The marvellously mirthful Miriam Margolyes

[Mel O'Drama]

Outrageousness personified.

​

Her lack of any kind of filter is admirable. She's basically this cheeky imp, delighting in others' prudish discomfort at her blunt delivery. Like Kenneth Williams, her erudition and crisp air of authority allows her to get away with... pretty much anything.

I also appreciate that behind the sometimes savagely cutting remarks is a speaker of truth. If she doesn't like someone she'll simply say so. She's disarmingly frank about everything from her political views to her sexuality to her career to other actors to language. We share some of the same bugbears, but either way I find her just coming out with it incredibly endearing.

She seems to have developed a cult following in recent years, no doubt in large part due to her Harry Potter appearances and - more recently still - being a reliably candid chat show guest, making numerous returns to see Phil, Holly and Norton with the hosts knowing all they need do is say "And what about you, Miriam" and they're guaranteed they'll be given a NSFW soundbite. It's always a joy to see other guests squirm awkwardly in their seats as she speaks. Like so...

I suppose her humour is also very British, since it's invariably American co-guests who seem the most shocked, whereas the Brits seem to just enjoy watching her do her thing. The Norton she did with will.i.am was enjoyable as he just didn't know what to make of her at first, but she quickly won him over and by the end they were cuddling up on the sofa together as though she was his favourite aunt.

Other than Phryne Fisher's prudish aunt, I don't associate Miriam with any one role or series. She's simply one of those comfortingly familiar presences.

I do wish she'd done more Just A Minute. Her sole episode, recorded in 1979, is a favourite of mine. She appeared alongside Kenneth Williams himself. While you might think it would be too much or they'd get over-competitive or simply cancel out one another's outrageousness, they complemented one another really well and seemed to both respect and revel in the other's quirkiness. She was incredibly cheeky to Nicholas Parson's, which KW would have loved.

I've ordered a copy of her memoir and I'm looking forward to reading it as I'm sure it will be filled with her usual pithy frankness. It will also be good to learn more about her as from the few titbits I know it seems she's led a fascinating life.

 

[Angela Channing]

Without meaning to trivialise her talent, one of her best performances was voicing the rabbit in the Cadbury's Caramel adverts because she convinces in a character that is completely different to who she is:

 

[Barbara Fan]

I enjoyed her 95% in The Real Marigold hotel but she has a bit of a potty mouth and I think after a while I could switch her off on chat shows and have done in the past

I think she has a lovely speaking voice though and good diction!! Otherpeople especially on the BBC could take note of this as some are shocking and dont even know how they got a job

 

[Sarah]

The BBC’s stance on everyone having to speak like the Queen has gone in recent years to give more people a chance and to reflect the diversity in the (so called) UK. The complaints we used to and sometimes still get from people regarding accents in particular is shocking and occasionally racist.

Anyway Miriam has a book out!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Without meaning to trivialise her talent, one of her best performances was voicing the rabbit in the Cadbury's Caramel adverts because she convinces in a character that is completely different to who she is

Oh my goodness. I had no idea that was Miriam. Never in a million years would I have equated the two so that's blown my mind a little.

I think she has a lovely speaking voice though and good diction!!

Absolutely. She's also an ambassador who speaks out against trendy slang and deliberate misuse of language.

I thoroughly enjoyed her little rant about the annoying use of the word "like" twice in every sentence (30 seconds into the video):

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've ordered a copy of her memoir and I'm looking forward to reading it

Anyway Miriam has a book out!

My signed copy has arrived...!

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I was secretly hoping Miriam might have written something really rude inside as it seems like the sort of thing she'd do. She didn't, but she does have a lovely moniker.

Now it's willpower time as someone's kindly offered to buy it as a Christmas present, so once I checked the signature was present and correct it was packed away again and I shan't see it again until late December.

 

[Sarah]

She’s actually appearing on Nolan Live tonight here in N Ireland

 

[Ome]

Her documentary on Miriam's Big American Adventure was outstanding, and she spoke through her heart with all her findings. She oozes excellent warmth and humour; I could watch her in anything and feel like I was getting a top-class experience.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Her documentary on Miriam's Big American Adventure was outstanding, and she spoke through her heart with all her findings. She oozes excellent warmth and humour;

I've been meaning to watch this. And it appears to be in iPlayer.

They also have:

• Miriam's Dead Good Adventure (where she explores our relationship with death)
• Miriam's Big Fat Adventure (where she investigates why obesity is on the rise)
• Almost Australian (looking at what it means to be Australian)

So that's me sorted for the coming week or so! Thanks for the reminder, Ome.

She’s actually appearing on Nolan Live tonight here in N Ireland

Did you watch it? I'd love to know how cheeky she was.

