Saoirse Ronan
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Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and we're here in Clapham with my mum, Lenny. Hello, Lenny. Hi, Darlene. Oh, it's a good one today. We have the fantastic Saoirse Ronan on. Now, we're not sure whether that's actually how we pronounce her name. It is Saoirse. I have been calling her Saucy Ronan for a long time. Okay, right. Saucy Ronan. Okay, we have Saoirse Ronan on. Yeah. Who...

We're recording this a few days after she...

basically went viral with a clip from Graham Norton which was incredibly profound and quite brilliant and I'm not sure whether she's going to want to talk about it I'm sure she's sick of it and it's only like day three but Saoirse is coming on to talk about Stephen Queen's new film that she stars in called Blitz and we've seen it and it's really beautiful fabulous it also has some old friends from the podcast did you see old Hayley Hayley Squires in there being fabulous making bombs yeah

But I mean, the cast is unbelievable. Saoirse plays a single mother from Stepney Green who has a beautiful young... What are you going to do? His dad's Paul Weller. That was a surprise. Oh yeah, Saoirse's dad's Paul Weller in it and he's really good at acting. He's really good. Did you know he acted? No, no.

But her accent. Oh, she's so good. She's not Irish in that, is she? She's like Stepney. Stepney Green talks like that? She was amazing. Where's my bleeding son? She was wonderful. But everything she's in is wonderful. Lady Bird. Lady Bird.

Little Women, Atonement. Mary's Queen of Scots. And, you know... Where she met her beautiful husband. Oh my God, Mum, you need... Okay, you need to, when she comes on, you need to just get it out the way that you love Jack Loudon. I wonder what accent they speak to each other in. Because he's Scottish. Well, probably Scottish and Irish. Scottish and Irish. We're so excited about this podcast. We're clutching our coffees because we did get back quite late last night from a half-turn...

Which, of course, we were together on because we're never not together. And can I just say that the hotel that we're in is...

absolutely our demographic so I'd like to say hello to everyone that was in Tenerife with us who's listening because I tell you when we walked down the stairs which mum was complaining about because she said it was too big the hotel was barred. Oh you're the lady from the podcast. She went now I know that voice and uh. Jessie someone stopped me in Tenerife airport and I wasn't even talking she said you're the lady from the podcast. Well. I live in France I listen to it all the

Maybe we should talk about the fact that you probably were recognised on the EasyJet flight back when you were complaining that the curry was going to take an hour. So you need to hold it down. Because she wouldn't move her bloody sandwiches. Mum, you are becoming, you are out-devering the biggest diva. No, I'm actually becoming, I think, like the nan. Catherine Tate? Yeah. No, you're there. I'm there. I think I've got there already. You're surpassing her. Yeah. What have you made?

Gosh, well, I've been on the New York time while we were away on holiday. I was a bit panicked because we only got back. I actually closed my eyes about two o'clock this morning. The Ocado man was here at eight.

So ordered it. So I've made chicken with apple and fennel because it was a bit autumnal. Yeah. I've done greens with white beans, which taste and smell lovely. I've done parmesan crusted potatoes. They smell really good. Which also smell garlic. I hope she doesn't mind garlic. I mean,

She's got to do a whole bit of promo. I'm going to have to give her peppermints after this. There's a lot of garlic. And then I've just got some plain green beans to go with it. But there's also, we're following a tip of one of your, of Mira Soda. Well, no, okay. Because this is... Right, so we have a wonderful episode coming up with the brilliant chef, Mira Soda. And she recommended a certain dessert to do, which is relaxed and...

wonderful and delicious and so we've kind of done a cheat for the dessert because we got back so late yeah it's hackney gelato which is some of the best ice cream pistachio and lemon and i don't know it's passion lemon yeah some of that i've got some little biscuits to put in if she wants so mira's episode is is is wonderful by the way and she recommends she puts pistachios on the top

Of the pistachio ice cream. And she just says it's like, just makes it, and I guess you could put edible flowers. Did you get the edible flowers? Piss off. Okay. Saoirse Ronan coming up on Table Manners. First of all, we've got a lot in common because, besides being Irish, obviously. Obviously. And having that lovely maroon passport with the harp on. Are you jealous? Yeah, very. So jealous. We were in the airport last night and she went through and she went.

You just, I want to feel bad for you, but I feel so smug when I'm leaving Jack. And I'm like, I'll see you in 40 minutes. I'll have both the bags. Yeah, I know. It's so exciting. So I listened to you on Graham Norton.

And I heard that your mum has seen Saturday Night Fever 27 times. I think I've done maybe 27 or 28. In the cinema. I've never met someone else who's done it. Because I loved it so much. And I loved John Smart. She had you on with you.

I just love John Travolta so much. She loves him so much. And genuinely, that wasn't just like an anecdote that I came up with. She was so excited to be there. He's the only person she wanted to see. George Clooney was like an afterthought. George Clooney being on her dress, she was like, you're keeping me from John. I need to get to John. How was John's face at that point? It was funny. Had he had work? Yeah. Okay, yeah.

Yeah. But he's still John. But he's still John. But it was like, I think from like Pulp Fiction John onwards, it's not the same John that I grew up with. Because I was obsessed with Grease. Oh, yeah. Oh, everyone was. And I used to... Was it your soundtrack on holiday? Going on holiday? It kind of always was.

