Dame Harriet Walter interview: ‘Ted Lasso’ and ‘Succession’
“I felt pretty privileged,” admits Dame Harriet Walter about being involved in TV finales. For our recent webchat she continues, “With ‘Succession,’ I knew I was walking into a huge finale. With ‘Ted Lasso,’ I didn’t know what was happening.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Last month, “Ted Lasso” wrapped it’s third, and potentially final season. The Emmy Award-winning comedy told the story of American (Jason Sudeikis), coaching an underdog English soccer team. Walter played Deborah Welton, the mother of club owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham). In the final episode, while Rebecca is talking about an important decision, Deborah declares she’s taking up skateboarding. Walter explains, “I got the script of what I did that day. I walked in, and what was on the script changed anyway because Jason was in the room. He started throwing in different stuff, which I enjoy.”
This year also saw the final season of Emmy Award-winning drama “Succession.” In this series, Walter played another mother called Lady Caroline Collingwood, who had the three Roy siblings. In the final episode, the kids meet at Caroline’s to try and reconcile their differences. The actress says, “You’ve got to make a chemistry that seems as though it’s been there for however old the children are. I think Caroline’s quite nervous of her children. There is so much unspoken blame. She can’t really tell them the whole story. I’d ask the audience to think what it would be like to be married to Logan. That explains a lot.”
For both roles, Walter has received Emmy nominations in the comedy and drama guest acting categories respectively. She will compete in these categories again this year. About playing moms, she reveals, “with ‘Ted Lasso,’ I was determined to make it different. I had already shot about two series of ‘Succession’ I was determined to make this a different mother. I don’t want to play the same character twice. When you meet the child, the chemistry changes. I couldn’t be the same mother with Hannah Waddingham as I am with Sarah Snook. There’s this wonderful symbiosis where you create a character together.”
She’s also eligible in the Movie/Limited Actress category. In the anthology mockumentary series “Documentary Now,” she appeared in the ‘Two Hairdressers in Bagglyport,’ where she plays opposite Cate Blanchett. Walter explains, “You have to be straight down the line. I treated it like a comic character who believes they are being terribly serious.”
In a busy year of TV, Walter currently stars in the apple drama “Silo” and featured in the British limited series, “This is Going to Hurt” for which she is eligible in the Movie/Limited Supporting Actress category. She reflects, “I want to be different in each thing I do. I think I have developed a sensitivity to writing. That’s my anchor. I build the character though the tone of the writing.”
