Think ‘I I’m a bit of a WITCH! ’’

HANNAH WADDINGHAM’S Emmy-winning role in global hit Ted Lasso, back on our screens for a third season, has ignited her screen career following decades of stage success. And how did she land this life-changing gig? By asking the universe for it, she tells Julia Llewellyn Smith

kept her away from her child. Then she turned to something new to her: manifesting, the practice of using the power of your mind to create exactly the life you want.

‘I’d never done it before but I stepped on to the garden decking, imagined I felt the earth beneath my feet, there was nothing else around me and I spoke to the goodness in the universe. I thought, “Thank you for making my child well again. You’re a powerful force for good. Can I ask that you keep me with her and find me something that will nourish me, that I can pour my heart into and that will look after me and my little girl in real life?”’

Two weeks later, Waddingham was called to an audition with Saturday Night Live star Jason Sudeikis, who was casting for the female owner of a struggling football club for his new comedy drama. ‘I said to Jason, “Where’s this going to shoot?” and he said, “Richmond, Ma’am”. I said, “Richmond, Virginia?” He said, “Er, no, Richmond. Surrey.” Twenty minutes’ drive from my house, past deer in Richmond Park… The bit was between my teeth. I was like, “I’m having this part!”’

Waddingham beams from ear to ear: ‘I think I’m a bit of a witch.’

Does she truly believe her manifesting did the trick? ‘Who knows? It was probably just a bleedin’ coincidence, but it cost nothing. I try to put out positive vibes and I believe if you do, then you get something back. The universe took the reins.’

Woo-woo as all this may sound – and while the Waddingham I’m talking to can occasionally be a bit of a luvvie – she’s also mainly straight-talking and delightfully sweary. Statuesque at 5ft 11in, she’s wearing a sexy black slip dress, with immaculate platinum hair and make-up. I tell her she has the air of an old-fashioned screen goddess: think Jean Harlow or Marilyn Monroe. ‘Have you any idea how many lights and zhooshy b ******* goes into making me look like this?’ she replies.

Global celebrity coming late-ish in life means Waddingham won’t have her head turned by fame or compliments. Yet it was her personal experience of destructive relationships (she won’t say who with) that gave her an insight into Ted Lasso’s redoubtable Rebecca, a character who’s superficially tough but also riddled with vulnerabilities. The series begins after the collapse of Rebecca’s marriage to bullying Rupert (played by Anthony Head) who – we learn – would tell her to ‘eat this, wear that’.

Waddingham told a podcast last year: ‘Even though [Rebecca’s] a great businesswoman, and even though in real life I’m very focused on my career, there have been times when, thank God, I had the focus on my career – because everything else was flailing.’

‘From the moment I auditioned for Rebecca, I just felt her ripple through me,’

Waddingham says today. ‘I knew who she was – I knew her acerbic bark, her dry wit, the way she’d suffered controlling, verbal abuse from a partner. I’ve been through that myself, so playing her brought me great catharsis. She’s in her 40s, divorced, a very wealthy woman who appears to have it all together but really doesn’t know where she’s going in life. I wanted to be very delicate in honouring that. I feel a huge responsibility to serve her and all those women and men in their 40s because it’s not easy finding yourself at that age on the heap, and that’s what she’s doing, trying to keep her head above water.’

Waddingham also felt great empathy for Rebecca’s childlessness, because for a while she feared she’d never become a mother. ‘I was 38 when a doctor told me bluntly, “That ship [her fertility] has sailed”. It was absolutely vile. But I thought, “No it hasn’t, mate”.’

Using techniques such as acupuncture, she proved the doctor wrong, but the experience again fed into the shattering scene when Rebecca, who missed the chance of motherhood because Rupert refused to have a baby with her, learns his new, younger girlfriend is pregnant. ‘I do want a child. I just suppose I didn’t want one with… before,’ he tells her onscreen character. ‘Just thinking about that scene gives me goose pimples,’ she says.

That combination of Waddingham’s ultra-truthful performance and the show’s gentle yet rapier wit has made Ted Lasso an international phenomenon, winning 11 Emmys, including her own for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series and two for best comedy series. The third season (which launched earlier this month) will probably be its last, and Waddingham’s now inundated with other opportunities, including presenting May’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool alongside Alesha Dixon, Graham Norton and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina.

‘I was so shocked when they offered this to me because I’m not a presenter,’ she says, her hands flying to her heart. ‘But I’ve been a fan all my life.’ I say when I covered Eurovision in Birmingham as a baby reporter in 1998 – the lasttimeitwashostedbytheuk–itwasthe drunkest occasion of my life. She roars with laughter. ‘Well, I won’t be drunk when I’m presenting but when my duties are over I’ll drink myself silly! The next day I’ll be wearing my sunnies to cover up the damage.’