It always is my soundtrack. And actually, when we did Mary Queen of Scots years ago, which is where Jack and I met. That's the other thing I love. Okay, we'll get on to that. We, Grease suddenly became our soundtrack. I don't know why, but we used to. Sorry? To you and Jack? No, no, no, not to me and Jack, to me and the girls. Oh, I was going to think of you and Jack during Scots.

No, no, me and the girls did it. So like, so Mary Queen of Scots historically had these four handmaids who were also called Mary and they're famous ladies, literally. And they're famously known as the four Marys. And we're all still very, very close. We're really good friends. And Grease, I don't know how, but someone just played it one day. And so we would do these epic performances like weekly, I would say.

So yeah, so I love Grease. But did Jack ever get involved? No, he wasn't really. We kept that very separate. But is this how you met? You met on that? We had actually met years before just because we have a lot of friends in common. But did you fall in love on set? Yes.

Well actually we didn't fall in love on set but it was yeah it was around I mean he is utterly gorgeous He's gorgeous He is gorgeous Yeah No but now I'm just having this imagination of him going Ha ha Self

and not just them being like oh my god I love you it's him no I think if he had done that it probably wouldn't have gone the way the way it's gone no it was me and it was all my girls and we had like the biggest romance because I had one of my best friends Eileen O'Higgins who I'd met on Brooklyn a few years before that who played my best friend Nancy are you playing in the sequel I've just finished Long Island I hope so I don't I don't

No, I don't know. But hold on, is it the same story? Well then of course you're bloody doing it. I mean, I would be raging if they got someone else to do it. I would be raging. Unless it was like Jesse Buckley. If it wasn't Jesse Buckley, I'd be absolutely raging. Have you read the new one, Long Island? Yeah, I got an early copy. But he leaves it open at the end as well. Stop, enough. Don't spoil. Yeah, don't say too much. I won't say too much. But I will say, without giving anything away, it is giving the audience of Brooklyn what they wanted the first time round. Seriously?

Saoirse is stroking Prince the cat. You have a dog called Stella. I do, yeah. Tell me about your dog. What sort of dog, yeah? So Stella is a Petit Basset Griffon Vendian. Sorry. A what? Jesus. It's a French brand. French brand. How did you come across this dog? Because I think it was about a year before...

lockdown when the world was still as it was before crufts was on and i watch crufts every single year and a petit passe a pbgv is what they're called pbgv won crufts and i saw the dog and i was like that's the dog i want i want a winner and i want a dog that has long sort of scruffy ears because that was sort of jack's criteria he needed a dog that had ears that he could show me the ears come on show me the dog she's so lovely

And she's so long and blonde and we're so long and blonde. So she's definitely your dog. Oh, she's definitely our dog. This is Stella.

Stella's the blonde. PBGV, what is it? PBGV, yeah. Let me see, darling. And she looks really sad, but she's not. Inside she's dancing. Oh my God, she is gorgeous. She's gorgeous and she's got lovely nature. So does she travel backwards and forwards to LA? No, she doesn't. It's too far for her to go. And also, I'm not there enough. I'll be there for like a week or two at a time. So is your home permanently London?

Yes, kind of as permanently as one can live in London if you're not actually from London. So like, you know, I'm Irish, as you know, Jack's Scottish, so we have our bases there. Yeah. But we're mainly in London. Where does your mum live still? She lives in Dublin. Yeah. I love that.

Let's talk about your mum and home and food memories from your childhood. What's a big food memory from your childhood and who was around the dinner table with you? Who was around the dinner table? So we used to, or mum used to take care of my best friend Christopher who is the son of my dad's best friend Chris.

And they had grown up together from the age of like five in Crumlin in Dublin. And then we are well, mom and dad moved to New York. They had me over there. We then moved back to Ireland. Why did they move there? They moved there because that's where the work was. What do they do? So dad worked in construction for a little bit. Mom was a cleaner and then she became a nanny. And she used to take me to work with her.

So when I was about three, that's when we moved back home. But they'd been there for about 12 years, all in all. And then we moved back to Dublin for probably about six months, but it was so expensive at that stage because the Celtic Tiger had happened.

So there was this, basically there was a huge recession in the 80s and 90s, which made people leave. And there were so many people that, you know, didn't finish their third level education. And, you know, it was still very much like a working class country. And so they just went where the work was. And then when they came back, Ireland was sort of being transformed into this like modern European country. It wasn't like that, we'd say modern. Modern, that's what my mum says. Yeah.

And it was at a certain point, I was like, I can't say you're supposed to say that. They'd say modron. And patron. And patron. And film. And a film. Pattern. Oh. Oh, a patron, yeah. A patron. And would you say, my mum always says chimney, for chimney. Yeah. Chimney. Yeah. I like it. I'm sure, yeah, it's very weird. I mean, it's confusing. So it's just you and Christopher? So, yes. So Chris, so I'm an only child, but Christopher, I...

It's weird because I never had siblings. I wish that I had had siblings. But my mom always took care of other people's kids. So I was sort of brought up with other kids anyway, which I think was kind of the best of both worlds. And when we moved back to Dublin, we eventually moved to the countryside. Dad's friend Chris and his wife Bernie followed. Christopher was like two and a half years younger than me. And Bernie went back to work. And so my mom...

