Alison: I’m a fungi fanatic
ACTRESS Alison Steadman no longer wants to keep us in the dark about her passion – mushrooms.
Alison, 74, is obsessed with the fungi which take pride of place on her iPad in Channel 4 series Extraordinary Escapes With Sandi Toksvig.
Alison amuses presenter Sandi by constantly snapping mushrooms in the show, which explores Britain’s wildest holiday locations and homes... and some of our most fascinating and funny women.
She tells Sandi: “I’ve got so many pictures of mushrooms on my iPad it’s ridiculous.
“Oh God I take pics, yeah all the time. I love fungi.
“The most exciting one was a few weeks ago.
“I found this fungus and it had red with the white dots on.
“I was in heaven, absolute heaven.
“Maybe it comes from childhood – fairies and the stories behind mushrooms and the fact that just one day they suddenly pop up.”
Sandi, 62, , jokes: “Can I just say you’ve not taken a single picture of me in the entire trip. Just mushrooms and clouds.”
The pair visit Moat Cottage on the Wilderness Reserve, near the Suffolk coast, and Alison talks about her garden birds and how she often interrupts her breakfast to top up their feeders.
The star, who played Pam Shipman with Larry Lamb in BBC’s Gavin & Stacey, says she wanted to act from an early age.
The series also features actresscomedian Jessica Hynes, comic SindhuVee and Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith.
Sandi said later: “I loved Alison’s zest for everything – cloud watching, fungi,
moths!”
● Extraordinary EscapesWith Sandi Toksvig is on Channel 4 onWednesday at 9pm.