Tamzin Outhwaite reveals new online drama saved her during lockdown
Tamzin Outwaite has admitted she’s found lockdown quite difficult. The actress, who went into self-isolation on 16 March with COVID-like symptoms, was speaking on White Wine Question Time, about how awful she had found the whole situation.
“To be honest, I was not having a great time in lockdown,” she told podcast host and friend Kate Thornton. “I wasn't like, 'Oh, this is relaxing and lovely'. I was like, 'This is hell for me'. I like to do things.”
Thankfully for Tamzin, the opportunity to “do things” came calling when fellow actress Julie Graham approached her about staring in her new online drama, Dun Breedin’.
The former EastEnders star said: “From that day on, I have felt like, 'Oh, I've got a purpose. This is not so bad.' I don't feel so low and so it's really brought me a lot of joy.”
For Tamzin, it was not only the funny script that attracted her, but also the way it portrayed women of her age.
“It didn't shy away from really strong, opinionated, sweary, sweaty, hot, fabulous, dynamic women,” she laughed. “And I thought I could play one of them easily!”
Due to lockdown, the stars of the show are getting their families on board to help film and star alongside them, and one particular member of Tamzin’s family has become quite the star.
“My dog features quite heavily because she humps everything,” Tamzin told Kate. “I mean every single time she goes to the cushion and starts humping we just get the camera out.”
Although being in the drama, which follows a group of women who are all going through the menopause, has helped Tamzin cope with lockdown, she said it’s not been without the dramas, especially when it comes to working with her boyfriend, Tom Child.
Tamzin, who has been dating actor and film-maker Tom for two years, said she’s been a bit bossy when it comes to directing!
“Tom actually said to me the other day 'I do do this for a living'. And I said, 'Well, I've been doing it for at least 25 years.'”
Co-star Denise Welch, who also appeared on the podcast, said Tamzin made her laugh by messaging her to say that filming Dun Breedin’ had made Tom and herself argue more than ever and turned them “into Den and Ange” from EastEnders!
Tamzin also joked that because her character was messy, she’d had to “crank it up” to make her house look realistic, to which friend Kate joked that her house was “way tidier than usual!”
“My character would be particularly messy, so I've had to mess mine up a lot because it was obviously pristine as you know,” she laughed.
“We're not a group of interior designers, so in a way I think it's quite authentic if we have stuff laying around. I’m keep going to tidy bits up and I'm like, no, we're going to film there later and I think they should be on the floor.”
Tamzin said being part of the drama, which has meant filming and staging it themselves in their own homes, has taught her that she can be creative, something which she hopes continues after lockdown has finished.
“We're told 'This is what you're saying', but it's up to you how you do all of that,” she said. “That's quite new for me. It's the creativity – you can still be creative without, you know, being out and about.”
The actress, who had been starring in The Seagull alongside Emilia Clarke before she self-isolated, said she’s happy she’s achieved something – other than decluttering her house – during this lockdown period.
“I remember saying ‘I don't want to come out of this lockdown having achieved nothing except for cleaning out one cupboard’,” she laughed. “To actually have a project where you can come out going, ‘God, we made history while we were in lockdown’ is amazing.”
Hear Tamzin Outhwaite chat more about Dun Breedin’ alongside co-stars Julie Graham and Denise Welch on the latest episode of White Wine Question Time. Listen now on iTunes and Spotify.