Nanny Tim basically. So he grew up with me and so every single meal time we were together after school. And usually Mam would make, I mean even just the smells that are here, it's like so familiar to me. The chicken and the spuds and the garlic and the onions and all of that. So Mam used to do more traditional dishes like Irish coddle. What's that? Do you know what Irish coddle is Lenny? No.

So coddle, coddle is basically like a stew and you can make it. I think you can make it with a beef stock, but she always made it with a vegetable stock or a chicken stock and she'd just throw everything into it. So like sausages, rashers, onions, celery, barley, carrots, spuds, like everything. So you were getting so much stuff.

So much of that nutrients that you needed, but it was all in one meal. And that's the way Irish people do cabbage with bacon or ham. They should do cabbage and bacon for Easter. And you liked that. Because I can imagine giving that to my kids and them being like, ma'am, I'm not eating it. I loved it. Did you enjoy the kind of homely cooking? You know what?

I think at the minute I haven't been able to cook a home cooked meal in weeks and I love to cook so much and it's made me so sad.

And I got home last week after being away for so long and I was like, I just need to cook a roast for us. And it was just the two of us. And I made a roast, all the trimmings, the whole thing. And it was like the most comforting thing to have all the food that I grew up with. So this is perfect. What's your favourite roast? Chicken or beef? Chicken. I don't love beef, Jack. I don't because I like cows and also I get a tummy ache when I have beef. Fair enough.

Thank God I've done chicken. No, chicken's perfect. But I would have had beef. I would have eaten beef as well. Just shat yourself for the rest of it. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, so we grew up where...

I don't know, we were in a household where food was just always really important and Mam was a great cook. My dad is an excellent cook actually. I feel like that's something that he probably should have gone into. Really? What was his best dish that you'd have? He would cook, I mean he was one of those people where he would just like open up the fridge and he'd pull out anything and make something delicious out of it. So there was never like a specific recipe but

He would just flavour things in a really delicious way and he'd cook a lot of Asian food. Because I was in New York for the first three years of my life, I was actually exposed to so many different cuisines anyway. So I always had a taste for different things. I've always loved really, really spicy food. Are you working on a film now? No. Oh, that's good. You're having a rest. No, I'm not. I'm doing press. That's more exhausting. Which brings me on to what happened on Friday. Yeah.

Yeah. And you now have become viral, which is probably what you did not intend to happen when you were talking about a film. Good for you saying it. For people that don't know about this, Saoirse was on Graham Norton and...

amongst brilliant people Denzel Washington Paul Muskell and Eddie Redmayne and you're they're all having a joke about um Eddie's training yeah Dave Jackal and they're talking about a phone and you basically deliver talking about using a phone in self-defense and you deliver this incredibly concise and powerful less than 10 words Marie have you read the Marina Hyde article on it

Is that the one... In The Guardian. Yeah. Babe, it's brilliant. Jack gave it to me this morning because I'm very conscious not to become too aware of what's being talked about. No, but she's brilliant anyway. She's amazing and I've read a few of her bits before and she's incredible and I think she put it... In a way, she put it better than I ever could. I mean, I guess...

I found it interesting to become aware of my own reaction to all this over the last few days. Because I even think I had a moment, being honest, where I felt bad. I was like, oh God, should I not? Because there was such... So I made it awkward. Yeah, and then I thought, no, no, mustn't do that. Because then you're sort of falling into that trap again. But I guess because that's the kind of conversation that I...

would have with my female friends and my male friends, one of which being Paul Mezcal. Like he is one of our dear friends. And like, we'll make comments like that all the time at the dinner table. And I'm so lucky that, you know, we live in a very liberal sort of household and we, we have a lot of artists and actors and musicians and stuff around us. So it's,

the women in my life are very vocal about their experience and my mam is as well to be honest a lot of the women a lot of these you know incredible strong Irish women from home they'll be the first one to tell you like this is what the experience was like for us so I've never really shied away from that same with my mother-in-law I've never shied away from that

but I have definitely found over the last few years post Sarah Everard's murder that there's been more of an impetus I think for women to go out of their way to grab the men that they're close to and be like do you know that this is what runs through our head every day like 90% of the time subconsciously and

And I remember myself and my mother-in-law having a conversation with Jack and his brother after that happened. And we said, you know that like when we get into an elevator, if a guy comes in and it's just us in the lift and the doors close,

the thought will come into our head that we could be attacked. Like, categorically, that is what will happen. That is our reality. And I think even for us, it's so sort of repressed and normalised. So in a way, even though I didn't expect this sort of reaction, I am incredibly...

refreshed and proud actually that we're all talking about it and I think we can do it in like a calm manner I don't think the lads like we have to keep it in context the lads didn't hear my comment and then say sure what are you talking about they didn't they were very humbled they were and and it there was a kind of an awkwardness about it but they were

It was funny, and that's what Marina said. She said, these are the nice guys in showbiz. They're brilliant. They're wonderful, brilliant actors. And so it was quite an interesting dynamic that happened. It was. I wonder what, like, when you finished...

