Star Steadman: I worry kids miss out because they’re always looking at screens
David Stephenson
ACTRESS Alison Steadman has highlighted the differences between growing up now and in her own era, revealing that her family did not have a phone until she was 15.
The Gavin & Stacey star, now 75, also worries children are missing out on real wildlife experiences due to technology.
Liverpool-born Alison is starring as a grandmother in the new BBC comedy Herewe Go, which piloted during the pandemic.
A grandmother herself, the one-time star of 1970s drama Abigail’s Party, said: “I’ve just got one little grandson who’s four-and-a-half. I love him to bits. He makes me laugh all the time because he is so funny.
“The things he comes out with – he sometimes talks like a teenager!
“They grow up so quickly now with all the ipads and television. We didn’t have ATV in my house until I was seven and we didn’t have a phone until I was 15!
“You look back and think, ‘Oh, my God’. But, of course, it meant we had other things to be interested in.
“Sometimes I think kids miss out on wildlife and gardens and looking for insects and things because they’ve got so much fun to have on ipads.”
Born in 1946, Alison was the youngest
By TV EDITOR
of three sisters and her father George worked as a production controller at electronics firm Plessey.
She went to grammar school before going on to East 15 Acting School in 1966 where she met Mike Leigh, who would become a film director with whom she collaborated.
Although her sitcom character Sue is from Liverpool, Alison says she does not see many similarities.
“I don’t think Sue has got much of me in her except we’re both from Liverpool. So that’s it.
“But I love the family link, because I love my family and I love my two boys [her sons].
“I’m happiest when we’re all together – and I think Sue is like that.”
Their bucket lists are also similar in some ways too, as her character Sue says in the show that she wants to see an owl.
Alison said: “I love wildlife and I’m always hoping I’ll see this creature or that creature. It’s sometimes quite difficult to see a certain type of bird – we very rarely see an owl where I live. It just makes me sad that years ago there was much more wildlife around than there is now.”
Here We Go, BBC One, Friday, 8.30pm