Aisling Bea

Aisling Bea interview

Interview with Aisling Bea.

Seven questions with... Aisling Bea

Aisling Bea is a popular face on the comedy scene these days, with her most notable recent television appearances including her role in The Delivery Man and performing stand up at last month's Channel Four's Comedy Gala. With gorgeous Irish charm and a sharp wit, Aisling is fast becoming one of one of the nation's (and my own) most loved comics, both on television and the live comedy circuit. I asked Aisling these seven questions to find out more about her...

Radio Times review

The sixth year of Channel 4's admirable fundraising drive for Great Ormond Street Hospital. If you're an avid and knowledgeable fan of any of these acts, this might not be the best environment in which to see them, since there are an awful lot to get through. But to take the temperature of live comedy right now and see who's at the top of their game or on the up, it's ideal.

The really big names are led by Alan Carr, Michael McIntyre and Jack Dee, with Aisling Bea, Sara Pascoe and Katherine Ryan among the others to look out for. Also on the bill is sharp, politically astute South African stand-up Trevor Noah, getting in a UK gig while he can before he takes over the hallowed Daily Show in the US.

This hospital sitcom is half joke-fest, half soap opera, as if a team of American gag-writers had taken over Holby City. There isn't a wasted word. If you enjoy rat-a-tat one-liners, the way Friends and Roseanne were written, The Delivery Man will win you over.

The stories are set in a maternity wing where Matthew, an improbably handsome male midwife (Darren Boyd), has set all the women's hormones raging.

His boss (Fay Ripley) is throwing herself at him, his co-worker (Aisling Bea) is flirting like a stoat on heat, and even the expectant mums look ready to dump their husbands and waddle away with him.

After three episodes, we really need to know who Matthew will end up bedding. And that means we'll have to keep watching every week, because ITV weren't stupid enough to give away the whole series in advance.

If you want to binge-watch The Delivery Man, you'll have to wait till the end of the series. Or better still, treat yourself to half-an-hour each Wednesday. What's wrong with doing it the old way?

The Delivery Man is that most endangered of animals, a seriously funny ITV comedy, as in I laughed out loud, and I very seldom do that. The premise is simple. He's a copper who's suddenly retrained as a male midwife, and that's every bit as funny as it sounds, and must have been enough to get it past at least two phalanxes of ITV comedy bods deluded enough to give money to Keith Lemon rather than taking him behind a barn and hitting him with an axe.

Turns out it's quiet genius. This is partly down to Darren Boyd's pitch-perfect stutter-timing. Half way through his early watercooler moment with putative love interest Lisa (Aisling Bea), he compliments her gauchely on her selection of Dr Pepper - "Good choice. Did you know that Vietnamese prostitutes favoured this for its antispermicidal qualities?" On he stutters, with his tallness, insisting on comparing her favourably to a Vietnamese prostitute but still managing to insert the phrase "vaginal douche". And I suddenly knew I had to record the whole series. Others in the cast - Alex McQueen, Llewella Gideon - add gleeful panache. How ever did they get through the ITV "comedy" net?

Interview: Rarely Asked Questions - Aisling Bea

We asked Bea our twelve rarely asked questions.

I was slightly hopeful going into The Delivery Man primarily as director Victoria Pile created Green Wing whilst writers Robert Harley and James Henry also worked on the classic Channel 4 sitcom. Unfortunately, The Delivery Man has none of the surreal wit or classic characters of Green Wing and instead feels like it's been lifted from the 1970s. The central premise of The Delivery Man sees another Green Wing veteran in Darren Boyd play Matthew, a newly qualified midwife attempting to navigate his way through a female-dominated environment. I think I would've had more time for The Delivery Man if Matthew had proved his female colleagues wrong by proving himself to be a valuable member of the team and changing their expectations of him. But instead he was presented as a bumbling fool who was constantly lying to his patients, their families and the rest of the hospital staff whilst struggling with the simplest of tasks. Whilst watching The Delivery Man I kept wondering what would've happened if their was a sitcom about a bumbling woman entering a male-dominated environment and doing a really bad job. I personally think there would be a general outcry but nobody appeared to bat an eyelid when that was the central joke of the piece. A potential romance between Matthew and fellow midwife Lisa (Aisling Bea) already has little interest whilst the supporting characters all feel a little one-dimensional. This is a shame when the cast includes such heavyweights as Alex MacQueen and Fay Ripley, the latter of whom at least tried her best as well-meaning senior midwife Caitlin. The biggest problem though was that The Delivery Man didn't provoke a sufficient amount of laughter from yours truly. In fact the only real laugh I had was during a joke about Claire's Accessories whilst a scene involving a birthing pool also raised a brief titter. Ultimately I was disappointed with a programme that felt like it had been severely watered down by ITV who seem to favour the sort of broad humour which The Delivery Man had in droves.

Radio Times review

"I have had the same training as all the women," protests Darren Boyd's male midwife Matthew, a bloke in a very female-centred environment. In Green Wing writers Robert Harley and James Henry's old-fashioned comedy he has to cope with quite a lot of sexism, but doesn't help himself by being quite an irritant, which detracts a little from a sitcom packed with decent lines and excellent supporting stars (Fay Ripley and Aisling Bea among them).

There is also little sense of Matthew's back story - apart from the fact he used to be a policeman - although the signs are that we will be seeing a lot more of Paddy McGuinness as his even more annoying (and slightly unhinged) former colleague and flatmate.

Strong cast star in new comedy from Green Wing team

Fortitude's Darren Boyd takes on a very different role as he is joined by Fay Ripley, Paddy McGuinness and Aisling Bea for new sitcom.

Aisling Bea on Katherine Ryan and Sara Pascoe

The Irish comic shares memories of two pals and inspirations.