I was told by an old teacher, who claimed to have been at school with you, that you turned up to non-uniform day in a dress for a laugh and everyone was too scared to take the piss. True or false? Mallycat
It’s true that I turned up in a dress. I don’t remember people being too scared. I do remember being told I had to go back and put on different clothes, truck drivers pipping at me, going: “Eh up, doll.” I wasn’t anywhere near as confident walking home to get some jeans without my friends as I was on the way in. I always pushed the boundaries. I dyed the top of my hair pink, they said it had to all be one colour, so that night I dyed the rest of it pink and they said: “No, we meant all one colour, but not frigging pink! And it all has to be one length.” So I shaved it bald. I thought: “It’s non-uniform day, I’ll wear a dress because I want to get on people’s tits.” I was just a pain in the bum to be honest.
In your dramas, there are many brilliant but haunting scenes, which lay bare the dark side of human nature. Do these dare-go-where-many-dare-not scenes provide catharsis for you and your cast, or are you all left shaken? hawthornelee79
Obviously it varies from film to film and scene to scene. With the more difficult scenes, it’s not just a case of: see you on set. For instance, This is England, knowing that Combo was going to beat up Milky, Stephen [Graham, who plays Combo], Shimmy [Andrew Shim, who plays Milky] and I all went round to Shimmy’s grandma’s house to have a meal and spend time together. When something is that close to the bone, it goes beyond acting. I’ve always tried to make sure that no one gets damaged.
