Her stink bombs put a whole class in detention, but the actress and comedian regretted bombing on The News Quiz more
I have got the evidence of exactly what I was like at 16 in my diaries. I kept them all. This is evidence. So, at 16, anxiety was big with me. And I was very driven to achieve boyfriends. That was the theme of my whole life – to get a boyfriend. Those were the times. We had a sixth form common room with a kettle, which proved our adulthood. And there were some people who had lost their virginity. Not many. Actually, maybe only one in our school. But that was our goal and that was our identity.
I was an innocent troublemaker.
I felt I got into trouble by accident quite a lot. Our headmistress had a small dog who went everywhere with her and sniffed your legs. If you had to go to her office, that was bad. You knew the shit would hit the fan. One thing I did that wasn’t so innocent was a strategic stink bomb campaign timed to go off during an assembly. A few people were in on it. But then somebody told on me and the whole class got detention. So maybe my moral compass wasn’t straightforward.
I struggled at senior school when we had to knuckle down. My exam results weren’t great because I couldn’t concentrate. So I knew I wasn’t fulfilling what good pupils were able to do. I was always in that bottom group. And that’s quite something to grow up with, knowing what it feels like to be in the bottom group. Those ideas of your worth stay with you.
When I was a teenager, I loved English and acting. We didn’t do many plays but there was a sixth form revue which I wrote and did all the parts. I had a genuine need to express myself. And it wasn’t to show off, which I was accused of. I just had an urge to act. And when you’re younger, you have less life experience to tell you that actually, this will not go well.
I was a social worker before I went to drama school. I knew I wanted to help people and I was a very caring, but very anxious and chaotic social worker for about 18 months. I’d also found community theatre in Crouch End [North London] and had a very intense relationship with the guy who ran it. We’d smoke dope and listen to classical music and we’d wear wonderful ponchos and maybe an earring. It was all very exciting.
I was the happiest I have ever been at drama school. Having had a real job and been a student before that, it gave me real happiness to be just playin
