seats. Yeah.

But that is a weird coincidence. Isn't it? Well, he must have done it quite a bit. Did you see him in Birmingham then? Yeah, in Birmingham, yeah. Right, and I saw him. It was either in Oldham or Manchester. I think it was in Manchester.

What a massive star you were? I was staying in Wiggin. Oh, he was amazing. Yeah. He was brilliant Norman Wisdom. And the lady, oh, it's such a long story. But anyway, this lovely lady, Mrs Cook was taking me to the pantomime. But she didn't tell me what it was.

we were seeing, and I'd seen a picture of Clola Rogers. Do you remember Clola Rogers? Oh, yeah. I do remember Clodder Rogers. Was she, well, I do, because my godmother was called Lindsay DePaul, and she was a slight rival. Yes, of Clowder Rogers. Do you remember? Was Clowder Rogers born Banga, Bang, Bang, I love you?

No. No. No. But anyway, I've seen a poster. Well, that went really bad. The way we patronising him, Gabby, no. No, shut up. But I'd seen a poster of Clona Rogers was going to be.

Cinderella. Right. So when Mrs. Cook said she was taking me to the pantomime, I was like, are we seeing Clola Rogers? And she was like, no, no, we're not seeing Clola Rogers. So I was, I got the um. I remember feeling pissed off.

I wanted to see Clola. And then we were sat in the auditorium. I then knew we were at Robinson Crusoe, which I thought was a boy's story, quite frankly. It is really. So I was still really pissed off. and then tumbling out from the wings came Norman Wisdom. Fabulous.

Who Mrs Cook knew at that time was my hero and I just burst into tears. Oh great. I was so, I could not believe it. I've got to tell you, Cathy, I cried at your book. You did. I did. There was one thing in it that made me cry

and I bet you wouldn't guess it if I gave you 20 guesses, which bit it was, because there's some obviously sad bits. I'll tell you what it was. It is, you're at Anna Shares, Anna Cher, Anna Cher, Anna Cher, Anna Cher, Anna Cher, yeah. Anna Shia's drama class. And you do your first ever improvisation. She says to it. And you get up and, what, you tell the story.

Well, I was very nervous. Obviously, when she said my name, finally I had to get up on my feet. And it was, you used to do improvisations to nothing, really, an imaginary person. She would give you the first line. And the first line was something along the lines of where have you been, I've been waiting here for ages. So, of course, everyone would be on the attack. Where you've been?

All these little kids, all the way, where you've been? I've been waiting here for ages. And then you have to imagine how the person is responding. And I was so nervous. But I couldn't get the line out at first. So I sort of stumbled. And then I got a bit of a laugh. I thought, all right.

And so I just carried on pretending that I couldn't get the words out that the imaginary person was having a go at me. Very clever for a, what, 16-year-old? I was, yes, probably 16. And I was terrified. I remember my lip trembling, my knees trembling, everything. But with this comedic face that I've got, all my reactions were just getting bigger.

and bigger laugh. See, I'm getting tingling now. I'll tell you why, because it just reminded me the first two gigs I ever did. I mean, I was much older than you. I was 30, so I was more desperate, to be honest. But the first two gigs, I died on my ass. And the third gig, I remember that feeling where you think, oh, actually, I think I can do this.

Yes. And that is a really special feeling. Oh, it was amazing. And I gave the line at the end. of the improvisation. And it was sort of basically, I'd got it wrong. Well, I was waiting here for ages.

So it was like the other person said, well, I was waiting over here for ages. And then I sat down, and what they used to do at Anna Scher's, is if they were really delighted with what you'd done, not only did you get a clap and a cheer, you got foot stamping on the floor.

Oh, man. And as I sat back down on the floor, honestly, Footstack. It was like the floor was vibrating. And I couldn't believe it. Do you know, when you wrote about that, I was telling Frank, I found that really moving

because I went to Anna Shurs. Oh, you did. As a kid, yeah. I think I worked out. I would have been there probably around the same time as you, but I remember, I was quite young when I first went. I was about eight or something. Right.

And I can remember you being talked about a lot by Anna. Like, I just thought of you as one of the greats. And I was a bit like, oh my God, Kathy Burke. Oh, wow. But Anna used to have these lines, like you say, those improvisation lines. Do you remember one was, I remember the first one I did, and she said, she'd put a dummy with a wig on it. Yes. And one was, can you lend me 50p?

