The Scottish Mail on Sunday - You
ACTRESS JOANNA SCANLAN ON HER LIFE-CHANGING ILLNSES
TV’s dark-comedy queen JOANNA SCANLAN tells Judith Woods how she followed her career dream on doctor’s orders – and found The One mid downward-dog
How to convey the brassy, ballsy, blunt-speaking magnificence of DI Viv Deering in Channel 4’s outrageous, blackly comic police drama
No Offence? Think of a 5ft 1in dynamo with ship’s prow curves, a potty mouth and racy red heels. She has no qualms about fighting dirty or deploying her cleavage when she needs to distract, deter and discombobulate. Unstoppable, unorthodox and unembarrassable, Viv cares about results, not rules.
‘I love her,’ admits her alter ego Joanna Scanlan, Cambridge-educated and one of our finest, funniest actresses as well as a cracking screenwriter. ‘She’s so utterly secure in her sexuality – her low- cut frocks are just part of her arsenal. She means to intimidate and ultimately she doesn’t care if a man finds her attractive or not because her all-terrain ego means she’ll ride roughshod over him anyway.
‘That’s a powerful position to be in. Women like her aren’t often portrayed on TV but when they are, we recognise and embrace them; it’s crazy to assume that bigger or older women are no longer attractive, that they don’t have sex or use their sexuality to get what they want.’
But the irresistible appeal of
No Offence isn’t just about Viv, says Joanna. ‘We tackle important issues head-on. The first series was about a serial murderer targeting kids who had Down’s syndrome, the second dealt with gangsters exploiting the innocent and the new series is about right-wing extremists.’
Joanna, 56, is engaging, quirky,
feminine and – paradoxical though it sounds – a deceptively dainty size
18 to 20. Let’s just say her latest hobby is paddleboarding with her 6ft 7in husband (more of which later). She arrives for the YOU shoot dressed in white linen and navy suede sandals, an Alexander McQueen silk scarf draped around her neck. She’s thrilled at the prospect of being styled: ‘I never have a clue how to put outfits together,’ she says, beaming with delight. ‘If I’m going to an event I always need someone to tell me what to wear and I’m happiest in athleisure from Beige, which is a plus-size shop for ladies like me.’
While Joanna’s size is hardly the most interesting thing about her, she acknowledges that her portrayal of Viv marks something of a watershed. In most comedies, bigger women tend to be the butt of the joke: think Miranda, pilloried as Queen Kong in her sitcom, or Rebel Wilson calling herself ‘Fat Amy’ in the Pitch Perfect franchise. ‘I do take on some of society’s prejudices about weight,’ admits Joanna. ‘I have worried a lot in the past about not fitting in, so playing Viv really gives me a boost. You can’t waste your whole life feeling “other” and wishing you were a size 12.’
Ironically, it was an oppressive feeling of ‘otherness’ that led Joanna to gain weight in the first place. She was accepted to study history at Queens’ College, Cambridge, in 1980, the first year women were admitted. It may have been a progressive move but the new female undergraduates felt under siege.
‘I put on weight as a result of finding myself in a hostile male environment,’ she says. ‘It was literally a protective mechanism; I was one of 39 women in a college of about 500 male students and there was a sexually aggressive atmosphere: intimidating, frightening. I remember walking with a friend who was suddenly goosed; some man pushed his hand up between her legs and it was just assumed she wouldn’t report it. And she didn’t, because it was 1980 not 2018. My extra padding prevented me being an obvious target; I did have relationships, but with men who got to know me first. I’ve intermittently attempted to lose weight since, but it’s never worked.’
At Cambridge, Joanna joined
I FEEL THAT LIFE HAS GOT BETTER AND BETTER; MY 50S ARE A FANTASTIC, HAPPY TIME ”