What’s the view from your sofa?
I stretch my legs out when I’m watching telly, so it’s my feet, which are very wide these days. That’s the menopause for you.
You’ve taken over from Kathy Burke as the host of the podcast Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake, where celebrities discuss their preferred manner of death, fantasy funeral and so on. Those are big shoes to fill…
Kathy Burke also has enormous feet.
Have you thought much about your own death?
My husband [television director and Lamda teacher Ben Morris] and I actually talk about it a lot – but not in a morbid way. Since 2017, I’ve lost both parents and both parents-in-law. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s been quite a death-y eight years.
So, you’re an orphan now?
Yeah, but I had my parents until I was in my 50s, which is a privilege. When we lost Dad, we still had Mum and we focused on her because she was widowed. Losing Mum last year felt like losing them both. It wasn’t the best of times, but I feel extremely lucky – I have my own family, my own kids, and they’re exceptional young women.
All the same, a year isn’t long. You must still miss your mum.
When my mum died, she left my siblings and me a detailed five-page email about her funeral. Oh my God, it was so useful! We went through the email, ticking things off as we did them. It said things like: “Nobody cares about food at a funeral. All they’re interested in is the drink. Give them plenty to drink,” followed by a list of all the drinks she wanted served. My mum was a very practical, quite bossy ex-nurse.
You’ve presented a huge variety of TV programmes, from The Great British Bake Off to Eurovision — so what’s the key to being a good presenter?
I once worked with this Australian director on an ensemble theatre show and he kept saying, “Grow your ears. When you’re on stage, imagine your ears are just growing.” I’ve never forgotten it. Obviously he meant for us to be really aware of what everyone else is doingand saying all the time. I think that’s what you have to do as a presenter, but Sue [Perkins] and I weren’t cut out to be presenters. We fell into it in a totally random way.
What was it like meeting Sue at Cambridge University?
When you meet someone and it feels as if you can step into their brain, you see things the same way, and you absolutely howl with laughter with them – like, howl with laughter – it’s an amazing thing, an amazing gift.
Do you feel privileged having been to Cambridge?
The only reason I applied to Cambridge was because my mum bought me a ticket to see the Cambridge Footlights when I was about 15. I’d always loved comedy – Not the Nine o’Clock News, Victoria Wood, French & Saunders.It felt as if all these little doors started opening in my head. It was so excellent and I couldn’t believe that they were students. Comedy was the only reason I applied to Cambridge. I don’t think I’d get in today.
According to the Oxford High School website, you had “a reputation as an irrepressible, yet highly likeable presence in school”. Care to translate?
Irrepressible means a right pain in the ass. Highly likeable – not very good academically. It was an all-girls secondary school and I loved it. It was amazing, because being in a school that had feminist principles, there wasn’t a day I thought, “I can’t do this because I’m a woman.” It was never on the agenda. I don’t think I’d be doing what I’m doing now if I hadn’t gone to that school.
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