And you really make me mad. Right. And I remember one kid, I think it was a guy called Mark Burdice. Yes, Mark Burdice was fabulous. He was in Grange Hill. Yeah. He just went over and he said, you really make me mad. Why?

Because you've stolen my wig and just grabbed. the wig off and you get that moment when you just think that's brilliant. That's brilliant. One of my favourite when I watched one of the tidler classes because it was kids from all ages and you went after school it wasn't a stage school. It was like it was 20p when I went 20p a lesson and but I watched the little kids

class once and they were about seven or eight years old and Anna Scher said I want you to tell a lie and so each kid came out and told very elaborate lies I've got an elephant on this and all that and then this really angelic looking kid just stood up and went I'm a heroin addict

that was like one of the best things I'd ever seen Kathy that was me that was you I know you were supposed to lie how British she must have touched a lot of lives then Anna She was such an incredible woman, wasn't she?

She really was, and it was sort of unique. We were so lucky us, people that if we lived in Israel and around North London, had access to that place. I mean, I didn't know about it until I was much older. I don't know whether it was to do with being Catholic or whatever. The schools never told us about the Anishire Theatre. And it was an English teacher who ended up telling me about it when I was in secondary school, just around the corner from here.

And he was doing some drama with us. We didn't officially do drama at the school. And he was taking a lot of his ideas from the Anna Share book of improvisation. And he said to me after one of the lessons, this place is up the road from where you live. And so one of the girls put my name on the list. And then I waited two years because you don't audition.

You just wait until your name is. at the top of the list. And so it was a couple of weeks before my 16th birthday. It's frightening that, though. Whenever I hear a story and it's just a chance, somebody says, oh, do you know about the Anna's share? I think of all the people who, no one said that too. You know what I mean?

How easy it is to just slip straight through it. Yeah, yeah. Lucky. Don't like that. So, yeah, first ever theatre, Norman Wisdom, I thought, that's a couple. We are kindred spirits. and then you said you were completely pissed for your entire 20s.

I thought, have I picked up my autobiography accidentally? I did wonder at times, yeah. Do you drink now? No, no. I did drink in my 40s and 50s a bit quite a lot in my 50s. Once I stopped the acting officially, it was sort of great. It felt like my early 20s again. Because actors never drink, of course.

Well, it was just the thing of not having to get up at half-past-four in the fucking morning to sit in costume for 28 days without fucking doing anything. So, no, but I actually haven't had a drink now for five years. I think it gave me up. I think I'd just sort of had enough of it, really. Yeah. I knew an actor, and he used to do this thing he called the drunken actor. Oh, yeah.

And he would stand at the bar and he'd go, poor fucking Scofield and then he'd leave a pause and go Michael fucking Gammon and it was just that it was just great actors

who he was resentful of that sounds like my entire childhood with my parents were they actors yeah wow my mum was an actor and my dad worked for the BBC he was a producer

but he made a documentary on Anna in the it was a BBC documentary in the late 70s I think right right I must have watched that. Wasn't your mom a bit of an Anna-Shara self, though? Yeah, she became a drama teacher as well.

We had people on the show, said, yeah, I know, Mickey Flanagan came on and he said, oh, your mom gave me lessons, like acting lessons. Wow. I know. So can I assure, we've all written an autobiography, actually, the three of us. Yes. When I wrote mine, it had quite an effect on me the writing.

Yes. Because I don't look back. Likewise. Anyone who's been in the car with me. Yeah. Did it affect you actually summing those stories up and thinking them through again? Yeah, I mean, yeah, definitely. Because I'm like, yeah, I'm not nostalgic.

I'm not sentimental. I'm very much in the here and the now, you know. So I was, I mean, that's why I avoided writing it for years as well, because I just thought, oh, blimey, I've lived through all this. Why do I want to sort of live through it all again, you know, even though a lot of it was rather lovely. But yeah, I mean, writing about my dad getting sick and then my dad's death and stuff, I found that really hard.

But it was sort of good, you know, that old word cathartic. It did sort of, it did help. It was like, do you know what? actually that was an all right time for him. Do you know what I mean? It was because he had very bad drinking problems when we were kids. But he stopped booze completely when he was 50. So his last sort of 13 years, he was booze free and had a nice time

and went off on coach trips and stuff, you know. And then I was the drunk, mad person in the house. Do you know what I mean? that was telling him to fuck off and, you know. I think the odd thing with me, I remember the woman I was going out with while I was writing the author, because mine came out in like 2000. Right.

