\u201cThis year I was like, excuse my language, f**k this. I\u2019m going to cut my own fringe and just be done with wig fittings and then I can get home and see my kids faster.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I basically spent six weeks with really badly crimped hair and a very very short fringe, and the looks I got at the school gate. I mean, I think people thought I\u2019d been all night clubbing or I was harking back to my teens,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a Tuesday morning when I\u2019m chatting to Haggard, the star of BBC Three\u2019s Back to Life \u2013 a series she created with comedian Laura Solon back in 2019. After a few technical difficulties and video lags caused by weak internet (the pandemic\u2019s second-biggest villain), we give up on Zoom and pick up the phone to speak about series two, which premieres on 31st August.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working for years hoping I\u2019d get to make a show some day, so when you get the chance to do it again, you\u2019re just thrilled and get carried away telling the next part of the character\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a complete treat to be able to have another go and make more silly things happen and more awful things happen to poor, poor, long-suffering Miri.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\""Back\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/22929482-high_res-back-to-life-series-2-f4e77d0.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"daisy-haggard-big-rt-interview\"\\"")
<\/div> Haggard, who\u2019s best known for her roles in Psychoville, Episodes, Doctor Who<\/a>, Uncle and more recently Sky One\u2019s Breeders, plays Miri, who despite being somewhat vindicated in the series one finale, really can\u2019t catch a break in series two. In the last episode, we watched as \u2013 spoiler alert \u2013 Miri discovered that her late best friend Lara attacked her on the cliffside as she thought she was having an affair with her father. It was actually their friend Mandy (Christine Bottomley) who was sleeping with Lara\u2019s police officer dad and, had Mandy told her the truth, Miri wouldn\u2019t have pushed her out of self-defence, resulting in Lara falling to her death.<\/p>\n Series two introduces Lara\u2019s previously unseen father, played by Save Me\u2019s Adrian Edmondson, who becomes an \u201cenormous threat to Miri\u201d in the upcoming episodes.\u00a0\u201cI always knew that we wanted to bring back the parents of Lara. We always knew where we wanted it to go,\u201d Haggard says on series two.<\/p> Haggard and Solon wrote the role of Lara\u2019s father John with Edmondson in mind after the Bottom star slid into Haggard\u2019s Twitter DMs. \u201cMe and Laura are massive fans of Adrian and he sent a lovely message about how much he loved the show as we were writing season two. Very cleverly, he put himself into our brains and we were like, \u2018Oh my God, wouldn\u2019t it be brilliant if he played a sort of really sinister [character].\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe set up this character in the first season \u2013 we know he was a powerful policeman and we know he wasn\u2019t a good man, but we also know that he would have suffered the most enormous grief, so we knew that it would be a really interesting part. We kind of wrote it with him in mind.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I sent him a message on Twitter saying, \u2018By the way, you\u2019re going to get a job offer, don\u2019t worry \u2013 we probably won\u2019t pay you enough, you probably won\u2019t want to do it, I just wanted you to know.\u2019 And then he says, it\u2019s very unprofessional of me but even before he read it, he sent a very sweet message saying, \u2018I\u2019m in\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing series two during the pandemic meant that childcare took up a fair amount of writing time. \u201cSuddenly, me and my husband have two hours each and then we would just be homeschooling and parenting. We would give each other two hours where you got to do your work or the shopping, so I learned to have to do a lot more in a short time than I\u2019ve ever had to do.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was quite good in a way because I always thought I needed 10 hours to do two hours [of work] and actually had two hours and I did one hour. The procrastination window was shorter, which was a real shame. I Googled a lot less dogs needing homes. I like to think it\u2019s good for the brain, it\u2019s part of the prep. Google Earth-ing my area to see who\u2019s got a big garden, what a creep.\u201d<\/p>\n Filming with COVID around wasn\u2019t too much of a problem either, considering there aren\u2019t many big group scenes in Back to Life. \u201cIt\u2019s quite a sort of lonely show in a sense, it\u2019s quite sort of isolated so that was helpful. But also, we just did everything we could to keep it safe and I was absolutely adamant about that.