She returns to screens this month with festive animation, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00The Christmas tree and the presents and Santa Claus and we sang all the songs.
00:03Sometimes I miss that whenever I talk about sex education, especially I get really nostalgic.
00:07Might I say, to start off with, fair play on sex education because I was late to that party,
00:12but that really got me through like a big bulk of lockdown,
00:15kind of becoming obsessed with that show.
00:17Oh, I'm so glad.
00:18It just got me thinking like you kind of broke out in that show,
00:22which was a very like familial thing.
00:24You worked with the same team for a long time, into Bridgerton, similar sort of vibe there.
00:30How are you feeling about this next stage of your career where you kind of step away
00:32from what seems like two kind of comfortable family support networks
00:36and into the kind of the big bad world of acting, I guess?
00:39Yeah, it's, I mean, you've just put it so well.
00:44That is exactly how I feel.
00:45Sex education was the most special experience because it was before a lot of us stepped into
00:53really unexpected things like the public eye.
00:55We didn't realise how big that show was going to be.
00:58We were all in like kind of our early to mid twenties and,
01:01you know, we were just all starting out really.
01:04And we filmed in Wales and we had each other, you know,
01:09when we would rap, we would all hang out with each other and we became real best friends.
01:13And yeah, and then Bridgerton was a whole other thing.
01:17I think it kind of came with the pressure of a show like that being just so big
01:22and so many eyes on it and fans.
01:24And yeah, I think it's really special.
01:30And I don't take for granted, you know, having that kind of familial
01:35sense in a cast when I'm on set.
01:37So, yeah.
01:38And then you go on to different films and you film for a couple of months
01:41and you never see those people again sometimes.
01:43And it's in and out.
01:45I think I love to make friends wherever I work and connect with people.
01:49And I think we have a job that allows us to meet just really interesting people
01:54and we get to know ourselves even more.
01:56So I'm just in for the ride.
01:58And whenever I talk about sex education, especially, I get really nostalgic.
02:03Well, the ride has taken you to Christmas.
02:07I don't know if this is going to be one of those films where you
02:09kind of make those connections and things because it is animated.
02:12It is going to be voiced.
02:14I don't know if you guys ever saw another cast member in the whole process
02:19of making it.
02:20But let's talk about Christmas in general first.
02:22This movie reminds me of the Christmas radio times,
02:25which used to be big back in my day.
02:27You'd look forward to it.
02:28You'd have the front cover would be like,
02:30Robbie the reindeer or the snowman or something like that.
02:34And I wondered what kind of memories evoke for you,
02:37because I know your parents were like first generation Indian Tamils.
02:40So I don't know if traditions changed there or whether you had some sort of like
02:45hybrid kind of celebration on Christmas.
02:48What did it look like for you?
02:49No, we had very traditional English Christmas.
02:53I think, you know, when it's not Christmas, you know, we we eat Indian food.
03:01My mom would practice prayer, all of those kind of things.
03:04But I think, you know, and it is something having parents who immigrated to England.
03:09I think my mom just wanted us to feel like we fitted in at school.
03:13And we did go to schools that we sang a lot of songs about Christmas.
03:18And it wasn't anything to do with my heritage.
03:20So she just wanted us to kind of just be kids
03:23and like get involved in the experiences of Christmas.
03:26So we had the Christmas tree and the presents and Santa Claus,
03:29and we sang all the songs.
03:30And yeah, I'm very grateful that my mom did that for us.
03:35So what were your go to's?
03:36Were you into kind of your Christmas movies and that whole thing?
03:39Because it used to be, you know, there'd be one at around 11 a.m.
03:42And there'd be one around 2 p.m.
03:43And then maybe you do family stuff and you'd look forward to a film coming on around 6 or 7.
03:47That's how my Christmas worked.
03:48Same.
03:49So what were the movies that kind of stuck out to you?
03:52Every Christmas, there would be like Aladdin or some classic Disney animation movie on
03:57in the morning, usually after you've unwrapped your presents,
04:01you would watch that with your breakfast.
04:03And then there's usually like a Harry Potter on and then something in the evening.
04:09But that was back when, like, we used to use like the TV guide
04:12and you didn't have all these options.
04:13What was on is what you watched.
04:15And sometimes I miss that because now there's just so much to choose from.
04:19But sometimes I'm a bit spoilt for choice.
04:21But I really hope that this movie,
04:25The Night Before Christmas and Wonderland is something that people choose.
04:28Because I think it does make me feel nostalgic to back when I was a kid.
04:32And I would have loved to have seen something like this when I was a child.
04:35Yeah, I think the kind of the drawings and the animation
04:38are evocative of a lot of the kind of older sort of animations,
04:42which I'm really happy about because we see so many of those CGI.
04:46They call them, oh, we're doing a live action movie.
04:48And it's all CGI because it's so good.
04:49Yeah.
04:50And it's nice to see something that actually reminds you of kind of growing up.
04:54Something simpler.
04:55Talk me through the process,
04:55because I read in the production notes you guys were doing it in like February or something.
04:59So it's kind of like you get over Christmas
05:01and then suddenly you're trying to wrap yourself up for Christmas again.
05:04I actually first went into the studio last summer.
05:09Oh, wow, even worse.
05:11Yeah, last summer.
05:13And then I recently was in the studio about a month ago.
05:16It was my last day where we recorded the acoustic version.
05:19It's called To Be Kind, which was one of my favourite days.
05:23So, yeah, that's just kind of how it is, though.
05:26Like, do they do anything to kind of like get you in the mood
05:29or do you just have to turn up and switch it on?
05:30Like, do you get there?
05:31There's mince pies out.
05:33You get to put on a little Christmas hat or something, a lot of stocking.
05:36No, no, there wasn't that.
05:38I think as soon as I'm in the booth and, you know,
05:40I could see on the screen like sketches or storyboards of like the scene
05:45or the scene like, you know, fully animated.
05:50That was enough to get me in the mood.
05:52What about singing then?
05:55I know you like a lot of actors have kind of musical backgrounds
05:59and you're used to performing and you can, you know,
06:01hit a switch and switch off like the nerves
06:03and the kind of anxiety that most people feel about singing,
06:06either in public or just like even in a booth
06:08with some professional recording artists around you.
06:11How comfortable were you in that world?
06:15Is it something we're going to see even more of going forward?
06:18Yeah, we are going to be seeing more.
06:21I'm very excited for all of that to be at a position where I can talk about.
06:27And I don't get nervous.
06:28I actually feel very at home in the recording studio.
06:31And I grew up with music since I was like six years old.
06:35I've been singing, playing piano.
06:38And yeah, so I felt very much at home and really relaxed.