Zoë Wanamaker
Actress Zoë Wanamaker, starring in a remake of the children’s classic Worzel Gummidge, chats about the importance of feel-good TV, the hazards of location filming and the delights of eccentricity
Elfin-like actress Zoë Wanamaker has taken on some fairly unconventional characters throughout her career. Over the years she’s appeared as the matriarch of leprechauns in a Nineties’ drama series, a spiky-haired games mistress Madam Hooch in Harry Potter and a time-travelling bag lady in children’s drama Johnny and the Bomb. Now she’s all set to hit the small screen in the BBC’s new production of Worzel Gummidge with another off-thewall character – Lady Bloomsbury Barton, a fabulously eccentric, caring aristocrat.
Zoë , who is perhaps best known for playing quick-witted mum Susan Harper in the hit sitcom My Family, says: “‘She’s a wonderful character. I’ve met women like her – extraordinary women who collect art, who have travelled the world, who are interested in people and humanity, and are slightly eccentric because they totally embrace the world and cultures. She’s got a wonderful energy and sense of humour. She enjoys largesse and interesting human beings. The older I get the more admiration I have for women like her, I really do.” Lady Barton is a kooky dresser with a particular fondness for clashing colours, floppy hats, strings of beads and Deirdre Barlow-type specs. ”She’s certainly not tweedy!” laughs Zoë . “The costume designer and myself exchanged images to get her ‘look’ right.”
So, what’s her character’s story? “The local children in her village come to have tea with her every year,” Zoë explains. “Two new children, John and Susan, are guests and they bring with them their friend, scarecrow Worzel Gummidge, whom Lady Barton mistakes for a human. She completely embraces them all and treats them as equals. Worzel is all about protecting the countryside and she’s on the same wavelength as him. I think that’s really cool.”
Lady Barton’s fairground-themed tea party looks such fun on screen. We bet it was a hoot to film. However, Zoë says not...
“Unfortunately, the day of the fete was a very rainy day. There was a shot where Worzel and the kids were looking through the bushes and there was an extra who had to walk backwards and forwards tying up bunting in the background and the poor woman got absolutely soaked. But outdoor filming is a nightmare – you never know what
‘I learned on My Family how great it is when kids and adults watch TV together’
you’re going to get. It’s not glamorous at all!”
Worzel Gummidge is played by Mackenzie Crook who, in addition to playing the scarecrow, adapted and
‘The production is quite magical about the seasons’
directed the production. He is also Zoë’s co-star in epic historical drama, Britannia.
“He and I don’t meet in Britannia – we’ve only ever crossed paths in the make-up room,” Zoë reveals. “But I’ve known him for a long time without every really working with him. He’s a one-off, so I thought, ‘Well, Worzel would be fun’.
I’d do anything for Mackenzie! He gave my husband (actor Gawn Grainger) a book years ago, which he’d written and illustrated, and his inventiveness is so glorious and wonderful and smart. It’s not patronising in any way. His Worzel prosthetics are based on a turnip, which is divine and such fun. He looks great. Mackenzie’s imagination and spirit is perfectly right for Worzel Gummidge – it matches very well. The production is quite magical about nature, and seasons, and things like that which we are trying to hold onto for dear life.”
Zoe doesn’t usually like watching herself on screen but says she will be tuning in to watch Worzel.
“Of course I will! the whole thing will be so charming and inventive; I can’t wait to see it. It’s the sort of thing I’d watch. I’m sure it will be a huge success. I know it will. It’s divine.”
And of course it makes for perfect Christmas family viewing. Zoë (70) agrees wholeheartedly. “I learned on My Family how great it is when kids and adults can watch TV together,” she says. “It’s very unusual now and I think it’s missed. Something that catches everybody’s imagination is to be lauded. If you think of Harry Potter, for instance, it goes on forever and can be enjoyed by different generations. Too much television is violent and nasty. We’ve got that surrounding us in the world, so why should we have it on our TVs all the time too? To have joy and fun is always important.” We couldn’t agree more.
■ Worzel Gummidge airs on BBC1 on Boxing Day at 6.20pm and Friday December 27 at 7pm