REIGNING DOWN UNDER

Comedian Catherine Tate chats about her new BBC comedy series and imagines how she’d get on as a member of the royal family

- ALICE PENWILL

Comedian Catherine Tate has always had the ability to morph into any character – from foul-mouthed Nan to the Doctor’s trusty companion Donna Noble in Doctor Who, business savvy Nellie in the American version of The Office and flirty teacher Sarah Postern in Big School.

Now Catherine is taking on an entirely new persona, Princess Georgiana, a spoiled member of the British monarchy in Queen Of Oz. She spends her life partying and being plastered all over the tabloids. In an effort to get her as far away from London as possible and, at the same time, hoping to prevent Australia leaving the Commonwealth, Georgie’s parents send her off to become the Queen of Australia.

Of course, the real British royal family are frequently front-page news, from Harry and Meghan relocating to California to the King’s coronation. So has Catherine based her new comedy series on any royal in particular?

“It’s an entirely fictitious creation – I wasn’t thinking of anyone,” she says. “It’s also a piece of entertainment. You have to take artistic licence and it’s nice to create something from scratch. How would I fare as a member of the royal family?” she asks herself.

“As Catherine Tate in the royal family, I’d imagine a bit like Georgie. I think it would be awful to be constantly looked at and scrutinised. I can imagine nothing worse than having to dedicate your life to the public – that’s no mean feat. If I was born into it, I imagine I’d have a head start in how to get my head around it. If someone just tapped me on the shoulder and went, ‘You’re up,’ I think it would be difficult.”