Home bird

Geraldine James is debating whether to reveal what she does in the new series of the BBC's comedy hit Little Britain. She ums and aahs before declaring: "I'm not going to tell you, it's slightly embarrassing". What she will reveal is that she appears in a recurring sketch, remaining silent about the exact nature of the running joke in the series that returns to BBC3 this month.

"It was fabulous to work with them," she says of stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams. "They are incredibly nice guys and brilliant. They do something I couldn't do in a million years and they asked me to play this silly woman."

While only giving away a tantalising clue to that part, James is only too happy to talk about David Storey's play Home, which opens a tour at York Theatre Royal. One thing hangs over this Oxford Stage Company reviva l - the original production which united a pair of theatrical knights, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.

"I knew of it because the original one was a very famous production," she says. "I was very interested to read it. When they asked me to do it, I thought, 'Which one - John Gielgud or Ralph Richardson - did they want me to be?'. It's such a good play and an unusual play. And it very much suits at what I want to do at the moment."

Until going on the road with The Cherry Orchard last year, in another Oxford Stage Company production, James hadn't toured because she didn't want to be away while daughter Ellie was still young. "She's grown up and off to university, which releases me," she explains.

"I've never been able to tour before. I found it very difficult to work in great long swathes in the West End and haven't been for a long time. I haven't felt very happy doing that."

She had gone to Tokyo with a National Theatre production but never done an English tour. Travelling with The Cherry Orchard proved an eye-opening experience that she was eager to repeat. "It was a revelation which I enjoyed very much," says the actress.

"To take theatre to the provinces where people go to see it because they want to and not because they are told it's what you must see or it's the hot ticket at the moment. I really liked the audiences last year, they're much more vibrant."

Hopefully, York audiences will impress her too when Home opens. The two women in the piece counterpoint the two men. "They're very rumbustious and out there, a complete contrast to the men. It's how relationships form and the effect one couple has on the other. It's very evocative, funny, touching and rather moving. I think it's definitely worth a re-look," she says.

Yorkshire-born writer Storey has been at rehearsals, which she regards as a good thing because the play is "quite enigmatic" and it's good to have him there to ask, '"What does this mean?". An answer isn't necessarily forthcoming.

"I worked with Edward Bond once and you'd say, 'What does this mean?'. He'd think a lot, then say, 'I don't know, what do you think it means?'."

One mystery concerning her at present is why her character wears a headscarf. "I haven't quite got to the bottom of that yet," she says. "A play has to be recreated every time it's done. You're given the ball and you have to run with it."

Another reason that Home fitted into her work plans was the desire as "a person of a certain age" to return to the theatre to exercise her brain. A play every year or two years would suit her fine.

Not that she's complaining about her TV work. As well as Little Britain, she's filmed a six-part ITV series Jane Hall's Big Bad Bus Ride, penned by At Home With The Braithwaites' writer Sally Wainwright. It also stars an actress from that series, Sarah Smart, as a girl who moves from Huddersfield to London and gets work as a bus driver. James plays her mum - "rather an awful mum", she admits.

She was also the villain of the piece in last year's hit movie Calendar Girls, the story of the Yorkshire WI members posing topless for a charity calendar. James was the WI executive who frowned on such activities.

She provided what she calls "the necessary dramatic moment of angst" as her character criticised the women. "But it was nice to be part of that. The film was so successful and we went to LA," she says.

As yet, the exposure across the Atlantic hasn't resulted in any work. "You rarely do get anything immediately. It's a long term effect. Sometimes people ask me to do something and I'm going, 'Why on earth did they ask me?' and it turns out they've seen me in something a long time ago."

Not only casting directors but the public have long memories. She still gets recognised from her role in the award-winning TV series Jewel In The Crown. "Someone came up to me in the street the other day because of that. I was just thrilledr," she says.

Home is at York Theatre Royal from October 27 to 30. Tickets 01904 623568

Little Britain returns to BBC3 in the near future

Published: 07/10/2004