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Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh - Season 8 - Episode 04
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00:00:00A golden coat, a tail that could power a wind turbine, and a nose that's already inspected
00:00:07every hedgerow between here and the front gate. Yes, I'm talking about the ever faithful
00:00:13Labrador, and here's one of our star guests this morning. This is Martin. I think you've
00:00:16earned that, Martin. There you go. Man's best friend, and judging by the way he's glued
00:00:20to my side today, very possibly my new best friend too. It's time for Love You Weekend.
00:00:53Love You Weekend
00:01:00Late January isn't always the easiest of times. The resolutions are wobbling, the days feel
00:01:08twice as short as they should, and the biscuit tin keeps mysteriously emptying itself. But
00:01:15there's a charm to it. A calm between the storms, a moment to breathe, and the perfect excuse
00:01:22to settle in with good company and a warming cuppa. And we've plenty to accompany that cuppa
00:01:27this morning, right here at Manor Farm. Coming up, she's the grand dame who can elevate a monologue,
00:01:33enliven a storyline, and brighten any room she walks into. Then Maureen Littman talks Maltese
00:01:40escapades of the latest adventures back on the cobbles. And he's everyone's favourite
00:01:45cleric. Al Weaver talks murder, mystery and mayhem as Leonard Finch in Grantchester. Houseplant
00:01:52expert Claire Lauer is here with the indoor stars you'll want in pride of place for the
00:01:58year ahead. He's the man with the big voice and even bigger heart, Trevor Dion Nicholas,
00:02:03currently flexing his muscles in Hercules. And it could all go downhill fast in today's
00:02:10best of British apres ski special. Andy Clark and the Alpine Lodge tipple drinks guaranteed
00:02:16to make you schnappy.
00:02:23Let's kick things off with a trio to brighten up any Sunday. To start with a man who can unleash
00:02:29a scandal, a sermon or a mystery quicker than you can say, Grantchester, Al Weaver. And lastly,
00:02:41a woman who can unleash a withering glance so sharp it should carry a government health warning.
00:02:46Maureen Littman, welcome to you all. But only in character, Maureen. Such a diverse background
00:02:55in terms of theatricality. Yes, all theatre, but all from different areas really. Mentors
00:03:01I want to talk about. People who've helped you along the way. Now I learnt from a mentor
00:03:07of yours, Al, a while ago that she was your mentor. She's not shy of saying it either. Tessa
00:03:26went to all drama school and she came in sort of in the last year and did some, you know,
00:03:31she'd
00:03:31listened to my speeches for going out to auditions and things like that. And she was, I mean,
00:03:35I was completely starstruck because we grew up on Only Fools. It was like my dad's and my mum
00:03:40and me's favourite show. It was fantastic. So they got to meet her as well, which was really nice.
00:03:45And, but yeah, she'll always be quick to say that I didn't really listen to her. You know, you're just
00:03:51young
00:03:52and just like, but then, but then ten years later, we got to do Grantchester together. And she's one of
00:03:58my
00:03:58best friends. She's incredible. And she's the nicest, she's just the nicest person. Yeah, she's lovely, isn't she?
00:04:03And, you know, it's taken 20 years, but the advice is sinking in. Decided to take a bit of it.
00:04:09Maureen, but how about you? Mentors? No. None.
00:04:14Gone your own way. I suppose, really, Jack, my late husband, just watching how someone writes
00:04:23and how he applied himself every day and how he would just be apparently staring out of the window
00:04:30and, you know, typewriter, fag, carbon paper, you know, all that. Just watching that kind of application.
00:04:41So learning about hard work and not being in any way precious about you can't come in the room.
00:04:47You know, the kids were in there all the time. My mother was in there saying, Jack, do you rinse
00:04:52off the dishwasher
00:04:53before you put the plates, you know. And he was never precious. And so, yes, I would say I learned
00:05:00an incredible amount from that man.
00:05:02Yeah. Trevor, what about you?
00:05:04To be honest, both of my parents in different ways. My father was a singer for as long as I
00:05:11can remember growing up.
00:05:11And so I would always go and watch him perform. But my mother kind of carried a work ethic that
00:05:16I tried to instill into what I do.
00:05:19She went back to school to earn her doctorate in social work while she was teaching while I was in
00:05:25high school.
00:05:26And I watched that journey of her working full time and also studying full time to earn that.
00:05:31And, yeah, she really showed the way of, like, trying to instill that, the idea of hard work and the
00:05:37way that that carries through everything that you do.
00:05:40But what you three also know is it doesn't happen instantly. You've got to work your passage in a way.
00:05:46And I often think it's always interesting finding out from people who are now established who they understudied,
00:05:53whether because they did, you know, you start by being the understudy for and you've learned this enormous role.
00:05:58And you probably never go on because the star is going to go. Maureen, understudying for you?
00:06:03Yes, at the Old Vic on the Laurence Olivier's Company from 1970 to 73. Fantastic best time of my life.
00:06:12And I was covering Diana Rigg in Tom Stoppard's play, Jumpers. And I used to pop into her dressing room.
00:06:19You know, she always had a bottle of champagne on the go and a game of poker.
00:06:24Actors in those days all drank, you know, drunk. And then one day she just said to me,
00:06:32Oh, by the way, darling, I'll be off for two weeks. I'm having something done to my back.
00:06:40OK. And it was a big part. It was called Dottie, I seem to remember. Huge. Well done, yes, Dottie.
00:06:45And I was married to Michael Horton. I was 25 or something and he was about my age.
00:06:52And I just remember quite calmly putting on the gold dress to be taken on stage on a crescent moon.
00:06:59And I was going to sing and I had her wig on, which is about four sizes too big, pinhead.
00:07:05And just thinking, it's fine. It's absolutely fine.
00:07:08And then hearing the announcement, Miss Diana Rigg is not available for the evening.
00:07:14And then her play. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, oh. Maury? Who? Yeah. So we got through it. We got
00:07:23through it.
00:07:24Al? Well, we, I did a set at the Old Vic, my sort of first job, me and Ben Whishaw
00:07:30kind of,
00:07:31he did five Hamlets, I did three a week. So we kind of like split the, split the job.
00:07:37Wow. Yeah, it's good. It's like all our first jobs. It was me, Ben, Rory Kinnear.
00:07:42Yeah. And it was great. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we would like run our lines together.
00:07:46And it was a beautiful company of young actors, all sort of 22, 23 years old, just loving it.
00:07:52Do you keep up? Do you keep up with them? Do you see them every now and again?
00:07:55I've worked with Rory a few times now. Yeah. So it's, he's always got, you know,
00:07:59he's got things that every time I've seen him, he's had another kid.
00:08:03I think he's only got two, but I think it's the two jobs. Too much time off.
00:08:06We did like a Mike Lee thing. We did this thing called South Cliff, which was years ago.
00:08:12But yeah, I mean, you know what it's like being an actor. You kind of, you stay in touch with
00:08:16some people
00:08:16and then you don't see them for 20 years and then you bump in and it's, you're literally thrown straight
00:08:20back
00:08:21to the, you know, the experience that you shared together and all that. So yeah, just fond memories of all
00:08:27that.
00:08:27Trevor, you understood it in Aladdin, didn't you? I did. I did. So like the thing that brought me here,
00:08:32I initially was, I was the standby for the genie for the Broadway company, standby for the original genie in
00:08:38Broadway,
00:08:39James Monroe Iglehart. And he and I honestly became like brothers and we've stayed really close.
00:08:45We still speak to each other. We still send memes back and forth and have a gig whenever we can.
00:08:50If he's here, if I'm there, we try to meet up and have food. But like, yeah, that really gave
00:08:54the, the, the,
00:08:56the kind of pulse that like was allowed me to take the steps in my career I've been able to
00:09:00take was, was that.
00:09:01And so I was standby on Broadway and I went on for my first like week of, of genie shows.
00:09:08And right after that, the producers asked me up to the office at the new Amsterdam theater
00:09:13and, and asked if I wanted to come and open the West End production.
00:09:16And I burst into tears and I was like, yeah, I'd love nothing more.
00:09:19When you did come, this is what we got.
00:09:21cared for the job?
