Berena Panel MCM Con 27.05.17 (full)

I have a ton of questions that were sent directly from the fans. And since this is for the fans I’m just gonna ask their questions. J: Great, lovely So, if they’re bad, it’s not my fault! Then we’ll open it up so you all can ask questions So, have you all read some of the fan fiction that’s out there? J: What fan fiction!? C: Some Any critiques? How’s the writing? J: WHAT FAN FICTION!! C: It’s the art work that’s particularly interesting… How exciting! I think I ought to see that This question comes from Sarah on Twitter. And she wants to know if you could appear in a play together, what play would you want to be in? C: Oh! That’s tough… J: If you could appear in what? A play together J: Ooooohhh! Much Ado About Nothing C: Yeah that’s a good one J: Beatrice and Benedict C: Any kind of restoration, with fans and gossiping behind fans would be fun J: That’d be great fun I love that! Do you have a preference for TV vs. Theatre? J: Um, I’m such a contrary person, When I’m doing TV I long to do theater and when I’m doing theater I absolutely long to do TV. But, um, both I think. They’re different, completely different. Theater is terrifying. C: That’s the main difference is that television isn’t frightening because if you fuck it up you can do it again. On the stage if you fuck it up you feel terrible and you are reliant on your fellow actors to help you make sure that the audience aren’t aware which 9 times out of 10 they do, but it’s the feat factor that’s the main difference J: Yes. The difference for an actor, I think, is that once your, first of all you have a rehearsal period. It’s so fast, what we do, it’s lovely being, you know, to have a group of actors, on the set that we work on which is known as AAU, we have the most wonderful company of actors and it’s like an old-fashioned rep system. You get to work with each other, you get to know each other, you get to work with each other, you get to know how to play very very quickly and it’s been the most fabulous experience. In the theater, you get a rehearsal period to really investigate, and that is what you miss… C: You miss the rehearsal time. But when you’re doing theater you miss the money! When you have some Berena scenes, how much rehearsal is there? C: None, hardly any J: None. Occasionally there is. But that scene that we played on the roof, the very last one, there was no rehearsal time at all, it was the end of the day, we had five minutes to film that scene and we just had to do it. But, it’s that lovely thing of when you get to know someone, the person that you’re playing with, and trust them, and they trust you, you can just go for it, and you follow each other C: Yes, and playing that (unclear) a spoken moment, that’s just the way that television works, there’s very little rehearsal time, you come on set, you read through the scene once, you then rehearse it maybe once, you do it in front of the camera team, and then you’re filming, J: It’s very very lucky that, um, I feel enormously, um, grateful for this part, and I feel particularly grateful that I played it with Catherine, because Catherine is a really very very fine actress, and, um, and I mean, we are different, we work differently, and I think that’s why it worked for us, and I feel really privileged to have played this part with this person sitting on my right, this person here. C: And also, (unclear) because you can’t rehearse, and you can’t fathom is thee onscreen chemistry that people tell us we have. You couldn’t have got that with someone else I don’t think J: No I think there’s quite a lot of chemistry. Everyone’s nodding, everyone’s saying yeah! Um, was Bernie always intended as a love interest? C: Yes J: Yes C: We were (unclear), I don’t know if you heard in the last interview we just did, we were both asked how we feel about that, and without hesitation we both said Both: Yes! C: Why would you say no? Look at her! Do you have a favorite scene? A favorite Berena scene? J: Well we said that, we said that the scene where we had our first kiss, I think, I think all, I’ve really enjoyed, I really enjoyed the whole experience, but I kind of like, I love the playful scenes. They are playful, yes. C: What we’ve enjoyed the most I think is the build up to that first kiss, which was, although we knew where the characters were supposed to be going, there was nothing actually scripted. So all of the nods and winks and touches and flirting with each other were entirely of our own making. So the lead up was fun to play. J: It was really, we could, we were, I think you told me, I wasn’t aware because I never am, never am, that this #Berena had started, waaaaay before the romance established itself and you said “they’ve got it” C: Yep, and really really early