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MURDER MOST MADCAP
Sarah Hadland on her quirky new whodunnit series, being mobbed in the street – and why there’s still an appetite for Miranda The Movie
Miranda’s Sarah Hadland on her new role in Johnny Vegas’s quirky whodunnit series – and why it was murder filming with him
Judging by the number of friends Sarah Hadland’s picked up over her 30-year career on stage and screen, it’s clear she’s much loved in the industry. When she auditioned to play Stevie in Miranda Hart’s radio show, which went on to become the hit TV series, she thought she wouldn’t have anything in common with its star because Miranda was ‘posh’, but they’re now so close they go on holiday together. Russell Tovey, who Sarah worked with in her first lead role in sitcom The Job Lot, has become one of her ‘best friends’.
And on her latest show, filmed during the depths of lockdown, she acquired yet another new pal. In Murder, They Hope – a series of three self-contained comedy murder-mysteries that follows the hits Murder On The Blackpool Express, Death On The Tyne and Dial M For Middlesbrough – Sarah plays the sister of Sian Gibson’s character Gemma, a tour guide who strikes up an amateur sleuthing partnership with dour coach driver Terry (Johnny Vegas).
Sarah had wanted to work with Sian, who made her name in Peter Kay’s Car Share, for years, and playing sisters couldn’t have been more perfect. ‘People sometimes come up to me and say, “I love you in Car Share,” and Sian said when Miranda first
‘People went bananas, it was bonkers really’
came out somebody said she was just like the actress who plays Stevie,’ says Sarah. ‘So it was an absolute nobrainer to play her sister Monica. When I was asked to do it I couldn’t believe I was finally getting to work with her. We were messaging each other before we even got on set.
‘And, ironically, when you film in lockdown you actually get much closer because of the process. You’re all really supportive because everybody’s worried and wanting to make sure everything goes OK.’
The series begins with Gemma and Terry packing up their doomed coach tour business to give full-time crime-solving a go. But they’re not deluged with cases, and have to move in with Monica until they start earning some money. Business picks up, though, and over the three episodes, each an hour long, our have-a-go heroes find themselves embroiled in cases involving an obsessive figurine collector, a pastry poisoner and a serial killer only Terry can catch.
Playing redhead Gemma’s flam
boyant sister meant
Sarah had to dye her hair – and wear some pretty outrageous outfits. ‘I always think if a job gets you to do something slightly different with the way you look it’s a great opportunity to try it out. I love to be involved with how a character looks and when they described
Monica as “very over the top” I was delighted. We did have one outfit that the director said was a bit too much, but apart from that everything else got in.’
Sarah believes it’s the fact that the shows are larger than life, in the vein of the
Carry On films, that’s attracted names like Griff Rhys Jones, Nigel Havers and Una Stubbs in the past. In the new series, Paul Whitehouse, Jason Manford, Lee Mack and Shobna Gulati all appear.
‘It’s got that very heightened feel to it which is really good fun to play,’ Sarah says. ‘You can go for it a bit more. It was a dream job and everybody just wants a bit of light relief after all we’ve been through. There was one scene where myself, Sian, Johnny, Jason and Shobna were round a dinner table. Johnny kept getting his lines wrong and we couldn’t stop giggling. The director had to say, “Guys, please, we’re trying to film something here,” like we were naughty schoolchildren.’
Sarah had appeared in musicals such as Cats and Grease in the West End from the age of 19 before moving into TV with roles in The Bill, Bad Girls and Horrible Histories. But it was playing Miranda’s chum Stevie that catapulted her to fame at the age of 38. ‘I’d been working consistently in TV,’ she says. ‘But if you’re in a show the public takes to in such a massive way it changes things. I still get people coming up to me most days saying something about the show, which is lovely, but I feel lucky I don’t have the level of recognition that Miranda does.
‘There was a time when if the cast were out together, people would go bananas. Miranda and I went to see Shrek in the West End and had to be moved at the interval because we got mobbed! They put us in a room at the side. It was bonkers really.’ Like most actors, Sarah’s had several projects halted by Covid19, but fortunately for Miranda fans the special My Such Fun Celebration to mark the sitcom’s tenth anniversary was filmed at the London Palladium before the pandemic struck and aired on New Year’s Day 2020. ‘Doing something like that with guest stars like Mcfly would be impossible now,’ she says. ‘I was doing Noises Off in the West End and I was given the night off to do it. It was brilliant. It’s mad that it’s still so popular.’
There’s been talk of a Miranda film, could that be on the cards? ‘With any successful show, that goes around on the rumour mill,’ she says. ‘But I suppose it depends on whether Miranda wants to write it. It certainly seems like there’s still an appetite for it.
‘There’s an American version of Miranda, and the actor playing the
Stevie role is a tiny little southern
American man called Leslie Jordan.
I’ve become obsessed with him on
Instagram, he’s hilarious. At one point people were saying if there ever was a film, Kylie Minogue would play Stevie. And then the reality is that in America it’s this little older man, which made me laugh. But he’s so funny and cute, if there is a film he’d have to be in it.’
Meanwhile, Sarah’s looking forward to her 50th birthday later this month. ‘I’m going to have a big party because it’ll be just when you’re allowed 30 people outside,’ she says.
And she’s not worried about finding work as she gets older because of the plethora of female writers working in TV now. ‘You’ve got people like Aisling Bea, Daisy Haggard, Sharon Horgan, Sara Pascoe, Katherine Ryan, Michaela Coel, Phoebe Waller-bridge... the list goes on. We’ve got so many brilliant women writing amazing roles for women that you hope it will continue to grow. ‘There’s an endless list of people I’d love to work with too. Sarah Lancashire is one but I think she’s on most people’s dream acting list.’ No doubt they’d soon be fast friends too. n