 

[Sarah]

No I’m usually working on it @mel

I've been meaning to watch this. And it appears to be in iPlayer.

They also have:

• Miriam's Dead Good Adventure (where she explores our relationship with death)
• Miriam's Big Fat Adventure (where she investigates why obesity is on the rise)
• Almost Australian (looking at what it means to be Australian)

So that's me sorted for the coming week or so! Thanks for the reminder, Ome.





Did you watch it? I'd love to know how cheeky she was.

No I’m usually working on the show but I was off on Wed. I think you should be able to see it on iPlayer.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

No I’m usually working on the show but I was off on Wed.

Oh, that's a shame. What an experience that could have been.

I think you should be able to see it on iPlayer.

Oh - you're right!! Thanks for that!!

I'm watching the start of it now and from the preview it looks like Miriam is going to take aim at "these pathetic anti-vaxers".

 

[Mel O'Drama]

She’s actually appearing on Nolan Live tonight here in N Ireland

Aww. That was a really nice interview. Funny, frank and quite touching at times.



A few choice soundbites:

I promise I won't say anything naughty.

My tits are down to me ankles and I have to kick them out of the way when I walk.

People think of me as a funny little thing, but actually I'm a very serious and moral person. I'm rather prim... But I enjoy shocking people. I like saying "f**k" and "shit" and so on... It delights me... I've never grown up... I'm just a naughty little girl, and I go "tee hee".

The only thing I battle about is politics. And I'm on the left, darling... I think [Boris Johnson]'s incompetent and has, in effect, murdered thousands of people.

I have no time for these pathetic anti-vaxers. [They're] nuts and selfish. Absolutely disgraceful... I don't support it and I'd put them all in prison. I can't bear them. I won't let them in my house... I would refuse them treatment.

Life, actually, is sweet. It's been sweet to me so I want to go on as long as I can. When you read, as you probably will, that I have died, you will know that I died angry. Angry at dying. Angry at not being given more time.

 

[Angela Channing]

Aww. That was a really nice interview. Funny, frank and quite touching at times.



A few choice soundbites:

The term national treasure is overused these days but those quotes show why she is a genuine national treasure.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The term national treasure is overused these days but those quotes show why she is a genuine national treasure.

Definitely. She covered a lot of ground in a short space of time and kind of put the world to rights.

I love Miriam's directness but she also turns that on herself and there's a self-deprecation and sadness when she speaks frankly about gaining weight and or getting older with the fears of having a stroke or becoming otherwise ill. She's a little dynamo, but also very reflective and aware of her own mortality, which I find quite touching.

I wonder if she found writing the memoirs therapeutic on that level.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

A nice interview from Miriam's naturalised home of Australia where she seems to be at least as adored as she is here:

When I was much younger I used to do sex tapes... You are in a studio, but you're just panting at the engineer... And it's very exhausting - it does give me a headache - so I only made two.

Her Glasgow Southside accent is very impressive.




On the subject of Oz, here's Miriam's Australian Citizenship Ceremony

I fell in love with an Australian woman - by the way, in case anyone didn't know I was a dyke - and I'm very happy and we've been together since 1968, so that just shows you can do it.

Had a lovely curry last night. I hope you can't smell it.

I'm just very happy to be here and I will be with friends and the rest of my life will be joyous.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Her documentary on Miriam's Big American Adventure was outstanding, and she spoke through her heart with all her findings. She oozes excellent warmth and humour

Last night I watched the first episode of Miriam's Big American Adventure and absolutely loved it.

As always, Miriam made me laugh a great deal, but it was also informative and sweet. It's wonderful to see how her forthright outspokenness allowed her to connect so quickly and so completely across the board, from staff in upmarket stores to her AirBnB hosts to an immigrant from the Congo to gang members in Chicago. She seems so genuinely interested in people. All people.

I did admire her fearlessness. The cynic in me did question if Miriam was ever really in that much danger of being caught in the literal crossfire of rival gangs and wondered if the filmmakers were playing it up a bit. Surely the BBC wouldn't allow a septuagenarian actress to risk their life in this way. But even if this were true (and it may not be), there's no doubting she willingly went to the wrong side of the tracks to get her story.

The culture clash was fascinating as well. She was clearly thrown by her AirBnB host hugging her as soon as they met (as would I be), and in turn they giggled nervously when she announced she wanted a wee instead of using an American euphemism.

Her shopping trip was also a riot to watch for her refusal to dress things up in any sense of the word:

On culture, Miriam and I share many of the same bugbears. I too don't like flags and I agree with her that they divide people, and I usually feel uneasy when I see a house with a flag of any kind outside. I also appreciated her refusal to tolerate inbuilt jingoism and wanted to cheer when she challenged someone (who'd probably never left the US) for parroting that America is the greatest country in the world and American people the kindest. As she reminded him, "You don't know that" and told him that his comments were coming from a place of arrogance and conceit, which rubs people up the wrong way. It was a delight to watch the gapes and discomfiture around the now-silent table when she'd finished.