00:09:51always for for fresh fields and whatnot but things like that must be very tempting if it's a part
00:09:56you feel you've made your own of course um um and even like we've we've spoken about hamilton like
00:10:01i would love to to play that role again ideally on broadway and get you get the opportunity to
00:10:05to express it there and not just here and like but yeah when did you do hamilton um i did
00:10:10it from
00:10:102019 until for like three and a half years over the lockdown period and then reopened yeah he didn't
00:10:20like you no the worst thing is when i watched hamilton i call me i really want to do a
00:10:27musical
00:10:27i really want to do a musical because it's so it's just it was fantastic i got i got an
00:10:33audition for
00:10:34i think it was evita to play shay but he i mean he hit some like a big and i
00:10:39was practicing i was
00:10:40just like yeah i can't do this well you need to go remember harry seekham who was a great singer
00:10:44and
00:10:44he saw harry had a very high tenor voice and he said he always wore the tennis friend which is
00:10:49a trust
00:10:49with a spike that'll get you the high notes there we are more from trevor dave maureen
00:10:56eye-watering really isn't it later still to come turns out you don't need ski snow or even the
00:11:02slightest hint of coordination to enjoy a bit of après andy clark's here with the cozy alpine inspired
00:11:09cocktails to keep january firmly at bay and they're reliable big-hearted and endlessly enthusiastic
00:11:16baldy returns with one of britain's favorite breeds the ever faithful labrador and we've got quite the
00:11:22wagging welcome waiting for you i'll be back with the labs and the vet right after this
00:11:41welcome back to manor farm here in hampshire lots more to entertain you this january morning
00:11:46coming up musical sensation trevor dion nicholas on his latest disney incarnation this time in the
00:11:53hit western musical hercules and if you don't have many gardening jobs to crack on with fear not
00:11:59indoors is where the action is this january houseplant expert claire lowry shows us the indoor greenery
00:12:06that'll keep your spirits up right through to spring and beyond now we've had our fair share of
00:12:12excitable guests on this show but today we may well have outdone ourselves this lot are enthusiastic
00:12:18endlessly loyal and known for their boundless affection we are of course celebrating the breed that
00:12:25just a few weeks ago on this very show you crowned your favorite pure breed puppy yes it's the labrador
00:12:34and helping us to do them justice bolueso along with a whole chorus line of wagging stars
00:12:39in varying shades of yellow brown and black so are you a labrador fan i'm a labrador fan not my
00:12:46favorite dog because a bichon is my favorite but they're still a very special special well we we love
00:12:52labs we've had three labs over time all of them yellow lou the old lady when we got two younger
00:12:58pops
00:12:59grace and favor we've got a new lease of life so three in our household at any one time and
00:13:04they were
00:13:04absolutely loved they're still with us i think once you've had a dog they remain part of your
00:13:09persona in a way don't they all the time they stay they stay with you forever i always say they're
00:13:13right in here so yeah so tell us about today they're amazing breeds now hopefully the dogs that we're
00:13:17going to show you today are going to demonstrate how great the breed is yeah right well first up is
00:13:22joy with indy who's a chocolate lab uh and she's from the labrador club now the chocolate ones are the
00:13:30least common aren't they of the three colors exactly so when we're talking about the labradors we know
00:13:35that they come from newfoundland uh and that their history with the newfoundland dogs they have that
00:13:39shared history with the newfound the big newfoundland dogs that we know of um and obviously they come in
00:13:44that black color and you've got our labradors that also come in that similar black color whereas we've
00:13:48got our labrador here that is that chocolate or liver color is that right joey the chocolate or liver
00:13:53is correct you go with either yeah and they're not the most common but i think they're probably one of
00:13:59the most
00:13:59beautiful a show dog here she shows and works so she has um a working test win and she's a
00:14:08quite
00:14:09a reasonable show dog as well she's had um three firsts in limit classes at championship shows and
00:14:15a third in cross this year what makes a good show dog what well going back to their roots uh
00:14:22they've got
00:14:22to have this double coat hard on the top um warm undercoat to so the water comes off they're good
00:14:30swimming dogs they've got to have a good depth of chest and good lung room and all of these things
00:14:35really are to help their working yes we've got that retrieving that retrieving instinct when it
00:14:40comes to a working dog and that's why we've got that more agile yes look to the breed thank you
00:14:45so
00:14:45much that's very good to see you both thank you next up jane and sean with rosie and betty now
00:14:53they
00:14:53are both yellow labs golden labs of course yellow is the correct name for them isn't it yellow is the
00:14:58correct term so rosie works and shows while betty just works just does the working just does the
00:15:04working exactly so how old are they sean what age are they both four four that's auntie and niece
00:15:10right it's the same but slightly sideways yeah yeah and one slightly darker color than the other
00:15:16one good to tell them apart yeah and so both of them you know you've got that working background
00:15:21on both of them and what's interesting is that with working you've got the field and the and the gun
00:15:24dogs right so the field trials and the gun dogs yeah but then also what i tend to mention with
00:15:29the
00:15:29working dogs is you have there are dogs that are helping with disabilities so you've got the disability
00:15:33dogs and the awareness the awareness dogs so medical detection dogs as well and that comes under working
00:15:37as well a different different line of working because they have that propensity because they're
00:15:41so intelligent they have that propensity to work in so many different aspects so we know they're
00:15:46working in the fields and they can do well in retrieving but they also work as companions helping
00:15:50people in everyday life beautiful nature to please yeah yeah exactly they get tired sean i presume they
00:15:55wear themselves out she doesn't know she'll work eight hours and then wind the others up yeah i mean look
00:16:03yeah absolutely so on it but also very trainable they're easy to train but you have got to train
00:16:10them even though these are four years old we still take them to training lessons and we still do a
00:16:16little bit of training even when walking even at four yeah oh yeah and it's that importance of training
00:16:21because the training axis enrichment stimulates their mind and it stops them having those destructive
00:16:25personalities at home because if they have all this energy and they can't have anywhere to outlet it
00:16:29then they become a bit more destructive whereas if you're training them absolutely you're stimulating
00:16:33their mind stimulating their nose and using it for a good purpose so they become a good
00:16:37dog yeah stimulation yeah well we kept you standing still for too long
00:16:42thank you very much thank you for coming thank you okay on to simon with eddie labrador and dorito
00:16:54who is not dorito is a dachshund yeah so now why the pair what's the two of them here um
00:17:02well we
00:17:03the dachshund is my son's dog basically yeah of course i end up walking him and
00:17:08ah yeah the usual but um with a really short coat he doesn't like the wet at all so if
00:17:13it rains he was
00:17:14like i'm not coming out and i had to drag him to come out and one day i thought hang
00:17:18on
00:17:19the labrador loves to go out why am i why am i being a bad guy so i just gave
00:17:23him his lead so
00:17:24he leads him which has its advantages because again he's a working dog and he's been trained
00:17:29for recall etc and when we go walking out in the commons it's easy for me to tell him to
00:17:34go and get
00:17:35him now that's novel a dog doing the dog walk rather do you know what it's funny you say that
00:17:41because it's something that i do see with labradors in terms of taking themselves for a walk so they
00:17:44often take their own lead and then carry it along but it's again that retrieving nature so they have
00:17:49it within them they're almost bred for it where they will pick up and retrieve and he's now looking
00:17:54after his own little friend dorito and again it's like a testament to the breed where they can get
00:17:58along with other dogs so there's a reason why they're a favorite for people because they do get
00:18:02along in groups whether it's the same labrador or whether it's a different dog they do well in that
00:18:07kind of setting lovely to see you thanks very much now we've got jane coming in with tosca now i
00:18:13always
00:18:14think of tosca as a female name but then tosca was florida tosca's surname so tosca
00:18:20sorry she loves everybody as you can see she's a ralph flower
00:18:25another black lab here yeah and tosca is a nice special case because um we know that the breed
00:18:32already one of the big things that we look at with health conditions is their hips and their elbow
00:18:37that's really important when it comes to labradors is making sure we check their hips check their elbow
00:18:41also checking the lineage to make sure that there's no history of those problems in the past
00:18:45now tosca's one an example where she's had great hips and elbows but when she was a puppy accidents
00:18:52happen and she still somehow managed to do damage to her yes she started limping at three months and
00:18:56she had to have an emergency op at five months and they discovered that um the back one of her
00:19:02back
00:19:02legs i can't remember which she'd cracked right up here they had to replace the complete bone
00:19:08and then she had to be crated for a long time i couldn't move her and then she had um
00:19:13hydrotherapy
00:19:15on a wheel yeah and i thought she was never going to be able to work or jump or swim
00:19:20but once she'd
00:19:22recovered sure enough she's very lovely bionic labrador exactly so she's i mean she they did a
00:19:29fantastic job from a health perspective this is one of the things that you really want to
00:19:33uh continue with as they get older so as they get older they get a little bit arthritic
00:19:38hydrotherapy and physiotherapy are all really important things to introduce to your dog because
00:19:41it helps build that muscles keep them strong and stops them from feeling weak on their back legs
00:19:45i mean no butter wouldn't melt she'd like to be like this all day every day
00:19:52oh yeah i want some cuddles too
00:19:54that's not frightened of a vet she doesn't know that yet
00:20:00she gets so excited because she gets attention well we're going to have to let you go now
00:20:06toska just give another dog to me thank you so much lovely to see you look at that what a
00:20:12story
00:20:13sophie coming now with martin who's yellow and joy with noli another yellow now so tell us about the
00:20:20relationship here this is mother and daughter ah do you know you look at the faces and they're all
00:20:27they're all so friendly aren't they it's such an open loving face i think it's just that confirmation
00:20:35isn't it just makes them look so and as breeders we have to protect that we have to protect that
00:20:40temperament their health and everything so if people are thinking about having a lab the important
00:20:45things to consider are looking at the health of the line yep for sure we've learned yeah yeah so looking
00:20:50at the health of the line all the health conditions so that's like their hips their elbows their eyes
00:20:55you talk with your veterinary uh your veterinary surgeon for some advice also checking their
00:20:59parents being able to see the parents being able to see the puppies when you're going to visit them
00:21:03making sure that they kennel club approved those all bits that you want to make sure and then
00:21:07after that is making sure you have the time the space the commitment in order to look after these
00:21:12magnificent dogs well thank you all for coming along today handfuls i know what it takes to get a dog
00:21:17here so lovely to see you all thank you very much indeed coming up he's a good man to have
00:21:24on your
00:21:24side from guiding aladdin to keeping a watchful eye on alexander hamilton to causing chaos galore in
00:21:31hadestown trevor dion nicholas putting the glad in gladiator in disney's electrifying new musical
00:21:37hercules i'll be going from zero to hero with trevor right after this
00:21:56welcome back to love your weekend still ahead andy clark's here with the very best in
00:22:01apres ski tipples including a half hot chocolate with ditchling fling toffee vodka and he's the
00:22:08nation's favorite cleric who's navigated secret scandals and the occasional tricky sermon
00:22:13grantchester's al weaver on the unholy pleasures of grantchester now when it comes to bringing a bit of
00:22:21disney magic to the west end stage there's one man who can lift the roof off without lifting a wand
00:22:34beat up
00:22:37of surprise, never as before, never just as sure, as the sun will rise, oh, oh, oh,
00:22:53O stay, let us hold that her, to the sword as a self, είναιVevend much better, auh, oh, oh, oh,
00:23:15oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:23:16Imagine what he's like in the shower!
00:23:21Although in your powerful yet soulful role
00:23:23It's part of a magical Disney showcase
00:23:25In the presence of His Majesty the King
00:23:28Does that give you an added frisson?
00:23:31I think so
00:23:32I think if the King's present
00:23:33You've got to give as much gusto as you've got
00:23:35But you have made these Disney roles
00:23:38Stock in trade
00:23:39Rather nicely
00:23:42They're saying we love you for this
00:23:44We love you for that
00:23:45I appreciate the work always
00:23:46Alan Menken clearly is someone you admire hugely
00:23:50No, he's wonderful
00:23:51I'm Alan Menken
00:23:52We've been lucky to collaborate on so many different projects
00:23:55And he's always been so kind to me
00:23:57And for a lot of us people my age
00:23:59Those of us born in the 80s
00:24:00Raised on the
00:24:01Yes, don't push it too hard
00:24:04He's the soundtrack of our childhood
00:24:06And of our youth
00:24:06So yeah, it does lead that path through
00:24:09And so to get to work with that person is remarkable
00:24:12And for them to be as lovely as you can imagine
00:24:13Every time you interact with them
00:24:15Now last time you were on
00:24:16You were a bit cagey about what you're going to be doing next
00:24:18And now we know
00:24:19Yes, yes
00:24:20You're in Hercules
00:24:21Absolutely, absolutely
00:24:22Disney's Hercules
00:24:23At Theatre Royal Drury Lane
00:24:24Playing Phil
00:24:26The role originally created by Danny DeVito
00:24:28For the animated film
00:24:29And getting to really put my own staple on it
00:24:31Because as you can see
00:24:32Danny and I have so many similarities
00:24:34In the way that we're cast and things
00:24:36But no, it's been awesome
00:24:37It's rather like Alan Schwarzenegger in Twins
00:24:39Oh, I love that movie
00:24:40Absolutely
00:24:40Yes, yes, yes, yes
00:24:42It's almost like going through a list, a litany of what you've done
00:24:45Because to do things like Hadestown
00:24:48To do Hamilton
00:24:49To do George Washington in Hamilton
00:24:51That, I gather for you, was a particular delight
00:24:54It was wonderful
00:24:54Hamilton is a show that has kind of cemented itself so much in the public
00:25:01Like everybody has this relationship to the music, to the story
00:25:04And having grown up in West Virginia
00:25:07At the time, when George Washington was the first president of the United States
00:25:11It was all just Virginia
00:25:12And a lot of those areas overlap
00:25:14So it's where I'm from
00:25:15And getting to play this iconic piece of American history
00:25:19And at the same time instill so much like truth and honesty and emotion into it
00:25:23It was phenomenal, it was incredible
00:25:24Yeah, yeah, Hamilton
00:25:25Moved in with a cousin, a cousin
00:25:27Coming to suicide
00:25:29Left him with nothing but brewing pride
00:25:31Something new and signed up for his land
00:25:34Alex, you gotta defend for yourself
00:25:36It's time to retreat and read and have a treat
00:25:39It's time to tell
00:25:40There would have been nothing left to do for someone less astute
00:25:43He would have been dead or destitute
00:25:45Without a sense of restitution
00:25:47Started working
00:25:48Working for his late mother's landlord
00:25:50Trading sugar cane and rum
00:25:52And all the things he can't afford
00:25:54Scouting for every book he can get his hands on
00:25:58One day or the future
00:25:59See him now
00:26:00As he stands on the bow of a ship
00:26:02And it's on a new land
00:26:04In New York you can be a new man
00:26:08Taking Hamilton to the heart of London
00:26:10At West End Live in Trafalgar Square
00:26:12But not in costume
00:26:13Which obviously affects the performance to some degree
00:26:17But it was so groundbreaking, wasn't it?
