Family row
My Family's Zoe slates her own show
Zoe Wanamaker and Robert Lindsay refused to record an episode of My Family, complaining the script was too bad.The actress revealed that she has grown to dislike the long-running sitcom, even though it has paid her handsomely.
In an interview to promote The Rose Tattoo, which opens at the National Theatre tonight, she complained about the conveyor-belt mentality of the show.
Her comments will embarrass the BBC, as they come before the seventh series of the critically-slated but top-rated show airs.
‘What attracted me to the first scripts was that they had a slightly quirky, American Jewish quality to them,’ she told the Daily Telegraph. ‘That's my humour.
‘But it's turned into a machine. Robert and I even refused at one point to do one, it was so bad. That caused a lot of problems, but we just felt it was not good enough.
‘We had practically a football team of scriptwriters working on the last series.’
But she acknowledged the financial benefits of the show. ‘I shouldn't knock it,’ she said. ‘Hey, I bought three paintings. I also planted 23 trees the other day in my cottage.’
Published: 29 Mar 2007
