An Interview with Joanne Heywood

In a career spanning over 30 years, Joanne Heywood has made many stage and tv appearances, ranging from pantomimes and musicals through tv adverts and roles in sit-corms including First of the Summer Wine, The Brittas Empire and, of course, Grace and Favour. In recent years her TV work has been less frequent though she continues to be active in the theatre. In this interview, she talks about her career from appearing on stage at the age of only three through to her work on Grace and Favour and her role as the glamorous Miss Jessica Lovelock.

Q I guess these days you are living in London and most of your work is down there but do you still get up to York much?

Yes, I still have family in York so I try to visit once a month. It’s a beautiful City, so always a pleasure to visit. I also try to work “up North” as much as possible!

Q You apparently started in the theatre at a very young age – how did that come about?

My Mum took me to the Isobel Dunn School of Dancing when I was 3… just as a hobby really, she certainly didn’t realize she was setting me on my way to my future career. Fortunately for me, Miss Dunn saw potential and cast me as Louise in “Gypsy” when I was 14. Up until that point, I’d been set on pursuing a career as a dancer. Playing Louise opened my eyes to the possibility of a career in Musical Theatre, so I shifted my focus from pure dance to MT.

Q I read somewhere that you took a business studies course before going into drama school and worked as a temp between acting jobs? Was it difficult to make a living just from acting?

The reason for the business studies course came about when I changed my plans from applying to dancing school, to applying for drama school. I started auditioning at 15, hoping to go straight after “O” Levels, at 16, which would have been the right thing to do if I was still applying for dancing school.

When I auditioned at the Guildford School of Acting at just 15, that wasn’t the norm. They usually took students at 18, after “A” Levels, or even post-grad. So, although I was lucky enough to be accepted at such a young age, they asked me to defer starting for a year.

When you’re 16 and think you know everything, that seemed like a very long time to wait. There was no way I was going to do ”A” Levels in just one year, so I went to York College of Arts & Technology and did a one-year business studies course. Of course, I thought it was a complete waste of time – at the time… but it came in quite handy when securing “temp” jobs.

I was incredibly lucky and landed a TV role and theatre contract, immediately upon leaving GSA, and, within six months, I was working in a West End show … which had been my dream since Miss Dunn cast me as Louise, so I was earning a living just from my acting work for quite some time.

I registered with a temping agency so, if there were any gaps between acting jobs, I could put the one-year business studies course to good use! I had some fascinating jobs, ranging from working in the Chairman and Chief Executive’s office at English Heritage to a lovely stint at Coutts & Co (the “Royal” Bank) where, amongst various positions there, I was PA to the Head of International Private Banking for a time.

Q You appeared in every episode of First of the Summer Wine as the shop worker, Dilys. Did coming from York and being able to do the Yorkshire accent help you get the part?

That may have helped… although I nearly didn’t get to read for the role. Being cast as Dilys only came about due to a chance conversation in a West End dressing room.

I was almost halfway through my one-year contract in “High Society” and feeling very settled with life in the West End. One of the girls in my dressing room had a copy of The Stage newspaper. Back in those days (pre-internet!) it was one of the few ways to find out about auditions. There was an advert saying that the BBC was looking for “authentic Yorkshire Actors and Actresses”. I naively said, “well, I’m sure my agent will have put me up for it, how many Yorkshire actresses has he got on his books!?…”.

Thankfully, I didn’t leave it there and I asked my agent about it. He hadn’t put me up for it but promptly did. However, as Nora Batty was the only female character he was aware of, he suggested me for the role of the young Nora.

In the Pilot episode, Nora didn’t have any lines, as they were trying to keep the audience guessing which character was the “young Nora”. There were a few red herrings and the audience didn’t find out until the end of that episode.

When I turned up for the audition, Gareth Gwenlan, the Director, said that he couldn’t ask me to read for the role, as Nora didn’t have any lines, so we would just chat. I explained that I’d been hoping to read for him as, although I’m Yorkshire born and bred and can do a genuine accent, I hadn’t wanted to speak with a broad Yorkshire accent for the whole meeting. My television work was minimal, at that point, so I didn’t for one minute expect to be cast as Nora. I’d gone in with the intention of just getting myself in front of a BBC Director and hoping that I might be right for something else. So, Gareth asked me to read for Dilys and that’s how I came to be cast.

Q You were already experienced in the theatre and television by the time you appeared in Grace and Favour but the role of Miss Lovelock was very different from Dilys. Was it difficult to get into the role?

No, not really… with good writing, the character just comes off the page. David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd (who wrote Grace & Favour) created such fabulous characters and Miss Lovelock was a great role to play.

Q I know it’s a long time ago now but do you have any special memories of working on Grace and Favour? Any favorite episode or scene?

It was a long time ago… but I have many wonderful memories. We spent several weeks on location for each series, then an episode a week in the studio… so that was quite a lot of time spent together over the two years.

