An Interview with Richard Curtis (2001) - full transcript

Well, I had a disastrous schooling.

Because I found it extremely boring
and wasn't interested in almost anything.

So I forgot to listen.

The result was, I didn't get any...
not even an O level.

I was always showing off and acting the fool,
really.

And sol became an amateur actor
at the age of 14.

And then became a filing clerk
in an office in Holborn,

because of no educational qualifications.

And then I went to National Service.

And I joined the amateur theatrical society there.

The trouble is, the officers got all the big parts,
I found out very quickly.



So I only got very small ones.

After National Service...
l had an illustrious second cousin -

my father's cousin was Terry-Thomas.

And he suggested I would try and get a training
in a drama school and I scraped into RADA.

And that's how I sort of started.

So I've done nothing really other than act,

and now I'm 76 and still trying to get it right.

Well, I had been quite well known through
Marriage Lines with Prunella Scales,

a sort of sitcom about a young married couple.

So I'd made a bit of a name myself on telly.

And John Howard Davies
became a friend of mine.

He was a lovely actor when he was a child
and a brilliant director when he grew up.

And he said, "John Esmonde and Bob Larbey,
the two writers,

thought of this idea about going green,
growing your own, and becoming self-sufficient.



And they'd love you to front it."

So I said I'd love to see a script
and I got the script.

And I thought, "It's all right, it's very pleasant."

And the first script, of course,
was all laying the plot, which I had to do.

But I thought it was very middle class,
which I am,

slightly posh middle class, which I am,

and rather southern.

I thought, "Will it have a wider appeal?”

And, of course, a marvellous thing to happen

was when I left my job
and took the spade and dug into the earth.

Of course, I became classless.

And so everybody, as it were,
recognised the type of person I was.

The other wonderful thing that happened
was to get the girls,

Penelope Keith and Felicity Kendal.

They were in a play of Alan Ayckbourn's
in London.

So John Howard Davies
was able to go and see them,

and realised, you know,
they were perfect for the parts.

And then we got...
l think Peter Bowles was up for the other part,

but unfortunately got held up with other work,
and couldn't do it.

So we got dear old Paul Eddington,
who unfortunately is not with us any more.

He was perfect for that sort of rather urbane,
more sophisticated style,

against my kind of slightly clownish thing
that I do.

So we had four really good actors,

and all of us got on terribly well,

because we were all from the stage,
we were all from repertory training.

And so we knew a bit about our craft.

We were all in our 30s or late 30s then.

We just gelled together.

And John Howard Davies was, again,
such a sympathetic director.

And the result was that Episode One,
when you think of it,

the dynamite we had in
Penelope Keith's part, Margo...

She wasn't even seen. She was a voiceover
in Episode One, if you remember.

The format was that Felicity and I
would be the two leading parts

and they would support us, the other two.

We very quickly realised that we had
such a powerful duo in Paul and Penelope

that one of the writers said,
"Do you think we should write them up?"

I said, "I think we're going to have to,"

because particularly Penelope was dynamite.

And so she became our...

You know, we played our ace with her.

And she became
the most extraordinarily famous actress

through playing that wonderful part,
perfect for her.

I still watch it occasionally, the repeats -
I mean, it was 35 years ago.

And I love her clothes,

every time she comes through that door,

from that rather silly house of theirs.

And she's just ready always
for the CBE from the palace.

Very funny indeed.

Yes, Tom Good was a super part,

but it relied really on me being
more or less my own personality.

Later, they wrote a thing called
Ever Decreasing Circles,

and I had the part of Martin Bryce,
a wonderful character part.

He came from a different social clime.

He's a totally different person from me
in every way.

But I'm only an actor.

I don't plant things, I don't grow things.

I have a very tidy mind as far as getting
my edges done on the lawn.

But I'm a non-creative gardener.

So it was all new to me.

So I was not really like Tom Good.

(Chuckles)

The great thing about The Good Life
was we all got on so well.

We still remain friends.

Paul's gone, but I see Penelope.

She's now president of
the Actors' Benevolent Fund,

and I'm on the board there.

So I see her once a month.

And we always have a chat and a laugh
about the old days.

And Felicity I see quite a bit, not quite as much.

We've always kept in touch.
We were all very fond of each other.

We were a tightly-knit team.

When you do sitcom, it's quite alarming.

So you share the fear.

And that draws you together,
rather like the Blitz.

It's the same atmosphere as the Blitz.

Well, comedy, of course,
is much quicker than tragedy.

So you've got less time to think.

And so you require speed and timing.

That's really all you need, and, of course,
a personality that people don't find revolting.

It always helps if they like you.

In fact, I always think it's more important
that they like you than they laugh at you.

You become a kind of friend to the family

if you're lucky enough to get something
like The Good Life, which became so popular.

So you become a kind of mate.

And that's quite a responsibility.

You think,
"I hope it's going to be good this week."

Of course, in those days,

the writers - Esmonde and Larbey -
they were up and coming all the time.

