Career Trivia and Final Reflections

She is responsible for my entire career. Good God, really? We finished last November. That's it forever. I thought your character was so brilliant because it be so against what you would Deloy with Who better to learn from than David Jason and Nick Lindhurst really? What part did you really go for that you didn't get could have changed my life Hello and welcome to a Night in with mee Sally Lindseay. This week I am thrilled to say I'm joined by Tessa Pete Jones. Tessa has built a long and varied career on British television, moving easily between drama and comedy. Tessa, I cannot wait to meet you. I love that intro. I wish I could have that everywhere I went. You've got the biggest friend You've got the biggest rep. You know what we talk about with actresses when they've got a good rep. We've never met it before but we know it's going to be good. Good. We start usually with some funny little quick fire quiz just to get us going.. So I hope you don't mind that That's fine. And I'm sure you've got lots of fantastic answers. Yes, well, we'll see. So first question, what show are you most likely to binge Well, at the moment, yes It's the good doctor I'm an absolute Well, I'm a binger of all American A andE hospital dramas. Have you done house? I haven't. I think that'll be next. now. If you've had I don't know if you do have the odgin and tonic at home. Yeahah occasionally. White wine as well. White wine? Yeahes. So say you've had a couple glasses of wine. What showed do you go to Is it a good doctor? I'm afraid it would be the same thing because now I'm on a line with it, so I've got to get to the end. Yes. Who would you sit and watch this tellellv with? You could have anyone in the world And you could have dinner with them and then say, let's going to watch Ty, who would it be I think it be have to be somebody that would be funny to make me laugh I think Steve Martin is amazing Yeah I I ask him to fly over and join me for an evening? love I know he's taken, but I mean, he's really great the night, I mean just for the night. making you up Now this is a good question for actresses. What part did you really go for and you didn't get? I'll tell you exactly about it Oall ye. Four weddings and a funeral rist Sott Thomas gotott it could have changed my life. Were you down for the last two Well, I'm not sure. they always say that, don't they because they want to make you feel better about No they don't. Well, I think I was down to the last two and I'm seething with jealousy. But then again, you know, other life comes along, doesn't it? Oh, of course, I mean, you're all right, mate. And she is amazing She me And she was a bit younger than me, and actually at the end of the day, I think thats you know, I was a little bit too old for her. Yeah, but you would' have been amazing. Well, it would have been a nice opportunity.ever done a movie, reallyally a big movie. Nowve that's a g actually. What is your earliest TV memory when you were a little girl? The first thing you watched on television? Coronation Street wasas it And was it really important to? I think it was important because I was brought up by two women, Mum andyric. Mum was never that interested in tell you like that. But untoie was, she loved soaps So she would watch it I was aware that that programm and crossroads, quite a few of them actually. Yeah. always featured not only women as their leads, which, you know, let's face it another dramas wasn't the case even now. sometimes isn't. but also it was women of a certain age, i. e, fifty, sixty, seventy. So I remember seeing people like Inna Sharpless, Annie Walker, Elsie Tanner, all these strong, fantastic Northern Aresses in the street, you know, I remember really like my mum staying and It was the first time she saw her class represented. Yes and women represented in that way on British television. and older women. So can you tell me a little bit about your background talking about strong women because you have Possibly one of the most fascinating backgrounds I've ever heard. So could you try filling us in on that? Yeah, M had a fascinating life, but In amongst it, she met and had an affair with a man. in the nineteen fifties became pregnant. Her mother said, you either hand the baby because abortion was illegal. Hand the baby over for adoption or I disinherit you forever. and mum said, I'm going to have the baby. So and mum had had quite a nice, privileged her. Her grandfather had done very well for himself. He'd run away from school, couldn't read him write became a butcher, owned all these amazing butcher shops in Covent Garden Drur Lane. made a lot of money. And so mum's life up till then had been quite privileged U you know, things I'd never experienced and Anyway, her mother cuts her off Threw her out pregnant. Yeah. Nellily, herer name was, I called her the Wicked Witch to the West for I all this eventually.. Anyway, so she then was she had the baby, me.. How did she have the baby? Well, she had it in in fact, the ambulance took her broke down atneed in a roundabouts, so she thought she was going to have to put on the burst to forget Tesspeak Jones born on a roundabout. We managed to Hannah Smiths Hospital, apparently. She stayed with her brother for the first six months. he offered a home But after that she was on her own. So she got a job because we were obviously homeless then She got a job as a housekeeper in I think sort of Sussex Surrey Borders where they would