Rosie Jones, 33, is a writer, actor and comedian who began her career writing for panel shows such as Would I Lie to You? and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. She is a regular quizshow panellist, a successful standup comic, and has moved into acting, appearing on Call the Midwife. She made headlines last year with her Channel 4 documentary about hate speech and discrimination against disabled people, Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard?
How hard was it to move from your default comedy setting to the much more serious documentary?
So difficult. Having a disability all of my life, I quickly learned that although I was different, although I couldn’t walk, what I could do was make people laugh. And when I did that, I broke down the barriers. I released tension or awkwardness around my disability and I felt “normal”. The first day of filming, I kept cracking jokes on camera and to the crew. Tom Levinge, the director, actually stopped me and said, it’s not that kind of show. It’s not up to you to make sure everyone is OK. I’ve now taken that out into my personal life. I started therapy, and I approach situations in a different manner, because it’s not up to me to make people feel comfortable around me and disability in general. It’s up to non-disabled people to be allies and educate themselves.
