Miriam Margolyes on Harry Potter, Blackadder & How To Be Confident
5/3/20261 hr 15 min
What happens when you put Miriam Margolyes and Romesh in a room together? Surprisingly brilliant life advice and a mild flirtation... BAFTA-winning actor, author and national treasure Miriam Margolyes joins Romesh Ranganathan for one of the funniest, frankest and most unpredictable episodes yet. Miriam reflects on her extraordinary career, from Blackadder and Harry Potter to her deep love of Charles Dickens, theatre and live audiences. She also discusses her new documentary, 'Miriam Margolye Made Me Me', her upcoming book 'Miriam’s Full English', life on Cameo, and why getting older has made her bolder. Expect candid opinions on fame, politics, kindness, reality TV, social issues and public figures, alongside stories from Cambridge Footlights, her long standing beef with John Cleese, working with comedy legends, and why she still believes in seizing the day. Plus: Shanthi’s question, audience absurdity and some truly unfiltered and unhinged moments… and yes, an on-air fart. It's a hilarious episode and unmistakably Miriam. A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Platform. 00:00 Intro 03:32 A gift for Miriam 06:00 Miriam thinks Rom is sexy 07:40 The new documentary 09:00 On success 10:30 More on Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me 15:45 On being a farty old lady and reality TV 17:08 Writing a new book 18:09 Unhinged audience questions and Cameo 21:00 On Nigel Farage 26:48 Most proud moments 25:37 Shanthi’s question to Miriam 28:29 On importance and popularity 32:23 Humanity, kindness and politics 37:42 Does Miriam like a full english? 38:22 On touring and Miriam’s broad career 39:37 Miriam farts on the show 40:30 Getting into acting 43:38 Footlights and her beef with John Cleese 47:13 Working on Blackadder 50:32 Harry Potter and it’s legacy 51:46 A message to David Essex 52:30 Miriam’s favourite actor to work with 56:41 Most surprising person she’s worked with 58:50 Most important work 01:00:25 What’s next 01:01:55 Misquoted 01:09:45 Advice from Miriam 01:10:44 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Speaker 10:14
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Ben· Panelist0:18
[beeping] Hi, Ma. Thanks for your unfiltered advice. [beeping] Hi, Mom. Thanks for always being by the phone. [beeping] Hey, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 30:27
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Speaker 10:44
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Romesh Ranganathan· Host1:14
Well, you came on, uh, it will have been one of a number of small events in your life, but you came on my radio show a while ago.
Miriam Margolyes· Guest1:22
I thought I'd- Yeah ... done something.
Romesh Ranganathan· Host1:25
So I- Yes ... I do a show on Radio 2 on Saturdays.
Miriam Margolyes· Guest1:27
That was it.
Romesh Ranganathan· Host1:28
And you came in for that,