Even more thrilling is the prospect of hosting next month’s Olivier Awards – Britain’s theatrical equivalent of the Oscars – at the Royal Albert Hall. ‘I was overwhelmed when I heard that. I’m very proud of my theatrical connections so it’s a great privilege. I feel I’ve been called back by my tribe.’ Rumour has it Waddingham will perform a song (she has an astonishing four-octave range, as showcased in Rebecca’s karaoke scenes).

‘I am going to be singing, yes. Which is gorgeous in one way and slightly terrifying in another. I have to remind myself, “It’s a room of friends, you’re not auditioning for a job.”’

The stage is in Waddingham’s blood. Her father was a businessman, but her maternal grandparents and her mother were all opera singers. Growing up in Wandsworth, South London, with her brother (who’s not in showbiz) she spent much of her time at the Coliseum, home of English National Opera, in London’s West End, where her mother sang for 27 years in the chorus. ‘My life was sitting in the stalls, watching the greats – Lesley Garrett, Bryn Terfel – this extraordinary music falling on my ears. But there was nothing la-di-da about us, we were a grounded, normal family – we saw how hard Mum worked.’

Attending a local private girls’ school, it never occurred to her that she’d go into anything other than showbusiness. ‘The force has always been strong. I remember thinking, “If your job isn’t singing or dancing, what do you do?” I never had a plan B – not in an arrogant way, but that was my vocation.’

Sure enough, she went on to study at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, bagging

leads in West End and Broadway musicals and receiving Olivier nominations for her performances in Spamalot, Kiss Me, Kate and A Little Night Music. Yet when she tried to broaden into working in TV and film, she encountered downright snobbery.

‘People think musical-theatre actors are all jazz hands. There was so much pooh-poohing. I remember asking my agent if they were going to bring casting directors to see me in something and they said, “Oh no, they’re not going to come to a musical.” I found it deeply offensive. There are so many brilliant, brilliant actors in musical theatre who aren’t doing it for fame or money, it’s because they love playing great characters – but in other fields they can’t get arrested.’

Eventually she won a part in the ITV sitcom

Benidorm, then landed the very different

Game of Thrones role of the ‘shame nun’ Septa Unella, who has Cersei Lannister walk naked through the streets. In real life she became close friends with Lena Headey, who played Lannister. Similarly, while filming Ted Lasso, she ‘fell in love on the spot’ with Juno Temple, who plays the joyful Page 3 girl Keeley.

‘So often writers pitch women characters against each other but with Rebecca and Keeley there’s no bitchiness and that’s so important to me. I’m a real girls’ girl – there’s no bond like the bond you have with your girlfriends; they’re 100 per cent there for you.

My daughter sees that; she has some very cool aunties. They’re my gladiators.’

Among these gladiators is none other than movie legend (and Waddingham doppelgänger) Sharon Stone, whom she first met in October 2021 on the red carpet at the Pride of Britain awards, which Waddingham was attending with her 81-year-old father as her date. ‘My legs went from under me when she came over,’ Waddingham says (there’s video footage to prove it). ‘I’ve loved her all my life, she’s a boss b **** , a force of nature! She’s warts and all and so am I. When we get together we have a cup of tea and a biscuit, go straight past all the fluffy s*** and down to brass tacks.’

Waddingham’s previously said she’s moved on from Cugnetto, but she won’t say if she has a partner or not. ‘My most important relationship is with my little girlie and it always will be,’ she says. Is her daughter, now eight, showing signs of continuing the family showbiz tradition? ‘Unfortunately, yes. She sees me drive off in a black Mercedes to jobs and I have to explain it’s not always been like that, there’s been so much hard work. I know at the

Oliviers she’ll want to go backstage and meet everyone. I’m creating a monster!’ she jokes.

Having worked so hard for so long, Waddingham’s showing no sign of slowing down – she’s just filmed a thriller, The Fall Guy, with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and rumour has it she’ll soon be giving a solo singing performance at the Coliseum. Meanwhile, Sudeikis has refused to confirm or deny whether this third season of Ted Lasso will also be its swansong. ‘I genuinely have no idea if this is the end and they’re right not to tell me,’ she says. ‘Rebecca has become a part of me so I prefer to be in ignorance.’

When she filmed her last scene with Sudeikis, she struggled to maintain her stiff upper lip. ‘I didn’t cope with it very well; I was all, “No, no, no, everyone just carry on as normal. I don’t want to let it out, I’ll see you tomorrow.”’ Perhaps if she manifests hard enough her wish will come true. Ted Lasso’s millions of fans certainly hope so.

‘WRITERS TEND TO PIT WOMEN AGAINST EACH OTHER. BUT MY GIRLFRIENDS ARE MY GLADIATORS’

The Olivier Awards with Mastercard will take place on Sunday 2 April. You can listen on Magic Radio or watch the highlights on ITV