Inspiring shows: What makes a National Treasure?

Sometimes the TV shows and films we watch create such a lasting impression that they continue to inspire us long after the credits roll. Here stars of the big and small screen Lolly Adefope, Richard Gadd, Kate O’Flynn, Anjana Vasan, Marisa Abela and Jessica Gunning talk to BAFTA’s Owen Bush about the onscreen moments they would class as ‘National Treasures’ thanks to their lasting impact…

For Ghosts star Lolly Adefope there is a clear winner when it comes to a TV show that should be given the status of National Treasure, and that is The Comeback starring Friends actress Lisa Kudrow. Describing it as having “some of the best performances that you’ll ever see”, Adefope says “everything about it is perfect”.

Revealing that she has rewatched The Comeback many times the actress and comedian reflected on how “it’s an incredible insight into the life of an actress, the television industry, how things work, how things can go wrong behind the scenes, how things can go right behind the scenes”. She also hailed its ability to keep inspiring time and time again, saying: “it gets better with every watch. There’s no, like, dead space. It’s just layer upon layer of hilariousness.”

And how does Lolly feel the show has impacted her personally? Well, she says: “I think The Comeback has inspired me to always want to make something amazing. I think when amazing things exist, they just stay in your mind and they remind you, okay let’s go for gold.”

BAFTA award winning Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd hails the UK version of The Office as a “pitch perfect, frame by frame perfect” inspiring piece of TV that he classes as a National Treasure. He said: “It’s incredibly perfect in terms of its kind of slice of British UK life – I think it’s moving, I think it’s fantastically written, fantastically performed. It’s the reason I’m doing what I’m doing now.”

So what is it that Gadd feels is so special about the show? “I think the UK Office is the greatest sitcom of all time, I also think it’s one of the greatest dramas of all time… I think it’s the truest example of comedy and drama put together on a television screen that’s ever existed”, he says.

The mockumentary style comedy is also something that Gadd credits with having a lasting impact on his own career trajectory. He shared: “I watched it when I was young, I was obsessed with it, and I researched into this Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant guy. I found out they had written it, they were in it, they produced it, all this stuff and I thought this is what I want to do with my life.”

When thinking about a film that has made a lasting impression and would be her National Treasure Kate O’Flynn harked back to her childhood and the family favourite Mary Poppins.

Sharing that she was “obsessed” with the film and “used to request to watch it every day” when she was three, the Everyone Else Burns and My Lady Jane actress described it as “absolutely magical”. She said: “It’s got talking Penguins, an umbrella that speaks, magic carpet bag, iconic performance with the Julie Andrews, and it’s got Dick Van Dyke. What more could you want?”

For We Are Lady Parts actress Anjana Vasan her National Treasure isn’t a film or a TV show but a very specific moment in hit series Fleabag. Detailing the moment where actor Andrew Scott’s character ‘Hot Priest’ breaks the fourth wall and looks right down the camera at the audience Vasan says it is “the most perfect, electric moment on TV”.

Vasan commented: “It honestly felt like as a viewer watching the show, like I was part of that scene and it surprised me and completely shocked me and I think I screamed when he screamed. So I felt like I’m in the scene too. It was just amazing. It was like comedy gold.”

Reflecting on the impact of this type of scene Vasan said: “I think those moments, when done brilliantly are great because it makes the audience not a passive viewer and makes you part of the action in a very brilliant way.”

BAFTA-winning actress Marisa Abela names TV show Extras as her National Treasure thanks to its ability to make her “laugh like crazy” as well as how it inspired her when she decided to pursue acting. “The relationships are so good and [it] feels like there’s improvisation around it, but like at the core of it,” she said.

The Industry star also reflected on how the show “affected my wanting to be a part of the industry”, saying that it felt like it gave her a sense of “what it actually looks like to be on set sitting around for such a long time.”

Abela added: “It’s both a fantastic television show in itself, but also a really insightful look into on set life.

“So, Extras is just a really good place to start I think if you have a passion to get into TV and film in the first place. I think it’s a sort of funny, exciting, not completely true to life, but like a fairly accurate look at this industry.”

Looking back to her childhood and memories of sitting around the TV with her family Baby Reindeer’s Jessica Gunning picked 90s TV show The Borrowers as her National Treasure.

“Not to be too cheesy, but I love that shows can bring families together… because it just shows the universal nature of things like television and film and how we’re all not that different after all,” the BAFTA award-winning supporting actress said.

Gunning also credited the show for impacting her choice of career saying: “I think it probably was one of the reasons why I wanted to be an actor and why I wanted to get into storytelling in general because I know the impact of it and how fond the memories I have of that show are. And hopefully something I could be in could make someone else want to be an actor or make someone else feel close to their family or have sentimental memories of when they were little.”

Watch the full National Treasures series and other great interviews on our YouTube channel.