Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Laura Aikman (Part Two)

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

In part two of Emily and Ray’s walk with the wonderful Laura Aikman, Laura delves into her role in the acclaimed BBC drama This City Is Ours and gives us a tantalising tease about what we can expect from her in the new series of Line of Duty.Laura also talks about a very different side of her life away from acting: her work as a volunteer for the mental health support service Shout. Since 2022, she’s taken hundreds of conversations with people experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives, and she explains why the work has become so important to her.If you haven’t already, do go back and listen to part one. And if you want to see Laura on stage, she stars alongside Michelle Dockery in Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, opening at Stratford East on September 3rd and running until October 10th. Tickets are available at https://www.stratfordeast.com.Follow Emily:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyrebeccadeanX: https://twitter.com/divine_miss_emWalking The Dog is produced by Will NicholsMusic: Rich JarmanArtwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Part 2 of Walking the Dog with the wonderful Laura Aitman and her dog Eric Cantanar. Laura's new played Bloodsport after Helen of Troy opens at Stratford East on September 3rd and runs until October the 10th. So do make sure to book your tickets now at Stratford East.com. And by the way, do give Walking the Dog a like and a follow so you can catch us every week. Here's Laura and Eric Cantanar and Rui. When I knew I was interviewing you, I thought, oh, you know what I need to watch? I'll just watch an episode of that show Law is in. It's called This City is Ours.

I heard a bit of a buzz about it. People were saying, oh, it's a mixture of the, it's like the soprano set in Liverpool. Yeah, Scal Sopranos, yeah. And I thought, oh, I better watch it. I'll do my due diligence. Yeah. I couldn't stop watching.

I literally got no work done for about two days. I was just binging it. It's so brilliant and you're so good in that. Thank you. I'm so proud to be in that show. I'm so proud of that show. It's the most talented crew. I've ever worked with.

The creatives are amazing. The cast are phenomenal. And the vibe there. Everyone just really wants to be there and everyone wants the show to be good. Everyone really cares about the characters and the show. Yeah. And I love everyone, you know, cast and crew in it.

So it's such a privilege to get to be in it. And again, I couldn't believe they let me be in it. But you, and you play this very scouse kind of, what I love and you have a very good Scouts accent by the way. Thank you very much. I like, I think you're so good in it. And you were able to really, I bet you had a lot of fun with that character.

Yeah, and I think like Adele Firth who does the makeup and Ola who does costume, like they all really help me build her because I do feel like a different person when I've got all that on, those mental nails, all that seven people's hair in my head, and then the accent on top of everything. It makes it a lot easier to sort of transform into this very ambitious, very glamorous woman. There's a new series coming out in, I think, October that's already, we've already filmed all of. Yeah.

And it's, I mean, it's really, the scripts were so exciting. I haven't seen any of it yet. Why didn't they keep killing poor Sean Bino? Everything, I'm like, that's not a spoiler alert, because I'm sorry. He dies very quickly in the first series. He dies very quickly. But then he always bloody done. I know. I don't know if he's just so expensive. No one's going to fold him from all the street episodes.

I wonder if he says, you know what, love, I've been working a long time now. I'm not with you'll get three weeks out of me. And I'm done. What a guy. I mean, what a talent. Hello, little one. Hi. Hi. We've met some. Are these cockapoo's or cabapos? Absolutely lovely. Cabapoo's and cockoos. I've got everything. Oh, look at you. Hi. Hi. Hi, darling. Hi, darling. Oh, pack. This is my dream to one day just have a huge pack. I want a foster fail and every foster for like 10 of them. Oh look at this one at the back. Rudy, hello. Oh look at Rudy. That was one of those very sensible, quite strict male dog owners.

Do you see those? Because I look at me with my, come on, my little darling, mommy's got you. And then I see these ones usually let up and Labradors. Come on. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Fenton.

Oh my god, Rudy. It's all kicked off with that dog, Rudy. Yeah, so this city of ours. Oh yeah, and Sean, Sean is, I mean, well, everyone, but Sean is one of those actors who I've watched and watched for years and just blown away by. Was he nice to work with? Oh my God, he's so gorgeous. I bet he's really nice.

He's very shy. Is he? But he's absolutely brilliant, wickedly funny, and just really kind and chilled. Do you know what's weird about this sitting in his ass? I was watching it and I felt awful because this family, this sort of crime family based in Liverpool who are, you know, they're drug smugglers. Let's not beat around the bush. Oh yeah.

