Peep Show

Olivia Colman's been in some of the best comedies of the last ten years – Peep Show, Green Wing, The Office, Black Books, Look Around You, and if you look really carefully during the 'Kiddie Stare' scene from The Day Today's 'Attitude’s Night', you'll see a young Olivia peeking over the edge of the playpen.

We catch up with the nicest woman working in comedy to talk chat about Peep Show, Sophie and the secret of her success.

Did you always want to be a comedian?
I think no, I always imagined I'd be playing Lady Macbeth and Medea and things, but it turned out I wasn't very good at that. So luckily I got work doing comedy acting - actoring - and I love it.

So it wasn’t something I'd ever imagined doing, I thought I'd be a serious actress, but it was very lovely and actually I much prefer it.

I get quite nervous if I have to do a drama-ry thing.

Is that because you find you're much better at comedy, so it's easier?
I don't know. I find it easier, it seems like there's an obvious way to do it that's funny, but with drama there are endless options, and, I don't know, I find it scary and like I'm going to be found out - ha ha ha!

A proper actor's going to find out and go 'You can't do it, that's wrong!'

Do you have a favourite character you’ve played so far?
Ummm, no. There are some I prefer to others but I can't think of anybody... The opportunity to play somebody who is ridiculously heightened is lovely. There was one little sketch, it was blink and you'll miss, it was ridiculous, in the Mitchell & Webb sketch show; I think she was called Debbie and she wore a big hat and didn't say anything. She had a furry wart, thick glasses and I really enjoyed that. It was like being a kid again - pulling faces and making people laugh is such fun.

You've worked on some amazing shows - how do you consistently pick successful scripts?
I've been really lucky, I've had a lucky streak of getting lovely scripts and doing jobs that are great. Also, I think I'm a very well-behaved actor, so really that's why they invite me back.

Having played some increasingly larger-than-life characters, do you feel like your're ready to star in your own series now?
The problem is I can't write for toffee - ha ha! Every now and then I think I should write something, and I'd love to get a crack at doing my own stuff, but I can't write, so that’s no use.

I think hand-in-hand with being a writer would be having less privacy and I am a bit of a homebody at heart. I like putting my pyjama bottoms on and a coat, and taking my baby for a walk. I'm not sure I could handle people noticing me... And how awful would it be if you were totally exposed (as a fraud), and people go, 'Well actually she's shit!' It would be a really horrible feeling.

It would be very rude.
It would be rude, it'd be very mean. Sometimes I have little daydreams thinking wouldn't it be fun to have more of a role, or to do your own thing, but at the same time it'd be scary. If people didn't like it, it would be horrid.

What was it like working with Victoria Pile on Green Wing?
She's amazing! You have various different people on different jobs who look at scripts and ask you to do it in a certain way and you kinda know the better way of performing it, but Vic knows the best way – she's that sort of person. She'll say, 'Can you do "this", but add a bit of "that"?' and you go, 'Of course', and it's absolutely right. She's really good at knowing what's funny, and she's incredibly driven.

Are there distinct ways of handling comedy on the shows you've worked on?
Yeah, I suppose everyone has their little ways. Some say 'Do what you do, and that would be lovely,' and they sit back and trust you to do it. Others have a more valuable way of asking you try something different, which makes it better.

That's why I find comedy slightly easier, because there's less to 'do' in a way. I'm more than happy saying 'I don’t think I'm getting the hang of this, please tell me what you want.'

You know when you feel when you're floundering and they're not happy and they're too polite to say something? That's the worst situation to be in.

What do you think the differences are working in a large ensemble piece like Green Wing, and smaller cast shows like Peep Show?
Well, Green Wing, because we were in the office scenes rather than the hospital scenes, it didn't feel like a massive troupe because we were fairly separate. The office bunch we saw each other all the time, and the thing is you get your scripts and change all the time, although I made it difficult for them last time by being pregnant and expanding every week.

They were very good with their costume buying, they got a huge range of sizes as I got bigger and bigger, and it also meant they had to change the script for me, particularly as I couldn't do some of the physical things... am I losing the thread and going on about different things? Ha ha!

So it was very exciting, because the writers of both shows, Peep Show and Green Wing, are all very physical and they come and ask you to try things, and you get to ask them questions. So both were kind of ensemble pieces, but I didn't really get a sense of the massiveness of Green Wing because we were doing our own thing.

