Joanna Lumley says she didn't get into acting ‘for stardom'
Despite being turned away from drama school, she began acting in the late 1960s, securing her first speaking role in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Lumley is well-known for her roles as Purdey in The New Avengers and Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous, and is joining the cast of Netflix's Wednesday for its second season.
She said actors are 'no different' from painters and decorators and most have never longed for fame: 'I've just done anything to keep my head above water.'
She praised the availability of "wonderful parts" for older women nowadays, noting a positive shift away from the pressure to always appear attractive.
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Daily Mirror
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Corrie's Suranne Jones plays Prime Minister with rap star for Netflix thriller
After gracing the Weatherfield cobbles and other hit shows, Suranne Jones stars in Netflix's political thriller Hostage, sharing the spotlight with a grime star. Bombshells, diplomacy and danger collide in Matt Charman's new thriller Hostage - and some grime fans might be surprised to see one of their favourite stars grace the screen. From the cobbles of Coronation Street to Doctor Foster, Vigil and Gentleman Jack – winning a TV Bafta on the way – Suranne Jones has cemented herself as one of Britain's best-loved acting talents. Now, the versatile star is taking on her most powerful role yet – quite literally – as the British Prime Minister in Hostage, Netflix 's explosive new political thriller from Oscar-nominated Matt Charman (Bridge Of Spies). In Hostage, Suranne plays Abigail Dalton, a politician plunged into chaos when her husband, Dr Alex Anderson, is kidnapped. And she made sure she was thoroughly prepared and did her homework. 'I don't think I'm allowed to say [who], but I did speak to three really high-up women from different parties,' Suranne, 46, says. 'I read their books and I interviewed them, and that was very exciting.' That attention to detail paid off. Abigail isn't just a PM fighting for her family – she's a woman balancing power and vulnerability. Portraying the latter involved getting close to her co-star and on-screen husband, Ashley Thomas, aka grime star Bashy. 'We did chemistry tests, and when he came in, it was just like, 'Oh, you're intriguing, handsome, lovely, smart, intelligent,'' Suranne remembers. 'And then we met our daughter (Isobel Akuwudike), who is also brilliant. It was her first job.' Ashley also prepared thoroughly to portray medic Alex. He consulted real-life doctors, but it was the emotional weight of Alex's kidnapping that hit the hardest. 'That was tough. Putting yourself in those places is heavy – especially as Alex is a father,' says Ashley. 'The environment I've come from, I've witnessed and experienced a lot of trauma, so there were things I was able to pull from.' While Abigail grapples with domestic turmoil, things aren't calm across the Channel either. French President Vivienne Toussaint – played by French-American actress Julie Delpy – is battling her own political scandal after being blackmailed. During a state visit to the UK, Vivienne is forced to work with Abigail to expose a common enemy, despite their vastly different political backgrounds. 'She's quite conflicted, which I liked,' Julie, 55, says. 'She is someone who started out with ideals but had to give up part of what she believes in to get access to power.' Vivienne is dangerous and captivating – a role that seemed made for Julie, who has spent her career tackling complex characters. 'She might not be a very good person, but she's more than just a bad guy,' Julie adds. But beneath her icy exterior lies a secret: an age-gap relationship that threatens everything. 'A May-September relationship these days isn't a big deal – but this is a little darker and more complicated than that. A little more destructive,' Julie explains. 'Her husband is key in her ascent to power, so to put herself in this situation and put everything at risk is kamikaze.' Hostage shows Vivienne's struggle to keep her Achilles' heel hidden. 'She's good at handling situations and power, but her weakness is her hidden side,' Julie says. 'She's romantically involved with someone she shouldn't be and that's a huge weakness for a politician – especially a woman.' Before Sunrise actress Julie embraced the opportunity to portray someone morally grey. 'I loved the idea of playing someone very different from me,' she says. 'She's not the most likeable of characters, but that's fine with me. If they are unlikeable as a person, you find a way to approach them as a human being. When I played a Nazi character, she was obviously repulsive, but then you have to think that she sees it differently.' Despite Vivienne's complicated personality, Julie found herself intrigued by her. 'It was interesting to see someone that seems so rational and together, but behind the mask, her life is a mess,' she says. 'I'm the opposite – I look messy and crazy, but I would never do what she does!' And when it comes to politics? 'I'm not interested at all [in politics] because of the compromises you would have to make. I don't even do that in the movie business, and you see a lot of people give up their morals to succeed. I'm not able to do that. I'm just not that kind of person.' Julie's first day of filming for Hostage set the tone that the tense series demanded. 'I'm always nervous, and not just on the first day,' she admits. 'My first day on Hostage was a kissing scene – so it was even more stressful than usual. I didn't know this person so I had to switch off my mind a little.' If that wasn't enough, the role involved linguistic hurdles, too. Julie had to learn the more official, formal speeches in English. 'Those are hard enough in your own language, but to do them as a non-native speaker was tough,' she says. Luckily, the tension on screen was offset by the real-life camaraderie with her castmates – particularly Suranne. 'She's a lovely person and a great actress,' Julie says. 'Sometimes, it takes a little time to find your way with certain people, but with Suranne it was immediate. I like communication to be quick and fast and clear, I have no time for ego and she's like that as well. So it made it very easy.' The friendly feelings appear to be mutual. Suranne revealed during a recent appearance on the Table Manners podcast, 'There were a lot of unrepeatable stories, told in the make-up trailer. Julie would be talking in the corner, and then everyone would go quiet!'
BBC News
30 minutes ago
- BBC News
Norwich Castle fully reopens after years of restoration work
A medieval castle keep is to reopen to the public after five years of restoration and building revamp of Norwich Castle, which will be unveiled on Thursday, has included restoring original floor levels in the Grade I listed keep, re-creating the great hall, and creating step-free access from the basement to the rooftop began in 2020 but there were delays caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Workers also uncovered hidden Norman and Victorian features that had to be preserved, meaning the reopening date was pushed back Royal Palace Reborn project has cost £27.5m, about £7.5m more than the original estimate. A documentary about the overhaul has been premiered in Norwich this Channel 4 film, being screened at Cinema City, is narrated by Sir Stephen Fry and follows the highs and lows of the work at the 900-year-old Pestell, the museum's archaeology curator, said that watching it "does remind you of all of the stages that you go through". He added: "You live so much in the moment trying to solve the latest problems and get things done that you forget all of the things that you've achieved in the past."It's been really interesting looking at those various stages again."When you look back, these are just some of the challenges that you overcome." The Castle: Rebuilding History was created by Norwich production firm Eye Film, which spent years with the restoration director Charlie Gauvin said: "The renovation of Norwich Castle marks a landmark chapter in the city's history."What started out as a passion project for Eye Film will now reach audiences worldwide."This documentary captures the scale and ambition of the transformation, while offering an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the challenges along the way." The show will air on Channel 4 on 24 will be public screenings at Cinema City until 23 August and at Abbeygate Cinema in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 12 August. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Sometimes I overshare': Adam Buxton on fear, fun, finance – and falling out with friends
On a muggy summer day, Adam Buxton is talking me through the songs on his debut album, Buckle Up. 'There's one on there called Standing Still,' he says, 'which was written when I was feeling absolutely bleak and lost and is about opening a packet of pasta when all the pasta spills. I thought: 'You can get a joke in there about being a fusilli billy and maybe that will distract a bit from the more earnest and pain-laden lyrics about how, every morning, I drink a cup of tea and it helps me with all the thoughts I have to smother.'' What are these thoughts? 'I get overwhelmed by the world and, the worse the news gets, the harder it bites,' he says. 'I get existential fear and I think I should go and join Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and work with them. But then, is that really the best use of my talents? My wife is like: 'Please don't join MSF. It's really helpful to have you around here. And, also, I think you're good at doing your podcast and that helps people.'' Buxton, 56, cuts a pensive figure as he strokes his grey-streaked beard. He has travelled to the Guardian's London offices from his home in Norfolk, where he lives with Sarah, their three children and their dog Rosie, who regularly features on his podcast. The Adam Buxton Show began in 2015, the year that his longstanding comedy partner, Joe Cornish, went off to make movies. During Covid, at a time when people were more isolated and atomised than ever, Buxton's gentle, affable chat won a vast and loyal fanbase. Conversation is important to Buxton. He was raised in west London by his journalist father, Nigel, who was travel editor of the Sunday Telegraph, and Chilean mother, Valerie. He has described his dad as 'gruff, pompous, conservative and harshly critical of nearly everything I enjoyed as a youngster and beyond', while his mum was his 'ally', someone who squared up to his father and encouraged Buxton's love of music and eventual TV and comedy career. 'Watching my parents, the problem was they didn't talk enough,' he says. 'Stubbornness, pride and hurt feelings prevented them. It's probably why I feel it's ultimately a good thing to talk more rather than less … Sometimes I feel I overshare and sometimes I can hear my dad or even my mum going, 'It's too much – say less.'' Buxton's readiness to talk about his own life encourages his podcast guests to let their guard down. His friend Louis Theroux opened up about his drinking problems, admitting that during the pandemic he would regularly be parenting his three sons hungover. 'I did sometimes wonder if you could do the job drunk,' he told Buxton. 'Maybe that's controversial, but I'm going to say yes.' Singer Pauline Black talked about performing in front of skinheads who were on speed in the 1970s and constantly fearing racist violence. Zadie Smith reflected on the 'death terror' that inspires her. How does Buxton approach such a wide range of guests? 'I'm always just looking for a moment of genuine connection,' he says. The guests aren't all celebrities. The Syrian refugee Hassan Akkad described being detained and tortured by the police for attending a protest, then paying smugglers to take him on a dinghy from Turkey to Greece. Once the overfilled boat began to sink, he swam for seven hours to make it to Lesbos. 'It's valuable for people to be able to talk to each other about complicated things,' Buxton says. 'I grew up in a house with parents who I didn't agree with politically, but that didn't stop me loving them. The problem now is that people are very prepared to think the worst of anyone. That seems to be the default position, to read the most bad-faith version of whatever's going on in the situation.' Over the past few years, for the first time, he's had some permanent fallings out with friends over politics. 