accept a baby. I think she must have lied and said she was a widow posossibly because in those day fifties It would have been quite a scandal if she'd been a single parent. So I think probably she had married in the war, so she had a wedding ring and divorced. Anyway, we did that for four years and eventually, Auntie Rina when I was four, who was my godmother Her m had died, she looked after her. She had this house in Kenton in Middlesex. and so she wrote to M and said, This is crazy. I've got this house, no one else in it but me. Will you and Tess come and live with me? So we moved there and had a home until I was sixteen. So you were brought brought by two women Tessa this should be in a book. Well, I'm writing a book actually. I might I might take a while to do it, but I've started. january the fifth I started. I mean, that's like That's a fish theies already. Yeah. I mean she had a really she was far more interesting than that, my mum. She worked in MI five during the war. There's masses, masses. It's all going in the book. But Mie Renie worked in a hardware shop. So the thing that I suppose I took from the two of their apart from being brought up by two women, which I didn't realise was unusual because you don't, you take what you it. But I did realize at school because other people talk about their mum and their dad. and Father's Day was particularly difficult for me because they'd all make cards for their dad. What they do instead is say, whyy do did you w make mum for mum Yeah on Mother's Day I had to make two cards ofs. so it was always quite odd that. But Untruni worked in a hardware shop and she could do anything in the house. So the other thing that I suppose I learnt very early is that women can do as much as men and they would decorate An't to any meendeding, She'd do plumbing, she'd do shelvish deub work classes, made her own furniture. So Yeah, I think I've been quite blessed because I think I've learnnt that actually you don't need to be a man to go. You never sort of as you're brought up, you never giving the doll and being gender identified straight, you literally, this is what happens. is I was a bit like with my mum and Mran they decorated, they did everything as well. I mean, mum and dad bought My mom did everything. Yeah my grand did everything. Yeah. you know, my grandad did as well. But there was never any I don't know what it was. It was never I sort of really identify with it. I' have always thought, well, I'll have a grow at it. Yeah and see. And also I think that's why watching things like Coronation Street It just endorsed what I'd got at home. Be it was strong women with their own stories, their own characters, saying what they'd done that day. You know, and it felt the same as what I was watching on the telly. But your mum being a strong person, she also had a difficulties, didn't she as well? Yeah, she had bipolar, which then was called manic depression. Right. When I was about nine or ten She had a hystererectomy Oh, that's it, then? She thinks it was that. I don't know whether it was. It might be to do with her childhood. We'll never know, but she maintained that because they gave her hysterectomy before she'd had a menopause. The evidence now was ' I'm going through menopause at the moment and I've got a patch on I take a pillet now I can do everything, you know, we do everything you know, In't get the end of a sentence In all I do, I can' get the end of the sentence. and I just think They whip peopleop's Wombs out in back in the day without p. Oh my God, Iers Of course, of course. And she saidays that chemically and hormonally, she thinks that affected her brain. There's no I'm not having any other reasason. No Of course it is. I mean, even I've had miss ap for a couple of days. It's not lovely Tessa.. Just about still married Just must have be very lucky because I didn't really get anything. twenty percent of women really lucky. twenty percent of women It doesn't affect at all. like twenty percent the Eastern just sort of slides out and then the rest of us are not that lucky. So how did that Manifest in your life, dealing with you mom I had quite severe mental health problems. How did it affect you? Well, it meant when I was at school, I mean, I remember things alike. I mean she would the mania would normally build up Tking much faster, buying ridiculous things eight times, same thing, you know, just sort of becoming What I called hyper, ye Eventually it would like a pass, a spot, it would burst.. Usually the GP would section mum. sometometimes she'd recognize it and she'd section herself really. But off she'd go And then there was Auntieini and I at home. Auntie Rini was very opposite to Mum. She was which actually again in balance, looking back now with hindsight, I think was a really good thing. Tessa, I cannot wait to read the book. I finish I can't wait to read the book. You must finish it. Even if it's just for me Right, we're just gonna go to a little break. But before that I have some TV trivia for you. Now how many years did only fools and horses span will have the answer after the break Welcome back. Don't forget you can listen to a nighting with Sally Lindseay every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch on YouTube. So in answer to the question, only fools and horses spanned how many years do you reckon? Well, I think I was involved in maybe Well this year, so I would have thought it gone on maybe years before that. I don't know really because