Rebecca Front interview
Rebecca Front plays Mrs Brown in Just William...
So, who is Mrs Brown?
"She's a post war housewife who doesn't have staff so she does everything herself with what appears to be varying degrees of success," reveals Rebecca. "She's very devoted to Mr Brown, very happily married and rather indulgent with the children."
Would you liked to have lived in that era?
"I would have hated to have been a full time housewife and I would have been rubbish at it. I'm very good now at all the Nigella Lawson flitting about making jam when I've got the day off sort of thing, but the thought of doing it all day, every day with absolutely no help at all would drive me insane," she reveals. "My kids don't have the same expectations, people are quite happy to muddle along and we all help out at home. I think that idea of having to keep the house perfect and having to put three good meals on the table that you do yourself all the time would have been insufferable."
What are your memories of Just William?
"I think I came to the books as a teenager, actually. Obviously, Violet Elizabeth made a huge impact but more than anything the reason I love the stories is the same reason I like PG Wodehouse - the prose style."
"I really like the way Richmal Crompton uses language, which is why I think it's brilliant they've got a narrator on the show, as without hearing Richmal Crompton's voice you lose a lot of the humour. It's not just about the farcical stories, it's about that beautiful understatement."
"And what's wonderful in the way Richmal writes is that she uses quite an adult voice and quite adult language. She justifies the way William's thinking and you follow his thought process."