They have a sort of, you know, they're, I mean, they're not great, nice people. No. And I found myself so invested in it. Yeah, you really root for them. But it was awful because I was really going, the cocaine shipment at one point, it gets through customs. And I went, yes, come on. I was cheering. And then I got really angry when they lost the cocaine.

I was going, oh, for God's sake. Yeah, that's the brilliance of Stephen Boucher's writing. And I think that's why everyone loves the soprano so much, right? It's like these characters are darkly complex, and then you're conflicted in your watching of them because they're all killing people and eating drugs, but you want them to win. Yeah.

I really said, I felt quite conflicted about myself after, but it's so brilliant. And you're so great in that, because I also think the way you played that character, it's not a sort of cartoon scouse. No. Gangland, mole type. You know, it's like...

She's so smart. I think they really, through conversations as that went on in the first series, they really listened to what we kind of wanted. And they did make her very strong. And we're going into series two with her, you know, having a little bit more power, which is amazing. I can't wait. Oh, listen to the music. We can hear some music. This might be the Regents Park Theatre. Well, we've got you for a little bit longer, but we need to let you go soon because you are off to rehearsals.

Yes. But or listen to the music. What's this? Oh, it's Cats, yeah. I think Cats is on here. It sounds like, isn't that Grace Land? Paul, Graceland. Yeah, it's definitely your cats. Recently we were walking in the park and we suddenly heard jealous. Little cat, central. Yeah, this sounds like gracious.

So we should say we're being serenaded by some sort of orchestra rehearsal or, anyway, musical rehearsal at the Regent's Park Theatre. Talking of theatre. Yes. You're off to the theatre this morning because you're in rehearsal currently. Yeah. For a play you're doing at Stratford East. Correct.

Which is called. Bloodsport after Helen of Troy. And it's by Ava Pickett who wrote 1536, which was this massive smash hit that's just finished its West End Run. Yeah. And she's so brilliant and it's my first play since I was like a teenager. So it's quite scary. But it's sort of, it's set now in Essex. It's Helen's been captured and brought home and the play takes place on the night of her

homecoming. She comes back to her childhood best friends home. So it's the idea that a modern day war has been started as a result of her? Yes, so we're sort of, it's 10 years civil war in England. Got it. And she's the reason for it. She's the reason for it, yes. And I don't know how, like, you don't need to know anything about the Greek mythology, but if you do know then her sister Clytemnestra is now her childhood best friend, which is me, see, and my husband has led this war to get her back, so he's the equivalent of Vagamemnon, I think I'm getting that right.

And it's sort of about the fallout between these two women. And it's about women who stay and women who leave and women who want a bigger life and women who feel judged for a smaller life. And it's about what these men have done to these women and where they are left now after 10 years of war. And we're kind of imagining that they're in a slightly heightened sort of manosphere state, but it's not miles away from what we could potentially enter now. You know, where just that idea of everyone is angry and wants a reason to fight.

So it's sort of an escalation of that idea. And this is on, we should say it's on from September to September and October. Yeah, I think it's September 10th to October 10th, I believe. And you were saying you have an intimacy coordinator. Yeah, well the fight guy is also the intimacy guy. You could get your dad to do the thing. guy. Yeah, but he, I wouldn't want him to do the intimacy. He's retired. But, yeah, there's not tons of intimacy, but, you know, you think times have changed.

You get them in for everything now. Of course. It's probably a good idea, isn't it? Yeah, I think it makes everything a little clearer and cleaner. Are you at all, you at all nervous doing theatre, is it? Is it your... I'm going to be bricking it. Are you? Oh, my God. I don't know how I'm going to get through it. I'm terrified. Really? Yeah, absolutely terrified.

The rehearsal process is... That's the man. I just say, nothing against him, but that is the warden who told us our dogs weren't allowed in the park. Yeah, I'd slightly have something against him. And I can't help it. And just like, just carry on in the little tracks. Whenever anyone reacts to my dog, like, oh, I'm no dogs in here.

Also, the fact that he looked at Ray and Eric and was like, are they service dogs? What service do you think that these two dogs are going to be providing? I mean, Eric Cantonar. Canterna can't keep his saliva in his own mouth. What's in? Where is being carried? Like a royal prince.

Yes, these, thank you for your service, Ray and Eric. Service dogs. I mean, no offence, but neither of them can be emotional support dogs either. I mean, they slightly are. Oh, well, I'm really excited about your play. I might come and see if that's all right. Oh, please do. I'm building up a bit of a habit of that.

