We’re not ashamed of the old stuff, but when you look back at the posters it does make you think: ‘My God, six men and one woman.’ Weirdly we didn’t say ‘that’s wrong’ and no one else did, either. It’s been a really quick shift in the landscape of telly, which is brilliant.
If the Internet went down or there was no telly I would be ‘oh no, oh no.’
Whether it is fame, love or respect, the Telly world has given me everything that I craved for.
I think the relentless tide of celebrity stuff on the telly is getting pretty tedious.
I think if you’ve got a good idea it will stand out in one of the different mediums. For example, something might happen to me today and it could be something to talk about tomorrow on the radio, or I can write about it, or perhaps it will be best suited to telly.
I was never one for just sitting in front of the telly.
I love telly so much and I come from a telly background, I used to work in production.
I don’t mind the fact that people hate me. Nobody likes anyone who’s been on the telly as long as I have.
I don’t watch an awful lot of television. It’s a very strange thing, and I don’t know a lot of people who work in telly who watch a lot of it.
I never thought I’d be one of those old hams who favours theatre over everything, but I’m getting that way. Telly and film seemed more fun when I was younger; turning left on planes and washing up in nice places. But there are things that you only learn in theatre.
Turn up your radio. Watch lots of telly and eat loads of choc. Feel guilty. Stay up all night. Learn everything in six hours that has taken you two years to compile. That’s how I did it.
The telly’s almost always on. It’s how I wind down after a show. It’s how I relax on a rare night off. It educates me, entertains me and makes a hotel room feel a lot more cosy.
Very rarely will you listen to the radio in a judgmental way, the way you’ll watch telly.
We’ve got to make sure we keep the media attention on us; being on telly and in the papers gets people interested.
What I would love to do is more telly comedy. I did a tiny bit in ‘Toast of London’ and was in one episode of Catherine Tate’s ‘Nan.’ I was crying with laughter.
Even my own auntie asked me once if I was pregnant after seeing me on the telly – that’s just life on camera.
Do you know what, the reason I haven’t worked loads and loads is because I got so lucky working on ‘Popworld’ and T4. They were such unique pieces of telly, so I got really spoiled.
I didn’t expect to enjoy my work as much as I do and when you enjoy something it’s hard to say no. But I could sit on the sofa and do nothing for weeks. I’d watch telly, I’d eat, I’d go online, I’d be so happy!
I want to see craggy old faces on the telly. I find them infinitely more fascinating than pretty young ones.
When I watched the Premier League on the telly, I didn’t expect it to be that hard. The opponents are all physically strong, real athletes. It wasn’t like that in Germany. You must be prepared for it. But I prepared myself for it.
I love doing stand-up. It’s so self-contained – you go there, you do it, you go home – but with telly, there are too many people involved with it with opinions. You have a product, and everyone wants to change it.
I love nature – it’s probably my most favorite thing. I don’t watch much telly, the telly hardly goes on, but the things I do watch are sort of nature programs, and something about the oceans and the amount of weird fish that’s in there.
It takes time and energy, and if I’m working, then I’d rather flop in front of the telly than put on a tiny dress and work out how to get myself to God knows where. I mean, lazy some would call it.
There are houses where they don’t any longer have dining tables. They will sit in front of the telly and eat.
I don’t think I’m any different on ‘Celebrity Juice’ or daytime telly. It’s what’s going on around me that’s different. I don’t suddenly become all outrageous and rude on ‘Celebrity Juice.’
Television is where I’m most at home. I’m not one of those TV presenters who secretly yearns to be a Hollywood actress. Live telly is what I thrive on.
How many times have we seen reality celebrities fall from grace – often through no fault of their own – and then go on a show like ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and say, ‘I want to show the public a different side of me.’ And I’m screaming at the telly going, ‘This is not therapy. This is voyeurism!’
Romanians love country dancing. At Christmas, you go house to house, and they play guitar and drum and a violin and everybody’s on their feet – well, it’s better than watching telly.
I like making films about old people because they are repositories of amazing stories that they tell well. And they’re incredibly good telly.
A lot of the clothes I wear on telly are second-hand.
When I was young, I saw some of my heroes doing it on the telly. We’re talking about Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Arthur Lowe, Ian McKellan, Kenneth Williams. These were all guys telling stories to me.
After your heart fails, you just feel really vulnerable for a while. You just want telly and your little house. Then, suddenly, three, four months have passed.
It gets slightly daunting if you’re watching the telly and everybody’s gorgeous. It’s just so rubbish. And I’m grateful that it’s not so much anymore – it’s great to see.
I thought they were staring at me because I was gay. But it was because I was on the telly.
I think there’s a far more general audience now because I’ve done more populist stuff on telly.
I get recognised a fair bit. It goes up when ‘Peep Show’ or the sketch show is on the telly or when we’re doing loads of interviews.
I’m the black sheep: I got into telly.
You get pigeonholed. Some people are film stars, and some are theatre stars who do one-off telly. Somehow, I get into long-running series.
That’s why I won’t direct film or telly. I can’t do those early mornings anymore. I will only direct theatre because that starts at nine in the morning.
I don’t do that much telly because I want quality, not quantity – you’ve got to be happy with what you’re putting out.
When you look at me on the telly and say, ‘She should be on ‘The Undateables,” you are looking at a 59-year-old woman. That is what 59-year-old women who have not had work done look like. Get it?
The swimmers ask me all the time ‘is it going to be on telly more?’ They want their families to watch them. Not every family can afford to go to Rio or Budapest. And it is nice for the clubs and coaches as well to see the people they have brought up.