on, from that first meeting where you come out with your cigarette, so that was great, really great Did you know each other before working together? Both: No C: We knew of each other obviously but we’d never met Do you have a favorite musical artist or band. C: Now I’d say something obvious like Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland and things like that J: Yes, we sing a lot of musical numbers at work. C: Much to the irritation of Alex Walkinshaw! J: Laughs C: Musical theater is strong on the set of Holby City J: I saw the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in concert recently so I’ll just say them. Because I had the best night, in the mosh pit Deborah wants to know if you could play any character on the show, who would you want to play? C: Another character on Holby? Yeah J: Any character on Holby? each other maybe? J: Oh I’d be Guy’s character C: Henrik Hansen? J: Yes C: I think I’d be Henrik but that’s probably because I’d want to be as good as Guy Henry J: Yeah I agree (laughs) Also he gets to play with everybody C: That’s true. He does get to play with everybody. The show covers a lot of serious topics. Do you ever feel pressure to make sure you’re dealing with the issues in a powerful and meaningful way? C: Well we both did with this storyline. We felt very responsible for getting it right. Because the lesbian representation on mainstream television is… J: There isn’t any! C: …particularly of our age is non-existent! So we were very keen to make sure that we got that right for you. J: I think that it’s your responsibility as an actor to do, um, is to play whatever scene you play with conviction and as much truth as you can bring to it and the rest belongs to the creative team and the writers. I saw the creative team, obviously we are creative, but I mean, yep the writers. C: The hardest, most difficult one I had, was the storyline, do you remember, where my mother had dementia and then subsequently died. And my own mother, didn’t have dementia, but had died not that long ago before I did that, and threw up a whole load of stuff that was exhausting. Are there any storylines that you hoped to see come to fruition? C: My imagination isn’t that good. You know, if somebody says they want me to say these lines, I will generally go “Yes thank you very much for the lines” and say them. I’m not very good, some actors are very good at going up to the producers and saying I think my character should do this or should do that J: Yeah C: I don’t think either of us J: I’ve never done that C: Have ever done that. No we’re not very good at that. Was there a storyline, like your mother’s storyline, that was particularly meaningful to you? J: Oooh. Um, yes there was a storyline, about breast cancer, that was particularly meaning to me because my mother had breast cancer, and my aunt had breast cancer and I found that actually quite difficult. Is it hard when you’re watching the show, you’re doing scenes and you’re watching the show and it does affect, and it does remind you of things, is that hard as an actor? To be in the scene and deal with what’s going on inside you? J: Yes, sometimes it is quite hard. And to try and separate the two is sometimes, you know, you find, if for whatever reason, you, everything, sometimes, inside you is slightly at odds with what you have to play, because your own experience, but they’re not writing your own experience, they’re writing someone else’s experience, and you have to separate the two, but it’s quite hard sometimes, yeah. C: I think one of the hardest things on the job that we do, is that a lot of the time, although don’t get me wrong we’re not down the mine and we’re very well paid, but, when it’s a storyline that’s a long storyline and a heavy storyline, not only is it difficult to detach from the storyline but you’re also shattered, because you are up at 5am in the morning and get home about, well I get home, about twenty past eight, but also… Thames Link!! J & Audience: Laughs C: Oh you know about this? So, there’s all that other stuff going on as well that makes it hard. But it is, listen, it’s a great job and we love doing it. How do you deal with that, what is your release… C: TWITTER! J&A: Laughs What about you? C: That’s certainly my answer! J: Sorry how do you deal with? How do you deal with all of that? J: Oh, the difficult stuff Yeah J: You have, I have, I have friends on set and we get each other through some of the difficult stuff. I think You have a support team? J: Yup. We are very supportive of each other That’s so nice C: It is, honestly, I know everyone says in their interviews that Holby is a lovely place to work and everyone is friends and we get on with each other and we do. I think the practical side of that is that if you sign