‘LAUGHTER’S MY JOB – I’M LUCKY’
Working with fellow stand-up Jamali Maddix in her self-penned debut TV comedy has been great fun, says actress Michelle de Swarte
Comedian and former model Michelle de Swarte stars as a desperate Londoner attempting to revive her catwalk career in new BBC Two comedy Spent – loosely based on her time in the fashion industry.
“I did well in modelling and when I stopped, I had f**k all to show for it,” says Michelle, 43. “I would say that 30% of myself is in my character.”
In this comedy-drama, Michelle plays Mia, who’s pushing 40 and struggling to admit that her modelling career is over. Homeless and broke, she’s forced to return from the US to London to start a new life.
And while Michelle – who turned to stand-up comedy after modelling and has starred in The Duchess and The Baby – shares many parallels with Mia, she hasn’t found herself in the same hairy situations.
“I’m as animated and expressive as Mia and I was a model,” she says. “But unlike Mia, I started stand-up when I was 30 so I had that. Whereas, she’s like, ‘What do I do now?’ Plus, I’ve never come across swingers in the woods and asked them to charge my phone!”
From running out of phone battery and stumbling across a popular dogging spot to being paid in cushions for a pet-sitting job, Mia struggles with her tragic transition from the modelling scene to real life – much like Michelle did in the 2010s.
“I was coming to the end of my career and I knew it,” says Michelle, who was scouted at 19 and walked catwalks for Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors in New York.
She adds, “Modelling doesn’t last forever. It’s very much based on how you look. I was getting to the end of my twenties and started to think, ‘What am I going to do after modelling?’”
Alongside the highs of modelling, Michelle also endured lows – which included falling on a Gucci runway and running into the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, whose offer to fly on his private jet out of New York after 9/11 she declined. But Michelle says there wasn’t one particular incident that made her give up the job.
“It wasn’t like, ‘I’m done with this.’ It was just how life was. There were loads of little events where I thought, ‘This is weird, this is weird, this is weird.’ It was just part of the job at the time.”
She soon found stand-up and moved back to the UK, appearing on Live At The Apollo, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and The Last Leg.
“I started at 30 so I’ve been doing it for 12 years now,” she says. “It’s really nice to have a job that involves people having a good time, entertaining people and making them laugh. It’s a nice palate cleanser – laughter. I feel lucky that that’s my job.”
Creating and starring in her first comedy, Michelle admits that making Spent was an “intense” experience. “I was a bit worried that it wasn’t funny,” she laughs. “In standup, it’s instant whether a joke works or not, whereas with this you’ve got no idea.”
She adds, “It was a big learning experience for me. Everyone keeps asking me, ‘What’s your process?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t f**king know! Coffee?’”
Despite the nerves, Michelle had a ball on set – particularly in one silly scene which required
cordoning off a major London landmark.
“There’s a scene where Mia and a guy she’s on a date with go to the Millennium Bridge just to spit off it. That was really fun, because I’m from south London,” says Michelle, who grew up in Brixton. “The idea that we got to shut down the Millennium Bridge is just mind-blowing to me.” Michelle also loved working on Never Mind The Buzzcocks with stand-up Jamali Maddix, who she wrote the role of Mia’s cousin Marc for. “We do stand-up together and he’s so electric on screen,” she says. “We’ve got such a nice dynamic. He plays my cousin and I’d always written that part with him in mind.”
Brassic’s Juliet Cowan stars as Mia’s mum Jemima, while Peep Show ’s Matt King plays her agent Mills and The Split’s Amanda Wilkin is her best friend Jo. “Everyone else was just the perfect fit for the role,” she says. “We were very lucky.”
If Spent returns for a second series, Michelle already knows who she wants as a guest star.
“I would absolutely love it if Kathy Burke was in it,” she says. “That would be a dream. She’s such a powerhouse and I was such a fan growing up, seeing someone who’s working class just explode onto the screen in the way that she did. She’s always nothing but exceptional.”
Spent, Monday 8 July, 10pm, BBC Two
‘JAMALI IS ELECTRIC ON SCREEN’