I had Sarah Hadland on. I'm going to go and see her play. My lovely Sarah Hadland, she's so brilliant in the truth. Well, we should say, your lovely Sarah Hadland, when you, I found this out about you, very naughty, when you were doing Gavin and Stacey, you were sworn to secrecy, you couldn't tell a soul. And you stopped to that, bar one person.

Far Sarah Hadland, yeah. What happened then? Well, she was also, I don't know how we sort of found this out, but she was in a similar position. I think she told me she was going to tell me a secret. And I said, is it about career? And she said, yes. And I was like, I've got one.

So we sort of made a pact. And she told me, I'm going to be doing strictly. And I said, well, I'm going to be doing Gavin and Stacey. But you mustn't tell anyone. And we're both good secret keepers. So it worked out well. Do you know, I think that's a very important quality being a good secret. I like to pride myself on that.

It's something I've learned over the years. Yeah. Because, do you know what I mean? Just ignore the temptation to be a good. interesting for two minutes and keep the secret. Do you know what I mean? You're so right. Because you're right.

What it's about is having the secret feels like, and gossip feels like currency. You're so right. And it's, I mean, I love it of gossip. Yeah. If you've got the skinny. Yeah. But actually, ignore the temptation. I also think it's just simpler sometimes to not tell anyone anything.

I know what you mean. But you strike me. someone who's quite, but you seem like you were quite single-minded about, you were saying about your career, you just made a decision at quite a young age, no, I think I'm going to do this, I know it means giving up my A-levels, but this is what I want to do. Are you quite, I think you strike me as someone who knows your own mind and is quite decisive and would you say that's true? Yeah, I think that's true. Yeah, I mean, I've got lots of terrible qualities, but yeah that is true have you what a terrible policy um what like a list yeah go on i'll tell you mine if you

tell me yours um i can very much get in my own head about little things stupid things that absolutely don't matter lose sleep over complete trivial nonsense i'll give you one of mine yeah i worry well probably similar i can't sleep sometimes all night worrying about something i said in 1980 yes exactly Are you the same? I'm exactly the same, yeah. And I can be quite, I suppose that comes with the single-mindedness. I want control of certain things. Some things I'm fine with having no control over,

but some things I find myself picking, and I want to be completely in control of them. And that's something I have to really try and resist. Are you a type A person? I don't know. But you're an early riser, I get the impression. Yeah. Up and Adam.

Up and Adam. Come on world. Yeah, make the most of the day. Work out, get my workout in, get my steps in. I immediately go to type A person. Yeah. Not in a bad way, I think that I aspire to be that kind of person. I think, yeah, there are parts of me like that, but then I also like to be told what to do.

I also like don't want, I enjoy that part of the job. I enjoy being told, given the call sheet and that that's my day and it's got nothing to do with me. Really? I just do exactly what I'm told. all day. Brilliant. I'm not someone who doesn't like authority. I love it.

Yeah. Yeah. But also it's that confidence as well where there might be things, I've heard you talking about this city as ours, and there was something interesting you were being interviewed about at once, saying, you know, you were sort of watching other actors and seeing how they would say, oh, do you know what, my character wouldn't actually say that,

because as long as it's a young slang thing or something you'd only know from growing up in, well, or ever in Liverpool and you found that quite helpful. Oh yeah. I'm like I'll take advice from anyone. Yeah. Because the reason I mention that is that I think as a woman maybe, is that me? Might be me.

Is you there? Oh. No, it's not. Oh, it's my alarm telling me I have to meet in 10 minutes before me. I'm like pointing at your phone like how I'm professional. She's going in five minutes. Leave her alone. No, I just wonder as a woman,

I just wonder as a woman as well, it's that thing of feeling you, because you know, it's that idea of God, I'm lucky to be doing this, I'm here, every other actor wanted this job. And then I want to make sure I don't cause problems and I'm easy to be around. Yeah. But equally, I don't think this feels right for my character. Yeah, it's really hard, isn't it? I think also like doing the play now, the atmosphere in a sort of theatre production is very different from a teleproduction. We've been encouraged the whole time to like ask

why, push back, question the script, question, question, question. And you can see the young ones are so much better at it than the older ones because we are... But that's terrifying, you're the older ones? Christ, almighty. But I think we're just more... We will say something if we absolutely need to. But I think the younger generation are much more happy to give their opinion more freely maybe. Yeah.

