Motherland "has a shelf life", says Kevin star Paul Ready

Motherland: Last Christmas is set to be one of the most-watched specials over the festive period when it airs tonight.

To get fans excited for the new episode, read Radio Times magazine's exclusive interview with Diane Morgan and Paul Ready, who play Liz and Kevin respectively.

We love the mums in Motherland because they aren’t perfect, they are authentically flawed...

Diane Morgan: Every day when I’m walking the dog, I’ll bump into mums on the school run and they’ll all say, “Motherland is so true to life. I know all those characters. They exist. They stand at the school gates every day.”

Paul Ready: It’s a comfort for the Kevins of the world.

Diane: The Kevins are finally represented. But it’s really nice. I think there’s a comfort in it, isn’t there? Mums are always meant to be perfect. And we show that it’s fine not to be.

Diane, do people assume you have children because of the show?

Diane: I think I’ve been fairly open about not having kids and never wanting kids! I get these two lovely lads in the show, who play my sons, but I can’t imagine having kids. It just feels so alien to me. Hopefully it doesn’t come across on the show!

Paul: It doesn’t come across. I’m always a bit like, “Oh, God, I’d quite like a bit of Liz’s parenting style.”

Diane: Yeah. Throw a pound coin into a living room, for five minutes’ peace. Apparently, people started doing that.

What can you say about the Christmas special?

Diane: Very little. I’ve almost forgotten everything that happens. My brain’s completely deleted everything. So bear with us.

Paul: Hang on, didn’t we film it last week?

Diane: Yes, but it’s still gone!

Paul: Kevin’s living in a hotel. He’s trying to sort through his divorce and he’s looking forward to having a Christmas eating turkey crisps from the vending machine. But luckily Julia [Anna Maxwell Martin’s character] invites him around for Christmas dinner.

Diane: Which is what I do. Everything’s sort of gone badly with Liz’s life, so she ends up at Julia’s as well – with hilarious consequences.

This kind of big blended Christmas sounds intense — have your own family Christmasses ever resembled that kind of Motherland chaos?

Diane: Not really. It’s quite boring for me. You visit your relatives. You do a few days at your partner’s family. It’s never been as mad and blended as this Motherland special. The real question is: who gets Christmas Day?

Paul: That’s a nightmare.

Diane: It is, isn’t it? Because you feel a bit snubbed if you don’t get Christmas Day.

Paul: Whatever you do, you can’t win. To be honest I would quite happily spend Christmas with Di and Anna instead!

Diane: We should have just done that.

Diane, you often play slightly blunt characters like Liz, while Paul, you’ve played a few beta males like Kevin. Do either of you worry about being typecast?

Paul: Actually, my fear when I started doing Motherland [in 2016] was about being boxed into a particular kind of character. I think I’d stop acting if I was always playing a similar part.

Diane: I remember seeing Paul turn up at the very first read-through we did of Motherland, and I couldn’t believe that they’d cast him as Kevin, because I’d only seen him play a murderer in Utopia [below]. And I thought, “How is he going to play Kevin? He’s really miscast.” And now I think, “How did he ever play a murderer? He’s Kevin!” I think you’ve proved your range, Paul.

Paul: I can play murderers, or Kevin.

Paul, you come from a theatre background, and Diane, you’re from comedy. Do you learn things from each other?

Diane: Obviously Paul’s learnt a lot from me.

Paul: I have learnt a lot from you.

Diane: I do feel that working with Paul and Anna – I hate to say this in front of them – they’re so good that I hope that by osmosis, I’m taking some of it in.

Paul: One of the things that Anna does, which took me a while to get used to – and it’s good to talk about her while she’s not here because I can get a few things off my chest. One of the things she does is talk right up to the call of “Action”.

Diane: It’s so interesting, that, isn’t it? Because she does do that. And I’m often thinking, “I’m trying to remember the line! What is it?!” But she can just go “Babble-babble-babble”. Then it’s “Action!” and she’s right into it.

Are you happy watching yourselves when the show airs on TV?

Diane: I can’t bear it. Because if I see something I do that I hate, there’s nothing I can do about it. Watching yourself – I don’t know what you’re like, Paul – I always think, “God, why did I do that? What am I doing with my hand? I must stand up straighter.”

Paul: Do you say it out loud as you’re watching?

Diane: Absolutely. There should be a version you can have where, if you press the red button, you get our commentary over the top of it.

Paul: When I watch things back, I go, “That’s not what I thought I was doing. Why didn’t somebody tell me?”

How will you know when it’s time to bring Motherland to a close?

Diane: I’d hate to have us watching ourselves age on-screen. That’s my main fear. I’m very shallow. I’ll come back in series eight, having had some work done, but it went a bit wrong.

Paul: I think it does have a shelf life. As the kids age, for sure.

Diane: It’s always tempting to have things go on and on and on. But if it did end, I’d want it to end on a high, rather than dragging it out for years and years.

Motherland is getting an American remake, courtesy of Bridesmaids director Paul Feig. Who do you think would be a good fit to play your characters?

Diane: Do you think they’ll be slightly better-looking versions of us? They always are, aren’t they? Less grubby, better hair, but I love that. Like the American Office. There’s something so mundane about where it’s set in Slough, in an ordinary office. I didn’t get that from the American version. It still looks like quite a nice place to work. That gloss sort of spoils it for me. I like for comedies to be a bit grubby and mundane. For me, it just makes them funnier.

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