I've ever watched it before I joined in. but did you know? No, and we'll get to that in a minute. twenty two years. twentywenty two years. When? What from beginning to end of that series? Wow. twentyenty two years. Wow. Gosh, that's mad inst it is man? It went from nineteen eighty one two thousand three. So when did you? I joined in about eighty nine ninety. Did I hear that your mum wanted to be an actress as well? She did. She used did a lot of amateur stuff. and in fact, in writing this book now I've been to a sort of museumy place where amateur dramatic groups can lodge all about their groups, but also all the reviews, local reviews going back like a hundred years. and I went there to find mums reviews. And I mean they are amazing. She never said that. She told me sheed, but she didn't. say that you know, I mean, they're raves for you couldn't write better reviews that she's got in the local bay. Yeah. And I think in a way She sort of because she couldn't the war came, she couldn't then act and The other side she, you know, whatever, the chs are gone. She sort of voyeuristically lived her life through me And so she would put she was, I suppose you'd describe her a bit like a state at school mother. She'd, you know, at all the festivals when she was well, she'd be there and she'd want me to win and she'd want me to get top marks. and you know, if I didn't work hard, she'd tell me off afterwards. It was very, very driven Did that bother you or did it actually spur you on? Because sometimes you can find resentment in that. sometometimes you go you take inspiration from that. You know, that dedication I think I lik the support of it early on because she was incredibly you know, supportive and lots of praise and she you know, she made me feel great fantastic that I can do anything. So I like that bit of it, but it obviously at times It went over the line. And when I was at drama school, She is actually looking back now I think I can say this honestly She is responsible for my entire career Because when I was at dramma school, she went picked up the radio times and she wrote one week Every it says used to say on the radio Times on the listings of whatever dramas on that week, it would say the producersed us She wrote to every producer at the BBC in one week wrote She wrote anonymous letter saying she'd seen a girl at drama school that was going to be a star and that they ought to employ her. And Mum phoned and said I'd moved out by then. she phoned me and said test so somebody from the BBC wants to see you. You've got to go for an interview and I said, What do you mean? now does the BBC know about me? Anyway, she had to fess up she said she'd written and she showed me the letter. Well, I mean, it was unbelievable. You'd never write it about yourself. Anyway, so I had to go for an interview to the director Barry Davis, who was amazing. and in fact probably employed me in almost every telling I did for the next ten years. He came to drama school He said, have you got to show you showh me what you do. And I said, Well, yeah, I happen to be it's a really derrible play, but you came and he was casting a young girl who's very shy in a bank the storyline in a series ten part series called Telfis Change and because I'd got my equity card as a dancer when I was sixteen, otherwise I couldn't have done it. because obviously then you very strict. Yeah. really strict. D Is it fourteen forty weeks? forty weeks, wasn't it? Yeah Anyway, because I've got my temporary card provisional, I was able to do it. and so I got a job before I even left aramma school, which was amazing. thanks to Mum. And the longer story of that is that Barry Davis employed me in one of the plays for today, which was What the Batl saw, Joe Orton And Tony Dow, who directs only for No Tony, saw it. And that's I think why I got Raquel. My momum's been responsible for everything I've ever done. I think you've got quite a big part in it as well. Maybe I suppose. If In't been any good, maybe I wouldn't have beenoyed. But I think the opportunity is from her I never brilliant idea to write anonymously to every single What how do I think of it? I't think it? I mean how did you think of it? I have thought of that now. I start doing my kids. No I don't care. Oh I do. So this is absolutely amazing and so That was literally went into your first job and that was it. Yeah And did you So you got every job so you mentioned Tony Dell then. Yeah So I did a terrible What did you do with him? I loveved Tony. I did a terrible, terrible skketch showow for BBC three. And it was supposed to be about the youth. And it was me Steve Edge who plays my love interest in Madame Blanc.. And we've been mates for years. and we played all the husbands and wives in it and it was was supposed to be about the youth, you know because it's all about youth BC three and it was absolutely terrible. What was it And me and Tony and Steve had the best time and Carl Rice, we had the best time of our lives and it got a second commission And we were like, what And did you do the second one? Yes Because we just had a lovely time a love. Sometimes it's aboutving a lovely time, Isn't it? Is it in every job with me? Ping playlaying with wigs and teeth and stuff. that was Tony, so I know Tony. Oh Gor. Gorgeous. been in many things, but have you ever been on certain guns This is mad. I mean, my example is when I first walked into the Rvers. And I walked in and my first scene was with Barbara Knox. Wow. And