Sarah Lancashire "resisted" attempts to make Julia more comedic

While Julia, which airs on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK, is billed as a comedy-drama, Lancashire told RadioTimes.com and other press that she never saw it as such.

"When I was approaching this, I never approached it as a comedy," she began. "I wasn't convinced it was a comedy, to be perfectly honest. I thought, ‘If everybody else wants to treat it as a comedy they can do... I’m just going to do my Julia Child in the only way I know how.’

"And maybe that was a degree of fear or insecurity, but I just had to cling on to everything that I knew in terms of character development."

While she never became particularly famous in the UK, Child was – and remains to this day – a household name across the United States, enrapturing legions of fans with her warm presenting style and sharp sense of humour.

But while she was undoubtedly witty, Lancashire did not wish to turn her into a joke character, which is why she stood firmly against amping up the more eccentric aspects of her demeanour.

She continued: "Occasionally, I would be asked to take it a little bit higher and I would always resist. I would always say, ‘No, absolutely not’. I think she's a woman who could be very easily lampooned because of her exuberance, but you don't need to do that. It wasn't necessary to do that.

"And I think there's an awful lot... where we see the Julia who is away from the cameras, the Julia who is not switched on, and that is equally as important. And hopefully, there is a fine balance between the two."

While the BAFTA-winning Last Tango in Halifax star has no shortage of fans in the UK, it remains to be seen whether British viewers will engage with Julia given the relative unfamiliarity of its subject.

However, Lancashire argued that the lack of knowledge she had about Julia Child prior to taking the role actually aided the performance she ultimately gave.

She added: "I think it makes it slightly easier that I didn't grow up with Julia, that I didn't have this legacy sitting on my shoulder. That she wasn't part of popular culture in the UK and so she wasn't part of everyday language for me. I think that was slightly liberating, in a sense."

Julia premieres on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Tuesday 12th April 2022 – sign up for Sky TV here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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