Did anyone bring it up again after? Was it like, sorry babes? Or was it? This is the mad thing. Have you been on Graham Norton? I have. And it's such a, like, it's just so snappy and fast and it's kind of bonkers. Yeah, it's kind of bonkers. And also the show, you know, most of the show is there, but it is edited. And I actually came away from,

filming it on Thursday night when you do and Paul and I went for a drink afterwards and I remember being so in my head about it and I was like I thought I was shite on that tonight and I don't think I did a good job and like you were amazing but I just got really in my head afterwards um and I forgot all about it I forgot about anything that had ever been said nobody made a comment about that at all because it was sort of part of like a much wider conversation

And then, I don't know, maybe two days later, once it had aired, and I was really anxious about it airing because I was like, I'm going to come across so badly. I had a big spot on my face. Oh my God, you look gorgeous. You look so glowy. I can see the spot on my cheek. But so that's all, stupidly, that's all I was thinking about. And then my best mate said, everyone's contacting me about the phone comment that

thinking the phone comment what what's she on about and it was only when she sent me that little clip that I realized that they'd obviously kept it in because I didn't know what they'd included in the edit so yeah it's I'm very grateful for I'm very grateful to um for one comment that I have made to have started a conversation that absolutely needs to be had you know we're ready to I yeah definitely the spuds the spuds do look good they've got a bit parmesan on them

You happy? Okay, good. Like you've no idea. Oh, good, mum. They look great. They look great. Is that rosemary you've got on them? A little bit. So Blitz watched it and thought you were magnificent. Thought the whole cast was magnificent. How was it working with Steve McQueen?

It was amazing. I mean, I'm a huge fan of his and that was the reason why I wanted to do the film in the first place. And I also knew that if he was going to make a movie set during the Second World War, it was most likely going to have quite a fresh take on that story. I think that for me as a female actor, most of the time when war epics or war scripts will come into your inbox, you're

You're usually on the sideline. You know, you're not really in the sort of thick of things. And I like to be in the thick of things. So I...

was interested to hear what his plan was for it and when he told me that he wanted the central relationship between to be between a child and his mother that's what made me really excited about it you know obviously you guys are really close as well I just love that relationship between a child and their mother and it's been so important to me

and so formative to me and um to get to kind of i don't know embody that on screen it's so nice brilliant he is brilliant and he was nine when we started it he'd never made anything before and he just yeah and he just snapped right into it he was amazing and we're really close as well and i and i i read about you know because obviously how old are you when you did atonement 12

But I was nine when I started. And you were quite protective of him, making sure that you were checking in with him because of being such a young star. Yeah, I was always checking in with him. I am really protective over him, hopefully not in an annoying way. But I'm also very conscious of the experience that his parents might be having during all this because I was always very sensitive to the fact that, you know, I would audition for things when I was a kid. And I remember...

Casting agents and producers and directors would always refer to my mam as, oh, is this mum? And I'd always go, this is Monica. This is her name. And I always had a real thing about that and I feel like

when a parent is on set with their kid they're sort of overlooked a lot. Mam never was because she wouldn't have let that happen and Elliot had a chaperone most of the time but I always wanted to make sure that like if his mam and dad wanted to speak to me or if there was anything that like I could implement on set that would make him feel safer and happier and like he was having more fun then I would absolutely do that because at the end of the day it's his movie and we were there to support him so...

Yeah, I love them. The accent also in Blitz was unreal. I know you're an actor. Do you think it was unreal? Babe, it was so good. I was shocked.

Where's my bleeding son? I know. Yeah, okay, so you didn't think that was too strong. Because you don't ever want to take the piss, do you know what I mean? No, it's set me. The tough thing is... I did love the style, you look so great. That's Jacqueline Duran, the costume designer. Did you keep any of those numbers? No, because they're all, they have to go into storage afterwards, like we did. Did you have to wear a wig? Pickups and stuff. Yeah, like the best wig ever. Yeah.

Wigs cost so much money, like if you want a really good wig, it could cost you like 15 grand. And my wig I think was that amount of money. It fucking looked it. Yeah, you could see every single thing. But what I was so surprised about was Paul Weller. He was brilliant. I thought he looks like Paul Weller. I know, it was him. And then I looked it up and it was him. Elliot said to me last night, we were doing a Q&A.

and my hair was straightened and he looked at me in the middle of the Q&A and he was like you really look like Paul Weller right now you know but yeah he was lovely and very humble actually

He just like, he knew that, you know, this wasn't his kind of arena and he was so open to learning about it. And he's also like the real McCoy as well. So I think for us to have him and Hayley Squires, that made such a big difference. But the accent that we had to do, it's not...

you know, the London accent that you would hear nowadays. No, it's much more pronounced. It's still going to be old-fashioned. So that was the tough thing, because I've grown up hearing modern-day, you know, Cockney accents. Let's talk about your... Your mum sounds fantastic. Monica sounds fantastic. She's great. She's fucking great. Does she get over a lot to London? Does she like London? She doesn't get over... Are you based in London? Yeah. Yeah. She doesn't get over as much as...

She should probably but she has a dog called Fran and Fran was sort of like my replacement when I left. So she's like but Fran needs me and I'm like but I'm your child. Yeah.

You birthed me. So she doesn't get over it as often as she should. And also she's working now. What's she doing? She's been working with a property developer in Dublin. Wow. And she does some other charity work as well, which is really amazing. And she does all of that voluntarily. Yeah, she's amazing. So I get back and forth as much as I can. I read that you were partly homeschooled by Monica. Yeah.

