00:00Some of the biggest hits on screen from Grease to West Wing, oh the West Wing.
00:04But now Stalker Channing is taking on a new role behind the scenes.
00:08She's going to be directing and it's a remake of Crack's Last Tape.
00:14And she joins me now.
00:15It is so good to see you.
00:17Thank you so, so much for coming in.
00:19I love how all this basically came about.
00:22You were talking to your pal at your kitchen table.
00:25Yeah, I was talking to my dear old friend David Weston.
00:27Yeah.
00:28And who has done mainly film and television acting in the 26 years that we've known him.
00:34Because as he puts it, he's got two boys to feed and you don't make a lot on stage.
00:40But anyway, so he said to me, oh I want to go back on stage again.
00:43I said, oh great.
00:44He tells me this story about it.
00:46He was filming in Lithuania and he ended up in the Soviet block with his following signs.
00:52And there was this man doing Crack's Last Tape in Lithuania for a room in his sort of flat.
00:58In a room for like 10, 12 people.
01:00And he found it so fascinating and wonderful.
01:03Even though he couldn't speak a word of Lithuania.
01:05And he thought this is true theatre.
01:07This is storytelling.
01:08This is a man sitting there going back over his life and going, what have I done?
01:12What do I regret?
01:13What do I celebrate with the aid of a tape recorder, which was very new at the time in the
01:17late 50s to Beckett.
01:20And the fact that that was phenomenal to Beckett, that someone could listen to themselves in the past.
01:25Now, today we take all this for granted.
01:28We're taking selfies and this, that and the other all the time.
01:31But then it was the seed of the piece was that if you could go back and listen to yourself,
01:37what would you say to yourself?
01:39What would you think about the expectations you had at the moment, which is a human condition.
01:44Of course, there's something that we all think about.
01:47Something that we all, you know, you sort of think, I wish I hadn't stressed so much about that.
01:51How I wish I had the wisdom that I've got now.
01:54Exactly.
01:54And it would be so much better.
01:55But for you, for you to direct, is this the first time you do it?
01:59So I said, oh, come on. So we started small, very small.
02:01We did start the kitchen table because it is a man at a table on his birthday in the middle
02:08of the night having a couple and not having a fabulous one.
02:11But it's funny and it's absurd and all that.
02:14So anyway, I said, let's just start with the text, which we did.
02:17And then we said, well, we should really show this to some people and see if we're doing the right
02:21thing.
02:22So we sort of got about 30 people in a room and it seemed to work.
02:25And we just built on it.
02:27And then the word got out that we were doing it.
02:31And we were invited to do it in various places to like 30 people, 150 people, not a lot, but
02:37just to get the thing right.
02:39It's a course of like two years.
02:40It's very organic.
02:41It's very, you know, it's a seed of it all.
02:44And then David, who runs a charity called Wembley to Soweto.
02:50Wembley to Soweto.
02:51This is a bit of a new charity.
02:53Which helps young people in this day and age where people in the projects were really challenged, starting with Soweto,
03:00South Africa.
03:01And he and John Cole, they met with this charity that gives them a skill, which has to do with
03:06cameras.
03:07Amazing.
03:07And they got donations from camera companies, this, that, and the other.
03:10It was 11 kids at the beginning.
03:13And now it's sort of universal, which is kind of wonderful because I think we often feel lost as young
03:19people in this contemporary world.
03:21That we have no control, we have no access to skills in a very tiny way.
03:28But that has a ripple effect as well.
03:30Absolutely.
03:31You know, it really does.
03:32It's such a brilliant idea.
03:33So anything that you make from this, from ticket sales, that goes to Wembley to Soweto.
03:39But it's sort of a parallel little thing from this kitchen table.
03:42I know.
03:43This idea about young people in Soweto.
03:46You know, it's a parallel thing.
03:48So at that point, David said, well, wait, we could coordinate it.
03:52And this is, to flash forward two years or so, and I guess I never heard about it.
03:58We were invited to go to the assemblies.
03:59You're going to Edinburgh for the festival?
04:02Oh, that's going to be, have you been before?
04:03Have you done it before?
04:04I've only very briefly, but I'm going to be there for a little bit now so I can walk around
04:08and see other shows.
04:09Oh, it's fantastic.
04:10There's just, the buzz in the air is gorgeous.
04:12I was just there at the weekend.
04:14It's just beautiful.
04:16And you'll have a great time.
04:18And it's very, everybody always says, you know, if you're artistic or creative and you go there, it's just, it's
04:24a joy.
04:25There's so much going on, so much to see, so much to do.
04:29It's great.
04:29Do you live over here now or do you?
04:31I do.
04:31Don't matter as important.
04:32I do.
04:34Gradually, gradually, maybe over five years or so.
