Arabella Weir never wanted a role more than Beth in Two Doors Down
All roads led to Scotland for the actor who has made a career of being funny and stars in the Christmas Special
Arabella Weir is in great form as she settles down in a hip cocktail bar in Edinburgh, fresh from a sold out gig at the Usher Hall kicking off The Fast Show Live tour with her old TV sketch show buddies and geared up for a Christmas Two Doors Down special which airs on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Effervescent, glam, entertaining and funny, with stories and asides aplenty, she’s the centre of attention in a way Beth, the character whose leggings and sensible tops she inhabits in Two Doors Down, is not.
She is energised by the reception from The Fast Show fans to a 30th-anniversary tour celebrating favourite 1990s sketches, characters and catchphrases - ‘does my bum look big in this?’, ‘suits you sir’ and ‘we were ve, ve drunk’ - by original cast members Weir, Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson and Mark Williams that went down a storm.
It’s the same with Two Doors Down, a ratings hit and BBC staple, with prime time family-gathered-on-the-sofa showings having become a Christmas tradition after it started as a one-off Hogmanay special broadcast in 2013. The familiar cast are back with Weir as Beth and Alex Norton as Eric and their neighbours, Christine (Elaine C Smith), Cathy (Doon Mackichan) and Colin (Jonathan Watson), Alan (Graeme Stevely) and Michelle (Joy McAvoy), plus Beth and Eric’s son Ian (Jamie Quinn) and his fiancé Gordon (Kieran Hodgson).
This year’s 30-minute show, written solo by Gregor Sharp after co-creator Simon Carlyle died in 2023, sees stalwarts Beth and Eric unwittingly kick off a Christmas crisis in the Crescent by putting up their tree early. What were they thinking? The ramifications spiral as Colin and Cathy focus on finding each other the perfect gift, Ian and Gordon strive for simplicity, Alan and Michelle have transport issues and Christine plans a very special trip. Comedy chaos ensues.
“It’s about the run up to Christmas and what the rules are. When is it too soon? And of course they all have different rules, well, different to whatever Beth is doing, always the opposite. What Gregor’s written is very clever and very funny.”
Much more glam than Beth and more opinionated and sweary, it’s testament to Weir’s acting abilities that she inhabits her character to such an extent that it’s a surprise to hear her speak without the Scottish accent. Based in London, Weir was born in San Francisco to Scottish parents who divorced when she was ten, and raised in locations ranging from Bahrain to Cairo to London, heading north of the border to visit grannies in Melrose and Dunfermline. She channels them both, one minute ‘sweet’ Melrose granny taking Weir on day trips to Edinburgh for afternoon tea in Jenners, the next ‘nippy sweetie’ Dunfermline granny berating a young Arabella for looking ‘awful beefy’ in her television debut.
So how does Weir explain the popularity of the comedy, now seven series and three Christmas specials in?
“I think it's the familiarity and relatability. I think sitcom writing is one of the finest arts of comedy, because you've got to do something that is instantly relatable. You've got to recognise the context. People in it have got to be ordinary and believable. And then when they say funny things, which everybody does, you slightly turn up the volume. In many ways - and I don't think for one minute Gregor and Simon were doing this - but it's very like a Scottish Royle Family because it's an ordinary family you can relate to.
“Somebody who's close to me, who shall remain nameless, said, "Why would you be friends with Cathy? And I thought "Well, I'm friends with you, and you're just like Cathy." She's the sort of person who goes, ‘We don't like your jeans’. So while Cathy's behavior, and indeed Christine’s, seem intolerable, it's normal for your friends to speak to you like that. It’s the things you say to people you're familiar with.”
What stands out with Two Doors Down, and it may be a product of its domestic setting, is that the cast has an equal gender balance in terms of action, dialogue and characters - in fact you might argue it tips over in favour of the women.
“I don't think I've ever had a discussion with them about it, but I think one of the unique things is it's three women over 60 who are mainly leading it, although it’s very much an ensemble piece,” says the actor who is turning 68. “And you don't see that.
“Neither Gregor or Simon went, we've been asked to write a sitcom with older women at the centre. I think they just recognised that older women rule the world. People go, "Well, no one's gonna watch old bags, are they?" but they do. And that's just to be celebrated and fantastic for us.”
