In 2020, I thought a lot about why Caroline Quentin isn’t more famous

Published on 5 December 2020

 

I broke my ankle severely leaving my old job at the end of 2019, so spent the first few months of 2020 recovering.

Then Mark and I got married.

Then there was lockdown.

And I got to spend every day with Mark, which makes me tear up with an uncharacteristically quiet joy when I remember how lonely I used to be. I get that all this means I’m very lucky, but I’m not a lucky person, and a lot of this happiness feels very new to me. Plus, I’m 40 soon. And the world is on fire. So you’d think I’d have had all sorts of deep reflections.

But oh no.

I’d never watched Jonathan Creek (1) before lockdown. Have you seen it? It’s a wonder. It aired in the 90s. Apparently, all British people have watched it. But I’m not British.

If you haven’t seen it, it's about a guy (the titular Jonathan) who devises tricks for a magician. He’s played by Alan Davies, who’s one of those not-obviously-funny comedians who probably would have had a different job if he hadn’t grown up in a culture that venerates under the breath, clever but snide asides. He’s pretty good in it though.

Caroline Quentin plays Maddy Magellan, an investigative journalist and a will-they-won’t-they-friend of Jonathan’s. Together, they solve seemingly impossible crimes. People found murdered in a nuclear-proof underground bunker that’s locked from the inside. That sort of thing. It’s slow moving, but also clever.

And Caroline Quentin (ah, what a name!) is marvellous in it.

I’d only ever heard of her as a potential voiceover for a failed animation I tried to swoop in on a couple of years back. She’s got a great voice, but we ended up animating some text instead. Pro-tip: don’t inherit other people’s commissions and projects. That’s how Tomas Alfredsson, who directed Let the Right One In and the 2011 version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy - two of my favourite films - ended up being associated with The Snowman, which has a 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Maddy Magellan’s life is on the edge of chaos, in a way I find absurdly relatable. A tricky childhood alluded to, her flat gets robbed, she dates those ‘maybe if I give it a go?’ guys.”
 
 

Back to Caroline Q. She’s so compelling. She’s clever, intuitive and decisive and really good at her job. Fierce. She talks to her therapist about her relationship-not-relationship with Jonathan. Her life is on the edge of chaos, in a way I find absurdly relatable. A tricky childhood alluded to, her flat gets robbed, she dates those “maybe if I give it a go?” guys. She has these enormous blue eyes, really strong features and wonderful, thick red hair. Also, she’s not super thin, in a way that’s still unusual to see on TV.

The most jarring thing about the show is how Jonathan negs Maddy about her weight. Imagine going to work and have your colleague explain, to everyone that’s going to watch, that you fail to live up to your industry’s hyper-warped version of already warped beauty standards. I don’t care that it’s scripted. Someone wrote those lines, thinking about a young Caroline Quentin. And Alan Davies said them. None of them had to do that. Why couldn’t they just let her be magical, the way she is? Why tell the viewer not to believe their eyes? Because the truth of it is that she is bright and glorious and sexy.

Maddy is written out of the series when Caroline Quentin gets pregnant. Go figure.

I started looking for other things she’s been in. I asked my British friends about this, but nothing came to mind. Apparently, she does a lot of theatre? And did a series with the guy who plays Doc Martin? (I’m hesitant about that one – it is literally called ‘Men Behaving Badly’.) But there hasn’t been much on TV. Some presenting, which she does her best with. But unless you’re doing some sort of makeover show, presenting doesn’t give much scope for an intelligent, but warmly funny performance like Maddy Magellan.

“What is wrong with casting directors and producers?? She would have been wonderful in any number of things.”
 
 

Apparently she’s mainly cast as “tart, battle-axe or serious-minded carer”(so says the Radio Times (2)). 

Clearly, there’s only so much you can do with that. What is wrong with casting directors and producers?? She would have been wonderful in any number of things. 

“I don’t get why Caroline Quentin’s not more famous,” I told Amy when she asked me what I was going to write about. In my mind, I added “Plus, she’s older now, so she won’t be.” Maybe she’s happy working less (though don’t we all say that, when we’re not working?). Her life sounds delightful, in ways I didn’t want before lockdown, and maybe I now do.

“I want more fame for her.”
 
 

But I also want more fame for her. Perhaps her being on Strictly this year means it will come. I was watching the first episode while typing. She was just as brilliant as you’d imagine. Perhaps it doesn’t matter that she didn’t win, or that a snake hipped teenager nudged her out of the competition. Her photos from her life back home in Devon look blissful (3). Maybe that’s enough. Or maybe there’s more fame to come.

I hope so.