As actor and comedian Matt Lucas presents his new series, Round Planet, he says it showcases a national history archive but in a way completely unimagined. By Team Viva
What attracted you to the project?
I just needed the money. It’s been a long time since Shooting Stars and Little Britain and I was looking out for work. I did ask to go on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ but they wouldn’t have me. They said they already had David Gest, they had their ‘older fatter person’ so they wouldn’t have me.
What was it like to take this respected genre (crown jewels of the BBC) and turn it on its head?
Well I think what we’ve done is we’ve brought some much needed gravitas to the natural history genre. This young Attenborough chap, sort of a bit of a kind of wannabe. And we’ve brought some intelligence to the genre.
Describe the character of Armstrong Wedgewood.
Armstrong Wedgewood is a bit of a stretch, he’s sort of an ageing actor whose glory days are behind him and he’s a bit poofy and overweight, just sat in a chair…Yeah he was a challenge. I like Armstrong, he’s got a bit of a short temper, but then I’ve never really liked people with long temper. I don’t think you should have too long of a temper. What don’t I like about him? I don’t like the man who plays him, not for me.
What influences have you drawn on for the character of Armstrong?
For the character of Armstrong I drew on a mixture of Grace Jones and Joey Essex.
How do you convey a character through voice alone?
By vocalising thoughts. (Laughs) I don’t know that’s the strangest question I’ve ever been asked! You do it by doing really physical things that they can’t see and then right at the end you just say ‘I’m really sorry you couldn’t see it but it was great’.
Tell us how the two genres of comedy and documentary come together in this show.
Well, everybody knows these BBC wildlife documentaries and I think that they’re so famous around the globe that they feel robust enough to have a bit of fun with. I didn’t write this, I improvised some stuff but anything that makes you laugh, let’s assume that it’s a bit that I improvised rather than the writers.
I think its really important in interviews to not just talk for the sake of it, and there’s nothing worse than not really having an answer but just sort of saying something because you sort of feel obliged to in the hope that people will forget what the original questions was, then just go “Oh yeah all right yeah”. I think that’s quite a deceptive thing to do. A lot of people do that in interviews. Then they go on for too long and give really long answers and the whole thing was just to hide that they didn’t really have a response. I’ve always really looked down on people who do that.
From a comedy point of view, why is this rich territory?
Well like I say, everybody knows these documentaries and I think they’re ripe for spoofing. We’ve all heard Morgan Freeman doing… What was the documentary that was like ‘Happy Feet’ and it was kind of like the boring version of ‘Happy Feet’? Whatever one that he did, and the David Attenborough ones, they’re often done quite seriously, which is understandable as they’re educational, but education can be hilarious. And that’s something that I’m immensely passionate about, the hilarity of education. Also a really great way of teaching something is to undermine it, that’s a really great way of getting the message across. That’s how you do it by disrespecting it, which is what I really hope we’ve done.
What do you do when the gory bits come on and you have to watch? Nature is raw after all.
When we’re doing the gory bits I genuinely don’t watch, I just read and I say to the people in the booth, “I’m not watching this bit, tell me when its over”. Which is actually what Armstrong himself says, and I’m totally with him on that. I don’t need to see a monkey eating another monkey.
If you could go on any location with the film crew, where would you pick and why?
That’s a toughie because there are a lot of beautiful places in the world. Probably Oxford Street because they’ve still got some good shops left where you can always bargain.
If you could give a message to David Attenborough, what would it be?
If I had a message for Sir David Attenborough what would it be…Oh, “I really like you, could I have your autograph please? Could you put ‘To Matthew’…Two ‘t’s. Thanks.”…Oh and “Could you do one for my brother Howard please”. Yeah that would probably be my message.
(The show, Round Planet, airs Monday to Friday at 9pm on Sony BBC Earth.)