Interview with Joanna Scanlan who plays Pat Tooh in BBC One's Boat Story

BAFTA award-winning actress Joanna Scanlan is one of Britain’s most versatile talents, seamlessly moving from comedy to drama in both television and feature films. Joanna was brought up in North Wales, and studied History and Law at Cambridge University, where she joined The Footlights. After Cambridge, Joanna lectured Performing Arts at Leicester Polytechnic/De Montfort University and worked at the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Joanna’s film credits include After Love, which she won Lead Actress for both BAFTA and BIFA, Notes on a Scandal, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Girl with a Pearl Earring, How To Build a Girl, and How To Talk To Girls At Parties. Joanna is known for appearing in some of the best television series including No Offence, Gentleman Jack, Requiem, The Thick of It, Little Britain, and Rev. She also co-wrote and starred in Getting On and Puppy Love. On stage, Joanna has appeared in Cloud 9 (Almeida Theatre), Vernon God, Little (The Young Vic), and Polly Teale’s Madame Bovary (Oxford Playhouse).

Who is Pat Tooh and where do we find her at the start of the story?

Pat’s a late middle-aged ordinary woman, living in a town that she's barely left in her lifetime, not looking for any adventure. She makes the best pasty in town, and she has a son who she lives alone with. She's happy and she's fine at the outset of this wild tale.

What has it been like developing the scripts as you have been filming?

The development of the scripts has been amazing. When I first read it, I thought it was absolutely brilliant, it’s very high energy and written like the fastest, most complicated, but enjoyably story; it's got even more so over the process of filming. Some of the permutations have got richer and more extraordinary and funnier and frightening as well. The imagination has no bounds of Harry and Jack Williams!

What can you tease about the story?

It is a very complex and multi layered story. However, it's not so much that it's like a puzzle, it's more fun than that. You go on a real ride with your characters, lots of laughs on the way and lots of shocks and horrors. Playing a character within that, you must keep your centre, it's always about playing Mrs. Ordinary, Mrs. Fine and Mrs. Okay. Everything else around her is chaos, very extreme and surreal but she is in the middle of it. I've just had to keep on ploughing my furrow of ‘I'm fine’.

What has the atmosphere been like on set? Were there any particularly challenging scenes to film?

We have filmed through the winter, so the atmosphere is mainly about shivering and struggling with the really cold winter. We've had snow, we've had ice, we've had a lot of wind, huge storms, we've had storm Otto. It's not been easy. I'd say the atmosphere on set is one of just trying to take care of your tootsies and the little fingers and keep them all nice and warm. But it's fun to do. The joy of the scripts and the changes that have come in, and the way in which I feel trusted by Jack and Harry to give me the craziest things to do. I've found it a real delight and pleasure and I've loved working with Tchéky, I’ve absolutely loved it.

You could say Pat has seen it all, what drives her as a person?

Nothing drives Pat. She's somebody who doesn't live life on a drive, she's not ambitious. She doesn't want to drive anything; she wants to have a nice life and there's nothing wrong with that. Society, take note! You don't have to live your best life, you can just live an okay one and be fine, and that's very much Pat's world. If we're talking about actors’ motivation, then what she is probably looking for is to maintain that peace. She doesn't even want to make a better pasty or have a nice time with her son, she just is content. I think there's one quirk to her character which is that she's not nonplussed by things that are gory, bloody or dangerous because she has worked as a paramedic in the past. She's been on the scene of accidents and horrible beatings up and she's just able to take it in her stride. I think there's something about that character trait, which is unusual. She's not fazed and it's something that becomes quite useful in the storytelling.

What is Pat’s relationship with her son like?

Pat loves her son. He seems to doubt that she loves him as much as she actually does, and I think that's because he's struggled a bit in life. He hasn't been recognised for his positive strengths and he's struggled at work, and I imagine she's had to be very encouraging of him over the years, but it's left him with some doubt about his own self esteem.

How have you brought Pat to life?

I think it's been about making it real and making something convincing, because some of the events that take place in this show are pretty out there, to say the very least of it! I've had to try and maintain a grounded, real quality to her to pass as a character but also to her reactions to the events around her.

Why should audiences watch Boat Story?

Because it's massively entertaining! People sometimes forget to entertain an audience when they're creating drama, but not Jack and Harry Williams. This is a really, properly entertaining show.