Life's as hectic as ever for Maddy in the Riley household alongside second hubby Jim (Neil Dudgeon) and their various offspring. Caroline Quentin reveals more about her latest comic creation

Is it true that Georgia Pritchett created Maddy in Life Of Riley especially for you?
I know I was the first person to get sent the script, but I don’t know whether she wrote it for me. I know that she wanted to write about this modern version of a family. I will have to ask Georgia if it was written for me, but it feels like it was because it suits me, I think.

Have you based Maddy on anyone?
Georgia, who wrote the show, has two children and I pretty much think it is her. She denies it, but I do think there is quite a lot of her in Maddy. Georgia’s a really lovely woman and finds it very hard to say no, and finds it very hard not to be kind, and I think Maddy has that problem. Maddy is trying to please everybody all of the time, and although Georgia denies it, I think that it is her really.

As a mum of two yourself, how do you think you compare to Maddy as a mother? Who’s better?
Oh, Caroline Quentin is a much better parent than Maddy, but then in fairness, that’s not much of a competition. I think probably Lucrezia Borgia was probably a slightly better parent than Maddy!

Is it right that you are writing a silent comedy with your Blue Murder co-star Ian Kelsey?
Yes. We are still working on that, and we’re also writing a comedy show called Dick. It's about a local reporter-come-private detective, who will be played by Ian. However, he's working on 16 episodes of a children’s programme at the moment, which has been commissioned by the BBC. We’ve brought another writer on board for Dick, so we can probably move forward a bit further this year because we ground to a halt when Ian was off doing other stuff.

Is it true that ITV was interested in the silent comedy?
Yes, but then ITV hit hard times and I’m afraid we rather fell by the wayside with that. We made a very short pilot and I think Ian’s got it out in Europe at the moment. Plus, we've got a company in Holland, I think, looking at it. Silent comedy is still very popular over there and they like that it’s quite broad slapstick.

And since it’s a silent comedy there are no language barriers, so it’s got universal appeal…
Exactly. This is what we are hoping. It’s like everything nowadays though, we just have to wait and see what people go for.

Is there anything else in the pipeline for you apart from Life Of Riley?
I’ve got nothing planned, but I’m hoping to do a series that I’m negotiating with ITV about. It is for a comedy drama.

So, there are a few irons in the fire…
Yeah, there are a few things happening, but it’s a quiet time. I’m just enjoying being at home with the kids at the moment. Hopefully something will come up in the spring.

You’ve played some memorable TV roles — Dorothy in Men Behaving Badly, Maggie Mee in Life Begins, Janine Lewis in Blue Murder — and now Maddy Riley in Life Of Riley. Do you have a favourite?
I’m really fond of Dorothy still because it was such an important part of my life. We worked on that for such a long time and Martin Clunes is still my best friend. I have such warm feelings about the show and I learnt so much on it. Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes just play comic brilliantly, and I learnt so much from them. So, probably Men Behaving Badly has got the warmest place in my heart, and every time I think of it, it makes me smile.

Will there ever be a Men Behaving Badly reunion?
I think Men Behaving Badly is part of people's early life. I meet a lot of people that say, ‘God I used to watch that when I was a teenager.’ I think there’s every chance we could revisit it fondly at some point.

Have you chatted to any of the other Men Behaving Badly cast about what you would like to have happened to your respective characters since we last saw them?
I’ve never had that conversation because I’m not clever enough. I wouldn’t know where to begin, and I suppose that is why the writers are the people we love bcause they can do that. I’m just not clever enough. But I do wonder if Gary’s in prison!

By Nick Fiaca