00:26:19Absolutely, it was incredible
00:26:20Hearing it again
00:26:21I got the same rush back through my spine
00:26:24That I got doing it for so many years
00:26:26And all of a sudden
00:26:27I miss taking a trip down the presidential path
00:26:31But it was a phenomenal show
00:26:33There's a reason that so many people have connected with it
00:26:35That people continue to know it word for word
00:26:38All the way through
00:26:39And look for different ways
00:26:41That they can find their path into seeing it
00:26:44And it's still running
00:26:45It's still doing all the things that it's always done
00:26:48Which is changing the world through storytelling
00:26:50Tell me about the audiences on the two sides of the Atlantic
00:26:54Because you know, you perform over there
00:26:55You perform over here
00:26:57How do they differ?
00:26:58And as an American performing there
00:27:00And as an American performing here in Britain
00:27:01What's the kind of dynamic for you?
00:27:04If I'm honest
00:27:05For me it's always been audiences feel like audiences
00:27:08They feel like they're there
00:27:09They're there to enjoy the art that you're sharing
00:27:12They're there to cheer, scream, applaud
00:27:16And they want to have a good time
00:27:17And so like that
00:27:18As much as the cultural differences we find from person to person
00:27:21When you come into these audiences
00:27:22Especially in New York and London
00:27:24You have such international groups of people
00:27:26That come together
00:27:26This melting pot of experience
00:27:29Yeah, they're just happy to be along for the ride
00:27:31And that's the most wonderful thing
00:27:32But you're also involved in joyful shows really
00:27:35Which do lift people out
00:27:36Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes
00:27:38Yeah, yeah, yeah
00:27:40Hamilton gets a little sad at the end
00:27:42As did Hadestown and Next to Normal as well
00:27:45They all take a little dip
00:27:47But especially with the Disney shows
00:27:48With Aladdin, with Hercules
00:27:50Where we're there to give the audience a party and a good time
00:27:53At the end of Hercules
00:27:55I'm sure people have seen the clips online
00:27:57Of everybody during the curtain call
00:27:58The big dance break that happens in the audience as well
00:28:00It's wonderful
00:28:01Let's have a look at Hercules
00:28:03It's become quite an iconic number this
00:28:05Zero to Hero
00:28:06Oh, that time's all
00:28:10Earth was on a roll
00:28:13Lonnie, beater
00:28:15Lonnie, beater
00:28:17And the nicest guy
00:28:18Not conceited
00:28:21He wasn't nothing
00:28:23Now he's a honcho
00:28:25Steer the high boy
00:28:26Bring it through
00:28:28Bill, just get me to that temple
00:28:31I'm going home
00:28:33I'm a Zero to Hero
00:28:35I'm a Zero to Hero
00:28:36I'm a Zero to Hero
00:28:38I'm a Zero to Hero
00:28:42I'm a Zero to Hero
00:28:51It's become quite an iconic song now
00:28:53Yeah, oh no, absolutely
00:28:54Zero to Hero is one of my favourites
00:28:55And our muses are iconic
00:28:57They take the spirit of the animated film to another level
00:29:01And they continue to wow the audiences
00:29:04The response our audiences give to them
00:29:06Is a whole other experience in and of itself
00:29:10You mentioned Next to Normal
00:29:12Which seems to occupy a particular place in your heart
00:29:15What's special about that?
00:29:16It was an incredible show
00:29:17It was a small cast of six
00:29:19And we all took really good care of each other
00:29:20It's a show that's now on NT Live
00:29:23People can see
00:29:23And it was phenomenal
00:29:24It was just a really special thing
00:29:27About a journey of a family
00:29:28And that journey with pain and grief and mental health
00:29:32And we tried to approach it
00:29:34With the most authentic way that we could
00:29:36And yeah, I'm really proud of the work
00:29:38That all of us did in that show
00:29:40It's been really special to me
00:29:41Here it is
00:29:42Next to Normal
00:29:43Diana
00:29:44This way, please
00:29:47Yeah, yeah, yeah
00:29:55What did you just say?
00:29:57I said, welcome
00:29:58I'm Dr. Madden
00:30:00Have a seat
00:30:00It's nice to meet you
00:30:03Let's get it on now, baby
00:30:10Excuse me, what?
00:30:11I said, let's get started
00:30:12Are you nervous, Diana?
00:30:14I am a little
00:30:15A bit out of breath
00:30:18Tingly, actually
00:30:21Now you go
00:30:22Let's start by getting to know each other a bit
00:30:24Psychotherapy and medication work best in tandem
00:30:27But we can try the first alone
00:30:28And see how far we get
00:30:30Why don't you tell me?
00:30:31Baby
00:30:33What's your history?
00:30:35Where'd you go and who'd you see?
00:30:41Um, my history
00:30:44Just like going to your own GP, really, didn't it?
00:30:46If only they did that
00:30:48You'd feel so much better
00:30:50The audience reaction there
00:30:52Next to all
00:30:53It's quite, whoa
00:30:54Yeah, but that was what we aimed for
00:30:57We got exactly what we were seeking
00:30:58Absolutely
00:30:59And Casey Levy playing Diana
00:31:01And that was phenomenal
00:31:02One of the most incredible actresses
00:31:04I've ever worked with
00:31:04And she, another Disney link
00:31:06She was the original Elsa
00:31:07In Frozen on Broadway
00:31:09And so we kind of had a nice little
00:31:10Odd Disney reunion
00:31:11In a very sad piece of theatre
00:31:14Yeah, challenging piece of theatre too
00:31:16Absolutely
00:31:16To form
00:31:17Yeah
00:31:17You started at the Donmar
00:31:18We started at the Donmar Warehouse
00:31:20Which is phenomenal
00:31:20A theatre I always wanted to work at
00:31:22A theatre I'd seen shows at
00:31:24Continue to go as a patron
00:31:25And experience the type of art
00:31:27That they put on there
00:31:28We had an awesome run
00:31:30At Wyndham's in the West End as well
00:31:32Does that make a difference?
00:31:33Where you're performing it?
00:31:34I mean, there's extremes there
00:31:36From the Donmar
00:31:36Where Next Norma started
00:31:38To, you know
00:31:40Either London Palladium
00:31:41Or Drury Lane
00:31:43No, of course
00:31:43I think it's always
00:31:44An adjustment
00:31:45Depending on your house
00:31:46Depending on your audience
00:31:47No two shows ever feel the same
00:31:48Even in the same house
00:31:49But there is something about
00:31:50Playing to the back of the house
00:31:52At Drury Lane
00:31:52Versus playing to the
00:31:53The tenth row
00:31:54When people are only sat
00:31:55A few feet away from you
00:31:56At the Donmar
00:31:57And it is adjusting
00:31:58The way that you
00:31:59Tell that story
00:32:01It's adjusting the way
00:32:01You're connecting
00:32:02With the other actors
00:32:02And being able
00:32:04And willing to
00:32:05Find those differences
00:32:06Is key
00:32:07When you talk about
00:32:08The Donmar
00:32:09And that performance
00:32:10Next Norma
00:32:11You can tell us
00:32:12Knocked back in their seats
00:32:13Oh, it was incredible
00:32:13Absolutely
00:32:14Because you're a powerful singer
00:32:16That's what I've heard
00:32:17That's what they say
00:32:18On the streets
00:32:18The Donmar
00:32:20Especially with the
00:32:21Intimacy in that theatre
00:32:24You can see
00:32:25Everyone's face
00:32:26In the audience
00:32:26Which can be really jarring
00:32:27Sometimes
00:32:27In such an emotional
00:32:28Piece of theatre
00:32:29It was our press night
00:32:30And I'll never forget
00:32:31I made the mistake
00:32:32Of making eye contact
00:32:33With my father
00:32:34During an incredibly
00:32:35Emotional scene
00:32:35And seeing
00:32:37Seeing his response
00:32:38To it
00:32:38And it was
00:32:39I was like
00:32:40Well, I won't make
00:32:41That mistake again
00:32:41But he was so close
00:32:42And everybody's seated
00:32:43So close
00:32:44In those instances
00:32:45That you can't not
00:32:46Connect with people
00:32:47But in those large houses
00:32:48The applause feels like
00:32:50A wave
00:32:51Of absolute emotion
00:32:52Yes
00:32:53Keep enjoying it
00:32:54I'll try
00:32:55I'll try
00:32:55Always
00:32:56Always
00:32:56Always great
00:32:57To see you
00:32:58Thanks very much
00:32:59Indeed
00:32:59Now
00:33:00Thankfully
00:33:01So many of you
00:33:02Have continued
00:33:03To brave the cold temperatures
00:33:05Out there
00:33:05And share your adventures
00:33:06Out and about
00:33:07In the countryside
00:33:07With us
00:33:08It's time to unleash
00:33:10Your creative talents
00:33:12In today's
00:33:13Walk on the Wild Side
00:33:41To be continued
00:36:44To share it all.
00:36:46To share it all.
00:36:55Oh, thank you, Gregor.
00:37:24How lovely to have you with us.
00:37:26How many house plants are you up to now in your house?
00:37:29Oh, I think it's around the 300 mark at the moment.
00:37:32And it's a flat?
00:37:33No, it's now a house, but it was a one-bedroom flat up until quite recently.
00:37:37It would be a house to get 300 plants in.
00:37:39I know.
00:37:40Well, welcome.
00:37:42I have to say, it's lovely to see someone who brings their own plants in which are in robust
00:37:46health.
00:37:47They're shiny, they're lustrous, they're vibrant and green.
00:37:50You clearly love them.
00:37:51I really do.
00:37:53I really do.
00:37:54I could speak about it all day.
00:37:55It's been just the best thing for my mental health and just connecting me with nature in
00:38:01a way.
00:38:02Particularly, I started, obviously, when I didn't have a garden.
00:38:04And it was wonderful to be able to still garden from, at the time, my bedroom.
00:38:08Surround yourself with greenery.
00:38:10And then doing the atmosphere so much good as well as your spirits, really.
00:38:13Yeah.
00:38:13Right, tell us, you've got some here that you reckon are pretty foolproof.
00:38:16And that's what a lot of folk home will think.
00:38:18Oh, great, because I kill everything.
00:38:20You know, that sort of thing.
00:38:21So, what have you got for us?
00:38:22Yeah, so I've brought in some that I think are very beginner-friendly and very, very hardy.
00:38:27So, starting off with this one here, this is an Aglanema Silver Queen.
00:38:31And, in fact, I've got a couple of Aglanema here.
00:38:33That one at the top.
00:38:35That little lustrous leaves.
00:38:36You look at the leaves, they've got this great marbling on them, which is air, isn't it,
00:38:40inside the layers of the leaf, which makes it either darker or lighter.
00:38:44But, lovely.
00:38:45You clean your plants as well, actually.
00:38:47There's no dust on there, Claire.
00:38:48To be honest, a lot of the time I'll just get them in the shower and I'll give them a
00:38:51good wash down,
00:38:52because it's easier.
00:38:53Take a house plant into the shower.
00:38:55Do not make the shower too hot.
00:38:57Yeah.
00:38:58So, this is another one.
00:38:59A glorious shading on the leaf there on that one.
00:39:02So, Aglanema.
00:39:04Just easy.
00:39:05I mean, I find it, on the whole, just a really brilliant, brilliant genus.
00:39:10It's really robust.
00:39:11It typically does really well in lower levels of light as well.
