The LYING game

DAWN FRENCH reveals why her latest character feels that dishonesty is the best policy...

- WORDS: CAREN CLARK. PHOTOS: BBC

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? NEW WEDNESDAY, 9.30PM, BBC1 COMEDY (BOX SET, BBC IPLAYER)

Dawn French has brought to life a vast array of comedic characters in a screen career spanning over four decades.

Now, the actor is delighted to be adding a fresh creation to her collection when she headlines BBC1’s new six-part sitcom Can You Keep a Secret? as domineering Debbie Fendon, a grandmother committing an outrageous fraud!

‘Given an opportunity, Debbie takes advantage. She’s always right, in charge and unfiltered. I have not portrayed somebody like her before,’ enthuses a delightfully chatty Dawn, 68, whose CV includes groundbreaking satirical anthology The Comic Strip Presents... (1982–2012), a pioneering partnership with Jennifer Saunders in sketch show French and Saunders (1987–2005) and an acclaimed leading turn as kindly Geraldine Granger in hit series The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007). ‘There are good comedy elements to play.’

All the locals in Debbie’s (fictional) West Country village of Colberton believe that she has been recently widowed. In fact, her eccentric husband William (Friday Night Dinner’s Mark Heap) is alive – he was just mistakenly declared dead due to a mix-up concerning their inept GP!

But shrewd Debbie thinks that if William, who is living with Parkinson’s disease, remains deceased and hidden in their loft, they can claim his life-insurance money and enjoy their golden years in peace.

Here, Dawn tells TV Times more...

Firstly, Dawn, we have to know: are you any good at keeping secrets?!