I had to go over and hand her Gen and Tonic. and I had to say something like here'd you change. s, Oh you're the new barmaid then? Yeah, Dggy's name or whatever I said, I can' rem And I remember going up, put the drinks down Because you were so so overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it was like Bararox. Oh my God. And she was so lovely. She said to me I said, I'm so sorry, I must apologise, Barbar. I just can't believe I'm acting with you. She went, donon't worry, my darling, I did exactly the same with dry spepeed Annie walk. Really? she understood you. She totally. And then that was it, I was sorine. I was in. Have you ever had that moment when you walked into the moment This is Mad. I suppose the time one that's probably been most heightened. doing again, it was not play today. it was screen two, I think they were called then. Anway it's CQartermain' Terms, which is a Sime Grey play but they did it on film And there was John Gilgood. Good. Well, him alone.ord. Edward f Um Eleanor Bron Peter Jeffys the most Paul Jesson, Clive Francis, the most amazing cast, Eleanor and I were the onlyn womomen. And John Gilgard, I'd watched him as an usherette at the National Theatre when I was ushering in thingsings like No M's Land. I mean, he was like This hero And he was then in his late eighties and he had very, very long speeches to do as the headmaster. He was amazing. and everyone was, you know, obviously very careful. Well, he'd sit every morning, he'd do the Times crossword beforefore he'd even have a cup of tea. Yeah. likeike I and M Kellen. Oh, gotot up dide. I mean, they say Oh, you know, would you like to split up this? I'd like to film it all in one go, but would you like to split it up because of noope did the whole lot page page page at a time. One of those jobs I was very young that you sort of remember, don't you? It was filmed in some of like the Cotswlds. Oh. All these amazing restaurants.ubs littleittle pubs and we'd go out every night. I think because it was BBC two, maybe and Not a very good budget, but I think they felt because it was him to sort of take him out for dinner overnight. So we'd all go out and he'd just hold court. he' sit at the end of the table and he'd tell us all these amazing stories. was and that was quite a pinch me. You know, and I was very overwhelmed and I had to do a scene with him. I mean, have you ever been on stage or on set and any disasters happened, any embarrassing things have happened. I mean I've got a few. Have you got any times when something absolutely dreadful has happened? I've had a few, I had a theatater job once, well two actually, one play where I was a very, very sophisticated It was an old coward play, veryy sophisticated you young thing called Bunty was in the vortex, the Vortex and I while I leant back on this table doing one of my speeches and then I had to swing off off stage. And I leant back on the table and there was this huge glass ashtay and it got caught on the sequence of my dress. I had no idea. But as I swept off, this ashtray was swaying as I went off. And the same thing happened in a quick change at Stephen Joseph Scarborough Theatre in the Round I had a really quick change in the dark Again I was supposed to be this very confident woman. And I changed from clothes to a nighty because we were going have sex scene under a Christmas tree. you only can in Ell and Abl.. And I came back on, I didn't know and nobody didn't have dresses, noobbody checked me. and I'd got a stainless steel coat ang out for the whole scene, the sex scene swinging on my back. And again, I had no idea. With Aborn, they probably thought I was written that. partart of it. Yeah, he's written nine. Yeah. Time for a break for more content. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook by searching a night in With me, Sally Lindseay. Okay, now we've got a little question for the break. Tess has starred in Doctor Who in twenty thirteen, but who would have played the Doctor at the time? Answer after the break Welcome back to Nighting with Sally Lindseay. Listen every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcast on YouTube, right, Okay. Now doctor Who in twenty thirteen was who did you work with? Disappearance of Matt Smith and the arrival of Peter Cabaldi You did it. Yeah. they changed eually changed. Yeah. And that was your b. And what was amazing? was it was an army field training centre in Wales, where they filmed as you do. Oious say. And it was a Christmas special and so they wanted it covered in snow. We did it inate summer So it was extraordinary. Came out of the trailer for makeup suuddenly white Ewhere. It's mad thatad isn't it? I mean, literally everywhere the tardest was white, the fields were was it was magic. This is an amazing fact. But you'd never actually watched onlyn Fills and horses before you got the gig Asoltely right And it just just pass you by, not your thing? Well, I was in the theatre a lot then. So really watching it and on a Sunday night you're on only night off when you're in the theatre. I didn't really want to sort of watch Telly particularly. so you wanted to go out with your friends? do ye. So no I hadn't. and so Any way, that was quite good because when I went for the audition, I think I might haveve been a bit overwhelmed if I'd known how successful it was, But the fact that I hadn't got a clue meant that I was just able to I read this amazing script by John Sullivan because he was a genius