MY SPLENDID ISOLATION

TRACY-ANN OBERMAN Actress

The ‘After Life’ star is listening to old vinyl, and looking forward to the day she can have her hair done and not resemble Stevie Nicks circa 1977

What I’m watching

Like the rest of the lockdown world, I’ve watched Netflix’s Tiger

King in horror. It was like a car crash – you couldn’t take your eyes off it – and when I think of this period I will forever remember Joe Exotic and his horrible treatment of those cats.

I’ve spent my life reading dystopian novels and watching every dystopian sci-fi going, so I’ve started Devs (FX Channel on Hulu).

What I’m listening to

I’ve been listening to Ronan Farrow’s Catch and

Kill podcast – I thought I knew everything there was to know about Harvey Weinstein, but it’s gripping. I’ve also been listening to one called The Mysterious Mr Epstein

about the alleged cover-up that went on there. Chirpy, aren’t I? And – it sounds ghastly, but it’s true – I’ve also been enjoying my own podcast, Trolled, which I never had the time to listen to! My step-dad unfortunately passed away recently but left us his vinyl collection, so we’ve also been going through vinyl from the Fifties to the Eighties.

What I’m reading

Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light

– there’s something so audacious about how she manages to flesh out that bygone world in a way I don’t think had ever been done before in historical fiction.

The hobby that I’ve taken up

I’ve spent more hours in the kitchen in the month of lockdown than I have done for the past three and a half years, because of work. I’m reading lots of recipe books and watching John Torode and Jamie Oliver – good old Nigella too. I used to go, “What’s the difference between ‘stir’ and ‘fold’?” – now, I can find out what all those terms mean! I then go to the local shop once a week, having Recipe for coping: Oberman keeps busy in the kitchen worked out the recipes in a fastidious way – but trying to get hold of flour these days is like trying to obtain gold.

The thing that made me laugh recently

Our dog ran out of the house during the Thursday evening “clap for carers” and into the neighbours’ house. We couldn’t find him for about five hours, and they didn’t realise he was in their downstairs TV room. I think he experienced the thrill of escaping – he could see a way out of lockdown!

The thing I’m most looking forward to doing

Going to the theatre, being able to work with other people, going out to dinner with friends and having my hair done – I look like Stevie Nicks in the Seventies before conditioner was invented.