“And there's an ordinary gay couple and no jokes about that itself. Any jokes about their sexuality are at the expense of other people, not them. That, again, is new. They're just two boys who are a couple. It's normalised.”
Does she think it’s easier to be funny when you get older?
“Definitely. The less I've cared, the funnier I think I am. American standup Wanda Sykes said something about as I get older, I've just got less f***s to give.
“I did, when I was younger. That's where ‘does my bum look big in this?’ came from. I spent a lot of time as a young actress worrying about how I looked. Starting in 1979 absolutely all directors were men. I think I might have met one theater director once who was a woman. And they would say openly, you're very pretty but you're too fat. At the time my independent brain was going, I don't think they should be saying that but the rest of me was going, ‘Yes, of course I should look like Greta Scacchi. That was just a given. I don't think we've left that behind completely. Weight and beauty are still big, big issues for women, but I hope it's changing.
“So the older I’ve got - and it’s also come with a certain amount of success - I found that the more I went f*** off, I am the size I am, the easier it was to have success. You definitely care more about real global issues and less about trying to get off with boys and make them like you.”
During The Fast Show Live, along with funny anecdotes about making the show in the 1990s, Weir skewers behaviour in the entertainment industry that would make Gen XYZers take to social media in a flurry of thumbs to protest.
“Now we get to call it out in a way that if you'd called it out 25 years ago, people would say come on, it was a joke. She’s sensitive. She’s great, but don't get her to do the job because she's a bit chippy. Yeah, no sense of humour.”
“I spent so much time worrying about not being right when I was younger, and how do I look in this costume and will I get that part and now I just think, I'm lucky to be alive. I'm very good at seizing life. I wouldn't want to be younger because then I wouldn't be me. I'm lucky to be here, and very lucky to still be working, very lucky indeed.
Weir made her name in The Fast Show and Alexei Sayle’s Stuff in the 1990s, BBC 2’s Posh Nosh, a 2003 food show parody co-written and performed with Richard E Grant, and with acting roles in Skins, Doctor Who, Drifters and The Bill. She’s also written her autobiography Does My Bum Look Big In This, The Diary of an Insecure Woman, The Real Me is Thin and novels Onwards and Upwards and Stupid Cupid.
Two Doors Down looks like there might be a lot of laughter on set. Is there?
“Yes. It’s all Elaine's fault. Elaine's a brilliant, brilliant comedian. She's a fantastic actor, but from the beginning of the day till the end, her main aim is to make us all laugh while we're working. I'm the one who laughs least because I turned into a swot, very unlikely. But we do laugh a lot. And also, it's very funny. We're a family now, the actors and 85% of the crew will be the same and it's lovely. So there's a bit of laughing, but time is money so the cameras are turning. Still, Elaine will make us all laugh.”
Working on Two Doors Down is a dream come true for Weir, who was determined to get the job.
“When I got sent the script I remember thinking, I've never wanted a job more. And the moment I started working here, and not to get too sort of heavy, but Scotland… my Melrose granny was the only person in my life who ever gave me unconditional love. So Scotland, particularly Edinburgh - although I love working in Glasgow - but Edinburgh I'd come through with my granny and it always feels home, or Melrose does, because of the love I got there. Granny was unconditional. She was just a wonderful, wonderful person.”
“So with Two Doors Down I knew I'd be able to be my Scottish self as it were, and that I'd be working in Scotland. I think the only place I ever knew what I tried to give my children, unconditional love, was from my Melrose granny. We spent a lot of time here. As a child I was criticised and held to account the entire time by my parents, but never at granny's. So Scotland's always felt like my real home. My parents moved all over the shop then the home we did have in London, my mum sent me away from when she, quote, ‘couldn't bear the f***ing sight of me’. I went to my dad’s in Bahrain at about 9,10, yeah.”
“I didn't know I was going to love the show as much as I did, but I thought I really want to play this part and work in Scotland so yeah, it felt like coming home. That's exactly what it felt like.”
Was Melrose Granny the inspiration for Beth?
