(loud laughing)
- I think I've just blown the mic out from laughing.
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
(smooth jazz music)
- Hi, I'm Gena, I'm here with actors,
Jennifer Saunders and Richard Armitage
who star in The Stranger
and these are their Netflix moments.
- What drew you both to the show
and your respective roles as Adam Price and Heidi?
- It's the kinda show that I absolutely love to watch.
How do you know my wife?
- Think of me as a friend
that just released you from Prison.
- You're full of shit.
- If I were you, I'd run DNA checks on your two boys.
- You don't often get to be in something
that you would necessarily watch.
You appreciate it for the kind of experience
and what it lets you do as an actor,
but this is something that I would sit down
and binge the entire thing on Netflix.
So, that was really thrilling.
And obviously Harlan's book is a page turner,
so, yeah, that's what attracted me to it.
- What about yourself Jennifer?
- Virtually the same because I'm such a fan of this genre.
- Me and you, Thelma and Louise, across the states.
All we gotta do is book the flights and we're doing it.
I'm in deep shit Thelm, deep shit Arkansas.
- It's my first sort of proper drama, as well,
and once I read the book and been sent the script,
it was a no brainer really.
- The show is largely about secrets.
Things being revealed that few people know.
What's something people would be surprised
to know about you?
So, it could be a secret obsession or a guilty pleasure.
- I sweep.
- Sweep?
- Yes, sweep.
- With a brush? - I like to sweep
and it would be my joy of the day
to see some more leaves on my little patio
and go, "right, I'm getting the brush out."
- (laughing) It's time.
- And I love sweeping, it's like a sort of meditation,
I think, just to do something practical
while you're thinking.
- Richard.
- Or hand hoovering, I quite like that as well.
- Hand hoovering?
As opposed to,
- No, I don't hoover my hands, don't be silly.
That would be a silly thing to do, you fool.
- A tiny hoover that gets in the little spots?
- Yes!
- What else would you use it for?
_ I do this, I pretend it's a hoover and I go (buzzing).
(laughing)
- Does it actually pull anything up?
It's just your hand.
(laughing)
- Okay.
You know what, actually, it's another TV thing,
"Great British Bake Off".
Sorry, but it's like when things are really shit
with the world, I'm like,
I'm just gonna watch a couple of episodes
to remind me of my mom and the people I grew up with.
- Here's a scenario, you started an extremely juicy series,
right, with a close friend or partner,
you've agreed to watch it together,
but I already know what you're gonna say.
(laughing) - Oh, I know this one.
- You agree to watch it together,
but it's so juicy and they're taking ages.
Are you the type of person who secretly watches
and lies about their betrayal
or sticks to your word and waits, even if it's for months?
- Oh, listen there is no secret's on Netflix, though.
- Yeah, that's true, they'll know.
- Because you can see what the other person has watched.
- [Jennifer] Oh, yes, I suppose.
- Especially when you're not in the same country,
you're like, "Wait a minute they've watched all
of the episodes and I'm on episode two."
- Yeah, so would you skip ahead though?
I feel like you would, I can tell.
- Once the trust has been broken,
I'm like, right, it's a free for all.
I'm gonna watch whatever I want.
- Well, I'm going through this scenario
at the moment with "Succession".
We've started it and I sense Ade's got a bit bored.
I'm thinking, I'm just gonna go for it.
- Do it.
- Yeah, I'm not advocating for betrayal,
but also, you gotta do what you gotta do,
do you know what I mean?
- So, Richard. - Yes.
- You're not only an actor, but a talented narrator.
You're obviously used to narrating other character's lives,
but if you could choose one person
to narrate your own life.
- Narrate my own life?
- Who would that be?
- Jennifer Saunders.
- Yes, I'd be very good at it.
- You know we've recorded the same book?
- Which book?
- "The Christmas Hirelings".
- Really?
- There's a version that Jennifer recorded
and a version that I recorded.
- Oh, bollocks, I was so bad.
- You gotta ask Jennifer the same question now.
Who to narrate your life?
- Who would you like to narrate your life?
- Richard. - Don't say me.
(laughing)
- Because, hey, we've narrated the same book, did you know.
- Jennifer, in a way, you've already narrated your own life,
because you've written an autobiography, haven't you?
- Oh, yes a memoir, I call it a memoir.
- Have you read it? - A memoir.
- And I read it to myself, yes, in a booth, in a booth.
- But, if you were to write a book or screenplay
about this current period of your life,
okay, so talking post the book.
What would it be called?
- It'd probably called "Grandma"
or "After the Menopause".
(laughing)
- Is that like the same title, "Grandma
or After the Menopause"?
- No, that would be the first one,
would be after the menopause
and the sequel would be and nearing death.
(laughing)
- If you actually write that,
I want credit if you actually write that.
- Since the title of the show is "The Stranger",
what's the best interaction with a stranger you've ever had?