Not by man, by a tutor. Yeah. Was that because you were already in the world of acting and so it kind of made it easier? Yeah, I guess just the sort of to-ing and fro-ing that happens when you're a child actor meant that it was supposed to be more seamless. I don't know if it was. I would say it's the one aspect of being a child actor that I didn't love. Right. I didn't like that I wasn't

part of that sort of social setting. How did the acting start? So it started because my dad, who was working in a bar at the time in New York, he got discovered by a bunch of actors from the Irish Rep in New York. So he became an actor, absolutely had no plans to do that. And he hadn't trained or anything, but that's what happened to him. And so eventually the work took him back to Ireland and

And they needed a kid for this short movie that he was doing when we went back to Dublin. And so he was like, well, I've got one right here. How old were you? I was maybe, I don't know, six, seven. And that's when you were like, I like this. Yeah. I knew I liked it straight away. But I never got whenever I'd hear about kids being like aware of like what their career was going to be. I was so... I think I was a really...

But I wasn't... But I was still very innocent, you know? And I was raised in the country and, like, was very much a child. So this was just a thing that I really liked to do straight away. And then...

I did a couple of Irish TV series and the cast and agents from one of those shows cast me in my first film, which was an Amy Heckerling movie, who did Look Who's Talking and Clueless and things like that. What was it called? It was a bit of a mouthful. It was called I Could Never Be Your Woman, which is the name of a song, I think. I could never be your woman. Yeah. Which I think do samples. Yeah.

So yeah, so that was my first movie and I was Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter and Paul Rudd was in it and Graham Norton was in it. Graham Norton had like this weird cameo in it and I've said it to him since. I'm like, do you remember that you like said yes to that? Oh my God, that's so funny. So that was my first thing and then I did another film and then I did Atonement. That was my third movie and that's when I loved it. I mean, you had Christopher as like your friend and kind of brother. Mm-hmm.

I'm interested with how friendships were made was it a lot on set? yeah I mean it was and how that's kind of affected you I don't think it affects me in a negative way now I don't think it's ever affected me in a negative way but there was definitely a period in my teens where I wasn't

In like a traditional schooling environment. I wasn't around a lot of young people. And it was hard to make friends. And so I didn't have a lot of mates from the age of like 14 to 18, I would say. And the friends that I did have before that, they, you know, they continued on into secondary school and they got boyfriends and girlfriends and kind of did their own thing. And I did feel a little bit like I...

I don't know, I just wasn't a part of that next stage as a kid. So Christopher was my constant. And I made one really great friend on a film called City of Ember when I was about 13, which was in Belfast, Lucy. And she's still my best friend to this day. How many films have you made?

I don't know. That's my... No, but, I mean, it's fast. Yeah. Filmography, as they call it on Wikipedia. I don't know, but I've been doing it for, like, 20 years. 20 years. It's crazy. I love it. I love it, but, like, I'm sure it's the same for you with your music. Like, your relationship to the work changes. It goes from being...

sort of like fantasy-like and like everything about it is so perfect to becoming more complicated and then you sort of being aware of your skill set and the industry side of it and how you want to use that to make the work that you want to do and that's kind of where I'm at now. I feel very, I do feel quite empowered with where I'm at now. I feel very much in my Saturn return I would say. I love that. I'm very aware of that right now. So the outrun?

Yeah. Let's talk about it because I feel like that is you. That's what I want to talk about. Everyone who's seen it loved it. I haven't seen it yet. I'd love you to see it. I definitely will. Have you been to Orkney? No. Have you guys been to the Orkney Islands? Had you heard of it before? No. So we had never been. Jack had been once years ago and he got this book which was written by Amy Liptrot and that's where she's from. And he hadn't read it when he made the first trip out there. And then we were in lockdown and

And, you know, you're going through a book like a week and he read it. And as soon as he finished it, he was like, this is the next book you have to, we have to adapt and you have to play this role. Um, and so I read it and I'd like, I'd never, I'd never read anything like that before. The way the sort of like poetry while also still being like very grounded in reality. I loved all that. Um, yeah.

And we just wanted to make something about Scotland and we wanted to make something that was his Scotland, that was modern Scotland, that wasn't someone else's take on that, which is... So what's the premise of the film? Okay, yes. For people that don't know. So the Outrun, it's based on a memoir by Amy Liptrot and it is about her tackling her alcoholism. So her kind of unhealthy relationship with the substance, um,

and becomes uncontrollable when she moves from the Orkney Islands down to London. And over the sort of few years that she's there, she loses kind of everyone and everything that's dear to her until she eventually has to put herself into rehab.

And once she's gone through that process, she unwillingly moves back to Orkney because she has no money, she has no job, she has no partner, she has nothing. And really it's about the recovery process, the sort of healing after the initial healing.

And she eventually finds herself in a tiny, tiny little island called Pape or Papa Westray. And it's really the natural world and the small community that sort of heals her. And her sort of like finding community while still being in isolation. So it felt very...

relevant to now because we've all kind of had to re-evaluate what our relationship is with isolation and what it is with the people in our life and who we want in our life and how we want to spend our time so it's really kind of just that and in a way it's I don't want to say it's a quiet story but like it's it's a journey that everyone goes through whether they've

struggled with addiction or not so yeah I'm very proud of it I'm so I'm honestly I'm like so proud of the reaction that we've gotten from people because I think even if you haven't suffered from alcoholism yourself or another form of addiction like a loved one has absolutely gone through that um yeah

I can't wait to see it. And I think that I'm excited about you and Jack doing your, this was Scotland, and then you're going to take on Ireland. I have no doubt about this. Absolutely. That's the plan.

