Emmy winner Phoebe:
After scooping three gongs at the recent Emmys and becoming the toast of Tinseltown, Phoebe Waller-Bridge opens up about her writing inspiration and Hollywood success
“It’s a beautiful way to say bye to Fleabag”
She started performing Fleabag as a one-woman show in 2014 at the Edinburgh Festival, but when Phoebe WallerBridge turned the comedy into a TV show two years later, she enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom. Along the way, she has gained celebrity fans including
Taylor Swift and recently scooped an incredible three Emmy Awards. But despite Fleabag’s soaring popularity, the 34-year old writer – who also penned the first series of cult TV hit Killing Eve – insists her black comedy won’t return for a third season, after her lead character poignantly waved goodbye in the final scene.
ON A HIGH
“To be honest, this feels like the most beautiful way to say goodbye to it,” she said after winning at the Emmys. “My on-screen sister Sian Clifford always puts it so beautifully, that it does feel like the story is complete. Even though it’s so nice to hear that so many people loved it and I feel like, ‘Ah, damn it, maybe she shouldn’t have waved goodbye at the end.’ But it does feel right. Go out on a high – and you can’t get higher than this.”
The show – which won gongs for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys – focuses on a 30-something woman living in London, trying to navigate her way through sex, relationships, her dysfunctional family and coming to terms with the death of her best friend, Boo.
But while the troubled character quickly wormed her way into the hearts of viewers, Phoebe – who also picked up the award for Best Actress in a Comedy – insists Fleabag in no way reflects her life.
She said, “It’s not autobiographical but it’s really, really personal. I feel this character did come out of me and at the very beginning, when I first started writing her, I was feeling quite cynical and quite bleak about the world. And writing her was a really cathartic way of getting through that... she’s actually a part of me, but she’s part of everyone here and everyone here put a part of themselves into her. So it feels like it’s all of us now.”
The show features an all-star cast, including recent Oscar winner Olivia Colman as Fleabag’s evil stepmother. But there’s no denying that actor Andrew Scott’s performance as the “Hot Priest” created the biggest stir among fans.
FALLING IN LOVE
Fleabag and “Hot Priest” enjoy an instant connection and finally declare their love for each other at the end of series two. Andrew recently opened up about the frenzy caused when his character commanded Fleabag to “kneel” during a confessional in the church – admitting, “It’s amazing how much it sort of turned people on, and turned people off, and made people talk.”
Opening up about the inspiration behind the love story, Phoebe – who has been dating London-born playwright Martin McDonagh, 49, for two years, following her
divorce from documentary filmmaker Conor Woodman – admitted, “Usually I’m a big fan of ‘write what you know’ but with the priest storyline, it wasn’t so on the nose.... My story producer and I were kicking ideas around for ages. And really, the more that faith came into the equation, the more we felt like she needed to have something change in her. The idea of Fleabag falling in love and then this idea of faith and, in the middle somewhere, this incredible man appeared and then Andrew [Scott] walked into that space and everything started making sense. As I was moulding the character it was very, very inspired by Andrew and his own heart… and hotness, to be fair!”
FEELING NERVOUS
Aside from Fleabag, Phoebe has also enjoyed huge success with the hit spy thriller Killing Eve – writing the first series and producing the second. The show has won an array of awards and main star Jodie Comer recently picked up the Best Actress Emmy for her role as Villanelle. Next up for Phoebe, she’s helping to write the new Bond film and is also set to present the iconic Saturday Night Live. She said, “It’s mad, isn’t it? It feels lovely. I’m really nervous about hosting SNL, but I’m really excited. You sort of just surrender to it, don’t you?”
Opening up about her fame, she added, “It’s the thing that dreams are made of.
And to be doing it with such great friends and collaborators is just wonderful.”
By Lucy Allen/Hot Features
‘(Fame) is the thing that dreams are
made of’