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interview<br />
Photo by Emma Chaplin<br />
helpful, but he left after the first series and the<br />
rest of the hierarchy in the BBC Light Entertainment<br />
department were very different. I think<br />
I bewildered them; after all scriptwriters were<br />
unfit middle aged men with packets of fags and<br />
a bottle of whisky by the typewriter, not pretty<br />
young actresses. So they virtually ignored me,<br />
turning their backs on me when I walked into the<br />
bar after a recording. One did deign to say “Since<br />
you are here I suppose we’d better have an affair,”<br />
another one assumed I just typed the scripts.<br />
It was very popular. Did that change your<br />
life? Well, we had money for the first time, but<br />
we found producing a script to a deadline very<br />
stressful. In those days, situation comedy was<br />
mostly an extended comic sketch, or a comedian<br />
working with his stooge, but we wrote properly<br />
plotted stories involving characters of equal value<br />
to each other, and got the comedy out of their relationships,<br />
which hadn’t really been done before.<br />
Tell me about the ‘shit point’. It was a term<br />
used by a lovely old Hollywood hack we met.<br />
It refers to the time taken in setting up the<br />
story which if it goes on too long, or isn’t funny<br />
enough, the viewer loses interest, says ‘oh shit’,<br />
and turns to another channel.<br />
Why did the series come to an end? Because<br />
I was hit by a car, when I was pregnant with my<br />
son, and quite badly injured.<br />
What are you most proud of? Well, writing,<br />
producing and performing my award-winning<br />
one woman play about Marie Stopes was an<br />
extraordinary experience. I played it for many<br />
years both here and abroad, sometimes in some<br />
very peculiar venues.<br />
Do you watch Episodes? Yes, and enjoy it<br />
hugely. It’s very accurate. I also love W1A.<br />
Do you think the Americans write better<br />
sitcoms than the British? At their best, the<br />
Americans do an excellent job. Always slick and<br />
professional. Ours are more idiosyncratic.<br />
When did you move to <strong>Lewes</strong>? Four years ago.<br />
I love living here, it’s such a vibrant and interesting<br />
town.<br />
So after acting and script writing, you became<br />
an artist in 1999. Yes, largely self-taught, although<br />
I did courses at The Slade and St Martins.<br />
Which have you enjoyed most? Painting<br />
pictures is my life now and I wish it always had<br />
been. Emma Chaplin<br />
Pauline’s paintings can be seen at 82 Prince Edward’s<br />
Road, open throughout Artwave, every day,<br />
10-5pm. See more of her work and read about her<br />
life paulinedevaney.com<br />
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