\u201d<\/p>\n Haggard knew she wanted to become an actor and writer from a young age, with her first ever steps being \u201ca performance apparently\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just always doing terrible gym routines to Whitney Houston songs with props, making people sit on cushions and watch me until they got really bored. That was kind of my whole childhood, so my parents were not surprised at all that it was what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n She wrote her first film at the age of 11, keeping her occupied for roughly three years. \u201cIt was really bad,\u201d she says. \u201cYou see the point where I hit puberty, because suddenly, it becomes a very different show. It\u2019s like there\u2019s a hot decorator with his top off drinking Coca Cola. I go on the run with a wig on and stuff like that.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d always give up on everything if I couldn\u2019t do it, but I never gave up on that. I was really quick to quit but I never quit with that, despite it being a job where there\u2019s so much rejection, I just kind of blindly went on like Miri, the eternal optimist.\u201d<\/p>\n Haggard felt as though her career really began when she landed a role on Man Stroke Woman \u2013 the BBC Three sketch show starring the likes of Nick Frost, Amanda Abbington and Ben Crompton. \u201cI had loads of those moments where you\u2019re like, \u2018Here we go!\u2019 and I\u2019ve said this before but I quit my job in a gym on reception dramatically and then it\u2019d be like six months later \u2013 \u2018Hello, can I come back?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I always feel like I could be back doing another job at any point, but I think Man Stroke Woman was a job where I thought, \u2018that\u2019s like a proper part and I\u2019m in it properly\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Executive produced by Jack and Harry Williams of Two Brothers Pictures (The Missing, Fleabag, Liar), the idea for Back to Life came to Haggard when she was living with her parents again whilst pregnant. \u201cI was being told how to load a dishwasher about 15 times a day and going a bit crazy. I thought, \u2018Oh my gosh, I\u2019ve gotten quite far as a human. I\u2019m not a baby. Don\u2019t tell me how to do everything!\u2019 My husband was looking at me going, \u2018You\u2019re being a real stroppy little teenager\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Haggard\u2019s experience with that combined with her \u201clifelong obsession\u201d with the demonisation of women who\u2019ve gone to prison or committed a crime and her love of independent, coming-of-age films that turned into Back to Life. \u201cI was with Harry and [producer] Sarah Hammond and they were like, \u2018That\u2019s the one, that\u2019s a good one.’\u201d A taster tape was made to give broadcasters an idea of what the show would look like and BBC Three quickly snapped it up.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all had a very strong idea of what we wanted it to look like and how we wanted it to feel filmic and not like a traditional comedy,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s all thanks to being able to make this taster I think. I think the scripts would have read a bit confusingly.\u201d<\/p>\n Haggard and Solon have a few ideas as to where Miri would go in a potential third series. \u201cI knew how season two was going to end precisely, like I\u2019d written season one. But there is always a possibility for more.<\/p>\n \u201cThese first two seasons cover her immediate period of having left prison, so I always say yeah, me and Laura were chatting the other day, we were like, \u2018If we do do a season three\u2026?\u2019 We got all excited. We definitely have quite a clear idea about what that would be too.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Breeders \u2013 the Sky comedy in which Haggard stars as an exasperated mother of two alongside Martin Freeman \u2013 she doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s in store for Paul and Ally in season three but can\u2019t wait to get started.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so excited to read the scripts. I\u2019ve no idea and I will no doubt find out about three weeks before filming.\u201d<\/p>\n Back to Life series two begins airing on BBC One at 10:35pm on Tuesday 31st August. The full series will also be available as a box set on BBC Three on the same day. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide<\/a> or visit our dedicated Drama<\/a> hub for the latest news.\u00a0<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n The Back to Life creator reveals what to expect of the BBC Three comedy ahead of season two’s release. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3727,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/daisy-haggard-on-crimping-her-own-hair-for-back-to-life-series-2-bringing-adrian-edmondson-on-board-and-starting-off-in-man-stroke-woman.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Back to Life creator reveals what to expect of the BBC Three comedy ahead of season two's release.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/3726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Daisy\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/22929599-high_res-back-to-life-series-2-18be9d9.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"daisy-haggard-big-rt-interview\"\\"")
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