00:39:14And this one here, actually, is one of my lowest maintenance, because I've got it growing in a semi-hydroponic
00:39:20system.
00:39:20Oh, right.
00:39:21So, there's water in here already.
00:39:23Yeah, there's a little reservoir at the bottom.
00:39:24And as you can see, this is just lava rock, pumice, lots of porous materials.
00:39:28Now, this will, because a lot of people, they did just, most folk kill plants by overwatering them, don't they?
00:39:34But this one, you've got sitting in water, but the top half is not.
00:39:38Yeah.
00:39:38It's getting its drainage there.
00:39:40But it just means that I only have to fill its reservoir maybe once every couple of months, if that.
00:39:45Really?
00:39:46Yeah, this one lives in a relatively low-light spot, and it just remains looking really beautiful.
00:39:50That wouldn't suit every, I'll let you put that back up there.
00:39:53Yeah, it wouldn't suit every pot plant, that, would it?
00:39:55But Aglaonema's very happy with that, so that's one reason why it's...
00:39:58Yeah, you're totally right.
00:39:59There's some types of plant that I find don't get on with semi-hydro quite so well, but Aglaonema is
00:40:03just one that loves it.
00:40:05Wonderful.
00:40:05Right, next one.
00:40:06And this one here, this Hoya Crimson Princess.
00:40:10This lovely variegation.
00:40:12This climbs as well.
00:40:13You can train it as a climber.
00:40:14You've got it as a trailer.
00:40:16Yeah.
00:40:16I mean, I've seen it trained up little trellises and things.
00:40:18That's right, yeah.
00:40:19This is a lovely Hoya with these glorious wax flower, it's called, isn't it?
00:40:22Yeah, that's right.
00:40:23We think of flowers, white flowers at the red centre.
00:40:26Oh, and they're pink when they come out.
00:40:27I was going to say the Crimson Princess is where it gets its name.
00:40:29Right.
00:40:29It's some stress, isn't it?
00:40:30I've not seen this one before, it's lovely.
00:40:32I've seen a variegated one, but not the one with the pink.
00:40:34So Hoya Crimson Princess.
00:40:36Yeah, that's right.
00:40:37It's so lovely, and I just think like if you're after a little splash of colour, but again something
00:40:41that, I mean it's a semi-succulent, it requires very little water.
00:40:46It is variegated, so that means it needs a little bit more light than something like Aglaonema.
00:40:50Well then that's a good rule of thumb, isn't it?
00:40:51There's more variegation, they need more light.
00:40:53The darker the greener the foliage, the better they are in shade, generally.
00:40:57Yes.
00:40:57Yeah, absolutely.
00:40:59Lots of others here, including mother-in-law's tongue.
00:41:01That's right, yeah.
00:41:02That's a classic to have on the list, isn't it?
00:41:04And a really tough old brute, isn't it, really?
00:41:06It really is.
00:41:07Although it's a succulent and obviously will prefer much higher levels of light, it's super adaptable
00:41:11and can grow in literally your darkest corner.
00:41:14My one lives in my hallway with barely any natural light and puts out lots of new growth.
00:41:18That's really helpful.
00:41:20Here we've got, now you've got an anthurium here.
00:41:22Yes.
00:41:23That's a bit, what I love here is the difference, as you pointed out, between the immature leaves
00:41:29and the shape of the mature grown-up leaves.
00:41:32It starts life like that, just a little heart shape.
00:41:34Then we get these great sort of almost prehistoric shape.
00:41:37It's amazing, isn't it?
00:41:39And I just, I fell in love with this one the first time I saw it.
00:41:42And yeah, with every new leaf I get so excited, because I'm like, oh my goodness, what's going
00:41:45to come next?
00:41:46We must get you out more.
00:41:47I know.
00:41:49So talk us through looking after and propagation and what we do about making more of our aspects.
00:41:55So propagation, I've got actually quite a good example here that I brought.
00:41:58This one is a Syngonium chia pensae.
00:42:01Yeah.
00:42:02And as you can see, it's kind of growing off the moss pole that I've got it on.
00:42:05And if you look at the top here, you can see it's got really, really good aerial roots.
00:42:10Yeah, these.
00:42:10Yeah.
00:42:11So, I mean, it's actually, for a lot of plants, it might be quite difficult to spot the best
00:42:16way to kind of chop and propagate.
00:42:17But with this one, in fact, grab Moses and I'll take a cutting and show you.
00:42:24Because it's just there, you can see that that is where, not only has it started rooting
00:42:29already, but that's where it will continue to root from.
00:42:32So we've got some sustainably sourced sphagnum moss.
00:42:37And some little cups.
00:42:39So you're a great cup collector.
00:42:41I am such a cup collector.
00:42:42Whenever I go anywhere and they have cups, I put them in my bag and I leave with them
00:42:46and I think I'll use that for something planty.
00:42:48And that one there, good heat, good light.
00:42:51And you absolutely, like, you don't reduce the leaf, because sometimes you chop a leaf off
00:42:55to stop it transpiring, you know, sweating quite as much.
00:42:58But that will support those leaves with what it's got there.
00:43:01With this one, because it's got such defined aerial roots and there is a little bit of gap,
00:43:04it should be fine.
00:43:05You always risk losing the lower leaf.
00:43:07You're totally right.
00:43:09But actually, we have a little look at the begonia.
00:43:11But this one doesn't have very defined aerial roots.
00:43:14So if we just take a random cutting here, you're right, the lower leaves will almost certainly start to rot.
00:43:20There's almost no point in keeping them.
00:43:22So if we just...
00:43:23Snip them off.
00:43:24Remove the lower leaves and that exposes the little bumps on the stem,
00:43:29which you can actually see are quite similar to the bumps on the stem.
00:43:33Little nodes.
00:43:34Yeah, nodes here.
00:43:36And that is, again, where the roots will grow from.
00:43:38So, again, you can propagate in water, you can propagate in moss.
00:43:40So you just stick out in the jam jar if you want to be washing the bottom.
00:43:43Seeing as you've got some moss here, I'll double it up and I'll keep it in there
00:43:46and hopefully they should be rooting in the next few weeks or so.
00:43:48But, yeah, it is as easy as that.
00:43:50And here.
00:43:51So this is a Dracaena, presumably.
00:43:54It is, yeah.
00:43:55And you've got that.
00:43:56There it is.
00:43:56It's rooting beautifully in that bottle there.
00:43:58And that's just a lump chopped off.
00:44:00Yeah, I mean, believe it or not, this has been growing in this way for about two years now.
00:44:05And it is, I mean, it's my lowest maintenance plant.
00:44:09Again, it's one that does amazingly well in lower levels of light, but I do nothing to it.
00:44:14Nothing to it at all.
00:44:16So when people say to you, what's the secret of success with house plants?
00:44:18I'd say the biggest one, though, is the thing you touched on earlier, overwatering.
00:44:21I think that is definitely somewhere where I went wrong for a very long time.
00:44:26Because they'll recover from underwatering.
00:44:28They'll wilt due to underwatering.
00:44:29You water them, they come back up.
00:44:30Yeah.
00:44:31If they wilt due to overwatering, which they can, it's reverse osmosis.
00:44:34They don't recover from that, do they at all?
00:44:36Well, I mean, if the roots of your plants start to rot and then if it spreads to the rhizome,
00:44:40I mean, things go downhill so quickly.
00:44:43Claire, this has been lovely.
00:44:44It's lovely to see them so healthy.
00:44:45Lovely to get tips from someone who knows how to grow 300 different house plants.
00:44:50Come back and see us again soon.
00:44:52Absolutely, I will.
00:44:52Love to be with you.
00:44:53Thanks very much indeed.
00:45:00As racehorse lovers here at Love Your Weekend,
00:45:03last week we jumped at the chance to visit world-renowned trainer Paul Nichols Yard
00:45:08to see how his team gear up for the jump season.
00:45:11So, when ITV Racing then invited us to Cheltenham's November meeting,
00:45:17well, we couldn't accept fast enough.
00:45:19One of the highlights of the racing calendar,
00:45:21this thrilling three-day festival hosts the Paddy Power Gold Cup,
00:45:27one of the first major races of the jump season, drawing thousands of spectators.
00:45:32We joined former National Hunt jockey and ITV Racing presenter Alice Plunkett
00:45:38for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this iconic race.
00:45:55Well, welcome to Cheltenham Racecourse, the home of National Hunt Racing.
00:45:59It's been the scene of racing for over 200 years.
00:46:03It's the most perfect sporting arena.
00:46:06It's like a beautiful amphitheatre that sits behind Cleve Hill
00:46:09with these extraordinary grandstands about to welcome over 30,000 people.
00:46:16And the Paddy Power Gold Cup is one of the early targets for everybody.
00:46:21To win this means, yeah, my season's okay, the monkey's off your back.
00:46:25This hill is so famous.
00:46:27If you can get up this hill in front, your name is put in the history book.
00:46:32But this is the one where the fans really start to enjoy it.
00:46:36The rain's come, the footing is perfect for the horses,
00:46:39and so really the big guns start to come out at this November meeting.
00:46:44Harry Cogden is a champion jockey, and when you talk to him,
00:46:48he says it's 20% talent but 80% psychology.
00:46:51Mental preparation is as important as physical preparation.
00:46:55When you're riding for six or seven different owners
00:46:58and multiple different trainers on a day,
00:47:00and then you've got to work out how you're going to actually win on these horses.
00:47:03There's a lot going on in a day, so when I get home,
00:47:06I would go down to the farm and just walk around,
00:47:08and it takes my mind off the racing.
00:47:11If you're not careful, it gets old you and you start overthinking things.
00:47:15I won't see Harry until he comes in the paddock,
00:47:17but he's probably thinking about any of the cows he can buy at the market on Monday,
00:47:20knowing him.
00:47:21He's dead relaxed and laid back.
00:47:22He had a lovely winner yesterday, so he's in good form.
00:47:24Harry Cogden is Paul Nichols' stable jockey,
00:47:27so he has a good relationship with most of the horses,
00:47:30and Il Rodoto, who he rides in the feature race today,
00:47:33he's ridden several times before.
00:47:34He knows the horse really well.
00:47:38Paul Nichols is dangerous when he targets a race.
00:47:41He'll have been planning this for a long time for Il Rodoto,
00:47:44who, of course, is the returning champ.
00:47:47And Paul's won the last two runnings of this race.
00:47:49It would be an incredible achievement to make the hat-trick.
00:47:56He's in great shape, very happy with him.
00:47:58We had a lovely winner yesterday, so we're in good form.
00:48:00The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is all the amount of rain that fell yesterday.
00:48:03He's a slightly better horse on better ground,
00:48:05due to when it's drier.
00:48:07So yesterday was absolutely biblical in terms of the weather here.
00:48:11We had about 80 millimetres of rain in one day, which was crazy.
00:48:15That's left conditions today heavy, soft in places.
00:48:18It's going to be muddy.
00:48:19It's going to be grinding it out.
00:48:21And, of course, the prize money.
00:48:22Today's a big pot.
00:48:23It matters.
00:48:24It's 91,000 to the winner.
00:48:25The jockey gets 10%, the trainer gets 10%, and then the owner takes the rest.
00:48:30For anybody, it's a significant amount of money.
00:48:33The Paddy Power Gold Cup is underway.
00:48:35Shelton poses its own challenges.
00:48:37Stamina, speed, balance.
00:48:39Because one minute you're up, the next minute you're running down.
00:48:41You're jumping a fence up a hill.
