'We’re judged from puberty to menopause' – Bridget Christie on The Change and championing women
The comedian spoke to Radio Times magazine about the second season of The Change.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
A group of women form a circle in a woodland clearing, egging each other on with tales of myth and mayhem. At their centre is the newly crowned Eel Queen, aka Linda, a woman who has cast off the shackles of suburban middle age and jumped on her Triumph motorbike in search of something more enlightening. Channel 4 comedy The Change is feminist, feisty and very funny – just like its creator, comedian Bridget Christie.
It’s also been eight years in the making. “It took so long, Linda was going through puberty when I started,” laughs Christie of her menopausal heroine, whom she also plays. The show returns this week for a second series after glowing reviews for the first in 2023. “A woman sent me a picture. Her friends had made her an Eel Queen headdress, adorned by all things special to her. I found it very moving. People felt seen and heard.”
As did Christie, after years of comedy circuit toil and failed script ideas. The youngest of nine children born to Irish parents in Gloucester, she won a place at drama school at 18 but couldn’t afford to go until five years later when she won a scholarship. “I came from a small town, working class, no contacts,” she remembers. “I was working in a post office at the time and I thought, ‘Whatever happens from this point, I was given this opportunity.’ It was the stuff of dreams.”
Winning the top comedy award at the Edinburght Festival Fringe in 2013 was another defining moment, but that only came after years of playing to empty seats and bad reviews. What kept her motivated? “As a stand-up, conquering fear and failure is what you have to do to keep going. It forces your hand.”
Now 53 and the mother of two children she shares with ex-husband and fellow comedian Stewart Lee, Christie adds, “I wouldn’t have wanted to be successful early on. I think all roads have led to here – to this show about the menopause, at the age I am now.”
Like Linda, Christie has gone through the menopause and rides a motorbike but there, she says, the crossover ends. “I’ve been lucky to have this career and this life,” she says. “I’m not Linda, but I really know who she is. She’s an everywoman who has neglected herself over the last 20 years – like lots of women, who’ve dedicated the best part of their adult lives to supporting their families, then they get to a certain age when they’re not needed.
“Creating the show, I saw a lot of that around me, women at parties not being asked about themselves. Men are allowed to be individual beings who go on these journeys in real life and in fiction, and I hadn’t seen it as much as I’d like for women.”
The menopause is discussed a lot more than it used to be but, after centuries of silent suffering, can it also now be funny? “I believe every subject, no matter how dark, can be funny,” says Christie. “That’s how I navigate the world, and my job is to find that sweet spot between pathos and humour. So I believe it can be devastating, life-changing and also funny.”
What The Change is not, is an anti-man crusade. “Linda’s husband Steve [played by Omid Djalili] isn’t bad, he’s just a bit hopeless,” Christie says. “He doesn’t think enough about his wife and what’s important to her. I’ve seen this in real life. I know many men who are feminist in theory, but the theory is no good if you’re watching your partner hoover around you while you’re watching TV.” But Christie’s real champions remain her women, in real life and on screen.
“We’re judged so much from puberty to menopause. It’s all to do with being attractive and fertile – it feels like that whole middle section of life is so compromised.
I wanted this show to make menopause a liberating experience that you can come through knowing your true self. I’d like people to be laughing at something hopeful and joyful.”
She pauses. “And if it means women get paid for housework, that would be great.”
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The Change season 2 will premiere on Tuesday 25th March on Channel 4.
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