Anita Albrecht is a NZ-born actress/writer/producer that has tackled a few different careers off screen too from being a PT/nutritional therapist, a skincare and makeup saleswoman, a pizza maker, a choreographer for fellow bodybuilding competitors and now she acts, writes and produces full time. Thanks to her plethora of incredibly mixed careers it has given her a catalogue of characters that she has not only banked but uses the inspiration from, to create stories for the screen!
Saffron Jarrett is a bold comedic performer and writer known for creating dynamic, character-driven comedy rooted in truth. She regularly writes and creates original sketches, bringing a wide range of absurd and distinctive characters to life, all inspired by the people she has met. Saffron reached the live rounds of SNL UK and her comedy short The Language of Maud was showcased at The Female Pilot Club in July 2026 and is now in development. Having trained and performed with the National Youth Theatre, Saffron has been performing from a young age and has developed her writing practice in recent years. Comedy is at the heart of her work. Saffron has recently collaborated with Anita Albrecht on a comedy mini-series called Ginger and Tonic which has just had its industry screening!
How did you get into comedy/writing/producing etc?
Saffron: I grew up watching all sorts of comedies with my mum, and we are both major people watchers. Everywhere we go, we always end up somehow meeting the funniest of people and always end up saying “that’s a sketch”. There’s inspiration everywhere. My mum is my rock in all aspects of my life. After a lack of auditions and moments of feeling lost in the industry, she reminded me I could take control of my career and start bringing my crazy creative visions to life. I’ve always had certain characters/alter egos that I’d bring out at any occasion possible, so eventually I thought, why not actually do something with them? I started putting on wigs, improvising, writing sketches and that’s what’s led me to now!
Anita: Simply put, I wasn’t getting enough work so, I decided to create it – some on my own and some in collaboration with Saffron who has the same drive and endless work ethic as I do. I love the fact that we both have our own comedy styles so that when we collaborate, we really listen and work closely with one another to share ideas and make things work in the way we think will land well with our audiences. I’ve always had a ton of ideas but I needed to sharpen my screenwriting skills so I did a course in screenwriting a few years ago to compliment my acting skills and the producing side of things developed just by doing it and because I had to!
It helps being organised to a geek level and I suppose at times being ballsy, as I don’t care about the “no’s”, only about the solutions. As a creative, some things just seem to be meant to happen too – for example, my husband says “there are many of you and he doesn’t know which one he’s going to get” so my desire to get these characters out of my head and onto a script and screen has not only been the most fun career I’ve done to date, but has also helped to get my work in front of people not to mention given my husband a bit more predictability with who his wife will be when he comes home!
Tell us about your comedy style?
Saffron: I’d say my comedy style is a hybrid of and heavily influenced by Julia Davis (what a queen), Catherine Tate and Steve Pemberton (Inside No. 9 is one of my top 5 shows ever). They all play amazing characters which are hysterically funny, but always manage to keep their performances very controlled and realistic, you can see the truth behind the characters and they feel familiar.
Anita: I’ve always been quite loud and expressive so I do tend to have a broad flavour when it comes to characters but I do love holding the truth in them too so I prefer to develop characters and worlds that audiences will know and recognise. As a huge fan of British humour, I’d love to develop more deadpan style characters and worlds too. I’ve also played around a little with some characters on Instagram with my poor husband, playing Lord & Lady Twat poking harmless fun at the rich and entitled and those that truly are clueless when it comes to living in the real world! Secretly, I know he loves doing it all with me really.
What do you love about comedy/writing/producing etc?
Saffron: I love getting all my weird thoughts down on paper. Writing is such a rewarding way of expressing myself, and being able to make people smile in the process is the biggest win. I’m also so grateful for the people I’ve met along the way. Collaborating with Anita has been a dream. From our writers’ room sessions through to filming, she’s been an absolute gem! She’s incredibly professional and more organised that anyone I’ve ever met. It’s been such a pleasure, and I’m really looking forward to working with her again soon on a horror film we’ve been talking about..
Anita: Literally making people laugh. There is no feeling like it! And getting the chance to create the work we want to make now, including Saff and I collaborating on our first horror which I cannot WAIT for…
What’s your show about and where can we see it?
Our show is about an outrageous Mum called Trisha that wants to be her daughter’s best friend and her sensible lesbian daughter Ginger that just wants a ‘normal’ mother. The logline is ‘Welcome to the family – lower your expectations!’. Trisha blends the boundaries between mother and daughter and Ginger wishes she had some!
Currently it is set in Essex but it would work perfectly in Kent too as Saffron lives in Kent, I live in Essex and we have filmed the three micro-episodes in both counties.
The relationship between this mother and daughter duo is a screen engine force as no matter where you put them, the way they see and approach life so differently causes mayhem and chaos. The comedy in the show is not dependant on one situation as it comes from the characters and their relationships including the wider family that we have deliberately introduced in the pilot: there’s Trisha’s Mum Nanny Nina, Ginger’s real Dad Barry (that she doesn’t know exists) and Ginger’s mute fiancé Kim including some super fun day players that we know audiences will absolutely love and want to see more of. We’re showcasing that our pilot has many a character to carry through multiple seasons, plus we’ve got the outline ideas for two seasons and some very juicy storylines that we know the right production company will LOVE too!
A link to our pilot series is at the end of this article.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Anita: Everyone! Strangers, former PT clients, friends, family and also people I would NEVER choose to know but love to observe! When I moved to Essex in 2007 it was a huge eye opener for me and I knew one day I just had to develop and play a character like Trisha as I notice versions of her everywhere I go!
What do you think makes great comedy/content/sitcom etc?
Anita: Apart from the writing, it is something about the way an actor brings the script and the character to life with a quirk, a unique trait or facial/physicality and just being fearless without the worry of what other people will think. Truthfulness is always so much funnier than someone trying to be funny. I truly love people on screen that I recognise in my own life too, whether it be someone I know, someone I have met, or even someone that reminds me of a friend or family member or God forbid, a trait I recognise in myself!
Who are your favourite funny women?
Anita: Catherine Tate, Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders, Diane Morgan, Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Ruth Jones.
You can see the Ginger and Tonic pilot series here.
Keep up with the journey on Instagram via the Ginger and Tonic series page, or follow Saffron Jarrett and Anita Albrecht to stay updated on all their latest projects and upcoming work
