Interview with Sophie Woolley

Written by Benjie Goodhart - Channel 4

Monday, 23 November 2009 03:05

Channel 4's ground-breaking new drama, Cast Offs, hits the screens this week so ATV Network News decided to dig deeper into two of the characters by speaking to the actors behind the 'Cast Offs'.

The new drama is a story evolving around six disabled people who are sent to a desert island to fend for themselves for 90 days for a reality TV show. It is a darkly comic take on disability, television, prejudice, love and life.

Sophie Woolley plays Gabby, a deaf girl who is beautiful, pregnant, funny and screwed up. In real life, Woolley is not pregnant, and doesn't seem screwed up, but she's beautiful, deaf and funny. She's also a successful writer and actress, who has written for Radio 4 and performed her own plays at a host of prestigious venues. Here, she reveals what it was like to film Cast Offs, how she'd cope with island life in the real world, and why a can of beans helped her prepare for her part.

You're starring in a new series, Cast Offs. What’s the show about?
It’s a drama series in a mockumentary format, focusing on six disabled people who are sent to a remote island to fend for themselves for three months. There are cameras set up around the island as if it were Big Brother but it’s not a competition, it’s a 'serious documentary'.

You play Gabby. Tell me a bit about her.
Gabriella has acquired deafness like me, she started off hearing and as a teenager she went deaf. She’s very mischievous and funny, and she’s “up the duff”. In her back story we see her just before her wedding day with her fiancé, who signs. On the island Gabby signs a bit but she mainly speaks, as the other disabled characters don’t sign, although she teaches the blind character, Tom, a sign song. She’s funny, but she sometimes takes her jokes too far, she can seem quite cruel and I think she’s quite self-loathing. She also likes to flirt and likes the company of men, although not so much women.

How did you land the part?
The directors had seen me performing in my plays. I’ve written and acted in two theatre plays and they saw me doing theatre work and invited me to audition. I showed them some of my monologues and went back to do a group audition.

What was it that attracted you to this part?
When they asked me to audition they sent me a brief concept for the drama. I started reading it and thought “Oh no, what have I agreed to audition for?” I thought it was a reality show, but when I got to the bottom I saw it was fictional. I was relieved, as I originally thought I was going to have to go to an island for three months if I got the part. They also sent me a sample script for Gabby’s character and I thought it was so sharp and funny and the writing was so good, I really wanted the part.

Where was it filmed?
It was filmed in Hockham, Norfolk on six miles of beautiful sandy beach and in a wood in Derby where they set up a realistic camp.

How long did filming take and what was the experience like?
Five weeks. We started in March, filming Gabby’s back story for episode four which took five days and then four weeks of filming in Derby and Hockham.

Did you all get on well as a cast?
In real life we all got on well but not in the programme. Any on-set tensions we saved for the take.

Cast Off - the cast

How did you get on with the pigs and the chickens?
We bonded! I worked quite a lot with the animals and I was hands-on with the pigs. Miranda Bowen, the director, got me doing a lot of work with the chickens. I had to sit in the chicken coop and play with the chickens.

Were there any particular difficulties filming on set in view of the various disabilities of the cast?
I had an interpreter with me on set. The blind actor, Tim Gebbels, used to trick me sometimes. If I couldn’t see my interpreter before a take, Tim signed “action” before it had even been said so I’d start acting and look like an idiot; he’s very funny.

In Gabby’s back story her fiancée, Del, signs to her. Did they find an actor who could sign or did he have to be taught specially?
Chris Curran, who plays Del, is very good at signing. He works as a communication support worker but he’s mainly an actor and he could already sign. I was told as soon as he walked into the audition that Joel and Miranda knew they had found Del. He was really perfect, very funny and handsome.

In the series Gabby is pregnant. Did you have to wear a lot of different sized padding throughout filming?
We didn’t shoot the whole series in order, so in between scenes the costume girl, Jess, would have to cut my outfit open, pull out the padding and then sew it back up and in another scene I’d be more pregnant and she’d have to stuff it all back in again. I’m hoping it looks realistic: I practiced my waddle a lot with tins of baked beans before I went to shoot.

You’re a writer as well as an actor. What particularly impressed you about the script?
You can tell it’s good when you read something and think “I wish I’d written this”, and I loved saying Gabby’s lines. Miranda also got Chris Curran and I to do a lot of improvisation. They kept the camera rolling when we were being interviewed on the sofa, so some of the things you see in episode four is improvisation. There’s also a clip on the Cast Offs website from episode one where we’re talking about an unusual menu and some of the lines in that are improvised, so some of the lines are my own work!

You’ve starred in some of your own plays. Do you prefer performing your own material?
I did a play called When to Run, where I played four female characters who all hear; Gabby is the first deaf character I’ve ever played. I’ve been going deaf for a long time but I’ve never got round to writing a deaf character.

Does your deafness not influence the way you write?
Deafness is implicit in what I write but I’ve just not got round to it, I haven’t thought of a good idea. Two of the writers on Cast Offs are disabled but they don’t always write about disabled things so it’s up to me if I feel like writing about it. I have got some things that I’m planning with deaf and disabled characters in it, so it’s something I will do.

How do you think you’d cope with being “cast off” on a deserted island in real life?
I think I might end up getting as catty as Gabby because it would be hard work being with hearing people for three months who don’t sign. I would get quite grumpy because there would be a lot of fireside chat at night, and even when we were filming I found it quite frustrating because all the characters sit and chat, and as a deaf character I don’t know what they’re saying. The characters left me out of conversations all the time, so in real life that would probably damage my confidence and make me grumpy.

Do you have any useful skills you would bring to the group?
I could drum up a really good meal out of nothing… and I’m funny.

Who would you choose to be marooned with?
Bear Grylls [laughs]. Or my husband.

What home comforts would you miss the most?
TV. I like it because it’s subtitled and I know what everyone’s saying. And make up, but I think I’d be fine.

What are you most proud of about Cast Offs?
I really enjoyed being part of the whole thing and all the people working on it were very talented. There was a sense of excitement about it, that we were creating something exciting and innovative and I’m proud of being part of it. I’m glad they picked me and I’m really excited about everyone else seeing it, I hope everyone watching will be as happy as I was when I was filming it.

CAST OFFS

Tuesday, 24 November, 11.05pm. Wednesday, 25 November, 11.15pm.

More details on the episode can be found in ATV's Drama Spy.