00:48:43You're jumping a fence down a hill.
00:48:45And as a rider, that means you always have to be thinking and in tune
00:48:48of how the horse is balanced underneath you.
00:48:54Go on Harry!
00:48:57We're all here together, celebrating, cheering, shouting.
00:49:03He's standing on Trolley, and it's Panic Attack, who is out in front.
00:49:08And Harry, it does.
00:49:09And if he's Panic Attack, always the Panic Hacker.
00:49:15I thought the ground would beat him.
00:49:23So for Harry Cobden, he'll know you win some, you lose some.
00:49:27It's a 25% strike rate if you're doing well.
00:49:30The great thing is, it's a three-day meeting here.
00:49:33So that means we've got, what, 21 races.
00:49:35Paul Nichols and Harry Cobden teamed up with a really impressive young horse yesterday.
00:49:42They'll be taking that away, and that'll be giving them hope for the future.
00:49:48Wow, what a day.
00:49:50Thank you to Alice, Paul, Harry and all the team at Cheltenham.
00:49:54And ITV Racing, truly inspiring stuff.
00:49:58Coming up, don't be fooled by its chocolate box appearance.
00:50:02It's actually Cambridge's most murderous village.
00:50:06Al Weaver talks murder, mystery and mayhem
00:50:09in the seemingly quiet 1950s Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester.
00:50:14I'll see you with Al for some heavenly chat right after this.
00:50:32Welcome back.
00:50:33Coming up, she broke our hearts in educating Rita.
00:50:36Brought joy to them in agony, and is currently filling them with laughter as Evelyn Plummer in Corrie.
00:50:41Dame Maureen Lippmann on her Maltese misadventures and the wedding day the government accidentally gatecrashed.
00:50:48And feel like you're missing out on the ski season?
00:50:51If you're not, Andy Clark's here to show us how to apres at home with his pick of the warming
00:50:57cocktails for your very own ski party.
00:50:59But first, what happens when you combine quintessential Cambridge scenery, crime-solving capers and cassocks?
00:51:07Well, you get a TV series that's something of a favourite at Ditchmarsh Towers.
00:51:11Hello, Mother.
00:51:13Mark my words, families never bring happiness.
00:51:17Has he been a bit tipsy recently?
00:51:20People lash out when they're insecure, when they risk losing everything.
00:51:24Help!
00:51:25Please!
00:51:25Leonard doesn't have it in him.
00:51:27You'll have it in us, I'll be.
00:51:29I will do whatever it is, I don't care.
00:51:32Don't be trying to pin this on me.
00:51:33Everyone who witnessed a murder today hands up.
00:51:36Too many suspects, not enough clues.
00:51:39Joining me now, Grantchester's Leonard Finch, otherwise known as Al Weaver.
00:51:44Welcome, Al.
00:51:45Been through quite a few vicars there, but a fairly steady curate carries on going all the way.
00:51:50Yeah, yeah.
00:51:50Well, he's not a curate anymore, is he?
00:51:52No, he's, yes.
00:51:53I won't say defrocked.
00:51:55Yeah, defrocked indeed.
00:51:56But yeah, the third vicar.
00:51:58Such a troubled soul, Leonard.
00:52:01Yeah, he is.
00:52:01Ergo, probably a wonderful part to play.
00:52:04It is.
00:52:04It's all the best parts, aren't they?
00:52:06The ones that are like, they just keep throwing stuff at them.
00:52:09Yeah.
00:52:10I mean, when we started, I think it was, he was kind of just a comedy relief, along with
00:52:15like Tessa and a couple of other people.
00:52:17It was kind of just all sort of light stuff.
00:52:19But then it started going into his sort of personal life and his sexuality and all that
00:52:22sort of stuff.
00:52:23And then they just keep, just like I said, just throwing everything at him.
00:52:28And it's great because for me, it's every year we come back and, you know, we talk about
00:52:32it off season and say, what can we do?
00:52:34You know, but again, you know, this year we find him and he's, he's really happy, ish
00:52:39happy.
00:52:40As happy as he can be.
00:52:41As happy as he can be.
00:52:41As he can be.
00:52:42And then he's dissatisfied and then something else happens.
00:52:45And, but for me, it's, it's a great joy to just kind of navigate all those different
00:52:49things that, that we all experience, I guess.
00:52:51So was there a moment, if you came in as the sort of comedy relief and light relief,
00:52:55was there a moment when a script came, you thought, oh, oh, we're moving away a bit
00:52:59here from the, the jolly jester.
00:53:01I mean, it's weird, you know, 11 years is such a long time.
00:53:05And I kind of look back now and I was thinking about it and on the way up here and
00:53:10I was like,
00:53:10God, I remember those first days with James and, you know, just, just being nervous and
00:53:15coming in and being told a bit bigger, a bit less, you know, trying to find that balance
00:53:19of what the tone of the character is.
00:53:20Let's have a look at you.
00:53:22This is, I think, right back at the beginning when you, your first episode.
00:53:25I was so young, so young.
00:53:27You were young, yeah.
00:53:27Yeah.
00:53:30Two things.
00:53:32Page 13.
00:53:34I think you'll find it most useful.
00:53:37And Mr. Finch.
00:53:39He's a curate I told you about.
00:53:42The homosexual was looking for work.
00:53:44Leonard.
00:53:46This is Sydney Chambers.
00:53:52I've been in search of shortbread.
00:53:55I have recently completed my theological training
00:53:59and consider myself ready for a proper parochial position.
00:54:04You involve yourself in all areas of the community, I imagine.
00:54:10Bible study, fundraising for the missionaries and whatnot.
00:54:14How well do you know Miss Young?
00:54:16As well as opportunity allows.
00:54:19Yes.
00:54:20She's out most of the time.
00:54:23With men.
00:54:25One of them says her poems.
00:54:28Really?
00:54:29Are they any good?
00:54:31Dreadful.
00:54:32Although I suppose the name Daphne is difficult to rhyme.
00:54:38I'd forgotten the moustache, you know.
00:54:40We all forgot the moustache.
00:54:44Yeah, Tessa didn't.
00:54:45Yeah, that lasted one.
00:54:46It was one episode.
00:54:49I think Mrs. C or usually Mrs. M is just like,
00:54:52you've got to get rid of that moustache.
00:54:54Did you have it when you went in there?
00:54:56Or did you grow it for it?
00:54:57No, it was in the script.
00:55:00I grew it for it.
00:55:01It takes me a while to grow a moustache.
00:55:03And then you shave it off after a day.
00:55:05But I remember when we, that was the first time,
00:55:07that was my first day.
00:55:08The first time I, we hadn't met James at the read-through,
00:55:11but that was our first scene together.
00:55:12And you come and they'd done, they'd put the stuff on,
00:55:15done my hair, did the moustache,
00:55:17and I thought I was going to get fired.
00:55:18Honestly, I was just like, I look ridiculous.
00:55:21I thought, this is it.
00:55:22I'm just going to walk on set and they'll be like,
00:55:24we've made a mistake.
00:55:26And I got on and Emma and Days of the Producers,
00:55:28and they were just like, this is perfect.
00:55:31And it just helps you just get into it,
00:55:34because the way he looks kind of, you know,
00:55:37it navigates the way you perform it, I think, as well.
00:55:41There were people out there, was it Greta Garber
00:55:43had to have the feet right?
00:55:44She'd act a lot in carpet slippers
00:55:47underneath that big dressing queen, Christina.
00:55:49I remember Beryl Reid had to get the shoes right, she said.
00:55:53It's interesting, isn't it, which particular parts of your,
00:55:56your body or your placenta or whatever, need to feel right.
00:55:59It's not just all in the head, there's got to be a physicality to it.
00:56:02No, no, exactly, it's not all in the head.
00:56:03A lot of people's shoes are a big thing.
00:56:07But with these costumes as well,
00:56:09because they're quite tight and they ride up you a bit.
00:56:12And you've got the dog collar on, that kind of does a lot for you as well.
00:56:16Along with things like Call the Midwife,
00:56:18you deal with really quite tough issues,
00:56:20and particularly with your character, with Daniel.
00:56:24The homosexuality aspect of the 1950s.
00:56:26Yeah.
00:56:27And the agonism, the torment that went on at that time.
00:56:31Yeah, it was horrible.
00:56:32I mean, my late grandma, I remember she came to,
00:56:35well, she came to see a play I did, which had similar themes actually,
00:56:39but I remember her watching this and she was like,
00:56:42well, you know what, we always, remember that guy at the bottom of the street?
00:56:44It says we all knew, we all knew one of those men at the bottom of the street
00:56:48who was really good friends with the other guy.
00:56:51And I thought that was really, it's really sad,
00:56:53but it's really sweet as well as, you know,
00:56:56sort of Leonard and Daniel later on kind of living together.
00:56:59But yeah, I mean, you know, the homosexuality was not legal until the late 60s.
00:57:06So it's a horrible place for him to be.
00:57:08And the fact that this village, well, not even the village,
00:57:12but, you know, Mrs C and his friends and whatever kind of accept him,
00:57:16is gorgeous.
00:57:17But that's, I mean, that's to do with the writers.
00:57:18The writers are just fantastic.
00:57:19And I think that period of the 50s is very much a backwater in history
00:57:24because it's immediately, the decade immediately post-war.
00:57:27Before the swinging 60s, which is well documented,
00:57:30everybody knows about, 40s the war.
00:57:32But the 50s, I was born in 49,
00:57:34so my childhood was right the way through the 50s.
00:57:37Right, okay.
00:57:38And it was, it was a time of privation,
00:57:42but also a time of Britain getting its breath back.
00:57:45Yeah.
00:57:45You were glad to come home when there was still a house there,
00:57:47you knew it hadn't been bombed.
00:57:48And so it was, it really was that sort of, oof,
00:57:52and then the 60s jacked up.
00:57:54But things like, you know, the issues that you cover in there,
00:57:58people are sort of forgotten about,
00:58:00because the 20s and 30s, again, very historic,
00:58:02and the 50s still seems to a lot of us, at a certain age, quite recent.
00:58:06Yeah. It isn't, of course.
00:58:08And your relationship with Daniel, that was interesting.
00:58:11Here's you and Daniel in one of your moments.
00:58:16Braver than you know.
00:58:23Who is he, Daniel?
00:58:26It gets easier with time.
00:58:29What is living with a broken heart?
00:58:34I'd be very pleased,
00:58:37if you said yes.
00:58:43Daniel, this is Leonard, my fiancée.
00:58:46How do you do?
00:58:48How do you do?
00:58:53Maybe people aren't ready for us, to be honest.
00:58:58We should at least be honest with ourselves.
00:59:04You always look for the best in people.
00:59:08I'm very lucky you do.
00:59:11For my sake at least.
00:59:16You've been the light in my life.
00:59:18I know that might sound trite.
00:59:20That sounds rather wonderful, actually.
00:59:28The agony of it all.
00:59:30You know, oh, goodness me.
00:59:31Did it take it out of you, doing things like that?
00:59:34Yeah.
00:59:35I mean, there's total commitment there, isn't there?
00:59:37Yeah.
00:59:37In terms of emotion.
00:59:38I mean, it's...
00:59:39Yeah, yeah.
00:59:40I think, you know, we always...
00:59:42Anyone who comes into Grantchester, and anyone who is on it,
00:59:46has always just given 100%, like, emotionally, and committed to the story,
00:59:53and that's been the joy of it.
00:59:55Because, you know, as much as we laugh a lot on that set,
00:59:59when this poignant stuff, and things that matter, and things like that,
01:00:03we take it...
