Dawn French: ‘Ageing? I’m looking forward to going grey!’
Dawn French, back with Little Big Shots, talks about getting bossed about by kids - and embracing the ageing process
Funny woman Dawn French, 60, delighted us no end recently as she chatted – in her hilarious and irreverent style – at a recent event in London.
She was talkng about her experiences with some hilarious little people, as she hosts the second series of ITV’s Little Big Shots, the entertainment show that shines a spotlight on talented children from around the world. She also shared her true feelings on romance, the ageing process and her good friend, ‘Fatty’!
Hi Dawn, we’re already loving the second series of Little Big Shots…
Thank you. It’s a great job. I love that there are no eliminations and no judging. And I get the chance to be a kid. It’s kids having fun, which is what they love the most. We have children from all over the world, so we need translators there, too. Each child gets a 15-minute interview, but there are some four-year-olds who just want to run around and be a plane. Some get quite angry with me, actually – the very little ones. They’re super-strict with me.
Tragically, we lost your Vicar Of Dibley co-star Emma Chambers in February. What are your fondest memories of her?
Emma was incredible. She understood that her character, Alice, was not somebody who was completely dim, she just thought differently about everything, and had the most wonderful naivety, while still being very cheeky. I’ll miss her very much. Gone too soon.
You’re happily married [to second husband, Mark Bignell], but what’s your advice on finding love?
First tip? Get back into your big pants. Give up on underwear that’s going to impress anyone. I was convinced I wouldn’t find another big relationship, and I wasn’t really looking for it, and I think that’s the key thing. I thought, I’m going to do a bit of dating and have a bit of fun but nothing serious, and that’s when it happened. And also, yeah, be drunk.
You’re 60 now. How do you feel about ageing?
Well, I’ve had my hair ‘youngened’! If I didn’t, I’d be completely grey by now, because my mum went grey in her 20s! I’m looking forward to doing the whole Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada actually, but not just yet. I haven’t seen enough of the greys through my hair.
Would you consider replacing Victoria Beckham if she pulls out of the Spice Girls reunion tour?
Of course! It must have been a nightmare moment for her, when I played her [in the spoof 1997 Comic Relief version of the Spice Girls hit Who Do You Think You Are?]. I went up to her and said, ‘It must be like looking in a mirror, Victoria!’ But I have to
tell you, that is one funny girl, with a great sense of humour.
What are your future plans?
Well, I’m writing a new book – though it is refusing to be written at the moment. I will win in the end, but we are currently not friends. I’m also going to film another series of Delicious, and maybe do something with Fatty [Jennifer Saunders] – we are ‘talking’!
Tell us more about you and Jennifer...
Oh, I’ll do literally anything to make ‘Fatty’ laugh. It’s like being a kid in a dressing up box. How do you resist? The only thing I don’t like about her is her thin grasp of the concept of time. Everyone who knows Jennifer lies to her about time, because if you say, ‘I need to meet you at 2.30pm’, she doesn’t turn up until 3.30pm!
What would you like to do when you retire?
When I am really old and decrepit, I’d love to be a classroom assistant and help little kids do reading. When my daughter Billy [now 26] was at infant school, I used to stay in the classroom for the morning. You could watch the kids come in one by one, and read with them. I love teaching. It was very hard for me to leave it. I felt guilty and I had kids doing their O levels and A levels. It did pay off, though...