Actor & activist. Olivier Award winner 2022 - The Normal Heart. Clarissa in BBC
#SilentWitness
. Fenn - The Witcher. Saraqael - Good Omens. Judge Gamble - Loki
As a category 4, I hoped I'd be jabbed soon but there I was watching TV & now 2 hours later the deed is done. The local clinic had leftover vaccine so called to say if me &
@thevjoiners
could get there in the next 30 mins they they'd do it! Thank you
@NHSEngland
@NHSMillion
Thanks to my wonderful wife
@thevjoiners
for secretly making the
@Nigella_Lawson
custard birthday sponge! 🎂
To me birthdays are about celebrating surviving another year - & cake!
So today I celebrate for me & for all those who didn't get to have quite so many orbits of the sun
Blown away by the lovely words about
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
this wk. Incredibly proud that our whole team created something that has touched so many. Thank you for your tears, love & for sharing your stories of loss with us ❤️
I brought my real mum to watch us filming the ep...
As far as I'm aware, there's only 1 wheelchair accessible movie trailer in the UK. On last week's
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
, I got the trailer & the wheelie cop, played by the brilliant
@janejanes
, got an accessible motorhome...
Two wheelies on set? There's only 1 thing to do...
Introducing the incomparable Saraqael, an Angel who is as tricky as their name is to spell.
Just wait until you witness their miracles. . . And their wheelchair!
#GoodOmens2
@GoodOmensPrime
@neilhimself
@twinkymusgraves
Mum declares she no longer wants to go on her trip of a lifetime to California for her 80th... and then opens the 2 guide books for...
and a travel journal.
It's been 16 months since I auditioned for
@The_OA
Part II so I'm ridiculously excited to be watching it
@netflix
today! To be part of the beautiful enigma that is
#TheOA
is truly a thrill & honour. Thanks to
@dominickevans
@z_al
@britmarling
for giving me this chance to believe
I fear getting
#Corvid19
not just because I have 'underlying health conditions' but because when decisions have to be made about who lives & dies, Disabled people rarely fare too well. A scary time for all but especially those of us in higher risk groups.
Due to my 'underlying health conditions' I'm 'social distancing' to try & avoid the worst of
#Corvid_19
Sadly, that means I've had to pull out of filming my return to
@SaturdayKitchen
Thanks to
@amandacactus
for being so lovely &
@matt_tebbutt
, let's do it again soon? -ish?
Series over, time for a latte & a biscuit! Thanks to everyone who’s been part of series 22
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
- the cast, crew, writers, directors, producers & you, our amazing viewers! Chuffed to see other disabled actors guest & thrilled we had 2 women directors this year!
First they came for those in care homes. .
Now they’re coming for those shielding
If this applies to you, do not listen to a Government who see you as disposable collateral damage. If you need to, speak to a Dr who knows you for guidance.
But trust yourself
You are valued x
Now we’ve flattened the curve & reduced new infections, from tomorrow, the 2.2 million people who have been shielding can safely go outside
I know how much those shielding have sacrificed. Thank you to everyone who has protected our NHS & saved lives
Wanna see my bits?
@BBCOne
have gone & done a compilation of a few of
#Clarissa
’s best bits from
#SilentWitness
I loved playing her, loved working with
@EmiliaFox
& the boys & am chuffed so many of you loved her too - even through the dodgy doos & fashion faux pas along the way!
My final behind the scenes pics are from my last ever day on
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
.
After everyone had gone home, me &
@thevjoiners
wandered around the deserted Lyell set -
#Clarissa
's home for the past 8 years.
They didn't kill me off but I still got to play on the slab...
On this International Day of Disabled people, I celebrate a community who are too often underestimated, devalued and discriminated against yet through this, we survive, sometimes thrive and always, our presence in the world makes it a damn sight better x
#IDDP2023
#CripsRule
Life's weird for us all with
#COVID19
so here's more silliness from me &
@thevjoiners
as we share our
#SundayHatDay
with you
Grab a hat? Make a hat? Wear a hat? If others ask why? We say 'why not?'? Send us your pics
Please look after yourself & each other
Keep breathing x
What? WHAT? A third and final series of
#GoodOmens
?
I've no idea if impossible to spell Saraqael will return with her heavenly floating wheelchair or her miraculous ability to make earth accessible but like all the other fans I'm just stewpidly excited there'll be a
#GoodOmens3
!
In these times of violence, individualism, hatred & fear, in
#TheOA
we've been shown a world of hope, collectivism, diversity & humanity. Together we can
#SaveTheOA
Keep it trending, learn the movements, contact
@Netflix
& don't forget to sign the petition
In last weeks
#SilentWitness
, the baddie was played by
@mat_fraser
. This week the cop is played by
@janejanes
I’m not sure if you know how truly momentous it is to have disabled actors on tv, nevermind more than 1 of us at a time! Good actors. Great show. More tonight
@BBCOne
9pm
It's bloody difficult not being able to share stuff like this until the official blurb but...
Thrilled to be in The Witcher Season 2 as Fenn to
@SimonCallow
's Codringher!
