Miranda is back... as a schoolgirl!
SHE’S the towering star of British comedy and drama who has been much missed in recent months.
But now fans of Miranda Hart can celebrate her return to the screen – in the shape of a pint-sized alter-ego who features in a new comedy inspired by the actress’s school days.
Written by Ms Hart, 44, The Disney Channel series So Sammy stars Harley Bird, 14, who has previously been the voice of Peppa Pig.
Sammy is a gawky, clumsy teenager with an insatiable appetite for playing pranks on her friends and family, such as placing whoopee cushions under chairs.
It’s a character profile that will be pleasingly familiar to fans of the hit sitcom Miranda.
In one scene Sammy clears out her cuddly toy collection and makes them talk to each other before self-consciously admitting to viewers: ‘I get a bit carried away sometimes.’
In another marked parallel, Sammy’s mother runs a party shop – a reminder of the joke shop where Miranda worked in her BBC series.
The new show also echoes Ms Hart’s own childhood.
The star went to Downe House School in Berkshire, where she was friends with Clare Balding, now one of the BBC’s top presenters.
While at the school, which was later attended by Kate and Pippa Middleton, Ms Hart indulged in pranks such as ‘putting a hotdog’ in the anorak hood of a teacher and ‘blowing up a ginger beer bottle with a litre of vinegar and bicarbonate of soda’.
Of her new series, Ms Hart said: ‘I hope kids everywhere will be enchanted by lovely, funny Sammy, who gets herself into many silly scrapes and adventures.’
Ms Hart has revealed that she was ill last year, perhaps accounting for her absence from recent episodes of BBC drama Call The Midwife, in which she plays Matron Camilla ‘Chummy’ Browne.