Daisy Ridley: ‘I made a toilet cake on Bake Off because flushing with the lid up is unhygienic beyond belief’

How much training did you do for Young Woman and the Sea? Wasn’t the sea cold? Closey29
Incredibly cold. I did three months training, then nine days filming in the Black Sea in Bulgaria. Each time I got in, there was an overwhelming feeling of cold, terror and “how am I going to do this?”. There was a lot of extra pretending, playing someone who loves open-water swimming when I’m not an open-water swimmer.

What did you learn about yourself from making a cake in the shape of a toilet on The Great Celebrity Bake Off? TopTramp
I learned to give myself grace because I’m actually a really good baker. It was a toss-up and I lost. I love Bake Off so much, but you cannot imagine the stress of that tent. No one is sitting around. Everyone is working up to the wire. Each time they come to talk to you, you think: “Oh my God, I can’t stop,” even if it’s Paul Hollywood. I made a toilet because that represented my bugbear. I was watching How Clean Is Your House?, where they showed how if you flush the toilet with the lid up, it’s unhygienic beyond belief. My family continues to find it hilarious. So if I brought some happiness to some people, great.

I really enjoyed your performance [as a painfully introverted office worker] in Sometimes I Think About Dying. Can you relate to that character in today’s loud social media environment? ThatDamnCat
Even though she’s incredibly different to me, I found playing Fran relatable because I do particularly understand the trouble of overcoming social difficulties. We filmed it during lockdown. I remember the absolute fear of seeing people in a social setting, thinking: “How do we do this again?” It was interesting playing someone who is struggling to connect, when I was so thrilled to be with a group of people I loved so much. I’m not a full introvert, but I do understand what’s real, which is nourishing for the soul, as opposed to the falsity of connection we can feel online.

You were lucky enough to watch the great Steven Toast from the wings in Toast of London [Matt Berry’s spoof thespian series]. Did you pick up any tips? DonaldusTrumpius
Funnily enough, I was listening to BBC Radio 6 Music today and up popped Clem Fandango [Shazad Latif] and Matt Berry. Shaz just played my husband in Magpie, which is one of those lovely full-circle moments. I loved Toast of London and had the most amazing time. It was half a day’s filming at Wimbledon theatre in London and I’m listed as a “stagehand”. My role comprised two lines and passing someone a trident. It was the first time I’d had a prop, so I thought: “Please don’t drop this. I really don’t want to screw this up.” It was all very exciting. And Matt Berry is wonderful.

I had to do my annual CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] training online and was stunned to see you as a teenager acting in the training film. What do you remember of this? blubbermouth
It’s an interactive video where someone has collapsed, I give them CPR, then there are talking points. I remember it was absolutely freezing in Covent Garden flower market and we were knee-deep in water because it had been raining. But if being part of a CPR training video has genuinely helped to save someone’s life, that’s pretty amazing. The same year, I almost choked on a throat sweet in an episode of Casualty after a ghost train had a terrible crash at the funfair. Apparently, it was the scariest ghost train in the UK, so they just filmed us going round and round, which was terrifying. And that was before I nearly choked to death.

Did those late-night drinking and ceilidh sessions during the filming of The Force Awakens on the Skellig islands in County Kerry give you a taste for old-school, dusty pub culture and creamy stout? Galdove19
I’d never had a Guinness outside Ireland, so I got the good stuff the first time round. We had the sun shining on us every day, which the Irish crew said was unbelievable, although every time I’ve been to Ireland it’s been absolutely glorious. I had to climb about a thousand stairs up Great Skellig. Our unbelievable camera operator had a Steadicam and was climbing up backwards, so I thought: “There’s no way I can complain.” That tamed my own exhaustion. The Skellig islands are an ecological site, so we had to not disturb the puffin population, who were there one day, but had migrated the next, which was eerie and amazing. They obviously weren’t big Star Wars fans and thought: “We’ve had enough of this.”

Jazz is such a beautiful middle name! Is there a special story or inspiration behind it? VerulamiumParkRanger
I asked my dad recently. My mum came up with the flower names for me and my sisters [Kika Rose and Poppy Sophia] and my dad came up with the not-flower names. I asked my dad if there was a particular inspiration and he said no, he just liked it. My other middle name is Isobel, so if I ever become a DJ, “DJ IR” would be a cool name.

What was it like working with your husband, Tom Bateman, on Magpie? How much of the story of the perils of the movie business comes from personal experience? TurangaLeela2
It was great because we share a very similar creative sensibility in terms of films we love and the film we wanted to make. The idea was to explore how quickly intimacies are built on film sets, which is true. But the way we tell the story is absolutely not indicative of anything that has happened to either of us.

What do you do in a crisis? celia_cgnt
I panic. I’m someone who outwardly doesn’t seem to be panicking and inwardly is panicking a lot. I tend to be pretty logistical. One time, I witnessed a really terrible thing on a motorway. A van tyre blew out and it flipped in front of me. When I came to, I had my hazard lights on and I’d called the police, but I don’t remember having done that. So I feel like I’m actually quite logistical in a crisis. Then, afterwards, I cry.

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