MY ILLNESS BROUGHT ME SOMETHING VALUABLE. I BECAME A SOFTER, MORE OPEN PERSON”

Above, from left: Joanna with

Footlights, that uber- competitive crucible of comedy talent, where Tilda Swinton became a friend. Then, as Tilda’s career went stratospheric (she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company within a year of graduation), Joanna floundered professionally. For the first time she started to doubt herself.

Growing up in North Wales, the eldest of three (she has two brothers), she had always known she wanted to act. Her parents bought a hotel in Ruthin when Joanna was 14 and she would help out during the holidays, taking on every role thrown at her. ‘I imagined I was on stage playing a barmaid, a dogsbody, the waitress who served morning coffee and afternoon tea – it was brilliant fun. Acting meant I wasn’t shy; I immersed myself in the character. I even ordered a couple to leave the premises; I can’t recall why but I think they had been rude to my little brother. I must have looked like a right uppity brat; I do remember demanding the £1.70 they owed me for coffee before they left.’

After Cambridge, Joanna’s self-belief deserted her. She found herself lecturing in drama at Leicester Polytechnic, and then working in a similar role at the Arts Council. Both were great jobs, she says, but neither made her happy. She became very stressed which led to depression and chronic fatigue syndrome, prompting her to move back in with her parents, who by then had left the hospitality industry. For several years, taking the dog for a walk or going to the shop was as much as she could manage. ‘My parents were wonderful,