and another friend did, and I had a part
in it, but I also got offered to work on
Death of the Salesman at the National
Theatre with Arthur Miller. So, I took that.
And what was nice was, I talked to the
casting director and spoke about a friend
of mine and she actually got the part
after me because I couldn’t do it. So, I
went to the National Theatre and worked
with Arthur Miller on Death of Salesman,
which was absolutely amazing and I
know my mum would have been very
proud. She’d died by then. She died in
‘78, just before I joined the National. And
when I was at the Half Moon or doing
Fringe Theatre or something my mum
would always get dressed up and come
and see me. But she was dreadful, she
couldn’t stop talking. She talked through
it, she’d go, and “That’s my Carol there.
That’s her there, that one. And that’s her
friend Billy”, destroying the theatre image
completely! And she’d go, “I don’t know
why she’s wearing that dress, she doesn’t
usually look like that.” I used to say to her,
“Mum, I’m playing a heroin addict, that’s
why I’m not dressed up…” and she’d say
“why couldn’t you wear that dress…?”
“Because I’m playing a heroin addict,
that’s why I look terrible.” She’s just never
got it. She just wanted me to look nice
when I was on stage! While I was at the
National, Quadrophenia was being made
as well in ‘79 I managed to get myself to
do a day on Quadrophenia because I was
at the National as well. It was a very tiny
part and the re-make was filmed down
here, obviously. The one I was in wasn’t,
that was filmed in London my little bit.
But I’m very proud, even though it was
the teeniest part ever I’ve ever done Quadrophenia…
It’s an iconic film, isn’t it?
Yeah, and also because I loved mods and
I loved the whole mod movement and
that’s when I used to write on my letters
to my friends, “Up the mods”, you know?
Also in the East End where I come from,
I met Steve Marriott because my cousins
were mods and one of them played in a
band with Steve Marriott from the Small
Faces and I’ve written a musical about
the Small Faces. Steve and I met when I
was nine. And I had a little crush on him. I
thought “he could be my boyfriend” even
though he’s older than me, he was like 17
or something, and I was only about nine,
well eight or nine.
So it was your first crush?
Yeah, it was kind of a real crush. But that
whole mod movement was just fabulous,
and it was about working class people
looking smart, which as I said earlier, my
mum instilled in me.
So, how old were you when you had
your first job on telly and how did you
feel on your very first day of television
work?
I was 21 or 22 or something then, and I
was playing a villain’s gangster’s moll,
12
which I’ve played many a time. It was
all really wonderful actually because I
was working with some lovely people.
Bill Nye was in it with me. I think it was
Bill’s first telly experience as well, and
another old mate of mine who was at
the Half Moon with me called Alan Ford,
who was in Snatch (and you’ll know him)
I mean, he’s done millions of things but
you’d probably know him from that. I
was actually with some friends and the
director was someone I’d known from
theatre days. The writer was a guy called
Tony Hoare, who I’d known from friends
in the East End and he was a writer, and
he started writing when he was in prison
[Hoare spent much of the 60s in prison
after becoming involved in robbing banks
and post offices in his teens] and it was
his script so that was my first telly, and he
also wrote my London’s Burning, when I
went onto that show years later.
It was funny because it was all a bit new
for most of us. I think Alan had done the
most up until then on TV. I think it was
one of Bill Nye’s first ever telly works
as well.
So it was nice to be in it together?
That’s right.
Your first film was Elephant Man, do
you enjoy making films or was your
heart more in television at that time?
I haven’t done that many films with
good parts in them - big parts. I mean,
I’ve done indie films now but I’ve had
better parts. But my heart was in theatre
although I was doing a lot of telly then. I
did one film where I was one of the leads
in it called Loose Connections which was
directed by Richard Eyre - Sir Richard
Eyre as he is now and that was only his
second film! It was a British film and I
enjoyed doing it - it’s jus t a vast machine
really in movies so I guess I like doing
smaller British movies that are more
innovative.
I can imagine television is a bit more
fast-paced?
Well, the thing is there is a lot of hanging
about, when you were on telly but in
those days, in the 70s when we did
things like A Play for Today or Play of
the Month, we used to rehearse - it was
like a rehearsal studio. So it was like
doing a play but on the television, which
was fantastic, one of my favourite things
to do. So when I started doing Brush
Strokes, I went in for one episode and
they wrote me in for seven years until it
ended, that was great because I loved
the combination but some people hated
it. Later on I had a sitcom with me and
Ray Winstone - and Ray hated it but I
loved having a live audience. So, you’d
rehearse… and it’s like a play so you’d
rehearse in the week and then you would
go in the studio and you would record.
You’d have some bits that were filmed
outside, but then you would go into the
My grandmother was
one of the founder
members of the
Women’s Movement
in the Labour Party
and my mum was in
the Young Socialists
and she fought
against the fascists