View from my sofa: Charlotte Ritchie
The Code of Silence star avoids endings — so she’d love a Ghosts reunion
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- Laura Rutkowski
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What’s the view from your sofa?
My boyfriend insisted on getting a big TV. His excuse was that I was away filming for five months, so he needed something to focus on. There’s also a PlayStation 4. I’ve always loved video games. On a beautiful summer’s evening, all the normal people are outside having pints, and I’ll spend six hours being chased by horrendous monsters.
What have you been watching?
I’ve been really enjoying the Apple + series The Studio, where Seth Rogen plays a guy who’s promoted to head developer of a film studio. I also started watching The Royle Family again. I’m not really concerned with endings. If anything, I avoid them. I didn’t finish some of my favourite books. I’m sure I could be psychoanalysed and it would be quite revealing, but things aren’t tied up in life, so why should they be in art?
You’re best known for your comedy roles in Ghosts and Fresh Meat, but You is a psychological thriller and Code of Silence is a crime drama. Was it challenging taking on different genres?
Being more of a sitcom actor gave me a definite sense of imposter syndrome. You feel that you’ve got to earn your stripes a bit. I spoke to a bunch of older actors recently who said it only gets worse. I think back to the confidence I had early doors – the less you know, the better you think you are.
In You, you play wealthy CEO Kate Lockwood, and she always looks perfect. Could you relate to that?
It’s an image that is so completely unsustainable. Some people sustain it, but I can’t do that – it’s hours of work, prep, money and time. You have to work out what matters to you. I have this professional team that spend about two hours making me look like that, then I have to deal with the reality of myself, taking out the hair extensions, taking the heels off. But then I can breathe, and wear clothes I can spill my coffee down. The hardest thing is seeing people double-take me in the street: “Is that her? She doesn’t look like the person I saw on telly.”
Do you think women are under more scrutiny to look good than men?
Yes, without a doubt, although I would argue that the general expectation of how good we’re all supposed to look all the time has increased. The boys now have to have washboard stomachs. Everyone has to look unreal – and everyone can feel bad.
You introduced you to an international audience and the fifth and final series was filmed in New York. Is it still an actor’s dream to “break” America?
I always had a resistance to that, because my life and my heart is in the UK. Then I got to New York. I loved it and I’d love to do more there – I was afraid of going away for five months, but nobody cares. I filmed Code of Silence just after You, so I went from being in a New York penthouse to being in an ex-police station in Watford.
What was it like working with Rose Ayling-Ellis on Code of Silence?
Rose is very generous. She was so inclusive bringing the cast and crew into the signing world and telling us how to communicate more effectively with people who have hearing loss or are deaf. I sometimes asked if she would sign along when she was talking to help me learn, and I also used a signing app. Communication can be inconsiderate, sloppy, indirect or impersonal, but Rose communicates through eye contact and reading someone’s face, and she expects that to be reciprocated, so you have to be so much more considered about what you’re saying.
You don’t like endings, so you must have been sad when Ghosts finished. Is there the possibility of a film?
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It was absolutely awful! If there was a film, I would do it for free! No, don’t tell them that – I’ll do it for a very high fee… I’m desperate to get back in that house and see them all again.
Authors
Laura Rutkowski
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