Four years ago I made the move from London to Los Angeles. I’d been coming over here for years – the old GMTV (yes, I’m THAT OLD!) used me to cover the West Coast and BBC Radio 5 Live first sent me over in 2001 to cover the Oscars. I was hooked. But no matter how many times I’d visited and vacayed (yes that’s a thing now) in LA, living here was so different.
I wasn’t prepared for aspects which are like going back to the 1950s – having to pay rent by check. Spelling cheque check. No Ocado app or similar. My grocery shopping is done in person now. I had to drive to the electricity company and show them my ID in person to get power. First world problems for sure. There’s an exceptional community of Brits here in LA, and we are all bonded by this same alien experience – albeit at different stages of the process. I’m a fish out of water, and this is often an observation for stand-up. I regularly play the Comedy Store and Flappers in Burbank over here. I have a wise aversion to anything vaguely ‘Only in America’ accompanied by a roll of the eyes. But I went from being a white middle class girl who was very like the other people in her social circle, to being different – and to having a different perspective on life here from the people around me.
So, together with my pal, journalist Claire Bullivant (who has been over here for 10 years!), we launched Brits in the Wood – which I always say is popping on my ‘Brit-tinted spectacles’ to take a look at life in Hollywood. This is a weekly podcast featuring some of the big Brit names making it in Hollywood. The response has blown us away, as it’s a lovely mix of the irreverent and insightful. In fact recent guest, British director Elliott Lester, commented on how we put our guests at ease, so we get such a great conversation with them.
So far we’ve had these stars on the show – Tony Hadley from Spandau, Leilanu Dowding – the former Page Three girl who is now a Hollywood realtor! Camilla Dallerup from Strictly who has changed her career and now has a very zen lifestyle, Vikings actor Huw Parmenter, and Billy Idol’s right hand man, rocker and artist Billy Morrison – and many more.
You can listen to Brits in the Wood here!
