Sarah Hadland chats ‘The Job Lot’, ‘Miranda’ & Russell Tovey

As Stevie in Miranda, Sarah Hadland is hilarious, hyper and the best thing to happen to Heather Small’s career since, um, 2002? She also stars in The Job Lot, the rather under-appreciated British sitcom that returns tomorrow night (September 24), this time on ITV2. I gave Sarah a call to find out more about the new series – in which Sarah’s character, Trish, manages to acquire a toy boy despite continuing to rock a genuinely scary perm – as well as the new episodes of Miranda that are in the works. Sarah was, you’d expect, a total hero.

How’s your day going, Sarah?
“I’m actually at the gym. I’ve just done a work-out. How butch am I? I’m in competition at the moment, you see, with Russell Tovey. We have an abs competition going, so I can’t drop the ball.”

Who’s in the lead at the moment then?
“I’d like to say me. But I always say to him, ‘remember that I am a woman, and women by definition don’t have as strong abs’. That doesn’t cut much mustard, though. We both stand in front of the mirror and do this really aggressive crunch face to see who’s got the best abs. Even though he’s in San Francisco at the moment [shooting Looking], we still monitor one another from across the ocean.”

You send each other ab selfies?
“Oh yes! I take it very seriously. So does Russell.”

Anyway, enough about your abs and Russell Tovey’s abs. How would you say series two of The Job Lot differs from series one?
“I would say it’s bolder. Because we’ve moved to ITV2, we’ve been able to go a bit riskier and ruder. You do get to see Trish taking off her clothes. Young men are already excited by Trish and her perm, so hopefully this will thrill them even more. I think the new series is really exciting, we really take the characters further, and I’m really pleased that ITV is backing a new comedy in this way by giving us another series.”

How’s Trish doing in the new series: is there much ‘personal development’?.
“With Trish in the first series, she was a bit low and kind of at her wit’s end. But in series two, the divorce has gone through and she’s been given a new lease of life. She’s really blossoming and has even got herself a toy boy! I mean, in Trish’s eyes she’s had a full makeover – though in the viewer’s eyes her clothes have just got possibly slightly worse.”

What’s her toy boy like?
“He is lovely – I think she’s done very well for herself. The thing as well is that it’s believable. Hopefully when you see Trish and her toy boy you will think it’s the real thing.”

Do you think it’s a relationship that’s built to last?
“I think you will have to see… she is certainly feeling very strong and in control, whereas in series one she felt completely out of control.”

What’s the atmosphere like on set? Is it a fun cast to work with?
“Yeah, Russell and I are like the disco kids! We’re always singing and dancing – I’m quite hyper, so if I arrive in the morning and he’s tired, I try to wake him by saying ‘Come on! Come on! Let’s get some Katy Perry on! let’s get things moving!’ We like Dark Horse a lot, that’s one of our favourites.”

Does Trish get to show off her dancing in this series?
“Oh yes! There is no way I can begin to describe Trish’s dancing. It is a revelation. I want to see Trish imitators out there – I want to be going to clubs and instead of regular drag queens, I want to see Trish drag queens. Her moves are incredible and her outfit is incredible too: imagine going to a club and seeing a girl with a grey pop-sock on and a really shabby, greyish-teal Marks & Spencer pussy-blow blouse. Sometimes I’m not quite sure where they find these costumes for her: they just produce them and I go ‘genius!’.”

Through Miranda, obviously, you have a big gay following. Would you ever consider getting ordained as a minister so you can officiate at a gay wedding?
“Oh my God, I would love to do that! Line up a couple who want to get married, and I will gladly do that. Basically you have found my new career. Right! I’m onto this. With a clip board! I’ve actually got some close friends that are engaged to be married. Wait till they hear that I’m going to marry them! They’re not going to have much choice; I’m going to be like, ‘I am one of your best friends, I am overseeing this wedding, and I’m going to do it wearing a head-mic like Madonna’.”

Patricia Hodge would also do brisk business if she got ordained, I think.
“No! She’ll take all my business! Don’t put the idea in her head, please.”

You’re doing a pair of Miranda Christmas specials, aren’t you? Have you seen the scripts yet?
“Miranda has given me hints and whispers… and I think they are going to be amazing.”

Do you only see the scripts at the last minute then?
“Well, I do have some idea because Miranda will often call me or text me when she’s writing a scene that I’m in, and she’ll describe it because she often gets quite excited. Miranda is one of those people who puts themselves under huge pressure; she’s always very concerned with making sure the quality is very high; she takes it extremely seriously. I think she can sometimes be a bit like ‘that’s not good enough’, but she always delivers. I think that’s just how she works: by putting herself under a huge amount of pressure.”

When do you begin filming?
“November. There’s going to be two 30-minute episodes and they’re going to be full of surprises.”

Finally, I was a big fan of Moving Wallpaper, and wanted to ask if you were gutted it didn’t get a third series?
“Yes I was – it was a show I really, really loved, I absolutely loved playing Gillian. I thought the show was very cleverly done and it was a real shame that it didn’t go further. I think if anything the mistake was Echo Beach, which was possibly not one thing or the other. I much preferred the comedy, whereas I wasn’t a big fan of Echo Beach. Personally, I think Echo Beach should have been cast with comedy actors, because getting soap actors to play themselves knowingly is a little bit… yeah. I think what they did for the second series was better as the show we were making, the zombie show in Moving Wallpaper, was subsumed into Moving Wallpaper. It was a shame it didn’t come back for a third series, but you know, sometimes good things don’t continue, that’s the business we’re in.”

Series two of The Job Lot begins tomorrow night (September 24) at 10pm on ITV2.