Jessica Hynes has made a success portraying life's failures in 'Spaced' and 'The
Royle Family'. Now she's back on TV, playing a likeable learner-driver. James
Rampton meets her.
Jessica Hynes has been dubbed the funniest woman in Britain, and boasts two
British Comedy Awards on her mantelpiece to prove it. But the star of Spaced
and The Royle Family, who first achieved fame under her maiden name, Stevenson,
would be the first to admit that her career hasn't always been fun and games.
"There have been tough times," she says. "About 10 years ago, when I first started
getting acting parts, just before I co-wrote Spaced with Simon Pegg, I gave up my
part-time jobs washing dishes and waitressing. I thought I'd made it. A few months
later, the wind changed and I had to go back to evenings hunched over dirty lasagne
dishes. Believe me, I wept into the sink. I remember thinking that this was the
lowest point of my life."
But, ultimately, the experience proved to have some benefit. Adhering to Flaubert's
famous dictum - "write what you know" - she has, ever since that nadir, been able
to draw on a well of disappointment and produce some of the most complex and
affecting comic characters of recent years. Her creations are all flawed, but that
only serves to make them more likeable and recognisable. With her alter egos - people
like Daisy, the naive wannabe writer in Spaced, or the diet-obsessed Cheryl from The
Royle Family - Hynes has made a success out of failure.
"I guess none of those characters are exactly alpha females, are they?" Hynes
ventures. "They're more like most of us, trying to get on, making mistakes,
falling on their arses, picking themselves up, dusting themselves down."
To that list of likeably flawed characters can now be added Bev from Learners, a
touching new BBC1 drama, which Hynes has written and in which she stars. Bev, who
ekes out a living as a cleaner at the local police station, is a woman who views
driving as an arachnaphobe might regard a bird-eating spider. Married to Ian
(Shaun Dingwall), an overbearing man who loses his temper every time he tries to
teach her to drive, she has already failed her test eight times. But for the sake
of her own self-esteem - and sanity - it is vital that she passes.
Before she could start making the drama, which goes out on Sunday, Hynes had a
massive hurdle of her own to overcome: passing the test herself. The 35-year-old actress, who in person is far sharper than her dorky screen persona might suggest,
explains: "The most pressing reason for me to pass the test was that I was about to start filming - as a woman who finds it impossible to pass her test!
"It took me 10 years to pass. I had extremely low confidence behind the wheel and
took the test three times. When I finally succeeded, the examiner said to me: 'You're
the most nervous driver I have ever passed.' I eventually passed this January and
we began filming almost immediately afterwards."
But Hynes' inexperience at the wheel actually helped with the role of Bev. "I'm
a good bad driver, so I was able to do a lot of my own stunts," she says, laughing. "You want someone to mount the pavements, crash into a bollard, swerve in the
road or try to run down her husband? I'm your woman... I tried to get as many comedy prangs into the script as possible - many from my own and my mother's
experiences. She'll never forgive me for revealing this in the national press,
but my mother once drove into a stationary milk float."
Bev is saved in the film by Chris, an endlessly patient, born- again Christian
driving instructor in geeky glasses and a grey gilet. He is played by David Tennant,
whom Hynes met when guest- starring in a recent double episode of Doctor Who set
on the eve of the First World War.
Appearing in Doctor Who introduced Hynes - already a cult heroine thanks to
Spaced - to a whole new generation of fans. "My autograph- hunting mailbag
has gone up considerably," says the 35-year-old actress, who is married with
three children. "Loving telly as I do, I'd have taken any part in it. As it
happened, I lucked out because I got a great role and lots of marvellous
scenes with David."
Since completing Learners, Hynes has been busy writing another script - this
time about the suffragette movement. "I have come up with this idea, not about
the leaders of the movement, but about a group of ordinary members who decide
they want to assassinate the Prime Minister," she reveals. "The women are put
under rudimentary police surveillance, but the police deem them so ineffective,
they ignore them in order to minimise publicity."
The suffragette movement is clearly a cause close to Hynes' heart. "This script
is partly a reflection of my own experience of the last 10 years in a man's world.
I want to make a funny, entertaining film with cracking female characters, but
at the same time explore themes about what it is to be a modern woman in the male
playground. Maybe I was in denial before, but I've gradually become aware that
the rules are different for men and women. If a woman wants to pursue a career,
it's hard for men to believe that she is as passionate and ambitious as them.
There's a general societal feeling that women are merely 'playing at it'."
Growing up as the daughter of two bohemian artists in Brighton, Hynes was a
serious child; she once wrote to Margaret Thatcher imploring her not to launch
a nuclear attack. She did not stand out at school and only really discovered
her calling when she joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of 14.
According to the actress, the NYT, "was full of OTT hysterics, and I thought:
'Yes, I've found my people.'"
However, Hynes still took time to realise her gift for comedy. "For a while,
I fought against my inner goofiness," she recalls. "I wanted to see myself
as Lady Macbeth, but other people always saw me as Mrs Malaprop. They'd be
laughing at me and I'd have no idea why. So eventually I gave in." Since
then, Hynes' comic confidence has grown with appearances in such hits as
Shaun of the Dead, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Magicians, Confetti,
Tomorrow La Scala! and Bob and Rose.
For all the acclaim, though, Hynes remains a very private person, who is loath
to discuss her family. "I always think it's bad luck to go on about that sort
of thing in print - it might jinx it. Plus, this is my chosen path, not theirs.
I don't want to drag them in when they don't have a choice in the matter."
The actress, who very rarely gives interviews, is equally suspicious of our
current obsession with celebrity. "I'll never fall into the category of a
tabloid star," she asserts. "Some people attract that sort of attention and
some don't. For me, it's all about the work. I'm not interested in the fame
game - unless that's the title of a searing drama and I'm asked to play the
lead in it."
Had she been so minded, Hynes could easily have played that game after the
success of Spaced. The sitcom, which ran on Channel 4 in 1999 and 2000, is
now back in the news. It is currently being adapted by Adam Barr (from Will
and Grace) for the Fox network in the US.
While there are no plans to bring it back in this country, the four main
creators of the archetypal slacker-com - Hynes, Pegg, director Edgar Wight
and co-star Nick Frost - will be reunited this Saturday at the BFI on the
South Bank for Spaced on Stage, a question-and-answer session and screening
of the entire two series. "I'm really looking forward to the Spaced-a-thon,"
Hynes says, beaming. "For one thing, it's so rare that we're all in the
same room these days. Simon has become such a mega-star that I can't believe
he's a real person anymore. In fact, on Saturday I'll poke him just to prove
he really exists - that'll be fun. The sky's the limit for Simon now. I'm
sure he's going to become US president and rule the world.
"We have talked about doing a couple ofthings, but we've gone in different
directions, and I'm happy ploughing my own furrow. Simon and I are still
doing similar things - he's just doing them on a stellar level." Unable
to resist one last joke, Hynes smiles: "You could say that I'm keeping
it real - like J-Lo."
'Learners' is on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday; 'Spaced on Stage' starts at 12.30pm
on Saturday at the BFI Southbank, London SE1 (020-7928 3232)
Taken from The Independent - Nov 6, 2007.