Back from the dead, Kerry Godliman is a sleuth in Whitstable Pearl

Unspoiled by tourism.

It’s not spoiled by tourism, but it’s been compromised by gentrification. Like a lot of towns. And that is a theme in the show, the people from that town, much as they love the money coming in from gentrification, it changes a town.

Were you familiar, coming in to the show, with the Whitstable Pearl novels?

No, I wasn’t. It’s funny when you discover a thing that is very beloved and established. As soon as I got this job I looked up the books and there was this amazing catalogue of very loved books. So it was quite a responsibility to play Pearl and not get her wrong. I didn’t want to mess her up for the fans.

Describe Pearl in your own words.

Pearl is a determined person, she’s very loving and compassionate, I think she’s kind and warm and funny. But she’s very driven, she has a lot of energy, she runs a successful fish restaurant, and has raised her son on her own, and has now managed to build up a private detective agency on her own as well. She’s a pretty determined person, and she has a sense of justice, her moral compass is front and centre. She’s very driven by a moral code.

Is Pearl anything like Kerry?

She looks like me. And she sounds like me … yes and no. There are traits of her personality … I suppose I do have that kind of determination, because my work is sometimes – especially stand-up – you have to be quite driven to do it. She’s a mum as well, she’s got a son and I’ve got kids. But she’s got way more energy than me. She does a whole shift in the restaurant and then goes out and does surveillance or whatever: I’d be like “ohhh come on, go to bed”.

So if you come across any mysterious bodies you’ll probably just let them be.

I’ll let someone else look into it.

You say you don’t have as much energy, but you must have quite a bit, because you seem to be everywhere the last few years.

It has picked up the last few years, yeah.

Are you having a well-deserved moment? Do you feel like you’ve cracked it?

Well, I never feel like you’ve ever cracked it. But I’m enjoying it while it lasts. It’s funny because stand-up and acting have always sort of bobbed along in parallel, and sometimes when acting’s been quiet I’ve had stand-up to fall back on. But now acting’s really picked up and it’s meant I can do stand-up tours and people can come to see me, for me. So that did feel like a sort of shit.

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And how big a deal was it to have on your resume “Taskmaster Champion”?

A huge deal. I absolutely loved that job. I think it was my favourite job ever. I felt really honoured to join the roll-call of people who did Taskmaster. I only won by one point, I won it in a game of Sausage and Finger, so I can’t be too cocky about it.

Whitstable Pearl is on Acorn TV.

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Source: | This article originally belongs to smh.com.au

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