The comic actress tells us about the second series of her BBC2 comedy Miranda, screening on Mondays... What’s happening to your character at the start of the new series of Miranda? “She’s quite down because her heart has been broken and she hasn’t heard from the love of her life, Gary. The first time we see her, she’s drunk, singing a Daniel Bedingfield song in a karaoke bar. She’s still wearing her pyjamas as she can’t be bothered to get dressed. Haven’t you ever gone to the shops in your pyjamas? This is one step down from that.” The first series really struck a chord with people, didn’t it? “People seem to recognise themselves in it. It’s about always feeling awkward and being the odd one out, which I think everyone feels, even people who appear to have it all. There’s this great pressure to look and act the right way, that we can never match up to, however confident we might seem.” Do you think viewers respond to the more childlike, slapstick aspects of your comedy? “Yes. I remember Spike Milligan saying he was bored of adulthood, and I know exactly what he means. At a certain age, we are hit with a load of grown-up rules we have to obey. Comedians tap into that childish state we’d all like to go back to. It’s about being allowed to be playful.” Has your life been changed a lot by fame? “I suppose you expect me to say that I’m at parties all the time and I’m secretly going out with Tom Cruise, but I’m afraid that’s not the case. My day-to-day life hasn’t changed at all. I’m still in my pyjamas by nine o’clock every night watching TV. I say to people, ‘Yes, I watched that documentary on Channel 4 last night’, when in fact I was glued to ITV2.” Where do you get inspiration for your comedy? “You need real-life experiences. When strange things happen to you, like getting locked in a park, you can draw on them. I find it’s useful to carry a notebook around all the time. When friends tell me about something funny that has happened to them, I always say: ‘Can I use that?’” How similar are you in real life to the character you play in Miranda? “There’s some confusion because the character is also called Miranda, but she’s a more exaggerated, heightened version of myself. You could say she’s one remove from reality.” Do your fans feel as if they know you? “When you play a character who talks to the camera and involves the audience, people tend to think you’re their friend. Dawn French gets that a lot – you’re a kind of everywoman.” What are they like when they meet you? “Usually they’re lovely. Women are always saying: ‘Can I just thank you for writing my life?’ And I reply: ‘I’m glad someone else is as idiotic as I am!’ The only slightly weird moment happened when a fan said, ‘You play Miriam, don’t you?’ I told her I played Miranda. ‘No,’ she said, ‘it’s Miriam. Who’s Miranda?’ She wouldn’t be told.”