writer. and I thought, o my God, I'd love to play this out of work actress that obviously isn't very good really, but think she really wants to have a go at it, you know and meets this slightly misfit man And that's what it was about and I just loved, loved the script. So pleased my gosh. I thought your character is so brilliant in that because it would be so against what you would Dell boy with Yeah, I suppose she was, you know, she was so classy looking What was it like working in front of a live studio audience as opposed to? theatre audience. I suppose you used to a theatre audience? what's the difference? It's so different I mean you know this. Yeah ye. I'd never done it. so of course, you know, I was terrified. but I think it's because you don't knowite the level. When you're in theater, you know you're playing just for that audience, don't you? But when you've got cameras and an audience. Yes, you think, well, are you doing it for the tey really? becausecause that's where it's going to go out on Christmas dayay or whatever? Yeah. But the audience are there to help you and they laugh at certain points of course I think in a way, what David and Nick taught me was that The audience loved it and enjoyed it. but where they were really helpful was that you could time your lines with their laughter That was the most important. What you heard meant you could then time the next bit, which on Christmas Day or whenever meant the public weren't going to miss bits because you timed it with the audience. So I suppose that's what it was all about, but I had to learn that slowly. Who better to learn from than David Jason and Nick Lindur has really Well, the weird thing is My, I think his second sitcom was still open all hours. Oh David Y. How funny? Well, he's an expert at it, is? I mean, goodness. And the way he came out before, I'm sure him and Nick came out before a chat. Well, Nick didn't, he was terrib shy. was he But David would I would take the warm up my coff and then have a t. D you know why the edor warm up that? No. I know I mean he was going to talk that It was Davave Jason. Also, he was brilliant. When when you know, sometimes just because of cameras, even not performance, you do the scene again and again The audience would get a little bit bored. understandably. They've seen it three times. Yeah. David and Nick were brilliant at just doing something silly a little twin. We would just liven them up again and then they'd be back as if they'd never seen the sea.. It's very clever, very clever stuff. So what was your relationship with Sir David? It' Sir David, isn't it? And yes. Aset. What were you Be he's cheek, isn't he? He is cheeky. I mean, it's interesting, we've just been doing strangely all these years later, things together on this series. They found this unseen footage. of cutscenes never ever been seen by us or the public cuts scenes and scenes of outtakes Anyway it was in a drawer at the BBC. No way Yep. and somebody's found it and put it all together and they've invited all of us. S's done it. Gwynetth, myself, David. and other people to we watch it. thirty years ago, so that's a bit shocking or twenty years ago It bit shocking to see yourself. And then we talk about it And so it's quite interesting being with David again after all these years sitting on a sofa watching it with him You know, he he was, um, he was very interesting and very moving about certain bits where he'd look and you could see him looking at himself and thinking, wow, that was me and my heyday Yeah att my very very best, which he was, wasn't he it? Let's face it. Yeah. absolutely brilliant. Absolutely. And I think it I think it felt quite nostalgic for him actually, because you know, some of it goes back to when they started it, whenever that was nineteen eighty one. So what's that Fty forty five years ago. M So what must that be like to watch yourself forty five years ago? So I think he found it yeah, he found it quite sobering, I think. I think it's a generation that's grown up on screen, isn't it? Yeah. And you can see yourself. I mean, it freaks me out when I see clips of me now let alone forty five years ago. You did. so I'm fifty two and they did they started rerunning Coronation Street again in the afternoon.. And I came in and I caught my husband watching it. I went, What are you watching that? That's when we first met when I was show it. I said, What are you watching that for? And he went, notothing. I'm just he actually was a genuine fan.ed. And he said, that's when I really loved it. So he was watching it and I'd looked to myself and I thought you little thing thinking you were Yes, you know, you are so paranoid about being a bit overweight or my hair was wrong or you know, and I was great when I was a' not aware at the time. A you? Youth is wasted on the youngersn't it It really is. need you need to go back. We need to regenerateener Regenerate that's the word We need to regenerate, go back and go back. get over. get with our knowledge now. Yes. Get over yourself and get on with it. Yeah. Just get to work, which we did. I imagine. mean You were in it for would you say twelve years? I think roughly of eighty eightighty nine ninety and the last one was two thousand two three So whatever that is. But then twelve years the other. Then you ended up being in another massive smash hit How did that come about? How lucky, hy, isn't that amazing? Really You' briiant aren't? have you in? I think, you know, you could have had