- Blimey, best interaction.
This one.
(laughing loudly)
- Oh, you knew the right thing to say.
- Somebody gave me money,
thinking that I'd dropped it and I hadn't.
- Did you take it?
- Of course you took it.
- I would love it if he didn't, though.
- I was like, it's not mine,
and they insisted on giving it to me.
It's only a tenner,
but I did this like, "Oh, okay, I'll take it then."
- So you did take it.
- I did, but they insisted that it was mine.
- Yeah, I think that's fair.
Finders keepers, you know what I mean.
- Are there any roles that you've played
that perhaps aren't as well known,
that you have a particular soft spot for?
- There's a character I do in "Sing",
which again, is not a real person, it's a cartoon.
- That's okay.
- Called Nana Noodleman and she's a sheep,
an operatic singing sheep, and, honestly, I love her.
If they said, could you come in,
do a couple more lines for Nana?
Yes!
And I love it, I love doing animations,
because the creativity is so huge on those things.
You watch the whole thing develop
from a script, to the drawings, to the animation
and I just find them just a joy to do.
- That's a great answer.
- What you Richard?
- Weirdly, I'm gonna say exactly the same thing,
it's an animated character. - Really?
- In "Castlevania", called Trevor Belmont,
who's like a drunken vampire slayer.
- Your long knife, my short sword.
- Let's go.
- I would really like to A, look like that,
be able to do all of that, but you don't have to do,
you just sit behind a microphone,
slurring your words and say it using foul language.
It's brilliant, I love it.
- Do they, - It's very intense.
- Alter the animation to look a little bit like you?
- Well, apparently.
(laughing)
- Luckily not with the sheep, she's very tall.
(laughing)
- But, when they said, with the fairy godmother,
they said, "And we're gonna be filming you,
so that we can get your look and emotion."
And then I saw the character and went,
she's very short, I don't understand.
That can't possibly be based on me.
- That's not me!
- She's tiny.
And she exploded at the end, do you know that?
(dramatic orchestral music)
(laser shooting)
- Harold! - Shrek!
- No!
(explosions and screaming)
- Whew, ha!
(popping)
- You know, I actually made them record the line,
"I'll be back".
(laughing)
- I said, you're gonna need this line.
"I'll be back!"
No luck.
- That's great.
- What is a topic that you could speak about
for hours and not get bored?
- Oh, god, there're thousands of them, hang on,
cause I know I bore people endlessly about things.
Now, what is my main boring thing that I go on about?
Well, we're talking just now about where you get things from
- Oh, yeah!
- Like, I could go on and on about,
well, I got this and I got this and I got that,
you know when women see each other
and they go, "That's lovely."
"Yes I got it from ASOS
and it was 9.99 and I could've got it, they do it in blue."
"Do they?"
"Oh, yes, in blue."
(laughing)
- You get it now, but that's last season,
but you go your whole conversation after just one thing.
- I go on about the danger of Facebook
and the internet a lot, but then I'm a sucker for it,
you know so, I could talk for hours about that.
- Social media.
- Social media, Instagrammers.
Don't get me into the Kardashians,
that would be another one. - Oh, really.
- But I would honestly, Kanye West and God,
that's then I'm off.
(laughing)
- That's all we need, Kanye West and God.
- I'm off, I'm off.
- What about you Richard?
- Well, yes, social media.
I'm the same kind of hypocrite, I'm like, terrible,
don't let the kids at that
and then I'll be doing my thing.
You know what, if I've got into a show,
usually a documentary series that I'm hooked on,
I will really go off on one
and probably give away all of the secrets in the thing.
For example, "The Staircase".
Could not shut up about it,
like seeking out people, have you seen it?
Have you seen it? - Yes, yes.
- That whole thing, so, yeah, really went off onto one.
- A lot of these Netflix IX interviews
consist of me interviewing people that I admire.
Are there any people that you've ever met
or have yet to meet, that you've had that similar experience
of excitement, that you're like,
"Oh, my God, I can't believe I met you",
or "you're just as great as I thought you'd be", et cetera?
- Well, I'm not saying this just because you're here,
but I have to say, when I met Dawn on "Vicar of Dibley",
the first thing I did was,
can I have a photograph of Jennifer, please.
(laughing loudly)
- And I got one, but it was this big, it was tiny.
I was like is she giving out miniature pictures of herself?
- I think I've just blown the mic out from laughing.
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
Thank you so much.
Richard, Jennifer, here's your Netflix IX.
- Thank you, bye.
- Good earrings, what's on those earrings?
- Oh, yeah, it's got a face, yeah.
- I like your whole look, actually.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah, I do, I'm getting ideas now.
I'm gonna go home and paint my lips blue.
- You can tell your wife where you got lipstick from.
- Like, what's he doing?
(laughing)
(soft jazz music)