That's the most lovely euphemistic, you're very comfortable giving your opinion pretty. But like I think there has to be a shift to an extent as your career progresses where you do get more of a say and your opinion is taken, is valued a bit more. And it's figuring out when to sort of stop being as much of a people pleaser and when to say a bit more. And I think like having Julie Graham on The City is ours. and then now Michelle Dockery. They are such brilliant leaders

and really likable, kind, funny women but they're also able to say no. You know, if something comes up that doesn't feel appropriate or is too far or is beyond what they feel as appropriate

they're able to go, yeah, no. And then Bobby Carlisle on Line of Duty I got him a little present made at the end of the shift that just says not Bobby Carlisle because he doesn't see. say no very often. He's the kindest, funniest, sweetest. I mean, I was obsessed with him. We had the best time together. But sometimes... Is this Robert Carly? Yeah, sorry, Robert Carly. I just want to say,

we've gone Bobby Carler and I'm frankly impressed. But he occasionally, they were coming in. Yes, I'm in line of duty as well. Yes, I'm in January. But occasionally they will come in and say something to him on set. And like we had this really, at one point, this is really ridiculous police hats that look like they would go on a teddy, basically. Do you play a policeman? We're allowed to know that. I'm so excited. And they would be like Bobby can you put on the hat and he'll just go no and no one questions it because he doesn't say it very often but it's it's sparingly used and it's very effective. But when you're Robert Carlisle yeah I mean yeah it's not going to have the same effect to me going no but he's got I think it's that power that you have when you walk into a room

yeah and I think that power is more if you don't use it all the time is what I mean you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. I'm fascinated. I'm so excited that you're a line of duty, so you're in another of my favourite shows. Oh God. Let's hope I don't ruin it. And when is that out in January? I think January. Okay, fine. I think January. You might have to come on again to talk about that. I also want to mention before I let you go, something else I've seen you in which I thought you were so good in was the, it was called suspect. Oh gosh, yeah. It was the shooting of Charles de Manezes. Yeah. And we should So people don't remember that was the, in the aftermath of the 7-7 bombings where the police, you know, shot this poor Brazilian guy who was a completely innocent victim. And it's such a compelling drama.

I really recommend, I think it's on Disney Plus still. It is on Disney, yeah, yeah. If you want to watch it, but you play, was it Lana Vandenberg? Yes, that's right. Who was the sort of whistleblower at the IPCCC who sort of said, no, something wrong is going on. And the public need to know the truth. Yeah, because it was very much portrayed in the press that this man, the police wrongly shot,

was acting suspiciously that he looked a lot like the terrorist that they were looking for. So that he had a padded jacket and he jumped the barriers. He had a light denim jacket on. He walked through the ticket barriers. He picked up a metro. And Lana kind of saw these inconsistencies with what the police reports were saying

and what was going out in the press and that the police were not correcting it essentially. Because in a way, they didn't want people to the horror of what actually happened. They were sort of comfortable with that not going out. And there was different things like that they shouted warnings and stuff when they came onto the carriage. But actually in the testimonies of all of these people who were in the carriage,

they were like, no, they didn't shout police, police before they shot him. Yeah, because they said they shouted. We said stop armed police. And then they said 17 witnesses or whatever. It was more than that evening. Yeah. Had said, we didn't hear anything. He was just shot.

So, but it was... That's Jeff Pope as well that wrote that, who also wrote Archie and Paul Landry Williams, who directed Archie at the director. Well, he keeps giving you word. I know, thank God. And I love both of them. They're both absolutely incredible. You're obviously, but I think what's interesting is Gavin and Stacey

feels like something that kind of really, everyone needs those moments in their career. Yeah. They're the kind of white heat moments when suddenly, Shows that maybe, you know, suddenly you're getting asked, oh, this morning what you want or something. Do you know what I mean, where people are so interested in you, extending beyond the work you've done. They're watching who you are as a person.

But I think what's interesting is everyone, a lot of people get those moments, but when you sustain it, it's because the work speaks for itself. Well, we'll see. Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Um, I'd say I'm a realist. So maybe that means I'm a pessimist. Really?

Yeah. I don't. I think I'm an optimist with other people. Yeah. And maybe a bit more... I think, you know, like, you get so many disappointments as an actor. It's a life of disappointment in a lot of ways. So you have to be very resilient.