Molly Sugden was an absolute joy to work with and a great sport. She threw herself into everything… literally! If you know the episode where Mrs Slocombe is accused of stealing a gypsy horse and cart, there is a misunderstanding in the Court scene when the Judge says “Hang the bird in the cellar” … meaning the pheasant that had been taken along as a bribe. Of course, “Mrs Slocombe” thinks he means her and she faints. Molly did a perfect “prat” fall… and she was no spring chicken at the time! When the Director called “cut” and the floor manager ran over to make sure Molly was ok, she was giggling away on the mattress that had been placed there for the fall.

On another occasion on location, I was on horseback and Frank Thornton (Capt. Peacock) and Molly were in a horse-drawn carriage. The bench seat in the carriage collapsed mid-scene – it wasn’t meant to but, again, when the production manager ran over to make sure Molly was ok, she was giggling away on the carriage floor.

It’s impossible to pick just one scene or episode. I had a hilarious Pas De Deux with John Inman (Mr Humphries) in one episode. As you would expect, it was all very OTT. He was Romeo, I was Juliet and he had a rather over-sized cod-piece.

I had many lovely moments with Frank (Capt. Peacock) but, if I had to pick one episode, it would be the one where we found the mummified cat in the attic. In the storyline, Capt. Peacock had a dream and we shot the dream sequence in black and white. It was very much an homage to the film “Wicked Lady” with him as James Mason and me as Margaret Lockwood… such fun and rather different from other episodes.

Q In the motorbike episode where you take Captain Peacock for a quick ride, was this you?

Ah, spoiler alert but I’m afraid it wasn’t. I had a lovely stunt double – Roy Alon. I’d actually met Roy many years earlier when I was in a children’s TV series called The Book Tower. Roy played a highwayman and was kind enough to spend many hours chatting with me and my Mum, between takes, about his experiences as a stunt man. So… to meet him again all those years later and as my stunt double was amazing.

Q You seem to be very good with the horses, had you had any experience with horses before you did the show or did you have to learn “on the job”?

Haha… actually, I was a bit naughty and wore jodhpurs to the audition. I knew that “Miss Lovelock” rode horses and a motorbike but, in fact, I’d never ridden either. When I was offered the role, I did confess that I didn’t ride (horses) but I arranged to have some lessons before we started filming. I was going to do the same for the motorbike but the BBC told me that they wouldn’t be letting me loose on the motorbike!

I only had time for a few lessons but I figured that, as it was a sitcom and not a drama, there probably wouldn’t be a panoramic shot of me galloping along a clifftop, a la “Poldark”!… more likely, I’d be in and around the stables and need to look very comfortable with the horses. So, I learned to pick its hooves, plait its tail, etc and as far as riding was concerned got up to a gentle, rising canter.

I sought out the animal handler, on the first day on location, and was very honest about my limited ability. As it turned out, both the horses I worked with, “Flash Jack” and “Sally” had a lot of film and tv experience and would literally “go” on “action”. Flash Jack, in particular, made me look a lot more competent than I was. I asked to have him back on the second series, as I felt we had bonded.

Q Were there any particular problems working on the series, for example working with animals?

Having said I asked for Flash Jack for the second series, I did end up in the “outtakes”. He was very playful and knew I wasn’t experienced, so he wouldn’t always do as I was asking. There was one scene where Capt. Peacock asked, “will you be following the pack, Miss Lovelock” in a reference to the Hunt… Flash Jack decided he’d had enough and set off down the lane. It wasn’t a spectacular gallop just a slow saunter but I was powerless to stop him, Frank concluded, “Yes, I guess you probably will”.

Q You haven’t done so much television in recent years. I heard a radio interview with you in which you talked about how television has changed, not for the better I gather? Would you like to do more television?

In the interview you heard, I was probably bemoaning the sad loss of the sitcom. I’d been very lucky to have a wonderful career in that genre but, slowly, one-by-one, they were no longer commissioned and it seemed that every other tv programme being made was about DIY or Gardening. Basically, reality tv took hold and it became much harder to secure tv work. Of course, I would love to do more. For me, an ideal year is a mix of theatre and tv work.

Q Your tv and theatre work has been quite varied – lots of adverts, musicals, comedy, and the children’s’ series Knightmare. Have you any preferences and is there anything particular that you would like to do more of?

My first love was “Musicals” and the theatre is truly my happy place. When I was at Drama School you were taught acting for theatre, not tv. There were no camera skills classes or any tv training at all, so I really had to learn on the job and it was a huge learning curve!

I feel lucky to have worked extensively in both tv and theatre and, as there is no retirement age for an actress, I hope to continue for many more years to come. I don’t really have a preference… as long as I can keep securing exciting, challenging roles that will make me very happy.

My sincere thanks to Joanne Heywood for taking the time to answer all my questions.

All images for this interview are courtesy of Joanne Heywood

© 2020, John Fraser. All rights reserved.