It's a mixture of Melrose granny who was long suffering, tolerant, kind, accepting of all people and David Tennant's mum, Helen, who was a bit more forcible and would say ‘no, you won't need a coffee, it's far too late.’ I don't think Beth's got that kind of authority but she's definitely got the tolerance my granny had, and from David's mum, the steely thing. With Beth, it's all eye rolling and arm crossing. My career has featured a lot of strong looks at people.”
She demonstrates a Beth hard stare then the eyes crinkle and she laughs.
“I'm so unlike those people, because I lose my temper and go f***'s sake. Less now because I give fewer f***s. You’re going to write ‘delightful company, but she does swear an awful lot,’ aren’t you?”
“You realise that a lot of marriage - one of the reasons it wasn't for me - is that it is tolerating stuff that's intolerable and you think, no, why am I?
“People who are long-term married as Beth is, especially women, tend to be married because they've not gone, ‘why don't you not do this and why do you do this?’ But for a certain generation of man you are not going to get very far going, ‘f*** off, do it yourself’, so it’s ‘would you do that for me?’ because it's an easier life. I can't see my daughter doing that. She's 27 and that generation is just no, you're my partner, and also men wouldn't expect them to - they have lower expectations.”
Beth however, has moved with the times.
“She's got a little bit more feisty. I really want to do one where Beth gets absolutely hammered and says ‘I’m not doing it’, but she's the core, the thing that makes it relatable and real, and you know she's not going to kick off. I’m not a Beth.
“You have to know what Beth and Eric will say and do, then everyone else can go mad. You can't suddenly go now it's set in Thailand, or one is having an affair. It’s most people’s mum and dad.”
And will the Weir Christmas involve having family and neighbours round to the North London home she’s lived in for 33 years? Does she get on with them?
“I am very lucky. But I put the work in. Downstairs is a good friend, upstairs too and next door looked after my children. I've never understood why people don't get to know their neighbors, because they're the people that are going to say ‘your car's got a ticket’, ‘there's someone in your back garden’. Obviously, if they were a nightmare, it would be difficult.
“I remember thinking when I had kids, I need them to know where they live, who they live with, go to local schools. I really believe in neighborhoods and communities. That's how you solve the world. Well, maybe not the world, but certainly local politics. So it's very much like what they're doing in Two Doors Down.”
Looking ahead to 2026 Weir is hoping for more Two Doors Down, and will be appearing with the rest of the Latimer Crescent cast live at the Hydro in Glasgow in the autumn. She’s demonstrating her impressive singing voice in The Fast Show Live Tour, which continues after January, so might Beth sing?
Weir laughs. “There might be a burst of Beth doing something sort of bonkers, but then we'll have to go back to being Beth, won't we? If she did, she'd sing something like Una Paloma Blanca, something 70s.”
Is Weir’s typical Christmas Day anything like Eric and Beth’s?
“Not in a million years, because one of the things I've allowed myself as I've got older is a bit more luxury. Let’s not go mad, but I’ll never forget my father saying, ‘where the devil do you think I'll find that kind of money?’ And he was the British ambassador in Egypt at the time! I remember thinking, don't you earn quite good money? So Christmas Day, I will be having a glass of champagne at about 11 o’clock in the morning. And I'm hoping my children will cook. They’re quite good.
“I'm not very good at cooking, not least because I hate it. It's always felt like a chore, and of course, because of my issues with food it's always ‘how much cream!?’ and then I've got to eat it. So I'm very happy to eat food prepared by other people but I don't have a relaxed relationship with it, so I’m not making anything on Christmas Day. It'll be a bought pudding and bought mince pies, see if it's not!”
Arabella Weir. Delightful company but she does swear an awful lot.
Two Doors Down Christmas Special, BBC iPlayer, from 6am on Wednesday 24 December, Wednesday 24 December, BBC One, 10-10.30pm, Thursday 25 December, BBC Scotland, 9.30-10pm.
TWO DOORS DOWN LIVE, currently tickets for Friday 25 - Sunday 27 September, and 9-11 October, matinees and evening performances, for tickets see www.ovohydro.com/events/detail/two-doors-down
THE FAST SHOW LIVE TOUR is touring until the end of January, for dates and tickets see thefastshow.live.
With thanks to Copper Blossom, Basement, 107 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3ES, 0131 230 0617, copperblossom.com
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