Barbara Flynn plays the Queen during 1992, the year she memorably termed her annus horriblis.
How did you get into acting? Were you bitten by the bug at a very young age?
'It started when I was a child, yes. I was brought up in Hastings in Sussex, there was a local musical festival and everyone kept saying, "Barbara should do that," so when I was six or seven I went in for a competition and it sort of went from there.
'Then I went to Guildhall School of Music and Drama and came out with a gold medal. Then on to Rep for six months and straight into a long-running TV series called Family At War - there were 52 episodes. I had a major part in that at the age of 21 – of course when you're that age you don't realise how lucky you are. I haven't worked every minute of my life, but it's been pretty wonderful ever since.'
So you never had any periods of unemployment, or where you were really worried about getting work?
'Not really. I'm the sort of person who does lots of other things. I have another world where I make jewellery. I love to work and I've never been out of work for longer than about six months. Maybe I'm putting a complete hex on myself!
'I've been fortunate also in doing a lot of vocal work – adverts, commentaries and radio - reading Book at Bedtime and Book of the Week are particular favourites. So I've never been conscious of it being a complete desert, which is pretty nice for 40 years, isn't it? Of course you always have the concern that it won't happen again. You never take anything for granted.'
Family at War was on in the days when there were only three channels. It was watched by a huge audience, wasn't it?
'Oh, it was ridiculous. It took Scandinavia and Holland by storm as well. We went to Copenhagen, and we were treated like The Beatles. It was so odd, because no-one in England fetes anyone, but over there they were manic for it. There were these rumours, that we used to howl with laughter at, that they used to have terrible traffic jams in Copenhagen because everyone was rushing home to see Family at War. It was brilliant. It was unreal for us.'
You've done quite a lot of series and returning roles, haven't you?
'Yes. The three Beiderbecke series with Jimmy Bolam - lovely, wonderful cult stuff. I'm very fortunate to have worked with incredible writers – Alan Plater, who wrote Beiderbecke, Andrew Davies who wrote A Very Peculiar Practice, and of course there was Jimmy McGovern's Cracker.'
Are they the roles you look back on with the most pride?
'Huge pleasure, I'm thrilled to have done them. I feel like I've been in Elizabeth Gaskell's head for a while, because I did Wives and Daughters, and now of course we've just done the second series of Cranford - actually it's not a series, it's two 90-minute films for Christmas. So that was hugely enjoyable, and working in that company is just brilliant.'
I read in an interview that you said you always get cast playing feisty, strong women.
'It's true, I don't play many shrinking violets.'
That's certainly the case with this project, isn't it?
'Ha! Well, I mean, what an opportunity, what an honour. I wish I'd had longer to prepare for the role, though, because it is a big, big part to play. She's worked her socks off for so many, many years. What a woman of humour and energy and power. Without being pushy, unbelievable behaviour, couldn't we all learn from that, instead of knocking her? I love her, absolutely love her.'
What's the story that's told in your episode?
'This is 1992. The beginning of Charles and Diana's difficulties, the exposure of Camilla's relationship, Andrew's divorce, the terrible Windsor fire, the issue of her paying taxes. And it was the beginning of the breakdown of the consensus of respect for the royal family. It was a terrible year for her.'
Do you think it was the worst year of her life?
'She seemed to think so at the time.'
What do you think she thought of Diana?
'It seems awfully impertinent to say anything about how she might have felt, because it's just speculation. But I felt in playing the part that she wanted to reach this young woman, because she herself had been through terribly distressing and difficult times herself. Suddenly becoming Queen at 25 is massive, having to put duty before self. And I think she was genuinely keen to understand and help Diana.'
For a very private and dignified woman, the airing of so much dirty laundry in the press between Charles and Diana must have been agony, mustn't it?
'Yes, appalling. And very, very, very hard to deal with. There's a lovely line where Charles says: "I'm not the first Prince of Wales to have a mistress." And the Queen says: "But you are the first Prince of Wales to have it reported in the newspaper."'
It must have put a strain on an already difficult relationship with Charles.
'Yes. Mothers and sons have a very close relationship but can also be quite antagonistic towards each other. It must have been very difficult.'
Do you think the fire at Windsor was her lowest ebb?
'It was desperate, absolutely desperate for her. I think there was a sort of cumulative effect. Had it happened in happy times, it would have been gut-wrenchingly dreadful, but to happen after such an avalanche of undermining, painful situations that she couldn't fix, must have been awful.'
You didn't have long to prepare for the role, did you?
'No, it really was a matter of add water, be queen! The wig, the pearls and the Corgis really helped but the snow didn't help matters.'
The snow?
'Yes. I heard about the role on the Friday morning, accepted it on the Friday afternoon, had Saturday to get my head down, try and learn it and look at footage of the Queen. Sunday did rehearsals and came back to London in order to go and get the clothes from a company called Angels but woke up to a foot-and-a-half of snow. Angels had shut because of the weather, so the costume person went in and grabbed what she could.
'We went up to Bradford-upon-Avon and the next morning I was on. The snow caused great concern because it just kept coming down. We couldn't get into Longleat because the vans couldn't get down the drive. And then another day we went to Stourhead - a fantastic house - and there were huge great juggernauts jack-knifing, and there was one little single lane open in this triple carriageway. We stopped off at a petrol station and tried to work out what to do and how far we could make it.'
Back to 1992, the Queen's standing, and that of the monarchy, took a bit of a beating that year. Do you think she could have played her hand better?
'I think, in a way, she did pretty well to deal with it as she did. I think the press have a great deal to answer for, because it's something to hit someone when they're down, it's quite a sport, isn't it? And I think it's a sad sport. She never pointed the finger of blame at anyone else in her family. There she was, her house had burned down, her family was falling apart, and it wasn't her fault, and she was dealing with it.'
Did you find the role daunting?
'Yes. It was daunting but also hugely enjoyable. I have watched a lot of documentaries and imagined her walking down all these red carpets, day after day, to meet trains or cars, sometimes to see people who she wanted to have lunch with and on other occasions being forced by duty to lunch with people she must have loathed. And she will have checked the tables, and made sure everything is right.
'And she has all her correspondence to attend to. To get up every day and have a suitcase full of papers to read. And her emails never stop, they come to her thick and fast. I just think she's one of the most remarkable people of our recent history.'
Did this project change your feelings about her at all?
'I'd say it made me fonder of her, actually, and more in awe. It has also made me very jealous of Helen Mirren who was brilliant in The Queen. Of course hers was a larger role and she had much longer to prepare and study for it. Now that I have tasted playing the Queen myself I'm left wanting more!'
