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Mark Dolan Interview
New Series | Tall Women | Money | Fat Pets
Where did the idea for this series come from?
Well, the idea actually came from the production company, but it's a very happy accident that I got involved with this show. I’ve always been absurdly tall - I’m 6'5" - and I was very tall throughout my teens. I always had to go and sit down on the front row in school photos - so I felt a great empathy with anyone who was very tall or tiny, or just a bit different physically. So once I had the opportunity to go and meet the smallest man in the world, or the tallest woman in the world, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to see how being that different physically affects your life experience.
Well, the idea actually came from the production company, but it's a very happy accident that I got involved with this show. I’ve always been absurdly tall - I’m 6'5" - and I was very tall throughout my teens. I always had to go and sit down on the front row in school photos - so I felt a great empathy with anyone who was very tall or tiny, or just a bit different physically. So once I had the opportunity to go and meet the smallest man in the world, or the tallest woman in the world, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to see how being that different physically affects your life experience.
This is a very different type of programme for you, after comedy like Balls of Steel and The Richard Taylor Interviews. Why the change of direction?
Well, it's not a conscious decision to move away from comedy, but it was an opportunity to come out of a very formatted environment, and to make a TV show that involved being away for weeks at a time travelling, seeing different parts of the world, meeting all sorts of extraordinary people. It was just an opportunity that I couldn't turn down. When it comes to the tone of the show, I think some of the shows, such as the world's hairiest man, there's more room to have a bit of fun. With these little people, once you actually get to know their story, it's often quite tragic, there's not really much room for comedy.
Well, it's not a conscious decision to move away from comedy, but it was an opportunity to come out of a very formatted environment, and to make a TV show that involved being away for weeks at a time travelling, seeing different parts of the world, meeting all sorts of extraordinary people. It was just an opportunity that I couldn't turn down. When it comes to the tone of the show, I think some of the shows, such as the world's hairiest man, there's more room to have a bit of fun. With these little people, once you actually get to know their story, it's often quite tragic, there's not really much room for comedy.
Which did you find the most interesting of the shows to work on?
I think perhaps I was particularly fascinated with the tall women. Our perception of genders is based very much on size. We expect women to be smaller than men, so to meet a woman who’s 7'9" tall was extraordinary. That was Yao De Fen, who is the tallest woman in the world. She’s not officially the tallest, because she's not been through the strict official channels demanded by The Guinness Book of Records, but I met her and I measured her, and she is 7'9". I was fascinated to meet her because the way she looks is so contradictory to our perception of what a woman is.
I think perhaps I was particularly fascinated with the tall women. Our perception of genders is based very much on size. We expect women to be smaller than men, so to meet a woman who’s 7'9" tall was extraordinary. That was Yao De Fen, who is the tallest woman in the world. She’s not officially the tallest, because she's not been through the strict official channels demanded by The Guinness Book of Records, but I met her and I measured her, and she is 7'9". I was fascinated to meet her because the way she looks is so contradictory to our perception of what a woman is.
