I drive around firing machine guns! Joanna still a Bond girl at heart
Had the pandemic not happened last year, then Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home – Travels In My Homeland would not have been made. But the Ab Fab icon is glad fate led her to making the three-part series across the UK.
She has been around the world making travel documentaries and was planning another far-flung trip when coronavirus forced a change of plans.
“We were supposed to be doing the Far East, but when that was canned we wondered what to do. Well, this country is full of glories,” said Joanna.
“The reason for the name of the series is because I was born in India to an Army family and we went to Hong Kong and Malaysia, but we all spoke about Britain as home even though we didn’t have a home here. It wasn’t until my parents bought a house here and we lived here that it became a home.
“I loved the idea of travelling around the country. We thought it would be thrilling for people who won’t be travelling far, to think they could go to Snowdonia or the north coast of Ireland or the Outer Hebrides or Whitby or Cornwall. The things we saw and the people we met were dazzling and most fascinating.”
In the opening episode, Joanna begins at Tilbury Docks in Essex, heads north to make a nostalgic return to Coronation Street, and ends the journey in Whitby.
“When I was in Coronation Street, Ken asked me to marry him and I said no, so I went back to talk to Bill Roache and to take a walk down the street and into the Rovers Return,” she smiled.
Episode two will see Joanna, who can also be seen in drama series Finding Alice, travelling to Scotland. She takes a bus tour around Glasgow, visits Eilean Donan Castle – where she filmed her first episode of The New Avengers – and also visits Crinan, the Corryvreckan whirlpool and Harris.
Joanna continued: “I adore Scotland and now spend as much of my time as I can there. I was married beneath Ben Nevis, so showing you this part of the world is a personal pleasure for me.
“In the Outer Hebrides, I watched the cattle being taken from the summer pastures over glistening white sands to the winter islands, which was magic. It’s extraordinary what potent charm this country has.
“And, as a Bond girl, I tried out the new replica (Aston Martin) DB5 – 25 of the most unbelievably expensive replicas have been made – and I drove round Silverstone racetrack, firing machine guns. There are huge perks to my job!” Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home: Travels In My Homeland, STV, Tues, 8pm