The Royal
Wendy Craig interview
Published: Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 2:21PM
Matron has run the hospital for 20 years under Mr Middleditch. How does she find Mr Carnegie’s regime?
I think she misses Mr Middleditch very much as they had a good working relationship. With Carnegie her relationship is uncomfortable because she doesn’t really trust him and she's not sure if he has the hospital’s best interests at heart. He’s the new boy on the block and she misses her old friend. In terms of the hospital’s success, she’s confident about the way he goes about things.
Can you tell us about Mr Middleditch’s return to The Royal?
Carnegie seems to have some rather new and misconstrued ideas about how to raise funds and I think we begin to mistrust him. There’s an awful lot of money going out of the hospital funds and not very much coming back in, in fact very little. He is using it to soften up the wealthy people in the area so they will invest in the hospital. He takes them out to dinner, wines and dines them at the hospital’s expense but so far not a lot has come in. I think matron is a bit unsure as to whether money has come in and whether he has misappropriated it and as a result seeks Mr Middleditch’s advice.
Her niece Susie arrives in Elinsby, too. What’s their relationship like?
She’s very fond of her because she was present when Susie was born. She thinks Susie has a bright future, she’s intelligent, she’s beautiful and has charm. At the moment though she’s behaving like a rather silly teenager and matron really can’t cope with her behaviour.
She behaves differently towards her niece than she does with her nurses
If it had been one of her girls she would be on the next train home. But of course she can’t do that with her own niece. I think it’s hard for matron because she’s really not allowed to have anyone stay in her flat and matron is always one for rules and regulations. I think she enjoys the company but in the end she becomes exasperated with Susie.
What part of the new series stands out for you?
The relationship with my niece is strong and I really enjoyed working on the scenes with Sarah Beck Mather. She’s very a very talented young actress.
What do you hope for the future?
For the future, I’d like to see matron carrying on making a success of the hospital and involved with the patients. I do think matrons in those days did have a lot of input in the rehabilitation of patients and I'd like to see that happen for matron.