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When did you last go on holiday? You're so busy.

Well, we went on our honeymoon. We did a little mini moon in Italy, which was nice. What else have we done? We like to do rail travel. Oh my God. We travel by... Sorry, are you 60 years old? No, we're not trains potters. Jack is obsessed with trains. He doesn't know anything about trains, but he loves like Yesteryear.

Oh. Yeah, he loves anything like sentimental from the past. And we've done the Orient Express, which is very fancy. No, but was it fab? It was amazing. Yeah. And then we also did this rail trip around Europe where we, I think we flew into Berlin, then we went to Vienna, then we went to Milan. That sounds fab. Then we went to Venice. You interrailed. You had your gap year finally. Yeah, gap year. Finally. I really did.

Did you sleep on the train? On the train, on the Orient Express. You see, he's Scottish. He's had all these coming down to London on the sleeper. He loves a train. With skimble chants. Have you slept on a... Skimble chants, the railway cat. There's a whistle down the line. It's 11.39 and the night mail's ready to park. Saying, skimble, where is skimble? Have you got out the thimble? We must find him or the train can't park.

all the guards and all the porters and station master's daughters are searching high and low saying, there is Skimball, we must find him, very nimble. The night train just can't go and he tucks everyone up in bed. He's in charge of the train at night. Sorry, why have you never done that to my children? I'll do it. She's doing it to me, Jessie. I'll do it later. It's for me. I'll do it. It's about the night train. Oh, Lenny.

This is like your Shakespeare monologue. This is like what Denzel did on Graham the other day. This is a better version. I'm just thinking about the night train. That was top notch, Len. It also just didn't stop. It just kept going. No, I loved it. It just kept going. No, I'm not.

It's like when we had, who do we have on? We had Larry Lamb on. Oh, what did he do? He did. He did. He did Albert and the Lion. Oh, that was, I thought it reminded me of something. It's about when they take him to Blackpool, his parents, and the lion eats the little boy.

Why are they always so tragic? I wanted to know, because you were saying about how you long to have a roast and you had to cook. Are you prone to homesickness? Because you've been doing this so long and you travel and I'm sure you absolutely get the most out of when you're on a location. I mean, I know that you're probably working all the time, but do you like the travel aspect of...

the jobs and have you ever said yes to a job because it's been like well that's gonna be in Brazil I quite fancy that yeah I think that obviously the project has to make sense don't I yeah the project obviously has to come first I think that a lot has changed over the last few years in terms of how much I value my home life yes because of who is in it now yes and because I have a little

gorgeous angel to look out for Stella. Jack. No Stella. Even when I'm away I'm like can I just talk to the dog? Is she there? I've started doing that because she does actually recognise my voice so I do but I would say I've just become very used to travelling over the years and I'm very good like every musician and actor is at like setting up

a home anywhere really I think once Jack is with me that makes it a lot easier but every few months I'll just get like a bout of homesickness for Ireland specifically and Scotland now a little bit too because that's my second home now I'd call that my second home so I really really miss those two places after a few months there's just something about the feeling of it that I miss what do you take with you what are your kind of comforts whilst you're away do you have like um I

I always want Marmite. So I'll always take Marmite with me. So is there anything like that that you'll take with you? I love... I love Vegemite. I like it too. I'm a Vegemite girl. I'm... Where do you get yours from? I...

Well, I only got... You can't get Vegemite on Ocado. I don't think you can. No, you can't, Mum. But you can get it online. You can get it on Amazon. Okay, good job. You can because I was in Australia two years ago. Going over there, I didn't like Marmite or Vegemite. And then I tried Vegemite on toast with mashed avocado. And I was like, I'm in. Told my mum. By the time I'd come back, there was like 10 bottles.

bottles of Vegemite she was like I did it I did a sort of bulk buy on Amazon yeah so now I'm obsessed with that I do I actually have Marmite Graze snacks you know those Graze snacks oh yeah I love them yeah always bring those away with me

tea I do bring away with me which is your tea Barry's tea Barley's Barry Barry's oh that's Irish isn't it Barry's Irish tea or Yorkshire tea Yorkshire gold you like strong tea yeah I mean if you're going to do it drink it with the tea bag in sometimes no that's what my niece does no that's weird just I think it

But also, it means that the experience is changing every minute. She likes all that. My Auntie Margaret does this thing, and I don't get it. She's always done it where she'll make the tea. She'll put it in the pot. She puts the pot on the hob. Loose tea or tea bag? Tea bags. Yeah. Puts it on the hob. To boil it up again? Just lets it stew for like hours. Oh, okay.

And it tastes so odd, but she's always done it. It's always been this thing that I've sort of associated with her. So she'll pour you a cup out about an hour later. Yeah. It's still hot, but it's... Oh, wow. It's quite, like, thick in taste. And can you say to Aunty Margaret, could you say, could I just... I'll just make my own. No. Oh, right, OK. I mean, she's going to hear this now. But no, I wouldn't do that. Whilst we clear away, start thinking about your last supper.