01:00:04You have to.
01:00:05You have to put yourself there, and you have to invest in that.
01:00:07And, um...
01:00:08Yeah, that is gorgeous, that.
01:00:11OK, it's like, we've finished now, and it's just like, looking at that back,
01:00:13I'm like, oh, my gosh.
01:00:14You've also taken on a directing role now.
01:00:17Yes.
01:00:18Scary.
01:00:19Very, very, very scary.
01:00:21Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:00:21I was going to do it the year before, and I kind of bottled it.
01:00:24I was just like, oh, I can't.
01:00:26And Tom Brittany, me and Tom Brittany had a...
01:00:28We were drinking wine one night away filming, and we were like,
01:00:30right, we're going to ask the director, and we can do this, and da-da-da.
01:00:33And he did it, and I didn't.
01:00:35And I watched in the next year, and I was like,
01:00:37why didn't you...
01:00:38Why did you do that?
01:00:40Yeah.
01:00:40And then we talked about it, and I went forward, and...
01:00:43But such a lot to take on board.
01:00:45It's a lot.
01:00:45You're in it at the same time as directing it.
01:00:48Yeah, I mean...
01:00:49It's not as if you're taking an episode out to direct.
01:00:51No.
01:00:52I mean, they go a little lighter when I'm doing my episodes.
01:00:55Apart from last year, which is some of the Daniel stuff this year,
01:00:58which is going to be on in...
01:01:00Well, it's on now, but...
01:01:02Yeah, that's hard, because you've got quite emotional stuff.
01:01:05And also what's weird is, if I'm in a scene with you,
01:01:07say you're Olly Dimmesdale, who's Daniel,
01:01:09and I'm trying to cry, but I've got a monitor,
01:01:13and I'm trying to, like, line the shot up, and I'm like,
01:01:15OK, if you just move a little to your left,
01:01:17and then we'll do the scene, and I'm like,
01:01:19it's great, Olly, it's great.
01:01:21Maybe just on that line, maybe...
01:01:23Like, it's a very surreal, strange...
01:01:26I mean, you can't totally give yourself to the action,
01:01:28because you're here as well.
01:01:30Yeah.
01:01:30And the last two series now...
01:01:33Yeah.
01:01:33We're about to see...
01:01:34We're seeing the penultimate series.
01:01:36Another one done.
01:01:37You are done.
01:01:37We are done.
01:01:38Grandchester.
01:01:39It's finished.
01:01:39Another series to come after this one, but...
01:01:41Yeah.
01:01:42And a big farewell party, I gather.
01:01:44You had a good...
01:01:45We had a good wrap party, yeah.
01:01:46Even Robson came.
01:01:49Even Robson came.
01:01:49Even Robson came.
01:01:50He'd never been.
01:01:51He's never been to a wrap party.
01:01:52He didn't come.
01:01:54And then this year...
01:01:55I don't know why he came.
01:01:57I think it was somebody he had at ADR the next day.
01:01:58I know we had an interview that day,
01:02:00so he was like, fine, I'll come.
01:02:01He was dancing for three hours.
01:02:02I've never seen anything like it.
01:02:04But it was good.
01:02:05It was a real...
01:02:06And James Naughton dropped in as well.
01:02:07The weirdest...
01:02:08We went for dinner at Soho House.
01:02:10Me, Rishi, Tessa, Casey, Bradley and Robson.
01:02:15And we were having dinner.
01:02:18And we were just talking.
01:02:19And Casey's face just went...
01:02:22And then Robson went...
01:02:25And we all turned around.
01:02:26And it was James.
01:02:27Just walking him.
01:02:28And we all just went, James?
01:02:30And Soho House just stopped.
01:02:32And he went...
01:02:33And we were like, what?
01:02:35So he came over, sat down, had dinner with us.
01:02:37And then he was going to a play.
01:02:38And then he came.
01:02:39But we had Tom there, James there and Rishi there.
01:02:42And it was gorgeous.
01:02:43And it was all the producers, the DOPs, the...
01:02:46You know, the whole crew.
01:02:47That's the...
01:02:48You know, that's what people forget.
01:02:49Is that, you know, for a lot of the 11 years that we've done it,
01:02:52is the family aspect of the crew that's there.
01:02:56Or the...
01:02:57You know, whether that's the Sparks or the Chippies or the...
01:03:00You know, who...
01:03:01Everybody has been there for so long.
01:03:03Yeah.
01:03:04And, you know, we're all going to miss...
01:03:06We're all going to miss that.
01:03:06But, you know, I think we've done as much as we can do.
01:03:10And the actor's life.
01:03:11Off to new pastures.
01:03:13Off to new pastures.
01:03:13I mean, you know, you've got, you know, a career behind you as well.
01:03:16Yeah.
01:03:16I mean, you alternated Hamlet with Ben Whishaw way back.
01:03:19Yeah.
01:03:19My first theatre gig, yeah.
01:03:21First gig.
01:03:22It's not bad, is it?
01:03:23No.
01:03:23I know, yeah.
01:03:24Of course, it pleases me no end that you've got a garden.
01:03:28I mean, loosely a garden.
01:03:29It's a courtyard.
01:03:31It's not even a courtyard.
01:03:32I mean, you know, it's a courtyard at the back of the house that gets a lot of wind.
01:03:35And I was like, what can I do with it?
01:03:37So, those years of watching Ground Force, where your mum paid off, did they?
01:03:40Yeah, they told you.
01:03:41Yeah, yeah.
01:03:41That was amazing.
01:03:42I can't believe it.
01:03:43We were such...
01:03:44You know, it was...
01:03:45It was Friday nights, wasn't it?
01:03:47It was.
01:03:47I can't remember.
01:03:48I think it was Friday nights.
01:03:48I think you guys were on...
01:03:50You guys were on at eight.
01:03:51Yeah.
01:03:51And then Roseanne was on at nine.
01:03:54Yeah.
01:03:54And then there was some on from half nine to ten.
01:03:56And then Whose Line Is It Anyway was on.
01:03:58And that was mine and my mum's sort of Friday nights.
01:04:01What a good week.
01:04:02And we used to watch that religiously.
01:04:03It was great.
01:04:04Look, we look forward to lots more, Alan.
01:04:06Oh, thank you, Alan.
01:04:06Lovely to have you on.
01:04:07Lovely to talk to you.
01:04:08Come back and see us when you're doing something else.
01:04:09Thank you for having me.
01:04:11Our pleasure.
01:04:17Still ahead.
01:04:37I'll see you with Maureen for some scintillating chat and much more after this.
01:04:55Welcome back to Love Your Weekend.
01:04:57Still ahead.
01:04:57We're on the piste in today's Best of British.
01:05:00No change there then.
01:05:02Andy Clark's here with the apres ski tipples we can all be enjoying this winter.
01:05:07But first, every soap needs a matriarch.
01:05:11And Corrie certainly has theirs.
01:05:13Outspoken, sharp-tongued.
01:05:15And with a lovely line in one-liners.
01:05:18Can there only be one woman?
01:05:20Ooh, ow!
01:05:21Hey!
01:05:23If I ever find out who took you, you'll wish you'd never been born.
01:05:28Ah, now, hang on a minute.
01:05:29That's more like at the cemetery.
01:05:31Hang on a minute.
01:05:33Look at that.
01:05:34Perhaps more like.
01:05:42A little early for this sort of thing.
01:05:44Good morning, officer.
01:05:46Well, if you lot did your job properly, we wouldn't have to resort to things like this.
01:05:51You call yourself public servants.
01:05:53I'd like to know who you're serving.
01:05:55I shall ignore that remark, madam.
01:05:56Now, this is a public place, so if you and your friend wouldn't mind...
01:05:59No, no, no, he's not my friend.
01:06:01No, he's only here because I needed his woody.
01:06:04This is referring to my...
01:06:05Yes, but, you know, between you and me, to be honest, I've seen more life in a mint imperial,
01:06:10so we're not getting very far...
01:06:13Well, you've obviously got nothing better to do.
01:06:15Feel free to join in.
01:06:18OK.
01:06:19Out of the car.
01:06:20Eh?
01:06:20I'm sorry, officer.
01:06:21I'm not quite sure what we've done.
01:06:22No, of course you aren't.
01:06:23Come on.
01:06:24Out.
01:06:26You're just having a good time, really, aren't you, Maureen?
01:06:28Honestly, I'm just rambling on, aren't I?
01:06:30You know.
01:06:31Was that written, or did you just make it up as you go on?
01:06:33I've no idea.
01:06:34I think it was written, to be fair, but Alan Halsell, who plays my grandson, he does always
01:06:39say to me before we start a scene, will you be saying anything that's in the script?
01:06:44And, er, I do try very hard to do that, but that was a particularly funny.
01:06:49He's great, David Nielsen, isn't he?
01:06:51Yeah.
01:06:51He's so good as Roy.
01:06:52He's been in it for 9,000 years, you know.
01:06:55And he always looks so baffled.
01:06:57And just creased, you know, that kind of...
01:07:00What?
01:07:01Yes, I know, I know.
01:07:02He's a very good actor.
01:07:03Not present.
01:07:05Well, you've been in it since 2018, so seven years of it.
01:07:09Is it seven?
01:07:10Yeah.
01:07:10Yes, well, once you get in there, time just stands still, you know.
01:07:14It's very good for an elderly brain, because, as you know, you have to learn every night,
01:07:19and then throw it away, learn again, you know, six scenes, five scenes, whatever it is.
01:07:24And when you stop doing it, because I'm kind of out now, really, my character has gone to
01:07:29university to study law with a special emphasis on canine law.
01:07:37Don't ask me what it means, but...
01:07:39Do you mean you might get the ology at last?
01:07:41It's been long enough coming, hasn't it, really?
01:07:44Thirty-seven years or something since that ology.
01:07:48I've just been writing about it, actually.
01:07:50And not a week goes by, but that somebody doesn't say,
01:07:54hmm, have you still got an ology?
01:07:56And I have to smile and think it's the wittiest thing anybody's ever said.
01:08:01So, yes, so I'm out, probably out of that.
01:08:05I don't know, because it's wonderful when you can pop back.
01:08:07It's so nice if you're a northerner, Alan, to go and work up north,
01:08:13because you suddenly, all the pretension drops out of you.
01:08:16Yes, yes.
01:08:18Because you stop worrying about whether you're going to say, I do it near.
01:08:21Yeah.
01:08:21Or...
01:08:22Do the Thora heard voice, hello.
01:08:24Yes, yes.
01:08:27And you just, you know, when you go into reception and they say,
01:08:30are you all right then, Maureen?
01:08:32Yeah, have you had a nice weekend?
01:08:33And you just feel, oh, that's it, that's it now, you know.
01:08:38I have a film somewhere, I wish you could find it, of me,
01:08:41on the Parkinson show, having just left Lambda.
01:08:45And I'm dressed up like a Christmas tree.
01:08:47And he's saying to me, so, you're just out and you've got a film.
01:08:51And I'm saying, I know.
01:08:52And I think the wonderful thing is that one can use one's own accent now,
01:08:56because of people like Tom Courtney and Albert Finney.
01:09:00You know, I can speak in my own accent.
01:09:02And you just want to slap her.
01:09:05I remember all those years ago, meeting your mum's over.
01:09:07And now, what did she make of it?
01:09:09I mean, because you were from Hull.
01:09:12And I remember once going and talking to the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society.
01:09:16And there was a lady there in charge of who pronounced it Hull, as opposed to Hull.
01:09:21Yes, as opposed to Hull.
