Jennifer Saunders interview
Jennifer Saunders plays Miss Dandy, who runs the Twilight Towers old people's home. She says she loves playing villains.
Adaptations of David's books have always been massively popular and successful - how did you feel when you were asked to be a part of it?
I was thrilled because I took a part in The Boy In The Dress, and really enjoyed it. I think what's lovely about David's stuff is that it's quite grown-up; the themes are grown up. That's why they make such great kids' books. And the characters are such huge fun. And he always gets great cast - the cast are just astounding. Everyone's having such fun!
Miss Dandy might be a bit more of a sinister character than initially meets the eye - how does it feel to play the villain?
I have to say, I think she's pretty sinister from when she first meets the eye! I love playing villains. They're so much more interesting than nice people. The costumes have been brilliant - the costume and make up teams have really pulled out all the stops. They've allowed the imagination to run riot.
She's a pretty hideous human being underneath it all. She's the sort of person you'd hope would never be in charge of an old people's home. But great fun because of that - there are so many sides to her. It's great being a villain - it's so easy, it comes naturally!
How would you sum up Miss Dandy in a few sentences?
She's a self-serving psychopath with very few redeeming features. She's very two-faced! She's one thing to the relations of the old people; and another when left alone with them. I think the fact that her tool of choice is a cattle-prod says a lot about her mentality.
What has been your favourite moment during filming Grandpa's Great Escape?
There's been so many, actually - we've had an absolute ball. Working with Tom Courtenay and Michele Dotrice has been an absolute joy. Watching Michele is like watching a lesson in comedy. There are people in the cast that I have looked up to and admired for years. A lot of my favourite moments are watching other people - Sam Spiro, Samson Kayo, Ricky Champ...
One of the funniest moments was wearing a breast-plate to play Miss Dandy; it was quite funny putting those on because they were rather large. David [Walliams] actually thought they were mine! He was somewhat disappointed when I took them off and came out without them.
What's your favourite thing about television over the Christmas period?
The fact that it's on most of the time. The fact that I think a lot of TV companies save up their special little treats for Christmas, so you get lovely little programmes like this - a one-off, a special, the end of a series. It's a great big fun-fest and it's classic to go through the TV magazines and work out how you're going to watch everything. There's so much planning involved - and when are we going to eat?! There's a lot to fit in. And it's good that there's a lot of entertainment on late, too. There's always something on!