Gongs, comfy socks & ‘the next Judi Dench’
Winning three Baftas is the achievement of a lifetime for most. But Olivia Colman has done it in just 12 months. Then again she is fast proving to be one of the country’s greatest acting talents, receiving plaudits for roles as diverse as an abused single mother in the gritty TV series Run and as a young Queen Mother in Hyde Park On Hudson. And let us not forget the juggernaut Broadchurch, which recently saw her scoop her latest Bafta for leading actress.
The drama, which focused on a tight-knit community following the murder of a local boy and transfixed the nation last summer, scooped three awards (leading actress, best drama series and supporting actor) at the ceremony earlier this month.
‘I’m good at keeping secrets but that was something else,’ Olivia told me as she recalled the build-up to the final episode. ‘I’d signed so many bits of paper I thought I was going to be arrested if I twitched at the wrong point [and revealed who had committed the murder].’
The second series has been confirmed (with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James D’Arcy, Eve Myles and Phoebe Waller-Bridge joining the cast), but Olivia, who played DS Ellie Miller, is always nervous about divulging too much. ‘I don’t know anything,’ she said when we last met. ‘I’m terrifi ed of saying something I’m not supposed to.’
But she was happy to ponder the reasons for the series’ success. ‘It didn’t patronise anybody, which I think people forget sometimes when they’re making programmes for the British viewing public. We’re an intelligent bunch. And it didn’t just focus on the case; you could watch the fallout of those lovely people, a community crumbling, which was awful and fascinating.’
It was while at Cambridge University that Olivia met her future Peep Show co-stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb and auditioned for the revered drama club Footlights before studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Olivia’s versatility is the reason that she’s already been dubbed ‘the next Judi Dench’ and although flattered by the comparison, it leaves the 40-year-old actress feeling a little uncomfortable.
‘You’ll get people forever going, “But she’s nothing like Judi Dench,”’ Olivia told me. ‘But she’s amazing and has always worked and been deliciously private, everything I admire, so the fact someone’s put us in the same sentence is lovely.’
Like Dame Judi, Olivia has the ability to traverse easily between comedy and drama, as proven at last year’s TV Baftas, at which Olivia won two gongs. The first was for her subtle, comedic performance in Twenty Twelve, which followed the fictional team responsible for organising the 2012 London Olympics, and the second for her turn in Jimmy McGovern’s hard-hitting court drama Accused. After the event she said, ‘You know really cool people keep them in the downstairs loo. I’m really uncool and they’re on the fi replace.’
The evening of the awards, however, remains a bit of blur. ‘I watched the speeches back and I can’t believe I forgot the director’s name, so thankfully I got another go.’
But she didn’t stay long into the night. ‘After dinner, I said to my husband [the writer Ed Sinclair, with whom she has two sons] “Can we go? I want to put my comfy socks on.” So we snuck off and were back by 10, and had a cup of tea.’
Clockwise from top left: In Hyde Park On Hudson. With David Tennant in Broadchurch. With Hugh Bonneville in Twenty Twelve. As Susan Spencer in The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher
As well as appearing in the next series of Broadchurch, she is to join the cast of a new BBC-backed film, London Road, which tells the story of the Suff olk Strangler, Steve Wright, who murdered five women in the London Road area of Ipswich.
Originally a National Theatre musical, the film, planned for release next year, will see Olivia star alongside Tom Hardy as Julie, a Neighbourhood Watch volunteer who tries to revive a sense of community spirit in the wake of the killings by organising a London Road In Bloom event.
Clearly she is the lead lady of the moment. But Olivia is pleased such success didn’t come too soon.
‘I can imagine that if everything happens when you’re young, then it’s hard to keep sort of normal,’ she said. ‘I’ve worked hard and I’ve got my family so I’ve got what I want. The awards were just a lovely nod to say, “You’re doing all right and don’t retrain as a midwife just yet!”’
The drama, which focused on a tight-knit community following the murder of a local boy and transfixed the nation last summer, scooped three awards (leading actress, best drama series and supporting actor) at the ceremony earlier this month.
‘I’m good at keeping secrets but that was something else,’ Olivia told me as she recalled the build-up to the final episode. ‘I’d signed so many bits of paper I thought I was going to be arrested if I twitched at the wrong point [and revealed who had committed the murder].’
The second series has been confirmed (with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James D’Arcy, Eve Myles and Phoebe Waller-Bridge joining the cast), but Olivia, who played DS Ellie Miller, is always nervous about divulging too much. ‘I don’t know anything,’ she said when we last met. ‘I’m terrifi ed of saying something I’m not supposed to.’
But she was happy to ponder the reasons for the series’ success. ‘It didn’t patronise anybody, which I think people forget sometimes when they’re making programmes for the British viewing public. We’re an intelligent bunch. And it didn’t just focus on the case; you could watch the fallout of those lovely people, a community crumbling, which was awful and fascinating.’
It was while at Cambridge University that Olivia met her future Peep Show co-stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb and auditioned for the revered drama club Footlights before studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Olivia’s versatility is the reason that she’s already been dubbed ‘the next Judi Dench’ and although flattered by the comparison, it leaves the 40-year-old actress feeling a little uncomfortable.
‘You’ll get people forever going, “But she’s nothing like Judi Dench,”’ Olivia told me. ‘But she’s amazing and has always worked and been deliciously private, everything I admire, so the fact someone’s put us in the same sentence is lovely.’
Like Dame Judi, Olivia has the ability to traverse easily between comedy and drama, as proven at last year’s TV Baftas, at which Olivia won two gongs. The first was for her subtle, comedic performance in Twenty Twelve, which followed the fictional team responsible for organising the 2012 London Olympics, and the second for her turn in Jimmy McGovern’s hard-hitting court drama Accused. After the event she said, ‘You know really cool people keep them in the downstairs loo. I’m really uncool and they’re on the fi replace.’
The evening of the awards, however, remains a bit of blur. ‘I watched the speeches back and I can’t believe I forgot the director’s name, so thankfully I got another go.’
But she didn’t stay long into the night. ‘After dinner, I said to my husband [the writer Ed Sinclair, with whom she has two sons] “Can we go? I want to put my comfy socks on.” So we snuck off and were back by 10, and had a cup of tea.’
Clockwise from top left: In Hyde Park On Hudson. With David Tennant in Broadchurch. With Hugh Bonneville in Twenty Twelve. As Susan Spencer in The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher As well as appearing in the next series of Broadchurch, she is to join the cast of a new BBC-backed film, London Road, which tells the story of the Suff olk Strangler, Steve Wright, who murdered five women in the London Road area of Ipswich.
Originally a National Theatre musical, the film, planned for release next year, will see Olivia star alongside Tom Hardy as Julie, a Neighbourhood Watch volunteer who tries to revive a sense of community spirit in the wake of the killings by organising a London Road In Bloom event.
Clearly she is the lead lady of the moment. But Olivia is pleased such success didn’t come too soon.
‘I can imagine that if everything happens when you’re young, then it’s hard to keep sort of normal,’ she said. ‘I’ve worked hard and I’ve got my family so I’ve got what I want. The awards were just a lovely nod to say, “You’re doing all right and don’t retrain as a midwife just yet!”’