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High Church
BEING the mother of a nine-month-old baby and now
with another on the way
isn't stopping Charlotte
Church returning to C4
with her chat show. She
loves being a mum and having "a ridiculously
well-behaved baby" really helps.
Little Ruby has always slept through the
night, from eight weeks. "She's made it
an absolute doddle," says Church.
"It all came completely naturally to me.
It's been really great. In terms of work, I
left it until I felt comfortable. I feel comfortable
now. I feel ready.
"Ruby still comes everywhere with me.
We've got a brilliant family support network
that makes it really easy for me."
Despite announcing that she's pregnant
again, with the baby due in November,
she says the TV show will go on. This
is the third series which features chat,
sketches and hidden camera stunts.
She feels it's grown series by series.
"When I first started, I wasn't really sure
about the whole comedy thing, or anything
to do with the writing and planning
of the set-ups and stunts," she explains.
"I didn't really know about any of that
stuff, I was pretty green. I had a few ideas,
but nothing substantial or reasonable.
But by the second series I had a little bit
more knowledge about what would work
and what we could pull off.
AND this series, even more so. A
good few months ago we had a
couple of production meetings
where everyone came up with a massive
load of ideas, and we talked through each
idea and I chose the ones I liked and could
see myself doing."
The monologue at the start and
straight joke-telling is more nerve-racking
for her than acting in the sketches.
"They're not live TV, so you can do it
again if you mess it up," says Church.
"I love doing the stuff where I'm
dropped into films, so it looks like I'm
playing opposite a Hollywood star. Some
of the script-writing for that is just amazing.
There's one for this series where I'm
dropped into a Jude Law film which is absolutely
genius. I'm an Essex housewife
and he's supposed to be my friend on Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire.
"I love doing that, although I don't consider
myself an actress. We've got Catherine
Tate coming on the show and she's
amazing at characters and sketches.
When I watch her, I realise I need to start
working on getting some new accents."
For the new series, she had to infiltrate
one of the Welsh Guards' final rehearsals
for this year's Trooping The Colour. It
was the scariest thing she's done in her
life, she says.
"These boys have a few months training
so their marching and movements are
pretty much spot on and, to be fair,
they're slick, they move as one. And then
there was me.
"I had about two hours to try and learn
the basic moves, of which there are a lot
- shoulder arms and slope arms and
quick march and loads of others.
"I had a big bearskin on and the full
army gear and massive boots that weigh
half a tonne each. I was knackered by the
end. I was a move behind every time.
There were 540 guys on parade, but only
one or two people knew I was there. We
were fooling a lot of people."
She's also done a hidden camera stunt
where she provides the voice in a lift.
That was really good fun, says Church.
"There's so much you can do. Some of the
older people in it are really cute.
"It's really funny as well because there
was a mirror in there. It's amazing how
many people check themselves out, or
squeeze a spot, or examine their moustaches,
or look at their arse. So it was
funny before I'd even said anything, just
what people do when they're on their own
in a lift."
Another part of the show, Lady to
Ladette, "trains" a group of posh girls to
go out on the town in Cardiff. That involves
a lot of dressing up, drinking and
dancing.
Church herself is known to like a drink
or two (although presumably she's off the
booze now she's pregnant again) but
maintains her past reputation as a bit of
a ladette is overstated.
"I don't think I was ever that bad," she
says. "I used to go out once a week, as
most people do. But the Press kept reissuing
old photos and stuff so it looked
like I was always going out, going nuts,
and I wasn't.
"Don't get me wrong, when I went out,
I would get absolutely steaming. But
when you grow up, you tend to get a bit
better control of yourself. I was working
loads, I didn't have the time. And I'm
dreadful on a hangover, I can't do anything
at all."
* The Charlotte Church Show:
Thursday, C4, 10pm.
10:44am Saturday 5th July 2008
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