And she said you've got really chippy about being working class since you've been writing that book. Really? And I think it's very odd because I was a bit frightened of interviewing you today because I don't know if I'm a good enough socialist for you. So I thought you might tell me off. But I, so I don't really. dwell on that stuff.

But when I started writing about the fact our side of the road was council houses and the other side was private and we never walked on the other side of the road. And it just, I started to get really, yeah, I did get chippy about it and thought, you know, this isn't fair. And I don't normally think like, recently I watched that 70 op. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, I watched that. And they're all my age, basically. And I just, I don't know, it's a case. I just thought it's not fair. I started much further back on the running track than those guys, dear.

But you're right. And I think I relate to what you're saying about the cathartic thing, that someone once said to me, I said, when I was, I wrote a memoir and I said, oh, God, I hate writing. And she said, oh, no one likes writing. Everyone likes having written. Right. And I just, I felt afterwards, I don't know if you felt this, but that, that just, I'm really relieved I've written this and I'm happy I've written it. But I didn't love the process of writing. I sort of did enjoy it in a weird way, yeah. There was obviously times when I didn't, when I was writing about sad stuff or dark stuff. But I really enjoyed writing the shouldered stuff. And I sort of liked being that kid again because I was a really happy kid despite not having a mum

and despite dad having a terrible drinking problem. It doesn't sound ideal No, but I had such an amount of freedom And looking back on that It was, I really loved the freedom And I think that's probably why I'm really happy in my own company Because I spent a lot of time on my own as a kid

Because my brothers are quite a bit older than me I'm 62, the eldest is 70 and Barry's 68. So they were already sort of going to secondary school and stuff when I was getting into 6, 7, 8. So I did spend a lot of time on my own and I liked it. And it was nice to be reminded of that. And also to not feel like such a freak as an adult that why do I like being on my own so much?

And I used to joke and go, you know, it's really nice in my head because I am funny and I do make myself laugh. And that was what it was like when I was a kid. I used to laugh so much at myself. Yeah, I've been criticised for that. You are just like that. I know, I'm ashamed of it. I don't think anyone quite gets me as much. much as I do.

Yeah, yeah. Sometimes, Cathy, I will see his mate laughing to himself at something he's said to. So it's just thought of. Yeah, yeah. But I get all the references. That's it. That's it. But, you know, you do voicemails now on WhatsApp.

And I will listen back to make sure I've not missed anything out because sometimes I forget what I'm meant to be saying to my mate. And after the time, I'm really laughing at something I've just said to them. And I just think, fucking out. You're an eaglomania. I bloody am. But I sort of, I'm quite proud of that. Yeah.

I'll tell you what I loved in the book, which I could identify with, was that, no, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but when you were doing gimmie, gimmie, gimme, gimme, which is, if anyone doesn't, that was a very funny sitcom.

When you, the reason in the book seems to be that you quit it is that you did a really funny piece to camera, got a big laugh, and a round of a play. And they'd cotty, so he said, you're not doing it anymore. And I thought I'd do that. Yeah, yeah.

I interviewed Bruce Forsyth once. And he got loads of big laughs. I was really proud of the interview. I led him to all the right places. I was bowling underarm, you know, and he was walloping him. Yeah. And then there was one thing that he did. And it was to do with a woman coming on and bringing on this model of his anatomy.

I won't go into details. It was the inner anatomy, nothing rude. Okay. And he got a big laugh, but the lighting was terrible. And I said in the edit, well, look, he's got 50 laughs. It'll be okay. It looks terrible. We can't use that one.

So he wrote me a four-page letter asking why it wasn't in the point. That's amazing. And I thought, first I was upset, then I thought, no, I'd have done that, Bruce. I respect that. Well, Doff and Kerry. But was that why you thought, was that generally the reason why? you left Gimmy Gimmy Yes, it's all

well it had been a little build-up It was just I just wanted to break the fourth wall A lot more Myself and James Dreyfus My co-star And also Jonathan the writer Jonathan Harvey

We just wanted to go a bit more Bonkers with it Because the audience The way they responded They really liked The outrageous bonkers stuff But I think think what happened was we came along at the same time as things like the Royal Family and stuff where it was sort of, we don't do old-fashioned sitcom anymore.

