Katy Wix interview
Katy Wix explains how her character Carole in Stath Lets Flats is a bit like a candidate on The Apprentice...
Can you explain a little bit about Stath Lets Flats?
It's about a small family-run letting agents somewhere in London. I think it's very very funny.
You play Carole. What's her story?
Jamie always had those Apprentice-style candidates in mind when writing Carole: the status anxiety, awful management speak, constantly trying to impress and with no self-awareness (and very nineties hair).
Carole stands out from the others in that she's actually reasonably competent, isn't she?
I suppose. Yes, she is quite good at her job. She cares. It's her whole life. I think she's just a bit insufferable.
What was it that attracted you to the role?
A chance to make a show with dear friends, and Jamie's amazing writing.
How do you think you'd do as a letting agent? Would you be more Carole or Stath?
Neither. More Al if anything: quietly trying to make the best of it. But, essentially I would be pretty bad.
There are some pretty abysmal properties in the series. What's the worst place you've ever lived?
I lived in a yurt in Wales once for a couple of weeks. It was cold and stank.
You've also been playing Fergie in The Windsors for the last couple of years - is that as much fun as it looks?
It's a very funnny bunch of people. I'm so happy to go back every time we get to make more. She is quite fascinating the way she is willing to lay her life so bare. I love the show that was on the Oprah network, called Finding Sarah, which was hours and hours of footage of Fergie taking part in different types of therapy.
You appear with Ellie White in The Windsors - did you have any scenes together in this?
I do. We did have a day where we were on a football pitch together. We've become very good friends over the years. I adore her.
Had you worked with Jamie before?
Jamie wrote a sketch for a show I made with Anna Crilly called Anna & Katy, on Channel 4 a few years ago. It was a pastiche of The Great British Bake Off where the contestants just cooked rice, named Rice Britannia. It was a total highlight. We sometimes gig together on the comedy circuit as well.
Was there much room for improvising, or did you all stick to the script?
I think one of the great things about casting writer-performers is that you hope people will always add more to scenes and to their characters which happened a fair amount on set, yes.
What do you think of the results? There's not much out there like it, is there?
Thank god Channel 4 commissioned it. I think it's brilliant and it would be my new favourite show, even if I'd had nothing to do with it.