As she stars in her latest film Wicked Little Letters, a twinkly eyed Olivia Colman shows us how mischievous she can be
WORDS: ALISON JAMES/SUE DANDO IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK
Olivia Colman has made such a success of the serious roles she’s taken on throughout her impressive career – for instance, as DS Ellie Miller in ITV crime series Broadchurch, Anthony Hopkins’s daughter in ground-breaking film about Alzheimer’s, The Father, and, of course, Queen Elizabeth II in seasons three and four of The Crown.
So we sometimes forget that it was in comedy that she first came to public recognition. Sophie Chapman in cult sit-com Peep Show was her break-out role, while other humorous characters include the vicar’s wife in Rev and the wicked godmother in Fleabag – which creator Phoebe Waller Bridge wrote especially for her.
She’s flexing her comedy chops again in the darkly humorous Wicked Little Letters, released this month.
Based on a real-life, 1920s scandal that shocked the polite seaside town of Littlehampton into fear and mirth, Olivia plays devout Christian Edith Swan, who begins to receive outrageous anonymous letters, presumed to have been penned by her foul-mouthed neighbour Rose Gooding, played by Jessie Buckley.
Edith gives as good as she gets and comes out with some truly sweary tirades which, although hair-raising, are absolutely hilarious.
Certainly, it sounds as though Olivia and Jessie had a ball as they took part in verbal cat fights during filming.
“It was really fun to have a shouting match at each other and then have a hug,” says Olivia.
“We did struggle with trying not to laugh, though. There’s a bit in the square where we were really shouting at each other. It was funny because we were swearing but there were people nearby and I was thinking, ‘There are kids here and we’re calling each other all sorts of things’ which made us feel nervous and giggly.”
Jessie Buckley has said that “If you’ve got to be naughty with someone, you’d best be naughty with Olivia”.
Certainly, Ms Colman does seem to enjoy a choice cuss!
She blew a raspberry and stuck up two fingers during her acceptance speech for the Best Actress Oscar at the 2019 Academy Awards for The Favourite, when the powers-that-be tried to cut her speech short.
She was also bleeped out on a 2015 episode of This Morning when she told a very racy joke.
But while we might be offended by others turning the air blue with their language, when Olivia does it, she’s so charming
