Mrs Selfridge: 'Online shopping is ghastly'
Mr Selfridge, the period TV drama series about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his London department store Selfridge's, has become something of a Sunday night must-watch show.
Kika Markham plays his mother Lois - a woman who brought up Mr Selfridge single-handedly after his father chose not to return to the family home after serving in the Union Army in the American Civil War.
What attracted her to the role, I ask Kika?
'I like playing Americans,' she explains. 'I don’t know why, but there is something rather liberating about it. The English accent is somewhat more binding. And she was rather different, she has quite a lot of inner authority. I don’t think I have much of an inner authority. She had come from a harsher place personally than in my life, having very little money.
'It was a good challenge and anything based on a true story always interests me.'
Does she feel a sense of responsibility playing a role based on someone's actual life, rather than a fictional character?
'Absolutely,' she affirms. 'For the last three years, I have been playing real people and it is absolutely a responsibility.
'There isn’t that much information on her [Lois], she was obviously a strong person because she lost two sons, which must be terrible, then her husband left her. She didn’t have any money. She became a teacher and she concentrated on finding out what could be done to best help her son.
'I wish I could have found our more about her but I didn’t find a lot, despite looking and looking.'
Much of the drama is, naturally, focused around shopping. Is this a past-time that has changed beyond recognition in the past century?
'Luckily, we still have one to one shops that we can go into and we can exchange and smile. I think that we need that,' she says.
'The whole online shopping thing is ghastly. You never meet anybody or see things in front of you - it’s a terrible shame and it puts people out of work. We have lost that human interaction.
'Humans love looking at things, discovering them, talking to people and that is all going now and our high street is in terrible trouble. We are a nation that loves to shop now... strolling around looking at garments.'
Why does she think Mr Selfridge has had such a great appeal?
'It is because we are living in very hard times,' she muses. 'We are looking for idealism, to find things that we can just enjoy.'
And what is next for her? Aside from a second series of the drama?
'I am trying to write a memoir about me and Corin [Redgrave],' she reveals. 'I was married to Corin. He had a heart attack, nearly 3 years ago now.
'He had amnesia, a brain injury and he lived another 5 years. It was one heck of an experience and journey. Then he died and so I am trying to write a book about it, with his own writing in it too. It is to honour him and to help others.'
Lois Selfridge, I can't help but think, would be delighted by Kika.
Mr Selfridge Series One is out on DVD and Blu-Ray on 11 March 2013, courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK).
Kika Markham plays his mother Lois - a woman who brought up Mr Selfridge single-handedly after his father chose not to return to the family home after serving in the Union Army in the American Civil War.
What attracted her to the role, I ask Kika?
'I like playing Americans,' she explains. 'I don’t know why, but there is something rather liberating about it. The English accent is somewhat more binding. And she was rather different, she has quite a lot of inner authority. I don’t think I have much of an inner authority. She had come from a harsher place personally than in my life, having very little money.
'It was a good challenge and anything based on a true story always interests me.'
Does she feel a sense of responsibility playing a role based on someone's actual life, rather than a fictional character?
'Absolutely,' she affirms. 'For the last three years, I have been playing real people and it is absolutely a responsibility.
'There isn’t that much information on her [Lois], she was obviously a strong person because she lost two sons, which must be terrible, then her husband left her. She didn’t have any money. She became a teacher and she concentrated on finding out what could be done to best help her son.
'I wish I could have found our more about her but I didn’t find a lot, despite looking and looking.'
Much of the drama is, naturally, focused around shopping. Is this a past-time that has changed beyond recognition in the past century?
'Luckily, we still have one to one shops that we can go into and we can exchange and smile. I think that we need that,' she says.
'The whole online shopping thing is ghastly. You never meet anybody or see things in front of you - it’s a terrible shame and it puts people out of work. We have lost that human interaction.
'Humans love looking at things, discovering them, talking to people and that is all going now and our high street is in terrible trouble. We are a nation that loves to shop now... strolling around looking at garments.'
Why does she think Mr Selfridge has had such a great appeal?
'It is because we are living in very hard times,' she muses. 'We are looking for idealism, to find things that we can just enjoy.'
And what is next for her? Aside from a second series of the drama?
'I am trying to write a memoir about me and Corin [Redgrave],' she reveals. 'I was married to Corin. He had a heart attack, nearly 3 years ago now.
'He had amnesia, a brain injury and he lived another 5 years. It was one heck of an experience and journey. Then he died and so I am trying to write a book about it, with his own writing in it too. It is to honour him and to help others.'
Lois Selfridge, I can't help but think, would be delighted by Kika.
Mr Selfridge Series One is out on DVD and Blu-Ray on 11 March 2013, courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK).