I have a theory: if you have a happy childhood, you don’t remember much of it. I’ve got a few bits and pieces. We lived in southeast London, not poor, but not well off. Dad was a lecturer, Mum had been an English teacher. I really don’t remember much else.
As a child I wanted to be a soldier. Then I had an epiphany at nine. A sign appeared at school – the local am-dram society was putting on Peter Pan. I got a minor role, caught the bug and wanted to be an actor, until I saw a BBC Noël Coward documentary. What a life, to write funny plays for the theatre, I thought.