My 1st studio job since Feb 2020. They made me feel so welcome & safe!
@netflix
@witchernetflix
#dreamjob
The Witcher Season 2 — meet the latest cast additions:
Adjoa Andoh as Nenneke
Cassie Clare as Phillippa Eilhart
Liz Carr as Fenn
Graham McTavish as Dijkstra
Kevin Doyle as Ba’lian
Simon Callow as Codringher
Chris Fulton as Rience
The brilliant
@mat_fraser
as Jim Bell
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
@EmiliaFox
this week showing the time has come again for disabled people to play baddies! One of my favourite people in the world since we hosted the original
@bbcouch
podcast from 2005!
Fun fact about this week's
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
Clarissa's mum was played by a good friend of mine, the incredible
#PaddyGlynn
who happens to be the real life mum of my also good friend
@mat_fraser
aka the baddie in the opening ep of the series & the namesake of Cat Fraser!
Today is the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act. Me & many others were part of Disabled People's Direct Action Network who fought for more comprehensive Civil Rights. We achieved some historic change but fight on! Watch
@BBCOne
10pm News
Two hours to go until the series 23 premier
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
9pm. If you can’t wait until then, here’s a taster of 4 fabulous photos of
#TheForensicFour
taken while filming this episode. Thanks for your continued love & support & hope you enjoy!
@EmiliaFox
As a Disabled woman with underlying health conditions I wanted to say to others in the same boat that you're not alone (unless you're self isolating!)
But to everyone - please look after yourselves & you'll be helping all of us who have added risk factors
Thanks & good luck!
Me &
@thevjoiners
have just had our second prick...
We'll still be masking, hand washing, ventilating indoors & social distancing until the immunity builds & more have the vaccine but for now, we feel as though the syringe contained 80% vaccine & 20% hope
x
When you’ve just realised that the concluding part of this week’s
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
episode isn’t on until Wednesday 9 pm. . . Thankfully from next week, normal Monday/Tuesday 9 pm service will be resumed!
@EmiliaFox
@bbcpress
The perfect Saturday night in - I'm doing my PIP assessment form for the DWP to prove I am, still, a disabled person...
This process has caused so much stress & pain to so many of us but tonight, filling in the 40 page form, my muse is Joan Crawford...
That’s a wrap on
#SilentWitness
series 22! 🎬 Taking off Clarissa’s wig for the final time this year and leaving her wit and intelligence on set until next time. Thanks to
@Keestah
,
@EmiliaFox
,
@BBCOne
& all the cast & crew for another year of forensic tom-foolery 🔬
I've criticised & praised
@BBC
esp re disability representation. Yes, there's huge room for improvement but no other broadcaster has consistently hired so many disabled people in front of the camera, in production, in radio & beyond. I'd pay .43p a day for this & so much more...
International day of Disabled people is about “us” - the crips & the fabulous freaks who live in an inaccessible & hostile world.
It’s not a day for the PM to wear purple in celebration of “us” when our community has been disproportionately affected by his covid policies
#IDDP
Ooooh this is exciting... got to film
#WhoDoYouThinkYouAre
@BBCOne
before Covid so you'll get to see me talking to people with less than a metre between us & without a mask as I try and unravel the history of my family!
via
@variety
Finally, I'm making my return to
@SaturdayKitchen
10am tmrw
@BBCOne
!
Taking no risks, I'll be at home chatting away with
@matt_tebbutt
via video link. He'll be working out what to cook with the stuff in my cupboards & I'll be hoping our wifi holds out & the cats don't interfere!
We are LIVE tomorrow morning with:
✔️Matt Tebbutt
✔️Tom Brown
✔️Jason Atherton
✔️Liz Carr (via video link!)
✔️Helen McGinn (via video link!)
If you can't wait until then, here's how things will be slightly different tomorrow:
#SaturdayKitchen
@BBCFood
Incredible response to last night's
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
with the highest viewing figures for the show this year. Bloody hell fire! Thank you for sticking with us. . .
Thanks for the lovely "Clarissa" related comments when
#SilentWitness
started last week! This is the 3rd series since me & 'er left the Lyell & still she's very much remembered. She even got a mention last week but if you're wondering if we'll be back:
I am mostly tweeting to wish you all good health & love for 2021 from me &
@thevjoiners
but I also wanted to show off our makeshift 2021 spex adornments made late tonight from 4 pipe cleaners/chenille twists & 4 tiny pegs.
All that crafting & 'making do' in 2020 was worth it!
If you're a Disabled person worried about what might happen if you get
#COVID
ー19 & needed hospitalisation,
@gmcdp
has an "Emergency Hospital Passport" you can fill in, print & take with you. It's a reminder to all that you have rights & you are valuable x
Day 27 in
#lockdown
& since I now call my bedsocks' 'shoes', me &
@thevjoiners
thought we should take a 5 minute social distancing walk outside for our sanity. I hadn't worn actual, real life shoes since the 11th March 👠👠
The nostalgia? It was like a wheel down memory lane!
