Jodie Comer has revealed that she’d planned to shed her Liverpudlian accent early on in her career – until actor Stephen Graham urged her to keep it.
The 27-year-old actress, who has won acclaim and accolades for her role in Killing Eve, has admitted that she believed her accent had no place in the acting world.
She told the Radio Times: ‘When I was much younger, when I was with another agency and really young, I don’t know where I got it from, but I thought “I have to lose my accent”.
Accent: Jodie Comer has revealed that she’d planned to shed her Liverpudlian accent early on in her career. Pictured in September 2019
‘And I remember working with Stephen Graham and he was great. He was like, “Don’t you dare lose your accent!” And I didn’t. Maybe it’s just this idea of being working class from the North West, you don’t hear those voices all the time on television.’
The actress sat down for her interview with the publication to discuss her role in the remake of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, and revealed that she used her own accent to gradually increasing thickness as the storyline progressed.
However, Jodie opted to forgo watching Julie Walters’ 1988 turn as Lesley in the remake of Her Big Chance before settling into the role, as she feared imitating the veteran actress.
Star: Stephen Graham, who hails from Kirkby, urged Jodie to keep her accent. Pictured in 2018
‘I watched the first two minutes, then switched it off,’ Jodie confessed. ‘I love Julie Walters but I didn’t want to be influenced and end up mimicking her in some way.
‘But once I started working with Josie and found my confidence, I did watch it and I’m glad, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.
‘When you put the two next to each other they are quite different, they’ve been interpreted in different ways. And again, it speaks to the writing. There is so much life within this material, so much there to play with.’
The monologue series, starring the likes of Jodie, Imelda Staunton and Martin Freeman, will debut on BBC One with a double-bill on Tuesday 23 June – 22 years after the second series aired and 32 years since the first.
Role: Earlier this month, the first look at the remake of Alan Bennett’s masterpieces, Talking Heads, was unveiled (Jodie is pictured as Lesley in the remake of Her Big Chance)
The remake will debut on BBC One with a double-bill on Tuesday 23 June and all 12 episodes will be able to stream on BBC iPlayer.
In April, it was announced that BBC bosses were remaking Alan Bennett’s monologue masterpieces, Talking Heads, recruiting the likes of Jodie and Imelda.
The iconic monologues featured major actors such as Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge and the writer himself, Bennett, and was later adapted into a stage play.
The BBC has remade ten of the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning monologues, with the addition of two new pieces written by Bennett last year.
Reboot: The BBC has remade ten of the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning monologues, with the addition of two new pieces written by Bennett last year
The BBC’s decision to bring back the series – which debuted in 1988 with a decade-long gap before Talking Heads 2 aired in 1998 – is in part down to the current COVID-19 crisis, with the theme of isolation heavily featured throughout.
With the UK in lockdown, and production on many series halted, the minimal cast and crew required for Talking Heads has encouraged the BBC to start the remakes.
Out now: Read Jodie Comer’s full interview in the latest issue of the Radio Times, out now
The contained nature of Bennett’s monologues allowed the opportunity to tell timely and relevant stories while following the latest government guidelines on safe working practices during the pandemic, the BBC have said.
Bennett added: ‘In such difficult circumstances, that the BBC should choose to remount both series of Talking Heads, and produce two entirely new ones, is a comfort and a huge compliment.
‘I hope a new generation of actors will get and give as much pleasure as we did twenty and thirty years ago.’
Filming took place at BBC Elstree Studios using existing sets and the BBC stressed that, ‘the Talking Heads production team are following the latest government guidelines to ensure that the series is made safely and responsibly’.
Read Jodie Comer’s full interview in the latest issue of the Radio Times, out now.
The original monologues – which also starred the likes of Stephanie Cole, Thora Hird, Eileen Atkins, David Haig and Penelope Wilton – won two BAFTAs, an RTS award and have also since been included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.
They were also performed in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway in the states in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
Prior to the 1988 Talking Heads 1 series, a one-off staring Patricia Routledge as the self-important Miss Schofield was made in 1982, titled A Woman of No Importance.
Star-studded: Filming took place at BBC Elstree Studios using existing sets and the BBC stressed that, ‘the Talking Heads production team are following the latest government guidelines to ensure that the series is made safely and responsibly’
Routledge – known later for her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances [1990–1995] – went on to star in two further monologues in the subsequent series.
Typically, the episodes were set in Yorkshire, and focused on themes such as illness, guilt, delusion, death, mental health, repressed homosexuality, alcoholism and adultery.
Talking Heads will debut on BBC One with a double-bill on Tuesday 23 June.