So the studio audience thing was really becoming unfashionable. Yeah. And I suppose our sort of extreme clowning was also becoming a bit uncouth and unfashionable. But, yeah, I think we did three series. and a special, millennium special. But it was when I just improvised, it was when we were doing the tech run and I improvised, my character, Lindy, was dusting.

So I dusted a few things and then I pulled down the boom, the sound boom, and gave that a bit of a duck. It was made a really great noise, you know. And the crew just laughed at heads off. So then I did it when the studio, audience were in, even though I'd got a note from the director saying, we can't really do that.

That's going a bit too far, bringing in the actual technical equipment. Anyway, I did one take where I didn't do it, and then we had to go again, so then I did it on the second take, and pushed it. And the audience went fucking mad. It was brilliant. And then we were sort of told quietly, yeah, but that won't, we'll have to cut that out.

And so me and James, still sat on the sofa on the set while we were waiting for them to set up another scene. And I turned to James and I said, I think this might be the end of it, don't you? And he went, definitely darling. But what I like it is a lot of people would have said that and then next day calmed down a bit. But you didn't. No. And it was, it was a full-on show.

It made the royal family look like the good life. Oh, it really did. Well, yeah. I mean, the Royal Family was so brilliant. Yeah. But it just, yeah, we were just old-fashioned immediately, you know, so. I mean, what I can't work out, Cathy, I wrote a play once. Yeah.

It was shit. I remember this play. It was shit. Honestly, it was shit. What was it about? It was about football. I don't know. No, it wasn't about football.

Exactly. It was about a woman who discovered that she could levitate. Was it? Yeah. I saw the play, Kathy. And I think you're being hard on yourself. No, I'm not, honestly. But you wrote a play and it was a hit and it was put on telly.

And in the book I thought, oh, this would be the beginning of and then I wrote this play about it. I can't understand why you haven't written 15. Well, I wrote the play to get better acting jobs because, and even though I wasn't in the play. But it was, I sort of thought, you know, the way the roles were going for me, it was, they sometimes had the same life.

lines in completely different things. And they were always a bit dopey or they were the fat mate. I was the fat mate of the pretty girl. And even though I wasn't actually that fat. And it was just frustrating. And I thought, I've got to prove that I've got a brain in my head. And the only way I could do that is if I write other characters. So that's why I wrote the play.

And then you weren't in it. And then I wasn't in it. And it did really well. I directed it, but it worked. Yeah. Because it mainly worked. Mike Lee came to see it. And, oh, I don't think he came to see it.

I think he saw it on the television because then it was televised. And I had a meeting with Mike Lee not long after that. And he said, oh, people had been saying to me for a while that I should work with you. But he said to me, I never quite got it. He said, I mean, he's very honest person, you know. He said, but then I saw your play. And I went, yes. so you know I can do more than just dopey girls

who tell people to fuck off. And he went, exactly. So it sort of did the trick. And that's why I just didn't write again. I just can't believe you wrote a play that went onto television. And then you thought that's me done. Yeah. Well, I might write.

I always thought maybe I'll write another one one day. But fuck me, you're better off writing books. Because I play, you don't get no money for it. It comes and goes. That's the problem. Nobody remembers it. I don't think that's true, is it? I think when you see a play that really goes deep, you remember it forever.

I suppose. I saw one of the first places I saw, we went on a trip from a college of FE I was at. And it was called My Mother Said I Never Should. It was like, is it the Royal Court, which I'd never heard of. It sounds very Royal Court in a good way. But I can still remember lines from that. My son the other day said, can we have a look at that music? music shop, they let you play on the synths, you know. And I said, oh, I used to have a friend

called synth. And that's what the granny says in that play. And I saw that probably 45 years ago. Yeah, yeah. No, no, they do, they do have an impact. But no, it's sort of the purpose. Come on, Kathy, right another one. I might do, I might do. There's no money in it now. Yeah, but you're low. You must be loaded by now. Yeah, I've got money, but, you know. Can I tell, Kathy, one of the things I loved, Frank. I mean, I love this book so much, Kathy. Oh, thank you so much. I tell you what, the reaction to the book has been beyond my expectation.

