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Another extraordinary night of RHLSTP tonight, with a great chat with Joe Wilkinson (ostensibly on to discuss his new book, but too self-conscious to say much about it!) and then an extraordinary reunion with my ex-girlfriend Julia Sawalha. If anything it was even more explosive and revealing, excruciating and lovely than last year's chat with Sally Phillips.
I haven't seen Julia for over 20 years so it was always likely to be slightly weird and potentially disastrous, but we didn't part on terrible terms. At least that's what I thought, Julia has a very different memory than mine of how things ended, but I am too gentlemanly to give my version. I am roundly booed and hissed by my own audience for Julia's (incorrect) version, which was an interesting experience.
I know we saw each other about six months later and things were OK then. But mainly we had a lovely, if occasionally turbulent time, complicated by the fact we were working together on a sitcom that I was writing week by week. Again Julia surprised me with a story about what she found me doing in my office at 4am as I was supposed to be working on my script. You'll have to wait til the podcast comes out to find out what that was (again I don't remember this, but in this case have no doubt that it is true) - and what nickname her and her friend Janine (the tiny lady in Time Gentlemen Please) still use for me. There are some big revelations, but it's mainly filled with fondness and laughter, undercut by our weird origin story. Not many couples get together after one party has televised their desire to trap the other in a well.
Most importantly though the podcast is a celebration of Julia's remarkable career and work ethic (there's some amazing stuff about the character work in Ab Fab) and some passionate discussion of her absence from a certain movie franchise.
I am not sure there is enough time left to me to interview all my ex-partners, but there's something remarkable about doing this, when enough time has passed for the dust to settle, be hoovered up and placed in a bin. There is a battle of fairies versus medicine, but a very compelling ghost story and also lots of piss taking, mainly due to my decision to wear my most ridiculous pair of shoes (for comic effect, but that certainly worked).
I am not sure if I would feel happier if I had ended up with a more dangerous nickname than the one I've got, but I guess if I had that Julia might not have readily agreed to do the show. Our shared spirit guide probably had something to do with it.
Joe's podcast will be out on Friday, but I think you'll have to wait until April for Julia. That's why it pays to come and
see the shows live. Also I am going to cut out all the bits where I am made to look bad or stupid, so again SEE THE SHOWS LIVE.
