Louise Ford interview
Louise Ford says it was somewhat unnerving taking the micky out of Kate Middleton...
Tell us about The Windsors...
It's a satirical narrative sitcom about the Royal Family as told through Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie's vision and their exaggerated idea of the Royal Family.
You play Kate Middleton - how is her character portrayed?
My Kate is always trying to do the right thing! She's essentially a very good person and my portrayal of her is that she's earnest and strong. And when she needs to be feisty and speak out for herself and her family she does. She's very caring and she's very loving and very in love with Wills - played by Hugh Skinner.
How did you find filming with Hugh?
It was great fun, we have lots of mutual friends but we've never been friends ourselves until now. I feel like I owe Channel 4 for the fact that I now have a great friend in Hugh Skinner! It's great when you're playing part of a couple, which I don't think I've really done before, who are driving the story quite a bit. A lot of the stories centre around these two characters so for Hugh and I it was about trying to get the tone right for the show and the characterisations. When you work so closely with someone you can learn and develop, it's brilliant, that was easy to do that with Hugh.
Everyone loves Kate - is it unnerving taking the micky out of such a popular character?
It is, obviously it's very easy for people to be under the illusion that it's an impression show in some way and obviously I don't look very much like her at all - I am slightly nervous that people will say "oh she doesn't look like Kate" and be mean to me by way of defending her! But I would say that it's done with a lot of love - the sending up of these characters- and I don't think for a second that I look like her. Hopefully in my version of Kate I've captured something that people will like about her, which is her sweetness and her desire to do her job well.
Kate is a gypsy in the show - what's that all about?
I don't mean to speak on their behalf (the writers), but I'm going to now, I think it's about taking an essence of something and sending it right up to the extreme.
Did you study Kate for tips at all?
I did watch interviews and clips of her but they're not particularly helpful when you're sending someone up, especially as it's not an impression show and you're not tied to characterisations. The videos aren't that useful as they're all her in an official capacity. We don't have videos of what she's like at home, so it's working with a perceived idea of her and sending it up.
Morgana Robinson plays Pippa - what is Kate and Pippa's relationship like in the show?
Morgana and I get on famously. I used to have a friend at school called Laura and she was the naughty one she would draw me into doing pranks and once she put me in a skip and I got stuck in there, I feel like Morgana is the adult version of that person from my school life! We instantly just hit it off and hopefully we'll stay great friends.
But the Pippa and Kate thing is really fun in the show. They are the archetypes of sisters - one sister is a princess and one is known for being a bit of a party girl and of course the famous arse, in our show Pippa is known for her arse. She's kind of the villain of the piece in that way and I think it works really well in this heightened weird world of The Windsors; Morgana has this sultry femme fatale character, its brilliant.
Is it difficult to keep a straight face during filming?
Yes! I think the only thing that kept me from corpsing was when we were up against it time wise - I could feel the time pressure for the crew so I knew we didn't have time for it. And there were times where it would make us laugh even more. There would be times with Hugh and I when the director would say 'look guys we really don't have time for this' and of course it would make even worse. It was a really fun show to make.
You were in Crashing recently - this must be a really exciting time in your career?
Yeah, I grew up watching lots of TV and everything I watched as a teenager and a kid, all the great stuff I watched, was on Channel 4 so for me it feels very exciting. I wanted to be in a sitcom and now I am! I've done a lot of theatre too but I love doing telly, I feel like it's really rewarding and genuinely without being naff I learn a lot more, there seems to be a lot to learn in telly that you don't really get taught in drama school.
Do you prefer comedy to serious roles?
I think perhaps comedy comes more naturally but I love both.