And the nicest thing for me is people stopping me in Islington. Do they? Old Islingtonians who are like, thank you. Because Isleton, anyone that lives outside of London, you'd be led to believe that Isleton is just full of extremely rich people and nobody else. this Islet and Leap Bullocks and Tony Blair started it by moving in He did

To the borough And then of course Bog Job Johnson He was there So it didn't really You know But you got Jeremy Corby That was balanced it out

He's always been there He's also in Newington Isn't he anyway But anyway But anyway So it's sort of nice That people have They're

They're really glad That I've written About the old Disneyland And the Islet And has always had It's rich And it's poor

you know, sorry. I was just going to say, one of my favourite stories, because it just felt so you, was when you're nominated for Best Actress at a Cannes Film Festival. Oh, yes. And you get a phone call telling you this. And the first thing I love is that you pick up the phone and go, who's that?

Is it Joan? Oh, yes. And the other person says, no, it's Gary Oldman, which I love. I thought it was my auntie Joan. They've got very similar voices. They've got very, very, and Gary's got quite a, a camp voice. You know, if you see him doing interviews and stuff,

he has got quite a high-pitched voice, you know. And they told you to fly out and you said, oh, I can't, I haven't got a passport. Yeah, because I didn't. At that time, my passport would run out. So, yeah, so I didn't have a passport. When he rang me and said, well, they didn't say I was nominated, they said you've won.

Because they were desperate for you to go over there. Yeah, yeah, because it would be great publicity for the film, you know. and I just thought, I don't want to fucking go. I don't want to go to the can. It's my day off. I was in my pyjamas. And anyway, they worked it out because this was before 9-11. So I think it was Luke Beson sent a private jet or summit.

Blimey. Yeah, yeah. Bloody Islington. I know, that's true. Isn't it an elite? Getting a private jet. Were you worried about sort of being honest about other people in the book? No.

Like Danny Boyle, for example, who was sort of worshipped by many. Yes. I got the feeling he wasn't worshipped by you. No, he wasn't. No. Is this why you weren't in the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony? Although I was. Was you?

Were you? There was a tiny little clip because there was a tiny clip of Kevin and Perry on the house when they did the house bit, you know. Yeah. But it was really last minute. that the message came through. And I think it was because an old mate of mine used to know him, Danny, and he sort of said the papers are just, everyone's on us, that this is going to be a disaster.

And I think everybody wants it to fail. And then this person said, no, no, of course. Even Cathy Burke wants it to be a success. And then, like, two days later, would you have your... and Perry thing up. I don't know whether that was why it happened. But anyway, no, I worked with him when I was young. He was young.

So it wasn't a great time. So I'm not going to pretend otherwise. People say, oh, you're not very kind about Danny Boyle, but actually I am very kind. Because I don't say, oh, for stuff, I could have fucking said. So... What I like is that you said, you said at the beginning of the production, He said, you'll hate me by the end of this.

And I thought, I think you got that right. I don't know if you'll have to wait that long either. But, you know, it's impossible to just work with people you like. But most of the book is very generous about a lot of people. People like the generosity of it. So I only slag a couple of people. My dad's one of them, so fuck now. Yeah, you balance that out, though, very sweetly.

That thing about people coming up to you in Islington How are you when people have come up to you for Because you were in a you were in a I think a TV show with Robbie Coltrane Is that right early on? No, wasn't I? That's what it says in the book I think No

Okay You've not read it I am ready Ask me a question It skimmed it Come on I did a comic strip film that Robbie was in No well maybe

That must be a comic strip event Yeah but I don't go in a D-O about that. I don't think I can't even mention his name. No, I think I just knew that. You probably had seen a film and made the connection. Yeah. Oh, blimey.

I didn't think we had to just specifically be in the book, every fact. Anyway, I did a thing with Robbie Coltrane. We were walking down the street during a break and a bloke come up to him and said, wow, Robbie Coltrane, can I have your autograph?

And he went, oh, fuck off. Oh, really? And we walked past and I said to Oh man, I said that was full on. He said, I always do that. He said, I never sign any. And I said, I don't think I could.

He said, I've told kids asking me for Harry Potter things to fuck off. Could you do that, Kathy? You're no stranger to fuck off. Listen, I tell people to fuck off because they request it. Do they? Tell me to fuck off. Can I go, fuck off? I like as well, I know you have a lot of police.

officers listening to this podcast. We do. Police officers really like it when I stick my fingers up to them when they're in a car. If they recognise me, of course, I wouldn't do it if they were 21. You've got licence to do that then?

