Actor Mathew horne, 43, on working with Catherine Tate, being a spurs fan and whether we’ll see more Gavin & Stacey
Twenty years after performing Nan with Catherine Tate at Edinburgh Fringe, it’s now a big-screen movie. That’s quite a journey.
It was a real milestone moment. A lot of the film is myself and Catherine in a van as we go on a road trip so it’s a bit like a buddy movie.
You might even see her being nice to me at some point. It was a real moment for both of us, I think.
I remember doing it with Catherine in a headscarf and a rain mac in Edinburgh — no prosthetics, just doing the voice — and then spin on 20 years and Warner Bros are paying for us to drive through Dublin together.
It doesn’t make any logical sense when you think about it as she would be about 116 now…
Did you enjoy a few pints of Guinness in Ireland?
I didn’t have any because I don’t really drink when I’m working. That would have been very dangerous.
We all know what Dublin is like so I wasn’t coerced into any of those shenanigans.
It was great to film there, though. We did a week out in Galway in the west of Ireland, which was really stunningly beautiful.
You mentioned it’s a road trip movie. Any fond memories of being on the road yourself?
When I was doing stand-up in my early twenties with my double-act partner, Bruce Mackinnon, we used to drive to gigs in his Peugeot 206 and I don’t know how it kept going.
His father used to have a house on the Isle of Skye and we ended up going and doing some gigs up there. We drove to Edinburgh, we drove to Manchester, we drove all over the country in this Peugeot.
We used to do quite amusing pranks, which probably will be deemed not quite adhering to the Highway Code, so maybe I won’t reveal what they were now, but they live very fondly in my memory.
Nan has a broad family appeal. Do you like that in comedy?
You say it’s got broad appeal but I can’t remember how much swearing there is in it! I’ve got to report back to my family and extended family and friends about whether nieces and nephews can go because I can’t remember how much swearing there is compared to what goes on the television.
Then again, with Nan it does come to the point where it just washes over you, doesn’t it?
You’ve worked with some brilliant comedians. Where do you think Catherine ranks among the best?
I did my dissertation on Steve Coogan and he was my main inspiration for trying to get into comedy. I never wanted to do, or could do, what he does but I certainly feel like he is a comic genius and Catherine is at his level. She certainly deserves to go down in history.
There’s something about those performers when they go into character. The eyes completely change, as well as everything else, and that’s terrifying to be around! It’s almost supernatural.
If we never get another episode of Gavin & Stacey will you be satisfied where you left it?
That depends what happens. If it happens.
I think its legacy won’t change because it’s so well loved and I’m very proud of it. It’s extraordinary the way people have taken to that show.
I don’t know whether there will be another special — it certainly left it open for one. The cliffhanger ruffled a few feathers! Ruth [Jones] and James [Corden] have said nothing about it. I think it would be nice if they tied it up.
Actors can start to resent a character when it becomes as popular as Gavin. Could you?
It would be beyond churlish, wouldn’t it? To bite the hand that feeds you. To have a role like that under my belt before halfway through my career — why would I resent that?
It’s not like any attention it has brought me is out of anything other than love and fondness for the show. It’s impossible to resent that.
You’re a big Spurs fan. Does backing an often disappointing team set you up for life?
I couldn’t disagree more! I’ve been a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur since I was seven years old. We won the FA Cup in 1991, beating Nottingham Forest, my hometown, and that was a real high. I wish that continued.
I wish we were Man City. I wish we were Barcelona. I wish we were PSG. I would happily watch us turn people over every week.
It really ruins my day when we lose but one week we beat Man City and I’m up on my feet, giggling, shouting, squealing, and then we lose to Middlesbrough. Some consistency would be nice.
You’re returning to the stage in Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming. Do you prefer acting on stage to being in front of a camera?
It’s a completely different beast — completely different jobs, completely different discipline and much harder work.
It’s very, very intense, especially when you’re doing a very intense play like The Homecoming. But it’s wonderful to do Pinter.
The Nan Movie is in cinemas now.