Thanks to all the
#SilentWitness
"family" for a fantastic series 21
@BBCOne
From cast&crew, everyone behind the scenes & the incredible number of viewers, fans & tweeters! Congrats to
@Keestah
@RichardStokes7
@EmiliaFox
PS Bluebell is available for other roles & has great range
What a perfect speech, perfectly timed
@BBCOne
to be broadcast just after we witnessed the shitshow that will be our next PM. And yes, “it’s our fault”.
Just woken up to find that I'm a BBC teaser!
Am now metaphorically racing around the house very excitedly.
Coming up on Monday & Tuesday is a
#SilentWitness
story that I'm particularly proud of & that feels very personal
9 pm
@BBCOne
with
@EmiliaFox
@josierones
@tha_kn0ws
Remembering today the 19 Disabled people who were murdered in a residential care home in Japan 2 years ago. The biggest Japanese mass murder since World War 2 was barely covered in the media. Invisible lives, invisible deaths. That's why it's important to remember
#Sagamihara19
2 years ago today, 19 Disabled people were brutally murdered in Japan. Their killer warned the Japanese government of his intentions, but nothing was done to stop him. We must never forget them.
#sagamihara19
#whataretheirnames
It maybe a wrap on Series 21
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
@bbcstudios
but here's one last pic of the cast, costume & make-up peeps taken one very cold Saturday morning after we posed for the press shots at the rooftop carpark & cafe that is
@frankspeckham
Thanks again everyone...
x
For those who've asked, here's my full acceptance speech from last night's
@OlivierAwards
!
Best supporting actress for my role in The Normal Heart
@NationalTheatre
? WTAF!
Thanks for all your congrats & special thanks to
@Videowilk
🎥 &
@thevjoiners
😘
Yes. Yes. Yes.
If you're a disabled person, being told by a complete stranger that if they were like you, they'd rather be dead is like a rite of passage. It's like losing your virginity - you won't forget your first time and it hurts.
More
#SilentWitness
Trivia:
Clarissa's hubby Max is played by
#DanielWeyman
but this isn't his 1st TV hubby role - he was Honeysuckle Weeks's on-screen husband, Adam Wainwright in Foyle's War.
Excitingly, he's just been cast in Amazon Studios adaptation of The Lord of the Rings!
The anticipation of delay means tonight’s
#SilentWitness
on at 9 pm
@bbcone
should be pretty bloody exciting. . . Don’s miss the concluding part of this week’s storyline with the ever lovely
@EmiliaFox
& Clarissa’s ol’ friend, the brilliant
@tgoodmanh
Hi
@TfLTPH
As I was heading home from work around 12.30am, my partner hailed a cab (badge no. 02129) on Waterloo bridge South. His light was on, he pulled over but when she asked him to get the ramp out for wheelchair using me, he said 'no, there's no ramps tonight' & drove off.
Thrilled to get to play Dr Emma Brookner in
#TheNormalHeart
@NationalTheatre
. It's rare for a script to have an actual wheelchair using character but to learn she's based on real life Dr Linda Laubenstein, one of the first to treat those with HIV in 80s NYC?
Truly groundbreaking!
Upset that the concluding part of this week's
#SilentWitness
isn't on
@BBCOne
tonight because of the footie, Clarissa has taken up smoking after 20 years. Max doesn't know so please don't tell him when he's back on our screens with
@mclandes
@NeilStuke
@EmiliaFox
Wednesday 9pm
Against the clock, me &
@thevjoiners
&
@DollyParton
have finally got it together to do our week 11
#COVID19
#LockdownLife
film
Lockdown maybe lifting but we're not moving so for now the films will keep coming! Is that's good or bad news? 😉
Thanks for watching & take care, Jiz
Congratulations to
@ruth_madeley
@BadWolf_TV
#RussellTDavies
@bbcdoctorwho
& everyone who has worked to bring such a kick ass wheelchair using character to this iconic show.
Moments like these matter in TV & film.
To Disabled people.
And for the benefit of everyone.
I was invited onto
@BBCFrontRow
& when I asked what we'd be discussing, they replied, 'you'!
And so, tomorrow 7.15pm I'll be
@BBCRadio4
talking about my life & career so far. I have no idea what I said so I'll be listening in too.
I hope you enjoy x
Less than 2 hours to go before another fantastic story for
#SilentWitness
@BBCOne
@EmiliaFox
In a story that sees us learning a lot more about my character Clarissa, it's fair to say I'm a mixed bag of nerves and excitement for all this story means to me & so many others.
9pm!
Having not travelled abroad since covid began, I'm about to head off onto a Desert Island... with some Discs!
Sunday 19th March 11.15am
@BBCRadio4
@laurenlaverne
or if you miss it, take a listen
@BBCSounds
anytime afterwards
Like a musical cross between an interview & therapy!
The continued appalling way
#Covid19
is being handled in the UK has taught me an important life lesson - delaying the inevitable will only makes things worse
I think we all know we're all about to return to lockdown? Only the Government seem to be surprised about this
#Probably