Her little sneer - almost a non-comment - when she passed Trump Tower was telling as well. And she was coming into a place divided by its then-leadership.

I also loved her open-mindedness. Despite her questions about why anyone would want to become an American citizen at that time, she was openly moved by watching her newfound friend doing just that at a ceremony, along with 96 others. And she admitted to a shift in her perception.

I was intrigued that she was using a wheelchair at times and a walking stick at others and mentioned (I think) bladder problems, and wondered if she'd had some kind of surgery shortly before it was made.


A little premature, perhaps, since I have two episodes still to watch, but here's what Miriam had to say about the series at the time it aired:

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Thanks again, @Ome, for reminding me of this series. I've been meaning to watch it for a while and had quite forgotten. I'll also be diving into her three other documentary adventure series after I finish this one.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I greedily gobbled up the final two thirds of Miriam's Big American Adventure last night, and it really did feel like an adventure. She packed a lot of experience into those six weeks or however long that 500 mile journey lasted.

It was fascinating to see her bringing her new perspective which seemed to challenge people in a way they hadn't quite been challenged before. The Trump-loving sheriff she spent time with was a great example of this. Here is this larger than life authority figure inviting her into HIS office, driving her round in HIS car and inviting him to HIS home to meet his wife and family (a large sign outside their front door has a graphic of a shotgun with the chilling warning "We don't call 911"). Many might feel the need to toe the line on someone else's turf, but not Miriam. She was able to disagree forcefully yet respectfully while still remaining the (mostly) gracious guest.

It was a very similar experience with the cowboy and his wife. I found it really compelling to watch his reactions to Miriam because it didn't seem to occur to him that someone would be anything other than a conservative heterosexual Christian. One got a sense that he was surprised to find this endearing woman was "them" rather than his "us", and he seemed to like it. Which went both ways.

You have to love her immediacy when giving opinions. If she's asked to back up a statement she does so quickly and with confidence because it's coming from her place of truth so she doesn't need to think about it.

Miriam's visit to prison was sweet. As with her meeting the gang, it's almost surprising to see these Millennials registering recognition as they meet her and showing excitement because they grew up on Harry Potter. Which put her in a unique position to reach and connect with them.

Her encounter with the alt-right hate group was incredibly painful to watch, with them refusing to speak to Miriam herself because she's Jewish. It's one of those moments that can wobble one's faith in humanity. Fortunately, this series was filled with far too much hope for this to overwhelm.

I'm looking forward to getting stuck into Miriam's Dead Good Adventure later on, but I fear my adventures with Miriam are going to go by far too quickly.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Another moment from the series. Meeting the preppers was interesting enough, but it's the barbecue in the second half of the video I found more interesting.

You don't trust the Government; the way it works. And yet you trust Mr Trump... I see that there is no way that one can tell you that this man is not a good thing for America. But we have to see. Let's wait and see.

No matter who Miriam interviewed, the one thing that seemed to be universally agreed upon was that America in 2018 was a very polarised place.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Now I'm on to Miriam's Dead Good Adventure.

Trailer: Miriam's Dead Good Adventure, Miriam's Dead Good Adventure - BBC Two

Miriam Margolyes is on a mission to confront our biggest taboo – our own mortality.

www.bbc.co.uk

I was expecting quirk and I certainly got it. I wasn't sure where it would be based, but it makes sense Miriam would travel to America where there's an abundance of alternative practices.

If it was bad sex, I'd rather have a radish.

It was interesting, too, to see the science versus God thing. People who believed Jesus was going to allow them to live long lives contrasted with visits to fairs where they'd show off different scientific practices which claimed to slow down the ageing process or extend life (right down to a mechanical woman ready to receive a human brain). And there was a weird crossover between the two philosophies.

What I wasn't expecting with this episode was to be deeply moved, but the friends Miriam made during her visits to the old people's home did just that. It was especially poignant when she returned from her quirky American adventures to find that an old lady she'd shared a song with was now moribund and the husband who spent his time there with his wife with severe Altzheimer's was still patiently listening to his wife asking the same question repeatedly. What was beautiful was that she kept saying she loved him and asking him for a kiss. It really got to me that this was a love that wouldn't be diminished even by such a terrible disease.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The second part of Miriam's Dead Good Adventures continued the trend of moistening my eyes. Inevitable when you're meeting people facing the end of their lives. It's a really beautiful series.

I did like some of the ideas that came from it. Like the woman leaving audio recordings for her daughter to hear. Or Miriam creating her own coffin: