5 MINUTES WITH...

JOANNA SCANLAN

Bafta award-winning actress Joanna Scanlan enjoys a challenge.

Best known for her starring roles in The Thick Of It, The Larkins and Notes On A Scandal, the 60-year-old actress’ latest project, Welsh psychological thriller Y Golau, proved to be just that. Directly translated into English as The Light In The Hall, the gripping and decidedly dark sixpart drama centres around murdered teenager Ela Roberts.

YOUR NEW SERIES Y GOLAU IS THRILLING, WAS IT AN ENJOYABLE PROJECT?

The Light In The Hall has been one of my career highlights. I loved every single moment, even though it’s also been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. Pleasure and pain mixed up together. Wales is a wonderful place to work. I’ve worked there a lot anyway, in the English language, but Welsh language TV is quite special.

YOU HAVE A STRONG BACKGROUND IN COMEDY, DOES THIS PROJECT MARK A NEW DIRECTION?

I’m only really going to use excellence as my criteria for work. Of course, the more opportunities for interesting work at all levels the better. Yes, of course I would like to be in the next James Bond film. But I’d also like to be leading interesting community projects.

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT SHARON, YOUR CHARACTER IN Y GOLAU?

Sharon is an emotionally driven individual. She spent 15 years emotionally raging, grieving, weeping and screaming about the fact the convicted murderer will not say where the body of her daughter is. I think she surprises herself, in the fact that she has no more respectable boundaries.

DID YOU HAVE TO LEARN BOTH ENGLISH AND WELSH VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPT?

Yes, we were shooting the programme in both English and Welsh. So you’re kind of complicating it a little bit further, because you’ve got an English language version in your head and a Welsh language version. So, I’d learned my line, but what came back at me was a Welsh actor speaking their own language, speaking their emotional truth.

WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST THOUGHTS WHEN IT CAME TO TAKING ON A WELSH SPEAKING ROLE?

When I was asked to do this, I initially thought, ‘Oh, my God, this is an incredible honour to be asked to act in Welsh!’ – a kind of dream I’ve had since I was a child. I did lots of drama at school in a Welsh language environment, but I was never a Welsh speaker. However, when we actually got going, I was useless at it. Completely hopeless and pathetic. My niece came down to stay with me and she just drilled me. She’s North Walian, and that’s where my character’s from.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A WELSH SPEAKER NOW?

I started to eavesdrop on things, so it got a lot better. But there were times when I’d have to sit there with the stinging humiliation of public failure, because I would say things that were so wrong.

Y Golau, S4C tomorrow at 9pm.