Yeah, and you have to basically turn those disappointments into not disappointments, just because you can't have, you can't be hopeful for everything. Do you know what I think is difficult, and I was aware of this with my mum, and people don't really... It's something I remember to really... really young kid walking into rooms and it was that, darling, are you working? You know, what are you up to? Got anything going on? Got any bits going on? And I used to feel quite sorry for my mum when just that sort of people's almost disappointment. Yeah, because it's like you're the exciting one in a lot of situations in terms of your job or the gossip you might have

or the celebrities that you might have met. So then when you're not working, it's so hard. It's so hard, I do some work with Shout. I'm a crisis counsellor for them. And I've been speaking to them about their loneliness project recently. And I think when other, you know, a big part of the reason that other people value you is your job. When you're not working, you can feel like you have no value or you have nothing to offer and go into like a family gathering or a party where you haven't seen people in a while. You really have to brace yourself if you haven't worked in a year. to walk through that door and be like, and everyone's like, oh, what are you up to?

And you're like, absolutely nothing. And especially, I'll be honest, as someone who's child free, I never had the baby to pass around. Yeah, you've not got the buffer. Yeah, it's like that's your identity. What are you doing? Well, you better be the bloody good career woman, seeing as you haven't done what you were. But then did you find with Ray, that gives you a little bit of that?

Oh, he's completely been great for that. Yeah. Because I bring him and I feel, I would totally agree with that. because I think there is that element of, and it's no one individually thinking this. It's just that societal pressure. Yeah. You've either got to be a sort of, you know, CEO or something.

You've got to be running Amazon. Yeah. Or you've got to have six children. Yeah. And you're like, no, look at this. That's before you go. Chewbacca. I've got Chewbacca.

I've raised Chewbacca, okay? I don't know if that's the right character. I've never seen Star Wars or whatever. He's being called an Ewok as well and a mini tubaka. Look at it. You know you're being talked about. Before you go, because we need to let you go to rehearsal.

Yeah. I'm so impressed. I heard that you did counselling. And how does that work then? Is that for a particular... Yeah, so it's for Shout, which is a text crisis counselling service. So you can text in to shout at any time and then you will be in a text conversation with someone, which a lot of people find easier than maybe being on this sort of.

than maybe being on the supporters. Especially younger generations. Yeah. And it works out great for me because I can log in and do it on my computer at my two hour shift at any time. So it kind of works around my schedule really well. And it's brilliant. The training's amazing. And it's for crisis. So it's a lot of de-escalation, sometimes some active rescue for people who are actively committing suicide and stuff like that. But it is a really amazing thing to do. And you start, so that's interesting because I would find that quite I suppose with the written word you're thinking God I've got to say the right things yeah do you get training for that yeah yeah yeah you get a really a really brilliant three-month training and

you do you do it all online but there are tests and stuff to make sure that you're getting it right and then there's a supervisor always on your conversation so if you're dealing with something particularly tricky or that you haven't dealt with before like, you know, child sex abuse or something like that, then there's someone that you can always be like, hey, I've got this, this, this, can you read through my conversation with me and steer me in the right direction? But yeah, you do have to think carefully, but I think the framework of the conversations is really clear from them. So you can feel quite confident in what you're doing and what you're saying. And it's, you know, you're, you as a person is never in in the conversation.

It's always, you know, about them. If people ask for advice, that's not. not what that service is. You're not giving anyone advice. You're just talking them about their problems and thinking about how you can de-escalate their kind of situation. I think that's great that you do that. Thanks. It's great. It's brilliant. It's a brilliant service. I know, but you don't have to do that.

No. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. But then I suppose that plays into like what you were asking me before about, you know, when you go to a party and stuff. Not necessarily that I'm going to tell people that I'm doing that, But just for me, to have something else that's a value in my life that isn't getting the next audition, I think those things have always been really important to me to have the dogs and the fostering and the volunteering

so that your whole life is not one and lost on work, you know. I think you're absolutely right. And I think it's also to do with, they always say, don't they, that just that giving back thing is really important. You do stuff like that. Yes, you're doing it for other people. But it's also just in terms of... It's also for you, yeah. It is.

Yeah. You do feel better off. Yeah, definitely. We need to let you go in a second. But I'm going to walk with you as far as we're allowed without stalking you to the theatre. Are you coming all the way? No. Let me take a quick picture before you go and then I'll let you go and then we'll walk with you.