We have a starter, a main, a pud, a drink of choice. We've been a bit slack on the pudding. Oh, don't worry. We've got something, but I need to check, Ash.

I'm more of a savoury person anyway, don't worry. She hasn't messed it up. They're quite crispy, aren't they? You know, whenever my man's making roasts for me, she'll always bring the dish over and she's like, pick out your roast spuds. So I always pick them out. It's a very personal experience. I think they probably need a bit more salt though. No, they don't. They're perfect. Do you ever put honey on your spuds? Oh my God, no. Game changer. Because it makes, because it crisps them up. At what point? Like 20 minutes before the end.

but are they very sweet? no you just put a tiny drizzle Sash you're a good cook aren't you? yeah have you ever done the marmite in spuds? no maybe marmite and honey that could be like oh my god I'm gonna throw up I think that could work I think that would be amazing these are like did you cook these in butter? yeah they're so nice that's what Jamie Oliver does does he? yeah

They're butter, lots of garlic and parmesan. Do you want another cup of tea? No, I'm fine with those. Oh my God, she's good. It's forget the ice cream. She's going to have a bowl of some more. I really don't need a dessert. You don't need a dessert. Okay, so should we just chat then? Are you sure you don't want a bowl of ice cream? No, I'm really, I'm happy. Okay, great. We're just going to do that. Shall I just move these away? That was so nice, thank you. Such a pleasure, darling. So starter. So for my starter...

I want to have this dish that I had tried for the first time in a restaurant in Aviemore, of all places, which is in the Scottish Highlands a few years ago when we were doing Mary Queen of Scots. And it's baked goat's cheese with pine nuts and I think rosemary and lavender oil.

Really nice. Bit of like crostini or something like that. I'm just going to say the first thing that comes into my head because it needs to be like instinctive. So I'm going to do that for my starter. What was the name of this restaurant?

Do you remember? It's called, I think it's called the Ship Inn or the... Was it a pub? It's like a pub restaurant. But it was, okay, so people... Jack has definitely cast his Scottish spell, hasn't he? Or the Bridge Inn. Yeah, I'm obsessed with Scotland. The Bridge Inn, maybe? Something like that. We'll find out. Does he wear a kilt? What, every day? Yeah. Yeah. Did he wear one on the wedding? Did he wear it on the wedding? Oh my goodness. Did he wear underwear? Jessica! I don't know, don't they wear...

I don't need to know. Oh really? But also it's thick wool so like it's hot. It would itch as well. Maybe you want some air. Exactly. Yeah but it would itch your bits. But when the midges are out because the midges are so bad all the boys got like bitten to fuck. Like the next day they had. Actually probably the worst thing about Scotland in the summer it's so beautiful but there

There are clouds of midges. I know. And they can't contain them. I know. And it's just when you want to sit out in the evening and be in the sun. It's warm and lovely. I need to get some Scotland recommendations. I need to take my kids. My friends are just in the mall at the moment. We went to Eilean Shona recently, which is incredible. It's this tiny, tiny island off the coast of the mainland. Sky is incredible. Mock is great. Like all the Western...

Isles are amazing. I had a boyfriend on the Isle of Arran. That's so hot. Well, you've got your own boyfriend on the Isle of Arran.

He's from the mainland. He's from the lowlands. The lowlands. He's from the borders, yeah. But he's proud of his Scottishness. Yes, couldn't be more proud. Okay, so my main... Okay, so the first thing that's come into my head, because it just... This is a dish that I, like, dream about. And anyone that I've introduced to it also, like, has fantasies about this meal. It's penne a la vodka. Yeah.

Yeah, and it was originated in this place called Alavecchia Betola, which is this old little inn in Florence. And it's just outside of the sort of central bit of Firenze. And it's not touristy at all. And I was sent there by someone who studied there years ago. And as soon as I tried it, it was like...

You know, like when people describe when they're about to die and everything just sort of like becomes very sort of peaceful and calm. That's what it's like when you have Penne a la Vodka. Everything just falls into place. Remember the name of the place, Jessie, because I'll look up. So that's your main. Are you going to have any sides with that? You're not fast. I'm going to have some delicious French bread. But also, since they don't have to go together, I'd also love some...

poppadoms. Dips? And the dips? Separate from the penne. With mango chutney? With mango chutney and the raita. Minty raita? Yeah. Like the proper stuff they give them. The pickled. Okay, gorgeous. So that's just a separate thing. That's just like a snack. A drink of choice. Are you going to have a drink? What drink would you have? A cup of tea? I had, no I wouldn't have a cup of tea with food. I would have, I did have this delicious

Sicilian chilled red the other day and I can't remember we didn't offer you a drink oh no I'm happy not drinking but I did have a lovely chilled red the other day which I really liked so maybe Jessie likes chilled red and I don't I think me and you are going to go out for dinner order the chilled red we're going to get

Why do people have a thing against chilled red and orange wine? No, Jessie doesn't. I can't do orange. Makes me cry. Or pet nap. That's my worst. I hate pet nap. Natural fizzy. Is it alcoholic? Yes.

