The Stage - Selina Cadell: ‘Having a big budget makes me nervous’
As she makes her Royal Shakespeare Company directorial debut, Selina Cadell talks to Maureen Paton about coaching Sigourney Weaver and lessons learned from a four-decade career
By Selina Cadell
Excerpt:
In a strikingly varied career, the actor, director and drama teacher Selina Cadell has an intriguing sideline: as an occasional acting coach to Sigourney Weaver. Who knew that the star of four Alien films, three Ghostbusters films, Gorillas in the Mist, The Ice Storm et al would need, or indeed want, to be coached? Yet it has emerged quite naturally out of her 42-year friendship with Cadell, who explains: “I’ve noticed that some directors are very loath to direct big stars, so I think just to have someone they can sit down and talk the story through with is very valuable – since stars have to carry a film and there’s a huge amount riding on their shoulders.” (Sigourney Weaver later confirms to me over the phone from New York that “directors are afraid to direct you if you’re well-known because they assume you think you know everything - but we all need to be directed. When I played an autistic woman in the film Snowcake, Selina’s advice gave me a lot of courage.”)
As TV cameos go, Sigourney Weaver popping up in ITV’s Doc Martin is up with there with the weirdest.
By Hannah Flint
Excerpt:
The Alien star appeared in Martin Clune’s comedy series about a brilliant surgeon who moves to a sleepy Cornish village after he develops a fear of blood.
He’s probably not a fan of Alien then.
Sigourney Weaver’s cameo on cosy ITV drama Doc Martin was all too brief, says Gerard O’Donovan
Excerpt:
The cosy and sometimes idyllic world of Doc Martin (ITV) often throws up peculiar scenarios, none more so than a cameo appearance by the star of the Alien film franchise, Sigourney Weaver. Playing an American tourist searching for her family roots in Cornwall, and for a prescription-only medicine from the local chemist, her encounter with Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) in the latest episode wasn’t so much enigmatic as evanescent – and verged on the bizarre.
She appeared from nowhere, announced her name, Beth Traywick, to pharmacist Mrs Tishell (to which Mrs T, somewhat bafflingly in the circumstances, replied: “Yes, I know”) and proceeded to act out the sort of clichés of transatlantic boorishness that we haven’t really associated with American tourists since the Seventies. Sadly, Beth’s medical complaint didn’t involve anything as eye-catchingly dramatic as an evil alien parasite living in her gut. It was mild asthma instead, and after another pointlessly waspish encounter with the Doc she was gone. We can only hope her donation of a book on radical feminism to receptionist Morwenna (Jessica Ransom) might yet prove fruitful.
What’s On TV: Doc Martin’s Selina Cadell
‘Mrs Tishell isn’t having any of Sigourney Weaver’s Cornish roots!’
Excerpt:
Monday’s Doc Martin (ITV) features one of the most unusual guest star TV appearances ever, when Sigourney Weaver turns up in Portwenn playing a brash American tourist. Her longtime friend, Selina Cadell (who plays Mrs Tishell), explained to TV Times how it came about and where they first met…
How did you become friends with Sigourney Weaver?
“I met her in 1974 when she came over to visit an American friend who was living over here, who I also knew. We all hung out together, and she had such a ball that she stayed for three months. We were young actresses and spent a lot of time laughing and going to the theatre. We’re very close – we’ve spent Christmas together with our families and we work together a lot – we coach each other on our acting projects.”
How did her Doc Martin cameo come about?
“She knew I was in Doc Martin, but I never asked her to watch it. Suddenly it caught on in America and Sigourney watched it and adored it and when she came over to promote a film in February, by chance she went on The Jonathan Ross Show with Martin Clunes and asked him if she could be in Doc Martin. Then they were both funny about it – neither could believe the other one meant it – and so I brokered the deal.”
ITV - Series 7 Episode 4
ITV - Episode 4 - Education, Education, Education
Excerpt:
Series seven of the adventures of the nation’s grumpiest doctor and his patients in the Cornish village of Portwenn continues. In episode four, Education, Education, Education, Louisa (Caroline Catz) and Martin (Martin Clunes) attend their first therapy session together – though neither of them is expecting that they will be given homework. 15-year-old Peter Cronk (Preston Nyman) approaches Louisa to ask if Martin will allow him to do work experience at the surgery. Louisa is surprised and impressed when Martin agrees – perhaps he is learning to change after all.Morwenna (Jessica Ransom), however, is not quite so happy about it when Peter starts trying to boss her around in reception. Meanwhile, Mrs Tishell (Selina Cadell) is surprised by the return of her husband Clive (Malcolm Storry), and stunned when he tells her he wants to give things another go.
By Selina Cadell
Excerpt:
Martin Clunes and I are taking a break between filming scenes on Doc Martin – in which I play chemist Mrs Tishell – in Port Isaac, Cornwall. Among the mob of fans waiting patiently, cameras in hand, Martin spots a woman with an eccentric-looking spaniel. ‘Aaah, hello,’ he says, addressing the dog as an old friend. ‘You’ve got lovely long ears.’ ‘Yes,’ says its owner, ‘when he gets anxious he chews them.’ With a large dose of self-deprecation, Martin shoots back, ‘Don’t we all?’