Which way are we going this way? How did you decide what breed to get? Do you know what? I'd always seen... My goddaughter had a Shih Tzu and I was always really fond of her shitsun, Captain Jack. And people would be like, you know, what I liked about Jack was that he always had his own mind. He could sometimes be a little bit grumpy and I kind of respect that in a dog. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. And then the weirdest thing happened, I had my friend, Catherine Ryan on this podcast. I didn't have a dog at that point. She's got two, hasn't she? She had a little shih Tzu called Meg Ryan. Fantastic. Oh no, do we have to go that way? Oh, that horrible noise. You were saying about Captain Jack being quite, um, he knew his own mind. Yeah, we should say sorry, there was just a horrible noise, which was two men, notice about I say men, accusingly, like their gender had anything to do with it. The fact that they do park maintenance. They were doing some horrible,

work and so if you can hear that noise that's what it is but we're safely out of their way now but yeah i ended up getting ray katherine ryan had a little shih Tzu called meg ryan and i really fell in love with that dog really yeah and i was looking around for shih Tzu's i found this woman who loved them and had loads of them and sort of almost did it because she her home was filled with them my god And then I got Ray and she said, oh, she was sort of looking, asking what I did. And then she said, oh, we've got a lot of people in your business. Catherine Ryan got her little dog from us. No, I didn't know.

She went, oh, yeah, that's the sister of Ray. Oh, no way. So that was Ray's sister, Meg Ryan. Meg Ryan sadly died not long ago. So we miss Meg Ryan, don't we? Well, I ended up getting Eric, well, a Frenchie, because of Russell Tovey, had his dog Rocky the whole time on the shoot of the job lot. And Matt had wanted a dog so badly. And I was just like, well, I mean, I'm in love with this French bulldog.

So that's what we'll do. Did you fall in love with Russell to be a dog? Oh, God, Rocky, yeah. Has Russell still got those French bulldog? No, he passed away at the end of last year. Oh, poor Russell. I mean, he had an amazing life. And Russell just took him everywhere.

and it was heartbreaking for all of us for Russell and for Rocky because we all just loved Rocky. And he was like the OG dog of the group. Now everyone's got dogs. But he was, yeah, he was the original. I mean, I remember Russell taking Rocky on Jonathan Ross when he was a puppy and he was tiny and he brought him out on the sofa with him.

Oh yeah, he was a real treat, Rocky. Absolutely hated karaoke and exercise of any form, but otherwise he was very amiable. That's not Russell, by the way. No, that's Rocky. Russell definitely doesn't make exercise any form. He looks very interesting. He doesn't exercise or karaoke.

He's very keen on both. You're obviously, you strike me as someone who's quite, like you get sort of friendships with a lot of the people that you work with, don't you? Yeah, I mean, you spend so much bloody time with them. Yeah, but a lot of people spend time with people and they come away from saying, bye-bye, I see you and they get in the car. Yeah, they're never seen them again, yeah. Whereas you're probably quite a sociable person.

Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'm like pathetic on a night out. I can't stay up very late, but I really love people. I really, and I really fall in love with people. Do you? Yeah, like I've been working with Michelle for like two and a half weeks. Michelle Dockery, yeah. I'm madly enough with her. So I do, yeah, and I'll make the effort with people. She's like very old school, elegant and poised, isn't she? Yeah, she's like the perfect Helen of Troy. She's got this, I love her. Dignity about her, this way, this way, that way.

That way and then you're on the road. Lovely. You just can't take your eyes off her and she's smart and she's like wickedly funny in a way that you're, you're never quite prepared for. She's fantastic. No, I'm a huge fan of it. hers we love Michelle Dockery and you know what we love you Laura Aitman thank you very much having you on this podcast have you enjoyed it yes double bubble as well got Eric got a fun dog walking

and I did you enjoy it Eric now he'll fall asleep all day at rehearsals which is perfect and I recommend everyone goes to see Laura's play I'm going to go along I might you're not allowed dogs but I might sneak him in under my clothes they're not allowed in the bloody theatre so I can't do a Sarah Hadland and put him in the dressing room for you unfortunately. Yes, I'm taking way to see Sarah's play and he is going to be in the dressing room at the interval. Well, Laura, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. And thank you for being, you now are officially.

Stop it, Ray. Stop it, stop being something. He's got his song sticking out. Yes, maybe he's not keen on me. No, he really likes you. Do you like your hair? Bye buddy. Bye buddy.

Laura, it's been a joy. Thank you. hug. Yeah, of course. You know what I love? You've got dog hair all over you. Yeah, that's me. And droll.

I really hope you enjoyed that episode of Walking the Dog. We'd love it if you subscribed and do join us next time on Walking the Dog wherever you get your podcasts.