Nicola Walker: ‘You wonder what your life has come to, telling someone what sort of biscuit you are’

Hello Nicola! Are you spending Christmas in New York?

I am. My family just came out yesterday. It looks amazing here, just maximum Christmas. They love electricity in this country. It’s madness around Times Square. We’ve had SantaCon, which is basically everyone under the age of 35 dressing up as Santa and getting really drunk.

That sounds sinister.

It is slightly. It’s nice at the start of the day, because everyone is Santa. And then come about midnight, they’re really drunk and arguing on street corners. Mr and Mrs Santa are splitting up because they’re so pissed.

Would you work more in the US if the opportunity came up? Would you be in a superhero film?

Yes. Of course. I would probably quite literally rip their arms off for it. It would just be a hilarious experience. I’ve never imagined working here, and I only am because of this production (1). There are a lot of British actors out here, and they’re all without their families. You think there’s going to be a lot of meeting people in very cool bars, but on the rare occasion that does happen, you mainly just stand in a corner and talk about how much you miss your children. People want to work here because the telly made here is so very good, plus I would have thought the pay must be very good for them to do this to themselves.

How would you describe your 2015?

It’s been quite a good year actually, work-wise. I’m worried that I’ll look back and think “Oh yeah, that was the year where I worked a lot, followed by five years of absolutely nothing.” Three of my friends, independently, sent me your article Who’s the best new TV cop: River’s Nicola Walker or Unforgotten’s Nicola Walker? (2). I read the Guardian, so it was quite heart-stopping to see myself in one of your pieces. But it was slightly ridiculous that I had two shows on at the same time. It’s not something I expected. As far as I was concerned, those jobs happened far apart. You don’t think schedulers are going to do that. But the ways of schedulers are mysterious.

If you had to pick one co-star from this year to work with again, who would it be?

That’s evil. The political answer would be to not answer it at all. But actually, out of all of them, Tom Courtenay (3). I’d do anything with Tom Courtenay. He’s just a bit of a beautiful man, and I loved sitting with him and making him lots of very poor, weak tea. But that’s unfair, because actually I had a brilliant, amazing time with Stellan [Skarsgård]. I send him very occasional emails just basically telling him how much I love him, and he very politely replies to them a few weeks later saying, “Er, yes, I also enjoyed working with you.” I’m slightly stalking him by email, but I’m trying to keep it to a minimum.

Your IMDb page is exemplary. What’s your thought process when it comes to picking parts? Presumably, you’re offered most of your roles.

No. No. Absolutely not. It has started to happen a bit more recently. I think you’re meant to feel really good about that, but it fills me with slight creeping terror. I’m used to earning the job in the room, and a couple of times I’ve been given jobs, I’ve thought “If I had to audition for this, they wouldn’t have given it to me.” Since 1992, that’s the way I’ve done it, getting in the room and convincing them that you’re the person they want.

You must be embarrassed by something you’ve done, though. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever been in?

When you mentioned IMDb, I thought you were going to talk about Thunderbirds (4). We bought a sofa with the money I made from Thunderbirds, and I’ve still got it, and we call it Thunderbird 1. That’s literally all I got out of the job. It was one cold night spent with an American child actor who kept saying to me, on a loop: “Why are you doing it like that? Is that the way you’re going to do it?” from about seven o’clock at night to five o’clock in the morning.

Do you have it deliberately written into your contract to sing in your shows?

Yeah, that’s just what I do now. I turn up and I say: “It’s very important that I sing 1970s disco hits.” Wasn’t that weird (5)? Things like that, you don’t really think about when you’re doing the job, and then they both come out together. I’m not a singer, but I enjoyed it because Stellan – even though he was in Mamma Mia – makes a great deal of the fact that he’s not a singer. He’s very good at making you feel like you can do anything.

If you did a job-swap with Sue Perkins, who would acquit themselves better?

Sue would be able to do any of my jobs, definitely. Definitely. Definitely. They would have a slightly different feel, and she would wear a lot more wigs. She loves a wig. I couldn’t present. Me and Sue have talked about this (6). As an actor, you are absolutely trained not to look down the camera. It’s a total schoolgirl error if you do. But with Sue, everything she does is about her relationship with the camera. She’d be fine and I would struggle.

I read an interview on your fansite where you refused to answer a question about the type of biscuit you would most like to be. Enough’s enough. Own up.

Well, yeah, that’s really no one’s business. There are some things I need to draw the line at, Stuart.

Come on.

You start to go a bit mad and think, “What does it mean that I like digestives? It’s a boring biscuit. Does that make me a boring person?” and you just wonder what your life has come to, telling someone what sort of fucking biscuit you are. They’re really nice people, but I couldn’t handle it. When, really, all they want to know is what my favourite type of biscuit is.

Well, congratulations for having integrity.

Yeah, I could have just lied. That’s what other actors tell me to do. I get quite fearful about interviews, so I sought advice from other actors. I asked Sanjeev Bhaskar. He’s great. He said: “Just lie, you idiot.”

What do people recognise you from?

At home, people very rarely recognise me. The embarrassing thing is that you’ll be on the tube and someone will say: “I know your face, what have you been in?” So you very quietly have to say: “Well, did you watch Spooks?” “Nah, don’t watch Spooks.” “OK, um, do you watch Last Tango in Halifax?” “Oh no, I don’t watch much telly,” and then you’re left sort of just reading out your CV on the Central line. Over here, people will lean over and say that they’ve binge-watched River on Netflix. One woman threw her arms around me and said: “Oh god, I thought you were my friend, but you’re off Last Tango.” That was nice.

What’s planned for 2016?

Well, brilliantly, you’ll be pleased to know that I won’t be bothering anyone on telly for a bit, due to not having filmed anything for so long. I get home in March, and then I think we’re filming the second series of Unforgotten in June. Everyone will think “Oh, she did really well last year, but this year? Nothing.”

Do you want to rethink the biscuit thing?

It’s still a digestive (7), I’m sorry. I’m actually ... no, I’m standing by it. I just like digestives. In a mug of tea. They have to be slightly wet. Is that too much information?

Yes. And we were getting along so well.

Oh really? Why? What sort of biscuit would you be? [Dismissively] A Hobnob?

I don’t know. Nobody ever asks me.

Well, no, why would they? Why would anyone ask me? Why would anyone ask anyone? What’s your favourite biscuit, Stuart?

Currently, probably a custard cream.

Yeah, well, I don’t like custard creams.

Footnotes

1) She’s starring in a Broadway run of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, with Russell Tovey and Mark Strong.

2) The Guardian, 20 October 2015.

3) From Unforgotten.

4) The 2004 live-action remake, where Nicola played Panhead’s mother.

5) Walker sang in both River and Unforgotten.

6) They are apparently best friends from university.

7) This is a terrible answer to a reasonable question.