I love playing Wendy. She makes me feel good about me
Sky paramedic comedy Bloods is back, and star Jane Horrocks tells DANIELLE DE WOLFE about reuniting with her co-star and why it’s a joy to play such a positive character
A NAME you’re likely to associate with hit sitcom Absolutely Fabulous or the Academy Award-nominated Little Voice, actress Jane Horrocks’ latest role saw her swap designer handbags and bottles of Bolly for latex gloves and defibrillator paddles.
It’s all in the name of returning Sky paramedic comedy Bloods, heading all sirens blaring into a highly-anticipated second series. Jumping straight into the cab of an ambulance alongside actor and series creator Samson Kayo, together their characters take on all manner of challenges, as overly-friendly divorcee Wendy and streetwise loner Malik bridge the gap between generations, throwing in a few lessons in street slang for good measure.
Packed full of laughs, bodily fluids and the occasional impromptu sing-along, Bafta-nominated Jane, 58, sits down to tell us more ahead of the forthcoming series.
What can we expect from Wendy and Malik in series two?
Wendy and Malik have a massive challenge. It will be interesting to know whether Wendy has done the right thing. Whether she’s let her partner down, or whether she’s actually done what is ethically right.
But then their friendship is still as solid as ever. It goes through highs and lows and so it has become more like a comedy drama actually.
Do we get to see their friendship develop?
Yeah, they are very much bedded in by the second series. They are just like the other half of each other really – a complete partnership, even though they kind of drive each other mad.
I know that Malik is still very irritated by Wendy and her old lady ways. But in the end, he feels very comfortable with her.
We also see Katherine Kelly join the cast?
Yeah, I didn’t have a great deal to do with Katherine actually, because she had most of her scenes with Lucy Punch (Jo). I had a few little group moments with her. She brought a great dynamic to it and she’s fantastic in the role.
She’s this right-on councillor who comes with completely opposite views about mental health to Jo, so it’s an interesting dynamic, because Jo is running a tight ship.
It’s whether time should be spent on counselling and talking about people’s issues or being out there saving lives. So it’s an interesting dilemma; it’s a dichotomy. But yeah, she was fantastic.
What’s it like working with your co-star and series creator Samson Kayo?
It was quite interesting actually, because us as actors, Samson and Jane, when we were acting with other people, it’s like we pined for each other. And we couldn’t wait to get back to doing scenes together. It really works as a relationship on and off screen and it’s developed in a really beautiful way, actually. I love working with Samson. He’s just so easy and fun. He’s very different from other actors that I’ve worked with...
In what way?
He’s not precious about anything, he just allows it to happen, I think, because of the way he got into acting. He just joined a queue, a casting queue, and tried his luck and actually got the part. So I think that’s the way Samson operates and he’s just really zen and laid back to work with. It’s brilliant.
Have you learned a lot from his approach to acting?
I think I’ve learned a lot about just being relaxed. There was one point, probably quite a long time ago, where I was very precious about things and very precious about takes and redoing things.
Now, working with him, it’s taken all that pressure off for me. It’s more about having fun – and the fun comes across on screen.
We see you duetting to The Killers’ Mr Brightside in the ambulance cab, was that fun to film?
We were struggling our way through it, trying to remember the lyrics and the tune. But, I mean, I do have such a laugh with Samson and we do have great difficulty not laughing together.
Is it hard to keep your composure?
In the first series, we were appalling, actually. Corpsing and wasting a lot of filming time by being rather foolish. We just laugh at the same sort of things; we’re quite childish, both of us.
There are scenes where I think, ‘oh, gosh, that’s a danger zone’; where I look at a scene and I think, ‘oh, it’s gonna be really hard for me to get through that one’. And I just start to think ‘I’m not going to discuss that with Samson’. I’m not going to say ‘this is going to be hard’ because it’ll be even harder then.
Laughs aside, this series does tackle some serious subjects too?
There’s such serious elements about mental health and what’s ethically right in the paramedic world. There are quite a lot of dramatic moments in it, but also some really good fun moments. I mean, Wendy’s son is also part of the series, he came in towards the end of the first series, and he plays a big part in the second series – and he’s very annoying. But he’s played by Nathan Foad and he’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant as Wendy’s son and very much rises to the challenge.
Would you want to play Wendy for a third series?
I’m so pleased that there may be talk of more, hopefully. She’s such a positive human being. She makes me feel good about me. And I think it’s made me really shy away from miserable characters even more as a result of playing Wendy.
I come home without any issues and I can keep her with me, but it is in a really healthy way – whereas previous characters that I’ve played, sometimes when they stay with you, it’s not that healthy, and it’s not that great for you. So yeah, I really do have a sentimental attachment to her. I think she’s lovely.
Bloods season 2 starts on Wednesday on Sky Comedy and streaming service NOW