Spray Tan, Snakes and Spiritual Sri Lanka
Playing Lydia was a poignant experience for Amanda Redman
“We were all spray-tanned in Britain before we flew out”
Filming the new “feelgood” TV drama series, The GoodKarma Hospital, was a rather poignant experience for Amanda Redman.
The actress, who plays no-nonsense Dr Lydia Fonseca, who heads up the run-down hospital in South India, had her mother very much on her mind while filming in Sri Lanka.
“My mother died in November 2014 and she was born in India and lived there until she was 12 years old,” says Amanda.
“I was weaned on curries and India has always been a part of my background. I’ve been to India quite a few times, and Sri Lanka, and I just love it and I feel very much at home.
“It was the anniversary of her death when we were filming in Sri Lanka and I remember I was talking to her on my balcony and I just said, ‘Mum, I’m so glad I’m here, because I feel closer to you.’
“It’s actually a very spiritual place and the people are spiritual, too.”
Despite such poignant moments, Amanda and the rest of the cast and crew had a lot of fun during breaks in filming in and around Galle.
“We would trawl the many beach bars near our hotel and drink them out of Sauvignon Blanc!” She laughs. “And there was a lot of crazy dancing going on. It turned out that a guest actress was a great ‘twerker’ and tried to teach us how to do it. I was absolutely rubbish!”
The cast all wore very loose clothing because of the intense heat and stayed out of the sun as much as possible.
“We were all spray-tanned in Britain before we flew out!” laughs Amanda. “I had what I call ‘holiday hair’, where it just goes all curly, like an ageing Shirley Temple! There was nothing I could do with it.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Amanda was keeping cool when she had a close encounter with a fivefoot-long venomous snake!
“One day, during a break in filming, I was sitting on the steps leading up to the veranda when I saw this huge snake slithering towards me.
“I was paralysed with fear and managed to mumble that there was a snake nearby and the Sri Lankan crew members said, ‘Don’t worry, madam’ and with their sticks they waggled in the dirt so that the snake moved in the direction they wanted it to move in. I was told that it was a rather nasty, venomous snake.”
Amanda would love to go back though, and is hoping there’ll be a second series.
“I really enjoyed playing Lydia. Of all the characters I’ve played she is the most like me. In fact, when my agent first read the script she said to me, ‘All I’m going to say to you is NAR’ – which means no acting required!
“Like Lydia, I’m bossy, I’m opinionated and I’m also passionate about what I love. In some ways that made her harder to play because it was difficult for me to be objective. At times I would be thinking, ‘Oh God, this is a horrible woman’ – and then realise that it was me!”