'It was really shocking when it happened, because I sat down with them and tried to get past it,' he says. ''Surely we can talk about it?' I said. 'We've got too much in common.' And it was so upsetting and frightening when it was apparent that we couldn't. It completely threw me for a loop for a while.' He has written two memoirs: Ramble Book, published in 2020, about his life in the 1980s and the death of his father in 2015; and 2025's I Love You, Byeee, which covers his TV career in the 1990s and the death of his mother in 2020. He spent nine months caring for his father after he was diagnosed with cancer. 'Before he moved in, I'd imagined conversations filled with tender reminiscences, confessions and closure,' he writes. 'In the end, we were just two uptight men who found it easier to be on our own.' His mother's death felt more sudden, despite her health deteriorating over a number of years. 'The ones who really love you, you end up taking for granted,' he told Cornish in a podcast episode recorded a few months later. 'I just had it in my head that we were going to have another chapter and she would be with us. I was totally sideswiped by her death.' Hearing him grapple with his bereavement has helped me with my own grief over the death of my mother. At the end of I Love You, Byeee, he thanks his mother for loving him and apologises for not taking the time to talk to her more about her life. It's a regret I've often had myself, holding on to questions that will now never be answered, and there is a comfort in hearing that expressed by someone else. How is he coping now? 'I feel as if I've really been in the hole with grief for ages, looking through photos, thinking about it, talking to relatives, maybe spending too much time there and not moving on sufficiently,' he says. 'I really miss them and that doesn't go away. I'm surprised how much that doesn't go away.' He is still haunted by one song that reminds him of his mother, Randy Crawford's One Day I'll Fly Away. 'I listened to that song the night after she died, since it's one of her favourites, but this time I suddenly heard such darkness in it,' he says. 'She sings, 'I follow the night / Can't stand the light / When will I begin / My life again?' and it made me think of where my mum might be and I began to feel so fearful. There's grief and then there's fear and the fear is worse.' Buxton went to the fee-paying Westminster school in London, which is where he became friends with Theroux and Cornish. It was while studying at Cheltenham College of Art that he began tinkering with the self-filmed sketches he sent to the Channel 4 show Takedown TV, and which formed the basis for the Adam and Joe Show. This began in 1996, and included everything from a toy-themed recreation of The English Patient, to Buxton's father being filmed as he explored the nightclubs of Ibiza. At a time when shows such as Spitting Image and Brass Eye were skewering politicians and celebrities, Buxton and Cornish preferred to make fun of themselves. The show was axed after four series, and the pair went on to work together on the radio. With the 30th anniversary of the Adam and Joe Show coming up, does he think they will ever make another TV series? 'Never say never, but it would be quite weird,' he says. 'Over the years, we've discovered the podcast is a good medium for us because we know how we fit together in that world. We do the Christmas podcast together every year and I don't think that's going to stop anytime soon.' With a new celebrity-fronted interview podcast seemingly popping up every week, does he worry about the future of his show? 'I don't think about it really,' he says. 'I'm not on social media, I don't check numbers and I gauge it by whether I'm still getting sponsors. I do sometimes think, if the sponsors went away and it wasn't financially worthwhile, would I still do it? And I think I would. It is fun. I'll probably only stop when Rosie dies.' From 2007 to 2009, he co-hosted a BBC Radio 6 Music show with Cornish, which included jokey radio jingles. He sees his album as a natural progression for this musical tinkering – a selection of 'proper music' with a funny edge, written by him over five years and produced by Joe Mount of indie group Metronomy. The 15 tracks span everything, from fast-paced electropop about sitting on the moral fence (Dancing in the Middle) to 1970s Brazilian bossa about drying the dishes (Tea Towel), Dylanesque folk singing about differing musical tastes (Skip This Track) and thundering jungle breakbeats for a love letter to wearing shorts (Shorts). This solo project puts him centre stage, but he is still keen to work with others. 'I like anything where it's collegiate and you have an experience with people,' he says. 'That's why I always wanted to go into the [I'm A Celebrity] jungle. Now I do get offers to go in there but I think I'm too old. I don't know if I could hack it physically.' What if they offered you a million pounds? 'It's not about the money, man – it's about the experience,' he laughs. 'I'd do it for free if the right people were in there.' He's also keen to act more: in 2007, he was cast in Edgar Wright's romp Hot Fuzz, where he played a local journalist who meets a grisly end. 'I'm hoping I might be entering my more castable years as an older man. It might be easier to slot me into a few creepy old guy roles. That's the dream: get a part on a show that ends up doing really well. You just show up, you don't have to write it and you don't have to worry about it, just hang out with talented people. That would be really good.' Adam Buxton's new single Doing It Wrong is out on Decca. His album Buckle Up is released on 12 September