It's kind of, it was fun. I love it. We can give you one of Gillian Anderson's pep you up drinks. Take with you. Oh, that's what that is. Yeah, they're not alcoholic. No, that's not, that's not pep nap. No, pep you up. Anyway, we'll give you one. They're actually very nice. So that's what I'd like for my drink. Okay. And then pudding. You're not much of a pudding person. I'm not really. You say clutching the bowl of spuds. Yeah, I probably have a bowl of spuds. Okay. Please can you tell me a nostalgic taste that can transport you somewhere happy or sad? Nostalgic taste. Yeah.

My mam, when I was a kid, you know what's so funny, can I just say? I've gone through a period in the last few years, as I'm sure you and your sister have as well, where you're like, mam, I need my space, which I never had before. I was always like very codependent on my mam. And I've had a bit of space in the last while. But you know what's so interesting? In the last few months...

I've so gone back to that place of just wanting to talk about her all the time, which I'm so happy to be back there anyway.

My mam used to cook mashed potatoes and she used to mix it with broccoli and loads of butter. And she'd mash it up like when I was a kid, when I was a toddler. And it's like the most comforting thing. And I haven't had it in years, but I think if I had that, that would just transport me back to being a baby. Do you add cheese to that or not? I might.

Don't, Jessie, because your son won't eat it. I think that's how I weaned my children. Does he not like cheese? He likes melted cheese, but he doesn't like... But that's okay that he doesn't like cheese. It is okay. And I need to accept that. No, you don't accept anything. No, I don't. You don't. I think you need to accept that because it's not like it's that he won't eat his vegetables. Do you have one utensil or one thing in your kitchen that you couldn't live without? Or an ingredient you couldn't live without? Garlic. Garlic.

Garlic. Always garlic. Well, you came to the right place today because it's everywhere. Couldn't live without garlic. Utensil? What could I not do without? Probably like the picky up thing. Oh, what, the tongs? Yeah, probably a tong. What are you tonguing? Well, when I baste my roast potatoes, I use a tong to turn them over. It's quite methodical. Yeah, because they're covered in flour and stuff. You don't just go, uh-uh? No, no, no, no, no.

And do you sing karaoke? Yeah, but I'm afraid to do it on my own. Why? Because I get really nervous singing in front of people. So nervous. So I always have to get up with people. Do you do a duet with Jack? You know what I've tried to get Jack to do with me and he still won't do it? Which one? Throughout lockdown I was like, come on, it's just us, let's do it. Do you remember Shallow from...

And you won't do it? So I'm like, do Bradley and he won't do it. I'm like, I'll be Gaga, you do Bradley. Can he sing? Yeah, he can sing. He has like the voice of an angel. He's a great voice. So I think, so when in Blitz, when you're singing, your character sings in the workroom. Yeah.

And it's so charming because the voice breaks and she's so nervous because she's a working class girl that's been asked to sing on the radio live. And were you absolutely terrified? Yeah, I was terrified. I was so nervous. And there were other scenes as well that we had where I would sing that didn't make it into the film. There was like, there's so much that we shot that...

didn't make it into the movie in the end because that's you know it happened with the outrun as well but it really I have so much respect for you guys I did anyway but especially since going through that experience and getting to a point where you're like yeah I think I sound really good and then you hear yourself back and you're like

it's fine, but it's like, not the way you sound. It's not the way Adele sounds. It's not the way Barbara sounds. Like there is, there is scale, but then there's like a gift from God that brilliant singers like yourself have. But I think the same with acting. For me, that sounds, seems like the most terrifying thing

in the world so there you go I guess we're both doing the right job but I can't wait to hear more I can't wait to hear more singing of you I really want to do more I want to do more like sort of modern stuff music for an album no god no no I don't have the voice for that but I would love Greta Gerwig to write us a musical and for me to be in it me and Timothy

Yes. I think that would be fun. You and Timothy. It's been such a pleasure having you on. It was amazing. Please give your husband Lenny my regards. And also just good luck with, well, I mean, you don't need any luck. You're fantastic. This is wonderful. I can't wait to see the outrun. Thank you so much for being on. Such a pleasure to meet you. This is so nice. And I hope the rest of the promo run is okay. It won't be as good as this.

We'll always have this. We'll always have the garlicky spots. With a bit of honey next time. Yes! Mum, I've just, I've got my new friend. She's my new friend. I could see you fell in love. I love her. She was gorgeous. She kept on holding our hands. Both of us.

But you know, she's so beautiful. I kind of resented having a tan because her skin is so translucent and porcelain. And we're sitting there looking a bit bronzed. Leathery. Leathery. Yeah, I'm old Rhino here. Go and see Blitz. It's on Apple TV. And in cinemas. And in cinemas. Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Ooh, patron. Um...

And also go and catch the Outrun, which she's also incredibly proud of. Dreamy, dreamy guest. Loved it. Loved seeing her just picking the studs. She ate everything.

Yeah, she was so happy to be here. I loved it. Yeah. Makes it all worthwhile being stuck with you for another day, Mum. I'll piss off. Thank you, Saoirse Ronan, for coming on Saoirse. I feel... Saoirse. Saoirse. It's because you're not Irish, darling, really. You say thanks. They're going to check that. When you go for your passport, they'll say, say Saoirse. Yeah, but you're not saying it right. Saoirse. Saoirse. Saoirse. Yeah, exactly. Saoirse. Thank you, Saoirse. We love you. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week.

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