04:38And then I was here during COVID.
04:39Of course.
04:40And that kind of cemented it for me because I realised, on the one level, my life had changed.
04:46Yeah.
04:47So many of us at that time.
04:49And my life seemed to be you.
04:51Well, you are.
04:52So here I am.
04:53We've adopted you.
04:54We've definitely adopted you.
04:56Yeah.
04:56You had a major part in one of the best TV series that's ever been made, The West Wing.
05:01And I often think to myself about The West Wing because I loved her character.
05:05Yeah.
05:05She was a wee bit of a reluctant first lady, but she had her own life and her own career.
05:09And you imagine, wouldn't it be amazing if the Bartlets were in the White House right now?
05:14Wouldn't it be incredible?
05:15Isn't it pretty to think so?
05:17Oh, wow.
05:17People like that.
05:18They were the integrity and the intelligence.
05:21I mean, there's got to be some people out there like the Bartlets now.
05:24Please.
05:25Please.
05:26We always thought that.
05:27It was so ahead of its time.
05:29Yeah.
05:29But it was the writing, wasn't it?
05:31The writing, you could do your job because the writing was so fantastic.
05:35Yeah.
05:36Aaron Sorkin and his team were extraordinary.
05:39I mean, to be part of that is incredible.
05:41But then to be part of something like Greece, which is, I can't, is it really 50 years ago?
05:45It can't be 50 years ago.
05:47Oh, it can't be.
05:47It can't be.
05:48No, no, absolutely not.
05:49But again, one of these things, the stars align and it becomes this phenomenon, this culture.
05:56Well, you never know what's, you know, great ups from little acorns grow.
06:00Yeah, but when you did that, you wouldn't have any idea.
06:02It was so now.
06:03No, not at all.
06:04Kids would be singing the songs.
06:05I was lucky to get a job for the summer.
06:06Yeah.
06:07That's how it was.
06:08Yes.
06:08The mortgage was, you know, whispering in my ear.
06:12Oh, for goodness sake.
06:13Yeah.
06:13I mean, I'm not making that up.
06:14It's absolutely true.
06:15True.
06:16Just, yeah.
06:16So I said, okay, let's go for it.
06:18Let's go do this wee, let's go do this wee film.
06:19Let's be the world's oldest living teenager.
06:22I know that was, I have to say, when you watch it now, you can see, yeah, they are slightly
06:26older, just a little bit older than teenagers.
06:28Well, the clothes doesn't help.
06:30No.
06:30I would have to wear black all the time.
06:32I said, couldn't I just have a Peter Pan collar?
06:33But I loved her.
06:35I loved her.
06:35Yeah.
06:36I thought she had a great character.
06:37Yeah.
06:38She was the heart of the whole thing.
06:39Thanks.
06:39I really loved her.
06:41And you did so.
06:42That's so funny.
06:43When she had the blow on the mic.
06:44There's no point in me saying, if you haven't seen Greece, because everybody in the world
06:47has seen it.
06:48Is there going to be some kind of celebration at 50 years?
06:50Or you just.
06:51I have no idea.
06:52You're too busy.
06:53You're too busy doing.
06:54You're too busy doing.
06:54You're just a bit practical magic.
06:56Exactly.
06:56You'll be up in Edinburgh having the best, as best as time.
07:00Now, look, it's going to be, Crat's Last Day is going to be the Calder Theatre from
07:03the 24th of July, isn't it?
07:04And then up to Edinburgh.
07:06Oh, yes, that's right.
07:07The 5th of August.
07:08Yeah.
07:08Are going to be up there, too.
07:10I really hope that.
07:11And do you want to do more directing?
07:12Can you see yourself doing that?
07:13I don't know.
07:14I mean, the lesson I've learned from this is you just start.
07:16If something fits, you go to the next step.
07:18You bet.
07:18And the next step.
07:19And the next step.
07:20You know, you never know.
07:21And see where life takes you.
07:22Exactly.
07:23That's the thing that we should all say to ourselves as kids.
07:25Just go where it takes you.
07:27Yeah.
07:27Go with the flow.
07:28Yeah.
07:28Don't stress too much.
07:30Yeah.
07:30It's all going to be fine.
07:31It's all going to be wonderful.
07:33How brilliant to see you, Stoker.
07:34Thank you so much for coming in.
07:36And good luck with Edinburgh.
07:38Enjoy Edinburgh.
07:39Enjoy it.
07:40It's great.
07:41Right.
07:41After the break, Dr Amir is back sharing the simple ways you can reverse the age of your brain.
07:47He's got some news just in.
07:49And following the very sad news of Dean Penelope Keith, we will hear how the Good Life co-stars are
07:55paying tribute to that wonderful woman this morning.