anyone, couldn't they? You're blessed to be given one successful program in your life, but you know, I do feel incredibly privileged to have had two Well again, a strange story that was offered to me the day before my mum died So your mum again. But it felt like it was her parting gift. I'd been told by the care home that she was sort of mayaybe twenty four or forty eight hours ago. And my agent phoned and said, Oh, they've offered you this thing. We don't know. it's taken that three year option, but no idea whether it's going to or not. called Granchester. So it felt like it was Mum's sort of, here we go before she left this world. And did your M, am I right to say that she had a bit of dementia yes, well in her dementia in the last sort of couple of years She became me and Not all the time and she always knew it was me she was talking to and she always knew I think she was mum and that was Tess sitting there.. But I'd go in to see her in home where she was living, and the staff would say Oh, you know, she's she's in her Scarbora days today Scarborough, meaning when I was at Stehen Joseph, because she came to see me on my plays of course, yeah. ye doing all the Allan Night bone stuff. course, yes. and I'd go hi mom and you'd go hello. I'm really tired today and I'd say why She'd say, Well, you know, Allan's working us very, very hard. We've had to rehearse all day and we're doing a different show at night. So you'd go into that sort of world with her. Then another time I might go and they'd say, o, you know, she's and then other times she'd be perfectly fine. you'd go in another time and they'd say, Oh, you know, she's in only fours today And again you go go Hi mom and you go hi, lovely, hi darling Are you okay? Yes, but David, you know, it's been very difficult. He can't remember his lines and it would completely intriguing.es. David David would hate Oh God yeah, but it's fantasy, David. Ohah and it became it was really I mean, I'd love to know from a professional point of view why that happens And again, I think it's because it shows how much she really was living her life through me. Yes. Be I don't think that's sort of normal in dementia. I think it is to do with literally from Hving me The sacrifices wanting to be an actor herself. writ to the radio Times, you know, everything just ending up with her sort of liivving out my career in her dementia absolutely fascin. And I would love to talk to a psyiatrist about it as to what happens to the mind. How does that happen? So she just thought she was My career, not me necessarily. It was never on a personal front. was the career. Granchester, such a smash hit here he mates there We've all got m. All of them. all of them We're on a WhatsApp group, All of us, we call ourselves the family. N it. Have been for eleven years is'?ve got a WhatsApp group? Have you? And it's S madeady up holdness and of. Well, Madam Planank. Oh Se. It's usually about where we're going to go for drinking at night. That is so lovely. Are you gonna to get a dry white wine? dry white wine saying Should I get a wine? whyy have I done that? So God tell me, it's just been it's been how many seasons? Well the tenth, the tenth, The tenth one is on at the moment and we've done season eleven We finished last November, that goes out this time next year. That's it forever. Oh. So we were quite sad yeah towards the end of last year because there were lots of meals out arranged by Robson Green. obviously Lots of farewell hugs and o, we won't be ever in this set again. There was a lot of that going on There is a lot of that going on in But you know, we all kept saying, listen eleven years, who knew? You know, we thought it might only do one It's very hard saying goodbye to something that I was bound like that at the end of of Mount Pleasant because we were all so very close. And how long did you do? It seven years. Wow But it was all we were so close and it was so hard saying goodbye and walking around the set going it's all pretend. It's not reallys not your real family. But it feels like it' turning into your family doesn't it? Because you're with them and youre emote with them and your body doesn't know you're not crying for real and your body doesn't know you're not laughing for real. And yeah, it's a very special thing. So how do you feel about The success of it and how do you feel about You know, the end of it? Well, it's Yeah. It's been I think it gets better and better each year, actuallys I'm not sure you can say that with all drama series. We definitely didn't, I tell you what Grantester was it definitely never you were never stretching it out. No, there's always a fresh perspective. Yes. I think keeps putting a slow burn with the audience as well actually. And of course, we've changed Vicers, which I think' refreshed it each time. Yeah. Yeah, we all got on so well that I suppose we've lost objectivity now, but I think Yeah, I suppose it was sad, but actually At the end of the day, if you can do a job for eleven years and get the friendships and family feel that we've all had, you can't complain. You can't great. Be Casey said there was an episode that she wrote and it was about You too. Yeah. And tell me about that. Oh Casey iss brilliant and she's a very good writer, I have to say, put that on record. Yeah, well she feels like you do and like I do that you know more women part should be there, especially the older generation and discussing things like menopause Yes And in Granchester, because