a contract for a year and you know you’re going to be with the same group of people for a year, whereas if you’re doing a short job you might find other people irritating and they bug you, you know, you just get on with it for a year, you sort it out, make sure you’re all on the same page, which 90% of the time we are. You both grew up with actors in the family. How much did that affect you and influence your choices J: I don’t know that I made a choice. I just sort of, it, I naturally went into a familiar place. I mean I grew up with the theater. It’s a very privileged childhood if you’re around the theater because it’s an imaginative world that takes you in at any age, and um, and I started going to see um, I started going to see my family in plays from the age of five, and so that was what I knew. And I, loved it. And I still love it.. And I feel tremendously privileged to um, do a job that supports me that I love C: It was our norm. You know, same as any profession that gets into a family it’s very easy to follow that. Interestingly, the thing I learned most from watching my father was how not to be unemployed. In so much as, unemployed, because when he was not working he just became depressed and miserable and just sat on his arse and didn’t do anything, and I can remember at quite a young age thinking I’m not going to do that”, hence, you know, thumb twiddling. You’ve got to embrace the moments when you’re not working as much as the moments when you are otherwise that way madness lies, because in acting you are always going to have periods of unemployment. That comes with the territory… J: Long, long, long, periods of unemployment C: Sometimes long periods, Yes! You have to learn to cut your cloth, sometimes you have a champagne week, sometimes you have a lemonade week and sometimes it’s water form a tap and you have to learn to deal with that, and embrace that. Before I open it up to audience questions I have to ask Jemma a Dr Who question J: Yes I have to. Um, is there a chance that we’re seeing Kate again soon? J: I don’t know. It’s out of my hands. But I hope very much we will be, yes. Ok. I’ll have to accept that. If you have a question start raising your hands and I’m going to run around. Yes, you have a question? Q1: Hi! If you guys had to arm wrestle, who is likely to win? C: Let’s find out A: Cheers and laughter J: No you’re not serious I do not condone violence on stage C: No idea J: I think you would C: I don’t know we’re both pretty competitive J: We are, we are. I think I’m the most competitive person I know C: No I’m the most competitive person I know J: No I’m the most competitive person I know! It’s extraordinary we’ve survived this long as friends. We’re gonna jump straight over here. No. Where did the questions go? Raise your hands. Oh ok, ok. I’m not really a runner to don’t judge me. (Unseen: Interviewer is running to the other side of the theater to take another question) C: laughs Q2: Hello. So my question is for both of you, but more specifically for Jemma. J: Yes Q2: Bramwell, is my favorite show. I am looking at starting a career in television and film and I was wondering, specifically on period dramas, what is the set atmosphere like and what is it like to work on a period drama? J: Um, pretty much, it’s not a huge difference, it just takes a bit longer getting out of costume in the morning. C: Peeing is a pain J: And you don’t want to eat too much at lunchtime because the corset is so bloody tight. Mine was, I’m terribly vain as well as very competitive, so my corset was very tight indeed, and I’d recently had a baby, was quite helpful actually. But it’s um, I don’t, I don’t really think there’s a huge amount of difference. Um, except for things do take a bit longer, and you need a few horses every now and again, and if you’re shooting outside, it’s harder to create an environment, it’s more expensive to create an environment that looks like the 1890’s as opposed to 2017. Um, but, it’s, oh boy it’s ever so fun. I do remember once, lighting and tv, lighting in tv and film they often use polys, these white, polystyrene boards to bounce the light off so it’s not quite so hard. And, um, quite a few times I just took my top skirt off and they used my petticoats, instead of a poly. So softer lighting is something you can do in a period. Thank you, do you have a question? Q3: Hi! This is a question for Jemma. The news has just come out this week that you’re doing a play in Birmingham, which is very exciting. J: haha Q3: Um, can you tell us a bit more about that and will you be returning to Holby? J: Um, the play is a play by Tom Kempinski, called Duet for One, and it’s a two hander, set in a psychiatrists consulting room, C: You’re kidding me! J: Yeah, yeah, YEAH! OH! It’s not a comedy