Hayley Atwell insists Howards End is not the new Downton Abbey
The actress and Tracey Ullman team up in the BBC’s splendid new 20th-century period drama
She’s a master of impersonations with her own TV show to prove it, so it’s surprising that Tracey Ullman’s main worry about her latest role was that she wouldn’t be able to get the voice right.
“I thought: ‘Am I now supposed to sound like I’ve trained at RADA [the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art] or something?’” admits Tracey, 57, when TV Magazine meets her at London’s prestigious Harrow School during filming of lavish period drama Howards End, set in Edwardian England.
“I’ve always been nervous of that. But then you think: ‘How did people speak back then?’ I am fascinated by voices and accents – that’s what I do – so I wanted to hear what people sounded like
at this time.
"You’ve got these amazing voice archives at the British Library and you hear people speaking in very early recordings, and they don’t sound like Royal Shakespeare Company actresses or anything.”
Based on EM Forster’s classic 1910 novel, Howards End follows the upper-class, half-German Schlegel siblings – Margaret, Helen and Tibby – and the social obstacles they must face and overcome in early 20th-century London. Tracey plays their interfering Aunt Juley.
The book’s enduring appeal means it has been adapted before – the 1992 all-star movie featured the likes of Vanessa Redgrave and Anthony Hopkins.
This could, of course, have made starring in a new version daunting, especially for Tracey’s co-star Hayley Atwell – she plays Margaret, the role for which Emma Thompson won an Oscar in the film.
“I spoke to Emma about it,” reveals Hayley, 35.
“She said: ‘Don’t watch the film, you are she and she is you. Make it your own.’ For me to have her support makes me want to do our own best version of our own story. Emma’s not one of those actors who gets jealous of rivals – she doesn’t have that bone in her body.”
Working with Tracey, however – who’s known for her uncannily accurate impressions of famous people – did cause some concern…
“Tracey is very bright and incredibly observant of her surroundings, so you sit there in the make-up trailer thinking: ‘I know she’s listening to exactly how I speak and she might use it, I’d better be careful!’” laughs Hayley.
The four-part series is penned by film-screenplay writer Kenneth Lonergan, whose credits include Gangs Of New York, Analyze This and the 2016 movie that landed him an Oscar, Manchester By The Sea.
“There’s a specific rhythm in how he’s written Margaret that is a gift,” says Hayley. “He’s ruined future projects for me – if anything’s below Kenny Lonergan, I’m going to have a miserable time!”
The drama also stars Matthew Macfadyen as businessman Henry Wilcox, whose rich family move from their Howards End home in the country to London, near to the Schlegels.
“It’s mine and Matthew’s third time working together,” explains Hayley, who co-starred with him in C4’s Any Human Heart and The Pillars Of The Earth.
“He’s a joy and it’s a great advantage filming with someone you’ve already worked with before as you don’t have that ‘breaking the ice’ thing.
"He’s funny so we giggle a lot, we’re very silly. One way to get into this [prim and proper] world is to be the opposite off-camera. Between takes we’re foul-mouthed five year olds doing pranks on each other!”
Pranks? Tell us more…
“Well, he doesn’t know this…” she whispers.
“We’ve got this ongoing gag that Mr Wilcox’s character becomes more and more infantile.
"In his last scene, he says something like: ‘Did I do wrong?’ and we imagine him becoming like a child.
"We’ve got a huge inflatable baby outfit with a nappy and bonnet – I’m going to leave it in his trailer, maybe with a packet of rusks!
“The best prank I’ve done [while starring in 2013 play The Pride] was filling Mathew Horne’s room with 2,000 plastic balls from a children’s pit.
"I went in on a Saturday morning and put them all through a window, sacks and sacks of them. They came up to his knees!”
Like Hayley, Tracey’s also a veteran of the theatre – in fact, she has a diverse CV that takes in the West End, pop music and TV comedy.
“I’ve had such a varied career,” says the actress.
“I started off in theatre, and worked with Meryl Streep and Morgan Freeman. Then I just flipped around and was a pop star in a pink Lurex dress [Tracey had several hits in the early 80s]! I’ve been up and around – that’s what I love, I’m never pigeon-holed.”
It’s clear Tracey’s enjoyed returning to TV drama, although having got so used to undergoing the extreme transformations for her impressions work, she admits it’s not easy.
“Normally I’m sitting in make-up with glue all over my face, but this is my own hair and stuff, it’s weird,” she says.
“Usually I have an enormous amount of make-up, so something like this is very hard for me. I guess I hide behind make-up. But I’m getting to play the sort of parts I’ve always said I wanted when I was older – the Prunella Scales, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench era.”
When we meet, Tracey’s wearing a huge hat, and both she and Hayley tell us they love the period fashion, even if it’s not all particularly comfortable or flattering.
“The corset is very binding, and of course had no function whatsoever other than squashing women’s organs,” grimaces Hayley.
“On set a friend said to me: ‘Babe, you look like you’re in the reboot of Supergran.’ I was like: ‘I want to be in latex for my next job!’”
Naturally, any Sunday-night period drama about families and social conflict set in a time of great change for Britain will get compared to Downton Abbey. Would that be fair?
“No!” exclaims Hayley.
“It’s completely different. First of all this is an adaptation of a classic novel, it’s very much about the language, musicality, rhythm and structure of each character and how they move and interconnect with each other.
"The only connection would be that Americans like period dramas. There are going to be comparisons, but I think this transcends genre and time. It should stand alone – you can’t compare it to anything else.”
Both Hayley and Tracey have worked in the UK and US, but while Tracey kick-started her career here with comedy sketch show Three Of A Kind in the early 1980s, she later moved to America where The Tracey Ullman Show (which famously launched The Simpsons) was a big hit.
It’s only in recent years that she’s returned to British TV, so why the delay?
“I’d not been offered any jobs in England for a long, long time,” she explains.
“I lived in Los Angeles and always came back to Britain but just didn’t ever get offered any work here.
"This is a time in my life that it’s good to be here, though.
"My daughter lives and works here and now that I’ve adopted a dog, Oscar, who wants to get on a plane?! It’s a great time to be in the UK and I’m really enjoying it.”
NEW! Howards End, Sunday, 9pm, BBC One