BBC documentary Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me is directed and produced by Simon Draper and edited by Gwyn Jones, who write here about how it reached the screen.
by Simon Draper
A few years ago, when I was out of work, I went for a pint with Gwyn Jones – my friend, neighbour and brilliant, multi-award-winning TV editor – who, handily for me, knows a thing or two about the industry. Minutes into me moaning about my fate, he interrupted to tell me that I should make a podcast with Miriam Margolyes; after all, I’d known Miriam for years and she’s a mate. “Everyone’s doing podcasts, she’s bound to say yes!” Unfortunately, for me, it was a firm “no.”
However, after much pleading, she agreed to let me give it a go.
I didn’t have a commission or a budget, but I did have a phone, so once through the door, I didn’t stop filming until I felt I had an ending. Over two years later, I might have only had a handful of podcast episodes under my belt, but I did have enough brilliant material for an independent documentary about Miriam’s life.
I arrived with no plan, which was liberating. It stripped away familiar documentary conventions and pushed the film toward a more immediate realism; sitting in complete contrast to the normal fixation on perfection and inflated production values often mistaken for quality.
Miriam’s life is unpredictable and uncompromising, so whenever I had the chance, I filmed everything. From knocking on doors, to her frequent trips to the bathroom (sorry Miriam). Without crew constraints, our on-camera friendship blossomed, and Miriam dropped any performative layer she may have had at the start.
With no radio mics or boom, I had to stay close; shaping the film’s intimate, observational style. I aimed for an eavesdropped, informal feel, focusing on good content over framing, while narrating my thoughts and using recurring shots of my feet to keep my presence visible rather than anonymous.
It’s a short list to detail the technical aspects of the shoot. I used my iPhone 16 Pro, with a camera app (Blackmagic) to improve image quality. To combat distracting shaky camera work, I sometimes used a lightweight handheld rig. And really, that’s it.
The original idea of a podcast with Miriam, needed short promo clips for socials, but over time those moments of chaos, vulnerability and humour became the heart of the film. The result is an unfiltered portrait of an often controversial actress and her transformative effects on others; especially me. I’m grateful to Gwyn for his encouragement and for recognising early on the potential of solo phone filming to gain a distinctive insight into someone’s life. I am however still persuading Miriam to see the potential in making a podcast!
Gwyn Jones on the task of editing
This was the first time I’d ever edited a film on my sofa, on an old laptop, for no money, with no deadline and no idea what it was actually going to be about. It was remarkably freeing.
In contrast to much of what is made today, this was a film made without a deck, a plan, or any predetermined message. It’s just an old school hangout film, made whenever we fancied, or the opportunity arose.
When I looked at the first rushes, Simon had only shot what was intended to be some social media clips, but they became the first ten minutes of the film. Once it became obvious that it should be a film it would have been very easy to transition into something far more traditional, but we decided to just carry on in the same way.
Everything filmed afterwards just followed whatever path the previous scene seemed to suggest, got cut and joined on. It meant the film flowed in a way that removed the need for linking every scene and created something fresh, something with an intriguing honesty and which is constantly unpredictable. And if you question that, I would challenge anyone to predict where this film ends up…
Technically it was an interesting edit – no cameraman, no coverage – but loads of handheld wobbly phone footage shot by someone concentrating on getting an insight into Miriam while simultaneously trying to help her get on with her life. It gives the rushes an unusual intimacy and the edit was a matter of trying to find a way of including as many memorable bits as possible. This led to a rhythm of jump cutting that breaks loads of traditional rules but helps give the film an unusual intimacy while still drawing the audience into the bigger themes of learning about Miriam’s philosophy, and its effect on Simon.
Having no sound recordist meant loads of extra work, not for me, but for Rowan and Matt (from Bumblebee Post) who turned conversations recorded by just pointing a phone at someone into a polished professional soundtrack. Overall, the real joy was in teaming up to make a film which followed where the material dictated, for as long as it took, until we were both happy with it. It meant we just got to find the story that interested us without worrying whether anyone else would ever like it or want it. Thankfully they did.
The documentary is supported by Zinc Media Group’s Rex TV, Bumblebee Post-Production and Zinc Media Distribution. Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me is on BBC One and iPlayer on Monday 13 April.
Picture shows Miriam Margolyes and Simon Draper
Pippa Considine
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