in the fifties and you know when it was set late fifies, you wouldn't have probably discussed women wouldn't have discussed that. Oh no, they'd have just taken a Martini and got on with it,n't they? So she came up with an idea and she also about dealing with the menopause, but she also put to the producers, Hey, how about, you know they could form a business together? whichich they do Yeah. They're going to open this dress shop called CC's And so that's been really nice because it's meant we've both of us gone out from the domestic situation that we were in. Yeah, and we're now becoming working women. It's going to cover things like, you know, women, A couldn't marry and carry on work. Well, mean, I sign no mortgage. couldouldn't sign seenty loan. Couldn't do anything So yeah, that's something to be explored and watching their tenacity in opening this shop is going to be fun, I think. Brilliant yeah,'s been great working with Casey, with everyone, but to have another woman on it. you know, it's been lovely. So as you know, I've just f out our WhatsApp group's called Madame Planank. I love it. And what's yours is called the familyily and who's the one who sets all the He do' up, he does all the drinks and the dinners and who's that one? That actually we take that quite equally.. Yeah, we're not called the family actually. we call ourselves the family in life on set.. But we've been various things the Vicar and something something naughty, I think the first one was. I didn't I always change your vicar. I didn't get it. Now I think we're this time with're G ten, meaning Ganchester ten eachach year we'll change it a little bit. We're all quite good at throwing in ideas about where we might to it. Of course, a lot of it we do just outside London, so we're at home. But when we go to Cambridge and stay that's when we do the dinners and the drinks and that's lovely. But we chip in. We're very supportive too. We all go and see each other's other stuff. Lly You know, it's like I'm sure you do. ye links I mean, I'm no good at this because I don't do social media and technically, but other people will put links on to what play or whatever we might all be doing or what other tele we might be in so that we all support each other. It's lovely.f definitely I mean, I've seen Robin Askin's onene one show I probably could do it. I love it going into a break now, but last year, Tessa starred in the feud on Channel five alongside the wonderful Jill Halfpenny. Now what TV show did Jill go a big break on? Well I'll tell you when I get back Welcome back to a night in with me Sally Lindseay and you can get me every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube, just search for a night in with Sally Lindsey. Now Jill Halfpenny's big break was Biker Gve. A Yeah, she's been working since she was Three reallyally? Yeah she's never not done that. Yeah, she's never not done it. She's lovely. She's great, you' such a great great to work with her. She was great in the feud actually. Yeah. we've got a dram out called Num one fan. It's been an hed, I think and it's me and her h. Oh wow. Yeah. so I play a complete Nutter in it. Do you? Yes, exciting. You never let me do Nutters. Lovely. Amazingly through menopause I'm brillant I don't air my joy, find my calling. You don't actually have to act. Really? takeake the old patch off I' on. Okay, now. Rranchester is set a time as we were talking about before, where women had far fewer choices which seems a theme for the roles sometimes you choose now your new play Talk about that invisible me Sou the playlayhouse, it's the little theatre, which is a studio space. Yes, which I love done I've done that sort of fringe theatre work for a few years now. and's I love it intense. Very scary, because because you're so vulnerable, aren't you? You're so close. You can't sort of put headhops going there there. It really doesutely.t You can't hide anywhere, cant you So T look at the P. It's lovely. It's by Breren Gosling and it's a lovely piece about three women and two men in their sixties and what happens when life doesn't quite turn out the way Pats in your twenties you think it might. They're all alone. But it turns out that they're all living very close to each other in Wthamstow, but they don't know that. So a lot of it at the beginning, well up to halfway through the play is their individual thoughts of what they're doing with their lives. One is a widower O's been divorced My character's mum died a couple of years ago. She was looking after her. her husband walked out on her years ago. And it's how you in your sixties navigate not just grief or being alone, but if you did want to get out there again date You know, we're not familiar in our six is about, you know, internet dating and putting yourself out there with a photograph, you know all that stuff. So it's how all three of them sort of find themselves in a strange way and open up their entire lives by the end of the play. Hopefully it's very hopeful. Oh it is.' a sort ofice kind, lovely piece. I mean, the thing is about me, my big deal is like especially Madem Block, I always have Women over fifty on it. I know it's brilliant. and because I think they're the most fascinating people on the planet because they've been mothers, they've been wives, the worked, they've done everything and they just got everything out they really Absolutely. and it's so weird because sometometimes their invisibility becomes a superpower. So that where