This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
What’s the view from your sofa?
The view of my sofa is harrowing. I’ve got two cats and they’ve shredded it. It causes me pain to look at it. From a devastated sofa I look straight onto the TV, which is mounted on the wall but has lots of wires coming out of it, because things keep falling out.
What have you been watching?
I’ve got a permanently exhausted doctor husband, and so he doesn’t have to talk to me – which is his ambition in life – he just says, “This looks good.” I do tend to devour box sets. I absolutely adored Hacks with Jean Smart. It’s very smart, clever writing and it really appeals to me. It’s a phenomenal story of intergenerational friendships.
When did you first realise you could do impressions?
It’s just a terribly tragic story in that I was a very uncool kid and I fell into that cliché of trying to make people laugh. I remember doing an impression of Bonnie Langford as Violet Elizabeth [from Just William], and Miss Piggy was my big one. Years later I did a show called The Comedy Map of Great Britain, where you went back to your old school, and according to a teacher I used to impersonate a lot of her colleagues.
You co-wrote and starred with Alistair McGowan in the Bafta-winning The Big Impression, mimicking celebrities. Looking back, would you have done anything differently?
It was on the cusp of when celebrity culture was on an upward trajectory and it was all a bit more innocent. We caught the zeitgeist. We could fantasise sketches about Posh and Becks having dinner and talking about their finances, but of course you can’t really do that any more because everybody knows what they’re doing from social media.
If the show were to return, who would you like to take on?
It’s quite hard to parody people now, because everybody’s become a parody of themselves. I wish I could go back and do Olivia Colman [imitating Colman’s raspy tone]: “Polishing her Oscars and talking about being a cleaner.”
Was it difficult to make the move from comedy to straight acting?
I’ve never really thought of myself as an impressionist. I was a comedic actress who ended up doing impressions after being on tour with Rory Bremner. I think UK audiences are a little unforgiving, whereas in the States, Tina Fey will be doing a Sarah Palin impression and the next moment she’ll be doing something a bit more serious. Impressionists are pariahs of the comedy world – I think we’re just slightly above jugglers and underneath ventriloquists.
A lot of your impressions were based on EastEnders characters. How did it feel to cross over into Albert Square yourself?
It really was extraordinary. Joining the show was very strange and meta for me, especially because Alistair and I had deconstructed it over the years. I was terribly fond of Barbara Windsor, and she loved it. She’d say [imitating Windsor’s voice]: “You’re saying ‘Get out of my pub’ more than I am.”
Your EastEnders alter ego Bea Pollard is a troubled character…
She’s outrageous. I wanted to do a very nuanced, complex character. You’ve seen nothing yet!
Next week she kidnaps Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton). Did you channel your inner Kathy Bates?
She bundles her into a car, and she takes her off to a cottage where she has a few childhood memories. It does become a bit like something out of Misery. But there’s still an element of funny in it. The team at EastEnders wanted to embrace dark humour, which you do find in these very adverse situations. Emma and I really locked into each other.
What else are you working on at the moment?
I’ve got a little production company with Sally Phillips called Captain Dolly and we’re developing a couple of films, one called Fortitude starring Nicolas Cage, and another called Think of England. I also have a podcast with Hal Cruttenden called Hal and Ronni in Pieces. Every week we have spoof adverts with Alistair doing the most magnificent impressions of famous comics.
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