01:09:22Yes, no, she loved all the things about show business that I really don't.
01:09:28I mean, I used to take her with me to lots of, you know, whatever I was doing in the
01:09:33day.
01:09:33And she'd say, oh, I love doing one thing after another with no space in between, don't you?
01:09:39No.
01:09:41Basically, no.
01:09:42I like lounging about and doing very little, really.
01:09:46But over the years, people have, you know, if I speak at a function, they always say,
01:09:52how is your mother?
01:09:54Well, she was a force to be reckoned with.
01:09:56She was.
01:09:57She really was.
01:09:59And oh, God, there's so many stories.
01:10:01But Buckingham Palace was just because I took her with me when I got a gong.
01:10:06And we came out through a little side entrance and just three steps and no handrail.
01:10:13Oh, she said, you can't believe there's no banister, can you?
01:10:16And I said, oh, it doesn't matter.
01:10:18And then we went home and we had, I could hear her in the kitchen the whole night long saying,
01:10:24hello, hello, are you there?
01:10:28Jean, I've been to Buckingham Palace with Maureen.
01:10:30You can't believe it.
01:10:31When you come out, there's no banister.
01:10:33Anyway, I can't talk because Maureen once got someone coming through.
01:10:36Hello.
01:10:37I say, beauty won't believe it.
01:10:39I've been to Buckingham Palace.
01:10:40When you come out, there's no, I can't talk.
01:10:43It was fabulous.
01:10:44Absolutely fabulous, you know.
01:10:46Yeah, I've been dining out on her for many, many years.
01:10:50Now, life has changed since you were last on the show here.
01:10:54You have got married.
01:10:56I know.
01:10:58Congratulations.
01:10:59And I gather you did the proposing.
01:11:02Well, we sort of talked about it in a jocular fashion, you know, but our ages added up to 158.
01:11:10So we, David had lost his wife.
01:11:14I had lost my partner during Covid, Guido.
01:11:19And, you know, this bloke comes along and asks me for a date.
01:11:23A date?
01:11:24I've had a date since the old king died.
01:11:27So, and we went for a walk in Hertfordshire.
01:11:30And, you know, he said he fell in love with me when I came out of the toilet, which is
01:11:34interesting.
01:11:35Must have been flushed.
01:11:37Anyway.
01:11:38Yeah.
01:11:39So we were on a train coming back from Edinburgh, yes.
01:11:43And he said that it was a particular day in the Jewish calendar that was a sort of like Valentine's
01:11:51Day in a way.
01:11:51He said, oh, yes, it's a joyous day.
01:11:53It's a happy day.
01:11:54And it's apparently a day when women can ask men to marry them.
01:11:58So you wouldn't pass that one up if you were a comedian, would you?
01:12:02You know, I slid under the table on the train and I said, will you marry me?
01:12:05And he said, are you serious?
01:12:06And I said, oh, yeah, go on then.
01:12:10So that's how it happened.
01:12:12And we had this amazing day.
01:12:14It was 12 weeks ago.
01:12:15We're still married.
01:12:16It was 12 weeks ago.
01:12:17And we had it in his son's garden in Highgate.
01:12:20And it was a beautiful day.
01:12:22And I came out to go under this chuppah with the most beautiful flowers down the side.
01:12:30And it was the day that Keir Starmer was testing all the sirens.
01:12:35All the mobile phones rang.
01:12:38So we sort of knew that, but had forgotten.
01:12:41But the rabbi, Shlomer, was very clever.
01:12:42And he said, I had a word with Keir Starmer.
01:12:45He said, he's sorry he can't be here.
01:12:46But he's alerted the whole of England.
01:12:48And at that moment, every single mobile phone, 182 mobile phones, just went.
01:12:57Sorry about that, sound man.
01:12:59And it was so extraordinary and so wonderful and different.
01:13:03And, you know.
01:13:04Your latest entertaining foray on the screen is The Great Escapers.
01:13:09And you went to Malta. Who with?
01:13:11I went to Malta with Tanisha Gorey from Aisha in Corrie and Andy Wyman.
01:13:18Now, a lot of those times we don't get to work together because there are 90 actors in it.
01:13:23And we're in blocks, pink block, green block.
01:13:25So I'm as big as your head.
01:13:27And anyway, so I thought it would be really nice to go to this place and to actually find out
01:13:32who I'm working with.
01:13:34Because on every job you make six friends and then you carry them on with you through your life.
01:13:40And it was wonderful.
01:13:41We just fell in love with one another.
01:13:44Let's have a look at you.
01:13:45Here you are.
01:13:45Go on then.
01:13:46I've learnt flamenco in my time.
01:13:49I've learnt tango.
01:13:50But I don't have an opportunity to use them.
01:13:53Woo!
01:13:55Bravo!
01:13:57Amazing!
01:13:57Do you like the dance?
01:13:59Oh, yes.
01:13:59Yes, we'd love to, wouldn't we?
01:14:01Come on.
01:14:02I can't do the smitty bit.
01:14:03I'm going to be okay doing this in sliders.
01:14:05Yeah?
01:14:06So what we'll be doing is we'll be going round.
01:14:10Yay!
01:14:11And going to your face, don't worry.
01:14:12Okay, okay.
01:14:14And we're going to drink.
01:14:14Oh, okay.
01:14:15I caught an idea.
01:14:17It's been a surreal day.
01:14:18I did not expect the day to end like that.
01:14:20I did not expect us to all be dancing together.
01:14:23Yeah.
01:14:23What a way to end it.
01:14:24What a brilliant way.
01:14:25Perfect.
01:14:25It's been gorgeous, I think.
01:14:26I think it's really brought us together.
01:14:28I think it's been a really, really lovely day.
01:14:30That's the one.
01:14:31I love that, Maureen.
01:14:33We're going into the metro now.
01:14:35Go on, Maureen.
01:14:35What are you doing?
01:14:36Oh, so sorry.
01:14:37Yay!
01:14:39Thank you very much.
01:14:40Thank you very much.
01:14:42Maureen doing her Michael Portillo with Tanisha Goury.
01:14:46Without the red trousers with Tanisha and Agnes.
01:14:49Well done.
01:14:50Yes, and then, you know, as with all these things,
01:14:53they sort of sit you down and you have to spill about your life,
01:14:56which is terribly embarrassing, but you do it.
01:15:00Yeah.
01:15:00And it made a nice little travelogue.
01:15:03And you're about to do the ultimate, really,
01:15:04and it's back on the boards in Allegra Come May,
01:15:07which is this new play, comedy,
01:15:10about a woman who has very little self-editing, by the sound of things.
01:15:15Yes.
01:15:15It is called Allegra.
01:15:17It's written by the same writer who did Glorious,
01:15:21which is the play about Florence Foster Jenkins.
01:15:24Yes.
01:15:24Who couldn't sing and thought she could.
01:15:26And it became a film with Meryl Streep.
01:15:28And the director of that film, Stephen Frears,
01:15:31came to see me and said to talk about,
01:15:34and I knew he wasn't going to use me,
01:15:36but I said, who have you got in it?
01:15:38And he said, Meryl Streep.
01:15:39And I said, oh, no, that's not right.
01:15:42I said, you want Frances McDormand?
01:15:45What do I know?
01:15:46Anyway, this play is about, it's good for our times
01:15:49because it's about a woman who is so dotty, but relentlessly happy.
01:15:55And nobody, she goes into places and she sings and she entertains
01:15:58and nobody wants her.
01:15:59And so they're really trying to make her miserable like everybody else.
01:16:04But of course when she is, they don't like her that way.
01:16:07And I'm going to tour, which now that I've got nicely settled,
01:16:11I'm loath to do, but you have to.
01:16:14So I shall pack up my, you know, thank God I don't have a dog this time
01:16:19because the last time I toured, the dog ate every dressing room I was in.
01:16:23I had to pay everywhere I went for this dog, you know.
01:16:28Is it a daunting prospect, touring?
01:16:31Well, at this time of life.
01:16:34But I mean, look at Anne Reid, you know, she was out there at 90.
01:16:37She's in New York at the moment, at 90.
01:16:39I know.
01:16:39I get texts from her.
01:16:41Do you?
01:16:41When are you nice and coming out?
01:16:43Because this shopping out is wonderful.
01:16:44It's lovely, isn't it?
01:16:45Yes, I know, she is.
01:16:46She's on cloud nine out there.
01:16:48Possibly the most ambitious, in a good way, actor I've ever met.
01:16:51Yeah.
01:16:52Which is fabulous.
01:16:53And yes, I mean, every day is some sort of a surprise.
01:16:58You know, it's a difficult world to live in at the moment,
01:17:02if you're of my persuasion.
01:17:04And sticking your head above the parapet is no fun, it's scary.
01:17:09But then something comes along that is uplifting.
01:17:13Yeah.
01:17:14And that's important.
01:17:15Yeah, well you keep doing that bit, because that's what you're good at.
01:17:18Yes, thank you.
01:17:19You too.
01:17:19Well, blessed.
01:17:20Lovely to be with you, Maureen.
01:17:22Now, before we get in the apres mood in this week's Best of British,
01:17:26which is really the only reason that Maureen came here.
01:17:29I love a nice apres.
01:17:31Yeah.
01:17:31Time to take a moment of calm and reflection in today's Ode to Joy.
01:17:35Good boy.
01:17:36Good time to take away.
01:17:39Good boy.
01:17:53Good boy.
01:18:09ORGAN PLAYS
01:18:54ORGAN PLAYS
01:18:56The Voice of Jupiter by Johann Sebastian Bach
01:18:59Coming up, Andy Clark's here with the warming cocktails
01:19:03Perfect for the slopes
01:19:04Or for those of us whose skiing is strictly limited to the sofa
01:19:08I'll be slipping into the apres mood
01:19:10Ski boots, very much optional
01:19:11Except for you, Andy
01:19:13Right after the break
01:19:29Best of British time
01:19:30And we're going slightly off-piste this week
01:19:33To celebrate a time on the tradition
01:19:34Synonymous with glamorous winter holidays
01:19:37Apres Ski
01:19:39The real fun that starts after the skiing bit
01:19:41Showing us how to create an alpine knees-up at home
01:19:44With a selection of the finest slope-side libations
01:19:48And I'm glad I'm saying that before we drink that
01:19:51Drinks expert Andy Clark's here to start the ski party
01:19:53With the cosy cocktails
01:19:56Guaranteed to warm your toes, your spirits, your cockles
01:19:59And quite possibly your entire outlook on January
01:20:03I've never seen such an exotic-looking
01:20:05Snow-filled collection of bottles
01:20:07Absolutely
01:20:08But I thought after the skiing
01:20:09We need to warm ourselves from within
01:20:11I'm not great at the skiing
01:20:12But I'm good at the eating and drinking afterwards
01:20:14So we're going to get going
01:20:15I've got a drink here
01:20:17The one with the little slice of apple on it
01:20:19This is called Ski It to Believe It
01:20:21And you won't believe
01:20:22He makes all this up, you know
01:20:24He's still employing
01:20:26So you won't believe that this is delicious without the alcohol
01:20:31So the base of this is a drink called Chida
01:20:33Imagine spiced apple juice with chai spices
01:20:36So it's a Chida
01:20:37It's from Somerset
01:20:38It's from a company called Herbie 4
01:20:41And I have added to that
01:20:43Chilino non-alcoholic dark and spicy spirit
01:20:46Can't you shoot at the back of the throat with cinnamon or something?
01:20:49Now, I'll tell you what I've done to replace that
01:20:52Would a bit of ginger go well with this?
