Simone Ashley gets nostalgic for Christmas and Sex Education

ODE

She returns to screens this month with festive animation, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00The Christmas tree and the presents and Santa Claus and we sang all the songs.

00:03Sometimes I miss that whenever I talk about sex education, especially I get really nostalgic.

00:07Might I say, to start off with, fair play on sex education because I was late to that party,

00:12but that really got me through like a big bulk of lockdown,

00:15kind of becoming obsessed with that show.

00:17Oh, I'm so glad.

00:18It just got me thinking like you kind of broke out in that show,

00:22which was a very like familial thing.

00:24You worked with the same team for a long time, into Bridgerton, similar sort of vibe there.

00:30How are you feeling about this next stage of your career where you kind of step away

00:32from what seems like two kind of comfortable family support networks

00:36and into the kind of the big bad world of acting, I guess?

00:39Yeah, it's, I mean, you've just put it so well.

00:44That is exactly how I feel.

00:45Sex education was the most special experience because it was before a lot of us stepped into

00:53really unexpected things like the public eye.

00:55We didn't realise how big that show was going to be.

00:58We were all in like kind of our early to mid twenties and,

01:01you know, we were just all starting out really.

01:04And we filmed in Wales and we had each other, you know,

01:09when we would rap, we would all hang out with each other and we became real best friends.

01:13And yeah, and then Bridgerton was a whole other thing.

01:17I think it kind of came with the pressure of a show like that being just so big

01:22and so many eyes on it and fans.

01:24And yeah, I think it's really special.

01:30And I don't take for granted, you know, having that kind of familial

01:35sense in a cast when I'm on set.

01:37So, yeah.

01:38And then you go on to different films and you film for a couple of months

01:41and you never see those people again sometimes.

01:43And it's in and out.

01:45I think I love to make friends wherever I work and connect with people.

01:49And I think we have a job that allows us to meet just really interesting people

01:54and we get to know ourselves even more.

01:56So I'm just in for the ride.

01:58And whenever I talk about sex education, especially, I get really nostalgic.

02:03Well, the ride has taken you to Christmas.

02:07I don't know if this is going to be one of those films where you

02:09kind of make those connections and things because it is animated.

02:12It is going to be voiced.

02:14I don't know if you guys ever saw another cast member in the whole process

02:19of making it.

02:20But let's talk about Christmas in general first.

02:22This movie reminds me of the Christmas radio times,

02:25which used to be big back in my day.

02:27You'd look forward to it.

02:28You'd have the front cover would be like,

02:30Robbie the reindeer or the snowman or something like that.

02:34And I wondered what kind of memories evoke for you,

02:37because I know your parents were like first generation Indian Tamils.

02:40So I don't know if traditions changed there or whether you had some sort of like

02:45hybrid kind of celebration on Christmas.

02:48What did it look like for you?

02:49No, we had very traditional English Christmas.

02:53I think, you know, when it's not Christmas, you know, we we eat Indian food.

03:01My mom would practice prayer, all of those kind of things.

03:04But I think, you know, and it is something having parents who immigrated to England.

03:09I think my mom just wanted us to feel like we fitted in at school.

03:13And we did go to schools that we sang a lot of songs about Christmas.

03:18And it wasn't anything to do with my heritage.

03:20So she just wanted us to kind of just be kids

03:23and like get involved in the experiences of Christmas.

03:26So we had the Christmas tree and the presents and Santa Claus,

03:29and we sang all the songs.

03:30And yeah, I'm very grateful that my mom did that for us.

03:35So what were your go to's?

03:36Were you into kind of your Christmas movies and that whole thing?

03:39Because it used to be, you know, there'd be one at around 11 a.m.

03:42And there'd be one around 2 p.m.

03:43And then maybe you do family stuff and you'd look forward to a film coming on around 6 or 7.

03:47That's how my Christmas worked.

03:48Same.

03:49So what were the movies that kind of stuck out to you?

03:52Every Christmas, there would be like Aladdin or some classic Disney animation movie on

03:57in the morning, usually after you've unwrapped your presents,

04:01you would watch that with your breakfast.

04:03And then there's usually like a Harry Potter on and then something in the evening.

04:09But that was back when, like, we used to use like the TV guide

04:12and you didn't have all these options.

04:13What was on is what you watched.

04:15And sometimes I miss that because now there's just so much to choose from.

04:19But sometimes I'm a bit spoilt for choice.

04:21But I really hope that this movie,

04:25The Night Before Christmas and Wonderland is something that people choose.

04:28Because I think it does make me feel nostalgic to back when I was a kid.

04:32And I would have loved to have seen something like this when I was a child.

04:35Yeah, I think the kind of the drawings and the animation

04:38are evocative of a lot of the kind of older sort of animations,

04:42which I'm really happy about because we see so many of those CGI.

04:46They call them, oh, we're doing a live action movie.

04:48And it's all CGI because it's so good.

04:49Yeah.

04:50And it's nice to see something that actually reminds you of kind of growing up.

04:54Something simpler.

04:55Talk me through the process,

04:55because I read in the production notes you guys were doing it in like February or something.

04:59So it's kind of like you get over Christmas

05:01and then suddenly you're trying to wrap yourself up for Christmas again.

05:04I actually first went into the studio last summer.

05:09Oh, wow, even worse.

05:11Yeah, last summer.

05:13And then I recently was in the studio about a month ago.

05:16It was my last day where we recorded the acoustic version.

05:19It's called To Be Kind, which was one of my favourite days.

05:23So, yeah, that's just kind of how it is, though.

05:26Like, do they do anything to kind of like get you in the mood

05:29or do you just have to turn up and switch it on?

05:30Like, do you get there?

05:31There's mince pies out.

05:33You get to put on a little Christmas hat or something, a lot of stocking.

05:36No, no, there wasn't that.

05:38I think as soon as I'm in the booth and, you know,

05:40I could see on the screen like sketches or storyboards of like the scene

05:45or the scene like, you know, fully animated.

05:50That was enough to get me in the mood.

05:52What about singing then?

05:55I know you like a lot of actors have kind of musical backgrounds

05:59and you're used to performing and you can, you know,

06:01hit a switch and switch off like the nerves

06:03and the kind of anxiety that most people feel about singing,

06:06either in public or just like even in a booth

06:08with some professional recording artists around you.

06:11How comfortable were you in that world?

06:15Is it something we're going to see even more of going forward?

06:18Yeah, we are going to be seeing more.

06:21I'm very excited for all of that to be at a position where I can talk about.

06:27And I don't get nervous.

06:28I actually feel very at home in the recording studio.

06:31And I grew up with music since I was like six years old.

06:35I've been singing, playing piano.

06:38And yeah, so I felt very much at home and really relaxed.

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