Yes, yes. Oh, you can be a bit whenever you like. Stick your fingers up. And there was one time, this was good fun. There were two vans and the van in front and the van behind. So the van in front, the guy shouted out,

Kaffee. And I went, hello, darling. And the van behind, they were obviously the same company. He then rolled down it. And went, Kathy, and I went, you the fuck off. Which made them both really laugh. They both loved it, you know. Oh, Frank, I've just discovered.

We should say, Kathy, Robbie Coltrane, I found out you appeared with him. He was in scrubbers. That's right. He was in scrubbers. I felt my first job. I arrest my case. Yes.

He played Puff Guts in Scrubbers. You were also in Eat the Rich together. Yes, but we didn't really... You were virtually a doubler. And he directed a film. Oh, what? And I live with him for four years. Other than that, I've never met him.

But I didn't put it in the book. But I might have mentioned that he was in scrubbers in the book. Yes, of course. Fendication. We should say, we haven't said that the book is called A Mind of My Own by Kathy Burke, available at all good booksellers. I'm going to read it again. And if you buy it,

Waterstones or Smith's, there's an extra chapter. Is there? Yeah, there's an extra chapter for Waterstones and an extra chapter for Smiths. That's fiendish. I don't think I got the extra chapter. No. But, you know, I'm very busy. I went for the short one.

Is there any part when you were an actor? Can we say that you're not an actor? Yeah, I haven't been an actor officially for 20 years. Yeah, but what if you was offered? Lady Macbeth at the RSC. Who says I haven't been? Well, I think you probably turn a lot of things down. I do, I do.

But I've done about four or five acting jobs since I stopped officially being an actor. Is there an acting job that you wish you'd been offered, though, that you would have taken? Because I don't think you mentioned Shakespeare doing Shakespeare. No, I've never done Shakespeare. I find that odd. You'd be great in Shakespeare.

No, it's not my bag. It's never been my bag. In fact, my great-mate Dominic Drumgoor, when he took over the glass, Globe Theatre in London and he ran Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for 10 years. And he said, you'll come with me, wouldn't you? And I went, and I went, oh, no, that's not me. It's never really done it for me.

Listen, I've enjoyed watching some great Shakespearean productions, Shakespeare productions, but it's never really been my bag and I'm not going to sort of pretend otherwise, really. Okay. Would you do celebrity traitors, Cathy? Absolutely not, because I love watching it. So there's a lot of things I won't do. The part I was never asked to do, but I was still an actor then, but the only part I was jealous of was Mrs Doyle in Father Ted.

Oh, yeah. That's the only time I've been absolutely green with envy. Oh, I'd have loved to have done that. But Pauline McLean is maybe that's why you're green with em because she was so brilliant. as that character. Yes, you know. Obviously you'd have been better, but yes, you know. Absolutely not.

Kathy, it's been great having you. Oh, no, I don't want it to wear. I know you don't usually do this. I know you usually just talk shit, didn't you? But we've had to ask. I wouldn't say that we hadn't talk some shit, in this. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we have shit in our contracts.

But it's really, I mean, you, must know this better than anyone, but honestly, if you just mention the name Cathy Burke in any company, there are people who are admired, and I'm not saying you're not admired, but people go through the admired barrier into absolutely loved. I mentioned you that, I said I'm interviewing Cathy Burke and everybody in the room went, oh man, I love Cathy. Well, it depends on the company. No, I think that's always the case, Frank. Well, I was in a borsal. I've been posting to so many people

I've been texting people I haven't spoken to see for you But it is, it's great, it's great to be loved I can't imagine what that would be like Oh, shut up, Frank, you're loved No, not like you are Kathy No, it's not loved like you are Kathy Oh, all right I'm only joking

Anyway, the book is called A Mind of My Own and you should read it It's like I say I wasn't going to read it And then it kept Cutting the compliment. I loved it. It kept me going. I couldn't let go. It's brilliant.

Thank you guys. And so are you. Thank you. So are you. Let's leave it on that. I'm not refuting it. It's the Frank Skinner podcast. A new winter change is blowing.

It's the Frank Skinner podcast. I'm not totally sure how it's. go in. Thanks for listening to the podcast. Make sure to like and follow so you never miss an episode. And if you want to get in touch, you can email the podcast via frank off the radio

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