hahaha. C: Yet…! J: Oh God. Yeah, anyway. It’s er, It’s about a woman who’s a solo violinist, um, who’s been struck down by multiple sclerosis, so there are echoes of… um, oh…the cellist, you know the one, C: (unclear) J: No. Du Pres, yes, Jacquie Du Pres, um, but it’s not about her, it’s er somebody coming to terms with a huge loss and struggling to deal with that, and um, it’s a terrific play, and um, and, and, yeah, it’s scary, but it’s a big challenge, but it’s going to be um, it’s, well it’s going to happen because I said yes, so there we are, anyway, um, Holby I…I, Holby I don’t know, if they ask me to come back. We have another question here Q4: Hi! If you could play any character, past of present from any tv program or film what would it be? Any character from past or present TV who would you want to play? C: Well I said Sally Bowles earlier on today, um, you said any baddie J: I quite fancy Emma Peel from the Avengers C: I’ll go Dr Who A: Cheers and laughs They are looking for a new Doctor Absolutely, I’m free! Right here in the centre Q5: Hello. Um, you were talking about lesbian representation earlier, how there’s none of it. When you took on this storyline and you knew it was going to be heading that way, did you know it was going to head to this? C: No we didn't It’s amazing. And no we didn’t, at all. Um, it has been, extraordinary, and heart-warming, but also, it’s troubling, isn’t it, in this day and age, we should be, still, having to support it quite so much. Shouldn’t that just be what TV is. So, it’s been a surprise, yeah, but you’ve made it a delightful surprise. Genuinely. J: Yes. You did. Absolutely. It’s been, um, it’s been quite something actually. Quite something. We have another question. J: Hello. Q6: Hi. Um, I just wanna know what’s the one thing you’ve enjoyed most about working with each other? Like, since you’ve been on Holby, the one thing you like most about each other. So like, we all love your laugh, your laugh is… A&J: laughs J: That’s so sweet of you to say so, there are so many people in my family who don’t agree with that sentiment. C: I think the thing that’s been the greatest thing for me, Jemma touched on it earlier on, that we do work in different ways, and that has been a strength rather than a weakness. Sometimes when you work with another actor who works in a very different way it can be difficult to match your style with their style and to work out how… and actually we didn’t even notice so much ourselves, but Rosie Marcell, um, who plays Jac Naylor, we don’t work with very much at all really do we, well you did to begin with, but I don’t. She came down and did one scene with us, and said “oh my god, I get it, I get what the fuss is about” and I said “well what do you mean?”, and she said “you both work so differently, and yet this sort of ball of energy between you, here, works, and your energies both sort of meet here” and it’s something that we had no control over, and that I think has been the most exciting thing about it. J: Yes, I think that’s, I think that’s spot on. I think um, I think it helps that we both have a sense of humor. Because, I think if you can laugh, like any relationship in life, if you can laugh at somebody, you’re most of the way there. But, er, I think we are, I think what I really enjoy about it, is um, I think it, I think, Ugh…. You’re very meticulously prepared and I’m a bit more sort of fluid, I think that’s fair to say. And you have notes all over your script, and I have none! And that’s actually, been fantastic, because it’s also, it’s allowed, you don’t seem to be phased by my slightly more fluid approach, I love your, the way that you work, and, it means there’s space for each other to work with each other in a way that works for both of us. C: Yep, J: I don’t know if that makes any sense to anybody outside a film studio It makes lots of sense, and it’s beautiful Q7: Hi, this is a question for Catherine. How many times a day do you get to hear Jemma’s crazy laugh? J: Oh god! C: As you know I haven’t been there for a bit, but I went back the other day for a do, and I was on the loo, Jemma was rooms away, and I sat on the loo and thought “ah, that’s what I missed” Wonderful. There’s someone over there, who I believe has something to give you, now would be the time. Everyone give her some applause A: cheering C: Hi Vicki! Vicki: These are fan books, made by me and contributed to by your fans, C: Wow They’re fan books J: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. J: Oh! C: Look at that! Make sure you check them for autographs and photo ops. Post all of your photos and tag me. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Catherine and Jemma C: Pleasure J: Oh, that’s so brilliant C: Thank you, thank you J: Thank you very much.