LIFE AFTER MEL
After killing off eAstender mel owen, tAmzin outhwAite is bAttling with ghosts in A novel new plAy, she tells HUGH MONTGOMERY
FORCED to work from home this year, many have found mixing their personal and professional lives stressful, to say the least. But for Tamzin Outhwaite, everything has worked out all rather nicely on that front.
For while the actress, best known for playing Mel Owen in EastEnders, has been getting stuck into the brave new world of digital performance, her filmmaker partner Tom has been on hand to help her out with shooting scenes. ‘I mean, who knew that if you were an actor, you would need to be [living] with a filmmaker to do any work?’ she laughs.
The latest fruits of their labour can be seen next week with the launch of supernatural thriller The Haunting Of Alice Bowles — a creative adaptation of The Experiment by the master of the ghost story M.R. James, which sees
‘I am really excited about getting back into a rehearsal room with a group of actors’
Tamzin play a widow visited by her husband’s spirit after he dies during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
‘I don’t really do much period work. I think people associate me more with contemporary pieces, so it’s another string to my bow,’ she says.
But above and beyond the specifics of the production, she was motivated by a simple desire to ‘keep my creative juices flowing’ during these strange times. ‘It is a new way of working, but I thought, “I don’t want fear to stop me doing it. I’d rather do it and learn.”’
That novel set-up involved her and her fellow actors each filming themselves individually in front of a green screen, while connected via Zoom so as to hear each other’s lines.
‘It was quite strange because you weren’t looking at your [cast mates] when you were working,’ she says. ‘You could only know what’s going on by listening and reacting.’
She says she found the experience educational, though it has also left her raring to perform live once more.
‘I am really excited about getting back into a rehearsal room with a group of actors. It will be a very emotional day when theatres are all [fully] open again.’
In fact, when London’s theatreland was closed in March, Tamzin was treading the boards opposite Game Of Thrones’ star Emilia Clarke in a new version of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull from maverick director Jamie Lloyd. The play was in previews, and never made it to opening night. Adding to the surreal nature of the situation, on the very day it was shut down, Tamzin fell ill with what felt like Covid alongside Lloyd and two other actors. ‘There were no tests going around then, but we all believe we had it because the symptoms were pretty strong.’
But while Tamzin was sad about the premature end to what had been something of a dream job, she is sanguine about it being cut short, and remains hopeful the production will be resurrected. ‘I’ve been doing this for such a long time that I suppose the knockbacks don’t feel like knockbacks. It’s just life, isn’t it?’
Indeed, even amid all the disruption of 2020, she has managed to keep gratifyingly busy. Last November, 21 years after her first appearance in Albert Square, her second stint as Mel came to a conclusive end when she was killed by a lorry. For a while, she grieved for Mel, but she says: ‘You do
have to have a word with yourself. It is just a character, however long she’s been with you.’
But on the other hand, she has been enjoying the freedom that comes from knowing she can never go back to Walford — ‘[being killed off] stops you from falling back on it’ — and the time to channel her energies into a wide variety of projects.
Alice Bowles aside, she has also recently been seen in YouTube comedy-drama series Dun Breedin’, created by her friend and fellow actor Julie Graham, and cropped up as a sceptical journalist in the brilliant online adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s satirical novel What A Carve Up!
This week, she resumed full-scale filming on a major new BBC drama, Ridley Road. Dealing with the upsurge of fascism in 1960s London, it sees her play a Soho hairdresser. ‘She’s kind of a mother figure but really sassy with it. The costumes are incredible and my hair resembles Barbara Windsor in some of her guises.’
Last month, meanwhile, she hit a personal milestone when she turned 50, though celebrations were limited by the fact her birthday fell on the same day the country went back into lockdown.
‘I’m just going to skip it for now and celebrate next year, or maybe have 50 little mini-celebrations,’ she says. However, she has been grateful for the time she has had to spend with her partner and two daughters this year, as well as the chance to reset and reprioritise.
‘I’ve ended up selling a lot of stuff, like the art I had on my walls. It felt ostentatious to have these things. I’d rather have the money in the bank and us safe. The year has been a bit of a write-off. But it hasn’t been without purpose and without learning.’
The Haunting Of Alice Bowles is available to watch from 7.30pm on December 17 until February 28, 2021,
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