Alex Kingston: ‘My favourite TV series? ER — it really holds up’

Alula Hart

The Times Online

Article taken from The Times

 

Born in Surrey in 1963, Alex Kingston became known for her TV work playing Dr Elizabeth Corday in ER for 160 episodes and a recurring role as River Song in Doctor Who. Her recent projects include A Discovery of Witches and last year’s Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with Johannes Radebe and came sixth. She is about to star in Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen at Hampstead Theatre.

The box set I’m hooked on

Severance. I can’t wait for the next series. It was brilliantly written and acted.

 

The last TV programme that made me cry

I cried recently watching ice dancing at the Winter Olympics. The Canadian couple who were dancing to “Starry, starry night” [Don McLean’s Vincent] had me sobbing.

The song that saved me

Ryan Adams’ version of Wonderwall. The song was playing in my head when I met my current husband and I associate it with him.

My favourite film

Anything by Zhang Yimou. I love House of Flying Daggers, Raise the Red Lantern, Hero. They’re like fairytales.

My favourite TV series

I love ER even though I was in it. I think it really holds up. The handheld camerawork was unique at the time and gave a sense of urgency to the show. When you watch it now, it doesn’t look dated. Watching myself, I know intellectually it’s me but at the same time I’m removed from myself so I can just sit and enjoy the performance.

The instrument I played

Guitar at primary school. I used to stay behind after school to have guitar lessons with my teacher and there was one other child in the lesson as well. He was Guy Chambers [best known as a songwriter with Robbie Williams].

The instrument I wish I had learnt

I love the sound of the accordion. On the one hand it’s folkloric because so many cultures use it in their traditional songs, but then it’s also cool. People busking in the Metro in Paris with it are cool.

My favourite musical artist

I love Florence + the Machine. My daughter also introduced me to Taylor Swift and I really enjoy her music. Folklore and Evermore are my favourite albums.

My favourite concert

My daughter and I went to see Taylor Swift at Wembley on the Eras tour. I was in tears with all of the other thousands of people. My favourite song by her is Cardigan.

My favourite piece of music

If I’m rehearsing a show that needs me to go deep I always listen to Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No 2. It helps me learn my lines and get emotionally bedded into the role I’m about to take on.

My favourite book

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I love historical novels and this one really drew me into the world she created around the Trojan Wars.

The book I’m reading

I’m reading the entire James Bond box set. I engage much more with the books than I do the films. In the books Bond is much more fallible; he’s not such a superhero. Very often he doesn’t get the girl, he gets injured. I feel like somebody needs to do the films again but make them more accurate to the books.

The book I couldn’t finish

I thought while reading White Mughals by William Dalrymple I would be transported into India and learn an incredible story about one particular person. But it was much more factual than I anticipated and I got bogged down.

The book I’m ashamed I haven’t read

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Given the times we’re in I think I should read it.
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The lyric I wish I had written

“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls” — from The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel.

The music that cheers me up

Ride on Time by Black Box. I first heard it on Canal Street in Manchester and it always gets me up.

My guiltiest cultural pleasure

When I’m working I find it very difficult to engage with something that demands my full attention, so if I want to switch off I put on Gogglebox.

I’m having a fantasy dinner party. I’ll invite these artists and authors

Frida Kahlo, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Émile Zola, Artemisia Gentileschi and Sappho. I think they’d get on together and Wilde would get the party started.

The production I’m looking forward to

The English National Ballet is doing Body & Soul by Crystal Pite at the end of March at Sadler’s Wells. Pite is my absolute favourite choreographer.

I wasted an evening watching

Frankenstein. I watched it to the end because I felt like it deserved my attention and I couldn’t make a proper decision about my thoughts on it until I’d seen the entire film. But it wasn’t my cup of tea.

Overrated

Reality TV, besides Gogglebox. It’s taken over too much bandwidth and we’re losing original dramas.

Underrated

Original work. Studios are all about making money now and original writers are not being given the opportunity they should because everybody only wants to make something that’s already in existence.
Copenhagen is at Hampstead Theatre, London, Mar 27-May 2, hampsteadtheatre.com
Script developed by Never Enough Design