Penelope Wilton
As she’s busy filming her latest project, Dame Penelope Wilton reveals the simple but very effective way of boosting her personal feel-good factor
Right now, muchloved actress Penelope Wilton is on location filming her latest movie, Eternal Beauty, a bitter-sweet drama about love, loss and emotional fragility. The film is set in Wales which, for Penelope, is an added bonus as, no doubt when time allows, she’ll be getting out into the stunning Welsh countryside and taking plenty of walks. She is, she says, a great walker and Wales has been a favourite stomping ground on previous occasions. “I went on holiday to the Gower Peninsula in South Wales some years ago and thought it was absolutely ravishing,” she reveals. “You can walk all the way along it, stumbling across hidden beaches en route. I’ve also walked along some of the coastal path in Pembrokeshire. The North East is another favourite location of mine. I remember a walking holiday I took with my younger sister where we walked from Berwick-onTweed down to Bamburgh Castle and Seahouses, stopping at small hotels along the way. It was one of the most wonderfully fulfilling holidays. We could see Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands in the distance. I love walking along the coastal paths of the UK; we're so lucky to have such a diverse coastline.” It has been proved that walking boosts general wellbeing and is an excellent way to exercise. Penelope agrees wholeheartedly. “It’s so important to keep active as you get older and walking is how I exercise” she says. “I walk through the parks every day when I’m at home in London. I take a pedometer with me so that even if the weather is awful, I can at least look at it and see that I’ve achieved something. I get up early – I’m good at getting up – and walk about five miles a day when I can. Walking is much more interesting than going to a gym and it gives you time to yourself. You can sort out your day and clear your mind.”
As Penelope is so busy, her days must take quite a bit of sorting! Workwise she’s as in demand as ever. After Eternal Beauty, she’s joining a star-studded cast to make a new Ricky Gervais sit-com for Netflix called After Life. There’s also a film called Zoo just released in the US that will be coming to the UK. It tells the story of a 12-year old boy and his misfit friends who enlist an older woman in their fight to save a baby elephant during the air raids on Belfast in 1941. And then, of course, there’s the eagerly anticipated Downton movie which finally has the go-ahead – something which Penelope must be very happy about. In the Downton film, Penelope could be reunited with co-stars such as Hugh Bonneville and Lily James – although she already enjoyed a reunion with Lily when they made the film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society last year. After a successful theatrical release in the cinema, the film is available on DVD at the end of August.
Set in German occupied Guernsey in the Second World War, it’s the fascinating story about what life was like for the islanders. Speaking recently about the film Penelope said: “It’s a story about which little is known, I think. While there are films such as Dunkirk which are about the battles, what happened on this enemyoccupied Channel Island hasn’t been greatly explored and it is a story that needs telling. All food produced on the island, for instance, was requisitioned by the Germans and sent to the troops and all they were left with were potatoes – hence the title of the film. “The society is invented by a group of islanders who gather to feast on a pig that my character, a farmer, has kept back illegally.
“It was illegal to gather together in casual social groups in case of insurrection so when the friends are stopped and questioned by German
soldiers after their party, they make out that they’re a formal literary society and that they discuss books, which is, in fact, what they end up doing. They start reading passages aloud to each other from their favourite books and the very touching story goes on from there as the friends get to know each other better during the long hours of the blackout. “There’s a happy ending – sort of – but I’m not going to spoil it.” Known to her friends as ‘Pep’, Penelope (72) has worked with some of the world’s most famous directors such as Alan Ayckbourn, David Hare and the late Lord Attenborough. She’s also worked extensively with acting heavyweights and fellow
Dames Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Julie Walters and Maggie Smith but, she says, famous people are like the rest of us when it comes to feeling apprehensive about starting a new project. Speaking recently about the challenge she said: “Just because people are well known doesn’t mean they’re filled with confidence or don’t get nervous. It’s important to understand that nervousness and try to relax both them and yourself. I’m pleased when I work with my contemporaries; we know all the same references and it’s reassuring. I work with so many younger people now it always comes as a bit of a shock. I never used to be the old person in a play or TV series. It’s just a reflection of my life, though, and I am always reminded of life’s journey.”
‘It’s so important to keep active as you get older and walking is how I exercise’