Great Dame

Academy Award nominee, beloved comedienne, and organic cattle herder:Dame Julie Walters is certainly a woman of many talents both on and off the screen

- Peter Wallace

“My darling Victoria, Dawn French, and Kathy Burke – how could I improve on that for company!” trills the ever-effervescent Julie Walters of a one-time poll that placed her as the fourth funniest woman in Britain. “Honestly, I was astonished to be in the top ten, let alone the top five!”

It seems a discredit to Dame Julie’s varied career in acting to dismiss her comedic inclinations so. Younger fans of her work may well remember her appearances in the spell-bindingly blockbuster Harry Potter franchise, or recent turns in summery Scandi sing-a-long Mamma Mia! and this year’s sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again best. But Dame Julie has been a staple of British acting on the stage, small, and silver screen since 1983’s Educating Rita earned her a first Academy Award nomination. And two years prior to that had seen the first in a long line of TV series alongside the “darling” late Victoria Wood – from Wood and Walters to the hilarious Dinnerladies. Few actors of the past 30 years can match the sheer breadth of the Edgbastonborn star’s back catalogue, or been privy to such a view of the changing landscape of the entertainment industry in that time.

“Everything is done so much faster now,” the 68-year-old nods.

“There’s so much pressure of schedules. I remember doing Personal Services [with Python Terry Jones] in 1986, and each lighting set up would take forever. We’d be there until 10pm because each scene had to be rearranged and set up accordingly.”