‘It was like a slap across the face with a wet fish’

Love Aunty Bren in Stella? So do we! Kathryn Williams met up with actress Di Botcher to find out more

IF you’re from anywhere in the Valleys, chances are you’ve got, or know an aunty Brenda.

The Stella character is a genius creation – an amalgamation of Ruth Jones’ keen eye for characterisation and actress Di Botcher’s acting skills and absorption of real people’s stand-out traits.

Debuting in series two the (sometimes) wellmeaning, enthusiastic busy-body with an acidtongue and heart of gold aunty Brenda became a fast favourite with fans – mainly because they knew someone like her.

She’s played by Di Botcher, a veteran of stage and screen for more than 30 years, and you’d think Ruth Jones had written the part for her, turns out, that’s not the case.

“I love the part,” says Di with utter believability. “But I know it wasn’t written for me, I had to audition for it and the first thing Ruth says is ‘you know you’re too young for this part.’

“So I didn’t feel terribly optimistic about getting it. In Ruth’s mind she’s in her 70s.”

Port Talbot-born Di – who’s been starring in Dick Whittington in Treorchy and Aberdare, is obviously no stranger to dressing up for a part – reveals how much she loves becoming aunty Brenda.

“Ruth said ‘do you mind if we put a grey wig on you?’ I told her she could paint my face blue if she’d wanted – I loved the part so much.

“I didn’t want her to become a nasty woman that comes into the show and everyone hates – she says quite harsh things – but I decided to deliver them with a laugh.”

We wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of Aunty Brenda, mind, so it’s interesting to hear Di talk about the influences behind the character.

“She’s an amalgamation of people really. The nice thing is that people have got in touch with me to tell me they’ve got an aunty Brenda. I suppose the family influence is there from my mother, Glenys – the sunny side at least. My mother is a very funny woman, very witty and I think aunty Brenda can be witty. And then other traits are taken from people I’ve met over the years.”

Although most recognised by fans for her work on Stella and in cult 1997 film Twin Town, Di has a stunning back-catalogue of theatre and TV which includes Bleak House, Downton Abbey, Coronation Street, ‘Orrible and, of course, Welsh soap Belonging in which she played Vanessa Doyle – another valleys force-ofnature.

Di said: “People think I’m a Port Talbot girl who’s never left. I still have a house here, near my mother, where I stay at Christmas or when I’m working here, but I left to go to Warwick University and then I went to drama school in London and I’ve lived there for 35 years.”

Things have changed a lot in the acting world since then, and Di has seen a new attitude towards regional accents.

“When I started at drama school it was all about Received Pronunciation and I rarely did my own accent but now I go to jobs and people say they like my Welsh accent.

Starring as the fateful Jean Lewis in Kevin Allen’s Twin Town holds fond memories for Di.

In the film, which looks to be getting a sequel, she stars as the on-screen mother of the Lewis twins – played by Rhys Ifans and Llyr Evans – who meets a fiery end courtesy of dirty cop Terry Walsh (Dougray Scott) and Bryn Cartwright (William Thomas – who Di also starred with in Belonging, on which they played husband and wife).

She has some great memories of the shoot – which was 20 years ago, around Swansea and Port Talbot. “The strongest memory I have of the film was when we were all invited to go and watch the caravan blow up,” adds the actress.

“We knew it was going to be a big deal because they’d paid to shut the M4 off. We were standing there, between 80-100 people, and we were told to be quiet because it was going to be a one-take-wonder.

“Kevin Allen said ‘go’ and the caravan was lit and it went right up in the air so high with flames. It was followed by silence and then we all broke out cheering. It was a bit odd – I was cheering my own death really. “It was a lovely and exciting time – we all knew it was something special...”

As well as acting (and watching caravans blow up) there’s another passion that Di has cultivated during the past 25 years – she is a practicing Buddhist and as you’d imagine, there’s a great story behind that too.

“I was introduced to Buddhism when I was in Dick Whittington at Stratford East Theatre. I had a bit of time between scenes and so I had to stand stage right for a few minutes each time and I noticed someone had left a book about Buddhism. I thought ‘no, this isn’t for me, getting up at 5am and thanking the sun for a bowl of rice.’

“But every show I read a little more and then the job ended and the book disappeared... but I was still thinking about it. So I decided to find this book.

“The only thing was, I couldn’t remember the full name of the book or who wrote it. In the end I got off the tube and changed trains intending to go and buy a nice on Shakespeare – I got on another train, sat down and a man I sat next to was reading this Buddhism book. I couldn’t argue with that – it was like being given a slap across the face with a wet fish.”

Di says that the Buddhist teachings help her with nerves. She adds: “I’ve been doing it for 28 years, so I should be levitating over the Bwlch to Treorchy by now, not driving!”