Interview with Gwyneth Keyworth for Wasted

5 July 2016

You star in E4's new comedy Wasted, tell me about the show.

Wasted is about four friends working out adult life and their mishaps. They have varying levels of aspiration, from quite grand ideas like being a DJ, to travelling the world, to never ever leaving/wanting to leave their home town. It's a lovely journey of friendship in this day and age.

Who do you play in the show?

I play Alison; she loves her home village and has no aspirations to leave it. She's a realist and she's very loyal to her friends. She sort of sees the world in quite an obscure way, it's all slightly tilted and she's definitely flying her own flag.

Can you relate to Alison at all?

Alison is way cooler than I am! I'm quite relaxed and I think Alison is too but I find myself getting slightly neurotic about whether or not my friends are happy with me and Alison just doesn't care. If someone’s not happy, she wears her heart on her sleeve and just says it as it is whereas I don't do that so much. I try to bring some of Alison into my own life by trying not to care as much about everything but we'll see... it's a work in  progress!

What was it that attracted you to the role?

Probably the fact that she's a realist and because she doesn't mince her words, it was nice to see a strong woman who is also funny and sweet - she's multi-dimensional and I love her relationship with the other characters.

Your character has a few love interests - you're sort of in a love triangle...

Alison doesn't realise she's in a love triangle, she sees Morpheus as a mate - he would have to literally tell her before she'd even think about it. She doesn't preoccupy her mind with romantic relationships - even her relationship with the Holy Man is very efficient and unique to them. I can't recall ever being in a love triangle but my friends do say I'm really oblivious when people like me!

You were born in Wales - so can you relate to the feeling of being in the middle of no where with nothing to do"?

Yeah definitely! The area where the guys in Wasted come from is definitely where I grew up. It may be different in where it's set as I came from West Wales but Aberystwyth is a small quirky town that definitely plays by its own rules. The vodka there is really cheap and they have a drink there that's four shots of vodka and red bull - that's illegal in England! You can't sell more than double shots anywhere else but for some reason Aberystwyth is allowed and I'm not sure if it's because the police just think “ah you're so far away!”  I was there until I was about 20 and then I moved to London and got a flat with some friends but I do really miss Aberystwyth and I go home a lot. I think there's something special about small towns, there's something amazing about knowing everyone and everyone knowing you. When I come home I know exactly where my friends will be - I don't have to text them I know what pub they'll be in without even having to however, that’s also because phones don't work in West Wales! 

Was the show as much fun to film as it looks?

It was the most fun to film! It was mental and crazy and at times I was like 'what are we actually doing?!' I couldn't believe this was my job because I shouldn't be having so much fun but it was amazing and a really special experience for all of us!

What was it like working with Jon and James the writers?

It was good to have them around to reference stuff. They've had these characters in mind for such a long time it was great to be able to ask about their back stories. When it came to my boyfriend in the show, the Holy Man, it was really useful to say to them 'Ok what is going on with these two?' The show is really ambiguous about them because they are so ambiguous towards each other so they explained that to me.

What was the funniest thing that happened on set?

There was a lot of silly stuff! Danny sings all the time - continuously - and he's got a really, really good voice! We'd come in at 5 o'clock in the morning and he would be blasting out some Gloria Gaynor in falsetto that was always hilarious!

You get up to some ridiculous things in the show, was corpsing a problem?

Yes we do! I'm quite short and there was one scene where we are looking at a Toby Carvery and the hot plates and the director realised if I stood at the front of the shot - all you could see was my eyes ! We decided that itwas funny so set up the shot like that and and you could hear all the camera crew laughing at me.

You've done some theatre as well as TV - do you have a favourite at all?

I really like characters and there was a point last year where I was doing a lot of theatre and thought I want to get back into TV because I miss it and then you do TV for a while and miss theatre. I love them both very much, I like pretending to be other people more than anything else.