I was an overnight success after 10 years

Does it feel like it is 20 years since you arrived on the British comedy scene and went on to success with Matilda The Musical?

- TO MARION MCMULLEN

Part of me feels like it was yesterday and part of me feels like I've been running hard for a very, very long time. What is weird is I get so many people saying ‘I grew up with your stuff’ and I think ‘What do you mean? I just got going:

I really feel like that. There are 17-year-olds who have no memory of a world without Matilda in it. There are kids whose earliest memories are of Matilda and who are now of drinking age. Matilda was an unbelievable stroke of luck.

What do you remember about coming over from Australia to work in the UK?

I remember being hay fever-y because I was sleeping on the floor of my friend’s flat and I was allergic to the cat.

I remember constantly being worried about losing my voice and sucking on honey lozenges because Charlie Pickering (Australian comedian and presenter) told me they were good and I didn’t really take account of the fact they were basically honey and I came back home and had to get like four fillings because I was sucking these lozenges all day.

I remember a review coming in from one newspaper and it being five stars. You remember those big moments of ‘Oh, holy s**t, people like me’ and then you remember the backlash. I just remember being really stressed because partly I am a reasonably serious person who has always taken my work seriously. When things started going well, rather than alleviate my stress, it just made it worse.