01:20:53It would
01:20:54Now you want to replace
01:20:55If you're not going to have alcohol in a drink
01:20:57I think you want to replace it with a bit of fun
01:20:58So what I've done is added a tiny dash of balsamic vinegar
01:21:01To give it a little zing
01:21:04When you say it, you can taste it
01:21:06But not unpleasantly
01:21:07Yeah, yeah, yeah
01:21:08If it's used in measure
01:21:09It's got a...
01:21:10Are you not sure?
01:21:11No, it's got a little...
01:21:12It's got a little...
01:21:13Yeah, yeah, yeah
01:21:15You sort of want that kick
01:21:16Otherwise it could end up just tasting like an overbaked apple
01:21:20Very nice
01:21:20Is that alcoholic or non-alcoholic?
01:21:22That is non-alcoholic
01:21:23That's non-alcoholic
01:21:24No alcohol in there whatsoever
01:21:25So it's just good for like the...
01:21:26Can I put a little bit of that in it?
01:21:28Oh, well, I can open one up for you
01:21:29Actually, yes, you could
01:21:30See, you could make that
01:21:31And then add your favourite little alcoholic tipple as well
01:21:34But I think that's a really nice one
01:21:35To have at any time of day
01:21:36No, this would be lovely
01:21:37Honestly, before the show
01:21:38Like, truly
01:21:39Especially with it being non-alcoholic
01:21:41Great for the vocal
01:21:41Yeah, absolutely
01:21:42That heat's going to be good
01:21:43It's all good for you
01:21:44Oh, I love that
01:21:45With the second cocktail
01:21:46I'm calling this Snow Much Fun
01:21:48And I've made a little rim of snow
01:21:51Snow itself
01:21:51Yes
01:21:53Using desiccated coconut
01:21:54Now, this is a nod to a very popular apreski drink called a demi-pesh
01:21:59Which would be a light beer or a lager
01:22:01With a peach syrup or a peach liqueur
01:22:04So I have used a little peach puree
01:22:06Added to a wonderful beer called Flying Buffalo
01:22:10Authentic Indian Beer
01:22:11Used to be made in the Himalayas
01:22:14Using many things to make the beer
01:22:16Including basmati rice
01:22:17Which was helping the local farmers
01:22:19They now make it in Bristol
01:22:20Because it's so popular over here
01:22:21And it's just a beautiful beer for a barbecue
01:22:24Or as a sort of demi-pesh in the winter
01:22:27It's really light
01:22:28It doesn't feel like it hits too hard
01:22:30Especially coming off the apple
01:22:31Like it really like feels refreshing over the tongue
01:22:34As opposed to like overindulgent
01:22:36Oh, good
01:22:37You've got to be careful about getting the balance
01:22:39You want it to still taste of that wonderful lager
01:22:41But you want the fruitiness
01:22:42And I know some people are a bit funny about using cider or lager in cocktails
01:22:45But I think they can really work
01:22:46What do we reckon?
01:22:48Maureen?
01:22:49I like the coconut round the edge
01:22:51Oh, right
01:22:52Something for everyone
01:22:53I'm feeling a bit desiccated
01:22:55I know
01:22:57I like this one
01:22:58I genuinely like how light it hits
01:23:00And so like it's easy to enjoy quickly
01:23:03As opposed to like feeling like I need to pace it up too much
01:23:05It's like, it's weird because I'd be a
01:23:07I like to be like fizzy
01:23:10So when it's not as fizzy
01:23:11It's quite flat
01:23:12Yeah
01:23:13I think it's like it confuses me
01:23:15Yeah
01:23:16You could also easily top that up with a dash of sparkling water
01:23:19To get the bubbles up there
01:23:20Because when you are diluting it or making it in a jug
01:23:22And serving it
01:23:23And it not being drunk immediately
01:23:24Sometimes the fizz can go a bit
01:23:25But a dash of sparkling water
01:23:27Can make it more vibrant
01:23:29Okay, cool
01:23:30Lovely
01:23:30Right
01:23:31Right, the next cocktail is called
01:23:33Mountaintop Sparkle
01:23:34I love a sparkling wine in a cocktail
01:23:37And this is a nod to the fact that
01:23:38Kia Royales are very, very popular
01:23:41In the apres ski community
01:23:42But instead of using blackcurrant liqueur
01:23:45I've used a wonderful Cornish whiskey liqueur
01:23:48From Rosemullion Distillery
01:23:50And the whiskey is infused with orange, subtle spices and a dash of honey
01:23:54And I've used a wonderful sparkling wine from Hampshire
01:23:57From around the corner
01:23:58Called Louis Pomeroy England Brut
01:24:00They were the first champagne house
01:24:01To come over from France
01:24:03And plant vines here
01:24:04Because they think they're making such great sparkling wine
01:24:06So see what you think
01:24:07Cheers
01:24:08That sounds really nice
01:24:09That's interesting
01:24:10It's a cross between champagne
01:24:11And you sort of want to knock it back
01:24:13And they think, oh no, it's a bit stronger than just a bottle of fizz or prosecco, isn't it?
01:24:17The way the whiskey creeps up the back
01:24:19Yeah
01:24:19After you get the initial hit
01:24:21It's almost a bit like when you have a classic champagne cocktail
01:24:23That has a little dash of brandy in the sugar lump
01:24:25And you think, oh, this is harmless
01:24:26And you go, oh, there's a poke to it
01:24:28Whiskey, whiskey and champagne?
01:24:30So it's a whiskey mercure
01:24:31So it's not a full-strength whiskey
01:24:33It'll be less alcohol and dash more sugar
01:24:35Because of the honey
01:24:35What percentage is that then?
01:24:36Is that like 20%?
01:24:37This is around 20%
01:24:38And this is a dry sparkling wine
01:24:40Made in the same style as champagne
01:24:42In my opinion, better than most champagnes
01:24:45This particular one
01:24:46And so you've got the dry and the dash of sweet
01:24:48And it's just about getting that balance right
01:24:50Now the next cocktail
01:24:52Is a bit of a desserty, creamy cocktail
01:24:54I'm calling my Nog of a Lunch
01:24:55If there's any sort of snow movement outside
01:24:58Stay in and have a drink
01:25:00Now this Nog of a Lunch is based on eggnog
01:25:02I'm using Preston's eggnog from Cheshire
01:25:05This is made, yeah, it's made in Cheshire
01:25:08And it's a one-man band
01:25:10Right, I put this with a dash of Cotswold Drinks Company
01:25:15Toffee Vodka, grain to glass in the Cotswolds
01:25:19And then a dash of Bella Barista Embankment Coffee Blend
01:25:22Made in Northamptonshire
01:25:24Organic coffee
01:25:25And I blended it to make a nice, almost creamed liqueur eggnog style cocktail
01:25:30It's divine
01:25:30This is beautiful
01:25:31This is my favourite cocktail I've ever had in my life
01:25:35I'm a massive eggnog fan to begin with
01:25:37And having moved here, I find it more difficult to find
01:25:40As readily available than I did in the United States
01:25:43What is eggnog?
01:25:44This is stunning
01:25:46Yeah, it's American, right?
01:25:48Is it like Abacar?
01:25:49No, so eggnog was originally made here
01:25:54But was taken on board by the USA
01:25:57And everybody loved it over on your side of the water
01:25:59Yeah, yeah, yeah
01:26:00And it tends to be bourbon, egg yolks, cream, cinnamon, vanilla
01:26:05And you can make it with other things
01:26:07You can use rum, yeah, rum
01:26:09There's no fixed rule to it
01:26:11This one actually uses a dash of vodka in there
01:26:13As well as a dark rum
01:26:15But a traditional eggnog
01:26:16They make a great, traditional, creamy, vanilla eggnog
01:26:19Go on
01:26:19I'm going to finish that one
01:26:21Finish it, it's like an alcoholic mug
01:26:23Absolutely
01:26:24Absolutely
01:26:24Who doesn't love an alcoholic mug
01:26:27Wouldn't it be great poured over a dessert?
01:26:29Oh, yeah
01:26:29Like, say, or even, um, what do they call the Christmas cake
01:26:33That's not, the Italian Christmas cake
01:26:35Panettone
01:26:35Panettone, yeah
01:26:36So you heat up your panettone
01:26:38And pour that over
01:26:39Just a bit
01:26:39And you pour this over it
01:26:41Oh, this is incredible
01:26:43My, my, I had an uncle
01:26:45My, my mother's brother, uh, William
01:26:47Used to make eggnog at Christmas
01:26:49When he would come to visit
01:26:50And they would basically empty out milk jugs
01:26:53Like big, big, uh, two-gallon milk jugs
01:26:56And, like, they'd be filled with eggnog
01:26:57In the refrigerator
01:26:58And you had to be careful as the kids coming in
01:27:00Because if you picked up the wrong jug
01:27:02All the others would go, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
01:27:04But there was so much rum in them
01:27:05I swear you could smell it as soon as the top came off
01:27:07But delicious
01:27:08I think you can get away with the texture
01:27:10Because it's so creamy and velvety
01:27:12You can get away with a dash more alcohol than you think
01:27:14Because it's balanced out
01:27:15Okay, our last cocktail
01:27:17We're ending on a warm one like we started
01:27:19And this is what I call my slope off and warm up
01:27:21So you've finished on the ski slope
01:27:23You need to make yourself hot
01:27:25This is a bit of a version of a hot toddy
01:27:27This is based on a wonderful drink called Carvery
01:27:31Which is actually made in Hertfordshire
01:27:34But is named after a river in South India
01:27:36Where the founder comes from
01:27:37This is 100% root ginger
01:27:38And I have paired that with a wonderful lemon gin
01:27:43Called Montan Lemon Gin
01:27:45From the Rugby Distillery
01:27:46Rugby Distillery obviously celebrates everything rugby
01:27:48Look at the label
01:27:49And they use grass from the original rugby pitch
01:27:51As a botanical in the gin
01:27:53And Montan Lemons from the town
01:27:55That William Webb Ellis
01:27:57Lived in at the end of his life
01:27:59As well
01:27:59So there's a rugby nature there
01:28:01And it's a nice version of a hot toddy
01:28:04So there's your ginger for you
01:28:06Yeah, that's good enough to show that
01:28:07That feels so good
01:28:10It's a bit like my morning drink
01:28:12Would you like to hear what my morning drink is?
01:28:14Absolutely
01:28:15Because I'm going to tell you anyway
01:28:17Clearly
01:28:17It's a hot water
01:28:19Lemon juice
01:28:22Cider vinegar
01:28:23Turmeric mixed with a little olive oil
01:28:27And cayenne pepper
01:28:28That's it
01:28:29Not that back first thing in the morning
01:28:32And you wouldn't believe she was 246
01:28:34We need the recipe
01:28:36Maureen, we need the recipe
01:28:38Well, I hope you're all as warmed up as I am
01:28:40This is fantastic
01:28:40Inside and out
01:28:42What a selection
01:28:43That's it for today
01:28:44Thanks to all my guests
01:28:45Thanks to Maureen
01:28:47To Al, Trevor
01:28:48And of course to Andy
01:28:49For his concoctions
01:28:50Join me next week
01:28:51For some more Barnside Bantam
01:28:53But until then
01:28:53I leave you with these words
01:28:55From George Bernard Shaw
01:28:57If you can't appreciate what you've got
01:28:59You'd better get what you appreciate
01:29:01There's absolutely no doubt
01:29:03And I'm appreciating all of these
01:29:04Cheers all
01:29:05Cheers
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