#malcola

Rebecca Front: I think actually there's a very specific kind of relationship thing that was going on in my head and I don't know how relevant it is but I'll say it anyway, which is that we decided that Nicola was quite unhappily married, and she has lots of children and a very unsupportive husband at home. And one of the things that slightly goes back to- when we were talking earlier about what was it like being, as a woman being harangued by Malcolm. But one of the decisions I took very early on, was that I thought there's got to be a reason why Nicola keeps going back, keeps kind of pissing Malcolm off and keeps going back for more. And it can't just be because it's funnier that way, we want to see their conflict. So I decided that because she was very unhappily married that probably she develops a bit of a thing about Malcolm, just because in a kind of really unhealthy, slightly abusive way. And I also decided that I would never tell Peter that during the filming of the thing because it wasn't helpful, because it was never going to be a sort of, you know, a relationship comedy.

Armando Ianucci: That's interesting cause I didn't know that. You didn't mention that to me. But that kind of makes sense why she is so destroyed when she loses her- her family really, she loses her job as party leader.

RF: Yes, which actually she hated really. She's hated it from beginning to end. But it's a personal failure, but it's more than that, and it also informed, for me, the episode where Malcolm gets sacked. Because Nicola is devastated by that and I think that's why. Because actually at that point everything is- is going so pear-shaped, and the only thing really, the only kind of glimmer on the horizon is that at least there's that kind of — in her head — Beatrice and Benedict kind of vibe going on which is so awfully abusive and horrible but then somehow, there's a kind of — you know, she's — in her head, it's Sleepless in Seattle... [Interviewer: Hanging on to something-]

AI: Are you speaking as Rebecca or as Nicola? Because that is weird!

RF: Very definitely as Nicola. But yeah, I think it's like there's a little rom-com in her head.

Interviewer: Listen, do they not all miss Malcolm? And then when he comes back in, when he's wearing casual clothes which of course, makes him [Rebecca Front: Yes!] look completely different.

RF: Yes, and being nice to people -

IN: He's trying to be nice to people, but immediately he's filled all the empty air in the office, and "Malcolm's back" is all they're interested in. And they all want to impress him. So he's like a sort of classic alpha male in that way.

RF: He absolutely is.

IN: Is it because anger is always funny? You know, people being angry - Finally it's an admission of failure, isn't it -

AI: But also it's- sort of the- the villains are always the interesting ones. You now, your Darth Vader or your Richard the Third, if you want to extend the — moving from Beatrice and Benedict to Richard the Third.

RF: I think I'd moved on to Ross and Rachel though at that point so, so we — I kind of slightly dragged on —

AI: — ... Satan in Paradise lost —