Miranda star Sally Phillips admits she thought the hit sitcom was 'never going to work'
Sally Phillips played Tilly in Miranda Hart's eponymous BBC sitcom, but Sally has now revealed that she initially felt the show was "not [going to] work".
Sally Phillips initially felt that ‘Miranda’ was “never [going to] work”.
The 54-year-old actress played the upper-class Tilly in Miranda Hart's eponymous BBC sitcom, but has now admitted that she had reservations about joining the show after reading the script.
Asked if there were any roles where she had to follow her gut and go against the advice of others, she told Metro.co.uk: "Yeah, I did with Miranda Hart’s show.
"But not because I thought it was going to be a success because I read that and I went, 'That’s never [going to] work but she’s a lovely girl and, you know, she needs a break, sure. No problem.'"
'Miranda' - which followed the comedienne as a fictionalised version of herself and often saw her break the fourth wall - ran on the BBC from 2009 until 2013 and then returned for a handful of seasonal specials for the next two years.
Meanwhile, the 'Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy' star admitted that shooting funny programmes is not as humorous as many people may believe, and she has had more fun on the set of a serious drama.
She explained: "Lots of comedy shows aren’t a laugh actually. 'Midsomer Murders', you have more of a laugh, but comedy shows are quite serious about being funny and not being too indulgent."
Sally - who has sons Oliver, Luke and Tom with her ex-husband Andrew Bermejo - loved working on the new series of the Australian comedy 'Austin', alongside former 'Death in Paradise' star Ben Miller.
Speaking about the show, Sally said: "This is genuinely loads of fun, and it feels new and fresh.
"And for me personally, I’m really happy to be able to – with my job – do something that I believe will make the world slightly better for my child."
In the show, Ben plays a cancelled children's author and has to deal with a neurodivergent boy named Austin Austin (Michael Theo), who claims to be his son because he thinks his DNA may lead him on a path to redemption
Sally's eldest son Oliver has Down's syndrome and autism, and she feels it is important that disability representation on screen is more important now than ever before.
She added: "I think disabled representation, it’s definitely been the poor cousin of race and gender. Also, disability hate crime is the one hate crime that is rising.
"And I really firmly believe in the power of especially television, weirdly, more than cinema, because with TV, you’re turning up in people’s homes."