Do you find it comforting that you seem to work with the same people across a number of shows?
Yes. I know people say, 'It's a small world,' but I think the comedy world is particularly small.

I'm very rosie-tinted most of the time, and slightly naïve, but it does seem a terribly supportive group as well. Sarah Alexander is with Peter Serafanowicz who loves Simon Pegg so that branches off in a different direction, and you all love each other's work, and see each other socially and it is really lovely! So you do end up seeing the same people again and again because they are all your friends, and are friends with each other.

So, are you the new 'gang' in the way Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were one in the 90s?
Yes, that's right - and they're back together aren't they, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse?

Actually Paul Whitehouse came to the set of Peep Show because his daughter in particular loves the show, and I think the fact he came down was really lovely. I do pinch myself every day, because I can't believe I get paid to muck about with amazingly nice people all the time, some of whom I’ve been in awe of and a fan of, and I can't believe we’re chums, it's really nice. Ha ha, it sounds a bit sickeningly lovely doesn't it? Sorry!

Having worked with most of the actors before, was signing-up for Peep Show a no-brainer?
Do you know I was talking to my husband yesterday about this, and I actually missed a friend's wedding to do the pilot!
It was a good gamble and it paid off. It was with Rob and David who I've known for years and love, it was a good script, and I am slightly rubbish at writing things down in my diary.
It was a low-budget pilot, we had to bring our own costumes, and I couldn't really phone at the last minute go, 'I'm really sorry, I'm supposed to be a wedding in Dorset,' but I'm really glad I did it - sorry, I've forgotten what you asked, ha ha!

Was the script enough to get you to sign-up?
Ah yes, that's right. Well, Sophie has changed quite a bit throughout the series you see. In the first one she's kind of the 'feed' girl and doesn't get to do an awful lot initially, but I did like the idea of hearing their thoughts and the perspective of it.

What's been your favourite episode to record so far?
Ever? There's a scene in particular in this series where Sophie and Mark go to a relationship counsellor which I did love doing.

I think we managed to not giggle all the way through it, but we were on the verge of it all the time. It was such a funny thing to do, Mark having to hear things about his relationship quite openly; it's such a funny situation. We both got really giggly and we had to control ourselves, and that was fun to do.

It's interesting how the characters have changed as the series have gone on...
I think Sam and Jesse know them so well now, it sounds wanky but it almost writes itself now, which is also not true because there's an awful lot work that goes into it, but what I mean is they just know now how awful the characters are going to be in certain situations.

So they can stick Mark in a strip bar and they'll know it's going to be awful. Have you seen that one yet? Have you seen the wedding? I’m just going to say the word 'wee' to you; there's a scene in the wedding that involves wee that is just brilliant!

Both Johnson and Sophie seem to have got bigger roles, how much input did you have?
Lyndon is brilliant, every little face he pulls and raise of the eyebrows is just great. And when he offers to buy the girlfriend, that's just horrible but it's fabulous.

I think part of it is the writers got to know me better, and I did say, 'I think Sophie's horrid', but they thought she was lovely, and I was 'No!' She knows Mark loves her, but she always turns up at his house in tears when something goes wrong because she knows she'll get some sympathy, and I think that's manipulative and conniving. And the boys went 'ooooh', because they're nice guys, and they've obviously never seen how horrible girls can be, and now they’re seeing girls aren't that nice, and that was quite fun.

I also kept going on to them about can Sophie be a stripper, or can she be something else, and they have given more to her as time's gone by. The hippy dippy stuff was fun, and you wouldn't have imagined her doing that in the first series, although to be honest she wasn't terribly good at it, she wasn't that committed. She had her hair braided, she tried, and people do go through those sort of episodes, so it's good that she does as well.

So what do you like about her, even though you hate her?
Ha ha ha! That sounds horrible, I do like Sophie, I like her very much but it's funny they thought she was so sweet, whereas I thought she was so naughty.

So where would you want Sophie to be in the last episode of the very last series of Peep Show?
I think she should have Johnson's baby and then have a sex change. That would be fun and it'd be totally unexpected.

It would be brilliant to see, Mark would probably step up to the plate because she's pregnant, and then she'll have a black baby, it would be great to see how he handles it.

I hope they don't do it now because that would ruin it!

And that's from the nicest woman in comedy?
Ha ha ha! Well, the most well-behaved anyway.