Alison Steadman

A mature romance with a twist, Hold The Sunset reunites veteran screen co-stars with lots of laughter

Torn between starting afresh with old flame Phil and her maternal responsibilities to her middle-aged son Roger who recently returned to the nest, the premise for the hit BBC comedy, Hold The Sunset, was always going to be ripe for laughs.

“I love doing shows like this about the quirky aspects of family life,” says Alison Steadman who plays Edith. “When I heard that John (Cleese) was doing it, I thought, ‘That will be great fun!’ And I haven’t been disappointed.”

The last time Alison and John collaborated on screen was on the movie Clockwise. “That film was 32 years ago now, but we haven’t changed at all!” she laughs. “In that movie, I spent a lot of time driving three elderly ladies around in a car. I’m now probably the same age as they were then!” She has enjoyed the chance to work alongside John again. “It’s been lovely. Working with an old friend is great because it gives you such freedom. It helps that we were able to leap straight into it because we had played a married couple before. John is really good fun and off-the-wall.”

So far we’ve seen Edith and Phil’s romance suffer a number of setbacks – not least, overgrown teenager Roger.

“Edith puts up with a heck of a lot. She wants to build a life with Phil, but Roger keeps getting in the way. If she could just sort out Roger, it would all be fine. But it’s never that simple, and in a sitcom, it would be boring if it were! Roger is constantly thwarting her and he’s getting worse all the time. He irritates the hell out of Phil.

“Sandra is always saying to Edith, ‘He’s getting you to do his washing now? For God’s sake, tell him where to go!’ But that’s just what we do as mums!”