Mary Poppins at 60: "For every single person, there's a memory of it"

"In early 2018, a local tea room was doing some themed months, and one of their months was a Practically Perfect themed month," she tells RadioTimes.com during an exclusive interview to mark the 60th anniversary of the beloved film's release.

"And so I went to the owner, who I knew a bit, and said, 'How about I come and do an appearance as Mary on one of your weekends of your month?' And she said, 'That would be amazing.'"

From there, Goodchild has hardly looked back. Despite a few early hiccups – she had to miss one of her original performances after being cast in a series directed by George Clooney, and also needed to do some due diligence about legalities and the Disney Corporation – she launched her brand new business, Mary Poppins Tribute UK, on the same day that sequel Mary Poppins Returns was released in cinemas in late 2018.

"Since then, I've done appearances all over the place," she says. "And I don't know whether it's because of the anniversary, but my bookings have been more flowy recently than they have in the whole time. They just keep coming in!"

It was early on in her endeavour that Goodchild realised the magnitude of what she was taking on. Indeed, two separate incidents on her very first engagement drove home to her what a "privilege and responsibility" it was to step into Mary Poppins's shoes.

"A pair of women in their 30s came up to me after having come to the tea and seen the appearance and they came up absolutely bubbling over," she explains of the first of these exchanges.

"[They were] saying, 'I'm so, so glad to see you, it's so amazing to meet you. Literally, you made our year – we came to see you in Disneyland Paris last year, but we only saw you in the parade, so we didn't actually meet you in person. So to actually meet you in person is amazing!' And I was like, they're serious! They are really genuinely saying they didn't see me in Paris, and they're seeing me now."

The other incident involved a younger fan who approached her just as she was packing her things away.

"I was just by the top of the stairs, and this little girl was just hovering by the side of me, and she tugged at my apron, and she said, 'Mary Poppins, what does it feel like when you jump into a pavement painting?'

"And I said, 'That's a terribly good question... Well, first off, it feels a little bit like pins and needles, slightly tingly, but in a nice way.' And then I just started making stuff up and said it feels magical, and it feels like a jolly holiday. But it was the responsibility of that moment. And the absolute complete buy-in from that child that I was Mary Poppins for them, was magical."

Instances likes this have been common in the years since, and Goodchild regales me with a number of heartwarming tales explaining how her version of Poppins has brought great glee to young audiences, often when they were in need of some extra joy. The pandemic in particular was a boom period, as she moved into the video call space and made "various little tweaks to the Zoom experience" to make it "feel quite magical".

One example was a call with a young girl in Germany, which had been organised by the child's aunt and uncle who had been unable to visit her for her birthday due to travel restrictions. At one point during this call – in the middle of a rendition of Feed the Birds – Mary 'magically' sent her young fan a "little bag of bird feed" through the computer, having pre-arranged with her mother in advance. "She was absolutely delighted," Goodchild recalls.

Another poignant experience was working with the Childhood Tumour Trust, who look after people with neurofibromatosis. Normally, children with the condition have an annual get-together which they greatly look forward to – but with that rendered impossible by social distancing guidelines, Goodchild was approached by a friend who serves as a patron of the charity about putting together a "practically perfect party online" – which also went down a treat.

"And I have to tell you about little Miranda," she adds with clear fondness. Miranda is the daughter of one of Goodchild's old drama school friends, who was a three-year-old living in Rome when COVID broke out and quickly stumbled upon the power of Poppins as a way to help her through.

"[My friend] messaged me and said, I think you ought to know, Miranda wants to watch Mary Poppins all the way through every single day, one day in English and one day in Italian," she says.

"And so I sent her a message as Mary around Easter time, 2020. It was a kind of a pep talk, to say one day soon you'll be able to go into your favourite park and eat your favourite foods and see your favourite friends. And she was absolutely beside herself with excitement. And so she sent a return video. And then this carried on throughout the whole pandemic!

"We sent messages back and forth to each other, and then she draw me a picture," she continues. "And it was so, so sweet. There was one wonderful one that she was having a dinner, and she said, 'I miss Mary Poppins, I want to hug her.' And another where she said, 'When I come in England, will you do magic for me Mary Poppins?'

"And of course, I've actually now been over there to Rome and she has no idea that me, Nicky, is Mary Poppins, I can't tell her that! But it was just so lovely to meet her in person finally, after only ever seeing her on video!"

As for why Poppins remains such a phenomenon all these years on from the film's release – and of course even longer since the books by PL Travers were first published – Goodchild reckons a number of factors are at play.

"It's partly the nostalgia," she says. "Because when I go to any event, Mary appeals to every age group in the room. The new ones that are finding her afresh, the parents that remember her from their childhood, and even the grandparents. Because of the longevity of the film, there very easily can be three generations that love Mary Poppins in a room or a garden.

"And for every single person, there's a memory of it," she adds. "But what I've found, as I've revisited the film over time, is that there are new elements of the film that you discover each time – like the whole Suffragettes piece that kind of went over my head when I saw it when I was younger.

"But then just such a simple message about not losing what's important in life. Mr Banks gets so tied up in the Fiduciary Bank and the earning money and the pennies and all of that, and losing sight of what it is to be a human being really.

"And that's what Mary Poppins does: she comes in until the penny has dropped about what it is to be human, what is important in life. Personal connection, human connection, fun, playfulness and being childlike."

That playful aspect of the character has often been clear in the interactions Goodchild has had with adults when she's been in character as Mary. When she's in costume, she explains, it's as if a filter that stops people from being childlike just drops away.

"I've had police officers wind the window down while driving past in a squad car going, 'Oi oi Mary Poppins' or a woman digging her husband in the ribs as she's walking towards me, going 'Oh gosh, it's Mary Poppins," she says. "It makes everyone feel five again. And what's so brilliant is that Mary can almost get away with anything because she's Mary Poppins."

That said, there are some events that Goodchild won't be adding to her calendar any time soon.

"I don't muck about with the iconography of Mary as a character, as a brand – I'm not going to do a disservice to either PL Travers or the Disney Corporation in just mucking about with it," she explained.

She gives an example of what she considers to be an inappropriate use of the Poppins brand, pointing to some videos made by influencers that were floating around during the pandemic.

"One woman did a video in a rubbish Poppins outfit, saying what it was like to be stuck at home with her children and sort of drinking gin to cope with it, and sitting them in front of the telly to get through the day – but all to the tune of one of the Poppins songs," she explains.

"And about five people sent me the same video with a little laughing emoji. And I went, 'I don't think it's funny.' It's not funny enough. It's not clever enough. It's actually quite disrespectful. I'm all for a spoof – I love a spoof – but it's got to be really, really sharp, witty, clever. I'm never going to disrespect Mary's character and do something that feels off!"

The legacy of Poppins, it seems, is in very safe hands!

Mary Poppins is available to stream on Disney Plus. Sign up to Disney Plus from £4.99 a month.

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