Jean my character Jean. Yeah she's middle aged and she's gets to see people She's just this nice woman, you know, she gets to see things that people don't think she can, you know, like in a I'm totally ripp b for Miss. Marle, but I find it fascinating because they're not aware that you're sort of thing They don't assume anything of because you're invisible. Yeah. But I think if we looked at like this play, you know, I'd be fascinated to see it this is a superpower Yeah, really, isn't it? Well, they, all three of them discover their superpower during the cl. Oh, I'm loving that. So hopefully I think people will enjoy it because I think it's quite heartwarming. It's hard in places, but it's also very hopeful and it's fun. It's three people who work out throughout the play that life can be fun and you don't have to give up. You can actually get out there and So Tessla, even though you're a massively famous glamorous actress. Well don't know about that. D you glamorous, I don't think. Did you relate to the plane anyway As soon as I read it, I thought, o my go, this is like All of us actually, I think we can all relate to it because excuse me, when you get to sixty plus I think A, you do sort of disappear Uh on the tube or on buses or walking along, people don't sort of notice you. And also I think it to do with yeah, I recognise that thing of L. being different to the way you perhaps thought it would be. And what do you then do with it And I think yeah, I think in that way I clicked in very much to it.. And I think we've got to believe, I think like I said, I'm in my early fifties, but I feel I've not even started yet and And I think a lot of women now are being liberated to that because we're all talking about it. We're all shoving patches on and getting on with it. We're all, you know thinking, right, what What's the next stage? Yeah? What is this third age, you know? and isn't it going to be amazing? And I think The more stuff we the more times we talk about it, the more positive we get about it, I feel. Absolutely. And I also think You know, we're living longer Yeah exact know what would have been maybe seventy and that would have been it. Yeah now it's ninetine hundred. So I think also you get to sort of fifty sixty and you think, well actually, there's almost half again to go of your life. There's so much you could do. I don't know how old anybody is anymore. I mean, it is just a number, is' it? It is bizarre because grand Wiza probably younger than me when she became my grand. and she looked like my gnd, even though when you look at her pictures of her She actually, if you'd have changed her hair in her clothes Yeah, she'd looked like me. Yeah. But because she was assumed to be You know, she had the curly hair and the pencil skirt and the cardie And he said, Ohh she's Mcran. Yeah. Now. If you had to pick one world to play forever, that you could dive in back into that you felt more comfortable in its skin. Well, I mean, the two loveliest jobs in terms of longevity and family, the feeling of family being on set, both of them only fors and ranchester. I don't know if I could choose. No I'd have to dip between the two, I think. So this is a really fun part. Okay, this is the final part of our lovely Little podcast. And what I do is I ask you questions about your own career. Oh okay? I won't remember. I won't remember half the answer. It remember what we worked on Okay, now, so the first question is where did Raquel? First meet Dll boy She met him at Waterlleooy Station under the huge clock tower But she couldn't recognize him because he was holding the most enormous bauuchir flow, so you couldn't see his face. That was his idea, dear David, That was his idea, Briant. This is correct, obviously. In O Fies and Horses, in the episode Yppy Love. Raquel and Cassandra, played by your lovely friend Gwyneth Strong, share a rare quiet scene together. In that same episode, Rodney's twopeay is mistaken for what I have no idea. Apparently it's a rat. Oh my gosh. Really? Apparently so. I've no memory of any of that. Isn't that amazing? That's the same as when we watch this thing, this series with the unseen foage. half of it we could't even remember. I couldn't remember anything in my pleasant. No I've got about three scenes in my head. We did seven years. When you wipe you wipe things out because otherwise your memory can't cod. No of c course too much Grantchester is adapted from a book series The Granchester Mysteries, but who wrote the books? James Runsey, he certainly did. Yes, he did. And he's lovely. They played two different characters in midsummer Murders eighteen years apart played Sarah Lawon in nineteen ninety eight, but what was the name of the character you played in twenty sixteen? I can't remember her name. She was a lesbian murderer and I poed was Roger Allam putting poison in his drink. I Can't remember what her name was. She was called Mary Appton That's the only sound you'll ever be asked that It's been an absolute pleasure meeting youessor. love tal to you. You are amazing and you're very talented and wonderful and I need to read that book. Thank you. Well, when I've written it, I'll send you a copy and the play sounds brilliant. So congratulations and thank you for coming in. Thank you. you've been lovely to chat to. That was just fantastic Don't forget to follow us on social media. You can listen on all podcast platforms every Wednesday and stream a nighting with Sally Lindseay on YouTube. Bye bye