Award-winning actor Miriam Margolyes returned to Cambridge to talk about her time at university, her illustrious career and why she is ‘so angry’ that she wasn’t cast in BBC One’s Dickensian.
Speaking to students at Newnham College, where she read English from 1960, Miriam, with her trademark humour and honesty, said: “It should have been me! Dickens is the greatest writer who ever lived and I’m just so angry that I wasn’t cast as Mrs Gamp. Pauline Collins, who is a dear friend, was. She is very good, but it still should have been me.”
Dickensian is the BBC’s soap-opera style reimagining of Charles Dickens’ stories. Margolyes went on to read a few lines as Mrs Gamp to illustrate her point.
Margolyes, who has enjoyed a hugely varied career on radio, stage and screen, talked about her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, working with Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet and why actors don’t have to be intelligent ‘but it helps!’.
The born performer was seen most recently in The Real Marigold Hotel and credits her time at Cambridge for launching her acting career. She said: “Newnham was the beginning of me, being at Cambridge was like being at drama school. I owe everything to Cambridge. The friends I made at Newnham are still my friends today.”
She reminisced about celebrating her 21st birthday on the banks of the River Cam in Grantchester, and gave students an insight into her famous appearances on The Graham Norton Show alongside stars like Matthew Perry.
She laughed: “I made him very uncomfortable. But I always tell the truth, I don’t see the point of not telling the truth. Don’t placate people, you only have one life and this is not a dress rehearsal.”
Margolyes, who is a Newnham Associate, had returned to Newnham to take part in an interview and CV clinic run by the Associates, a group of high-profile alumnae who offer workshops, guidance and support to current Newnham students.