They'd written things before

but they cared very much
for the quality of their work - very much -

in spite of the fact it was very lightweight
and very amusing.

And so they wrote it with great intensity
and they wouldn't do more...

I think we did 30 episodes,
including the Royal one.

But they said, "No, we're running out of ideas,

and if we run out of ideas,
we're not going to start squeezing it out for...

money, money, money." You know?

So nowadays they'll do 70 episodes.

We did 30. They wanted to get off at the top,

when the material and the performances
were still good, and that's what happened.

There were several that I liked very much.

I liked them all, really.

But I think probably the one about the pigs -

the little runt that was going to die and we had to
give him milk and brandy and everything -

that was a very... a very funny episode

and all of us, again, worked very much together.

Everybody had their own particular material.

And so nobody was playing the lead.

We were very much a group.

And then, of course, the famous Christmas one,
which is put out almost every Christmas on TV.

Which is pretty hilarious.

When Margo and Jerry
can't get Christmas delivered...

They fail to completely give them, send them,
the food and the tree and all that,

so they come round for Christmas with us.

And that was the classic scene
where we have put paper hats on,

which Tom has made from newspapers.

And Margo puts hers on and she realised
to her horror it's the Daily Mirror.

She said, "But this is the Daily Mirror."

I said, "Margo, I'm so sorry.
Have the Telegraph."

And I gave her the Telegraph off my head.

That was one of my favourite jokes.

Those were the little highlights
that always remain with you after all this time.

We had several people who were, as it were,
influenced by the show.

I don't know how many.
I suppose 40 or 50 people.

Couples who wanted to do what we were doing.

Which was a great mistake...

because the life is hell.

You're up at 4:30 in the morning, for a start.

With the winter we're just having at the moment,

can you imagine getting up
to plant carrots and things?

It's too appalling to think of.

And so I think we ended up with...

I went back to the house, funnily enough,
about two years ago,

and there were a very nice family there,

and they keep chickens,
which was rather touching.

So they're trying to... They gave me three eggs,
which was very nice of them.

So people are trying to do the good life,
as it were,

but economically it can't work.

You've got to go broke.
You can't do it just as a couple.

It's a lovely idea.

It's like what I do - read gardening magazines
but don't go near the garden too often.

It's in your mind, it's very amusing.

Yes, I'm asked that several times.

They say, "What about Barbara and Tom?
Would they survive?"

I would think... I'm afraid they wouldn't have.

Economically they couldn't have done it
on their own.

I mean, if the whole road had done it,
and you got 50 people at it,

you might be able to
just about get by economically.

Now, of course, everything's so expensive.

So I'm afraid...
I don't know what they would have done.

It's too horrible to think of.
He would've had to go back to that job.

It started very slowly, the popularity of it.
The ratings began very slow.

And it suddenly took on,
as these things strangely do,

and John Howard Davies said,
"They don't like the show - they love it."

I thought it was a terrible responsibility
to keep the standard going.

And so it went on.
Most people, they took it to their hearts.

I never thought it would run this long, as it were,
in people's memories

and people's affections.

I'm still amazed.

But it's come round again in a funny way
because everyone's so broke now,

everybody's on the allotment list,
trying to plant things.

So in a way it's sort of come full circle.

In the '70s, of course, we had the...

the Wombles of Wimbledon.

They used to collect rubbish
and sort of recycle it.

So it was always in the wind,
this sort of thing of self-sufficiency.

And I think one time
the writers were a bit worried

because several other writers had got the idea

and were planning or beginning
to write something -

whether it was a sitcom, we don't know -

about self-sufficiency.

So we thought we'd better get on with it
and get it in quick so we're first.

But there was the dear old Wombles.

And they did recycle, so there we are.

We were told by the bosses that Her Majesty
and the Duke of Edinburgh

were going to arrive to see an episode
of The Good Life at Shepherd's Bush,

which sort of struck terror in our hearts, really.

And... they suggested we should do it live,
because we mustn't hold up Her Majesty.

You know, she doesn't want to sit there
being bored by four actors.

I said, "If you're going to do it live,
you'll have to find someone else to play Tom,

because my nerves would never take it."

16 million people, you know.
If you go wrong, it's not very nice.

So, anyway, they saw the error of their ways
and we recorded it,

and of course she loved the mistakes.

She adored... All the audience,
they love it when you go wrong.

You don't like it, but they love it.

And so it was an extraordinary night.

We were sitting in Make-up,
with a little television box in the corner.

And then these huge cars coming
round the corner into the Television Centre

at five miles an hour.

Pretty impressive.

And Penelope Keith said,
"Oh, it's her, and she's come to see us!"

So it was quite a memorable evening.

And they really seemed to enjoy it very much.

I think we just pipped to the post
dear old Ronnie Barker.

Because it was a toss-up
between that and Porridge.

The Two Ronnies, I beg your pardon,
and The Good Life,

and The Good Life just got in first.