Tamsin Greig is one of those actresses for whom everyone has a soft spot. She has made her name in TV comedies such as Black Books, Green Wing and Episodes playing funny, grounded women; the acerbic voice of reason in dotty surroundings. The real-life Greig is every bit as likeable as the on-screen version, but she’s also distinctly quirkier than her down-to-earth characters suggest, and deeply serious.
We meet in a central London arts centre the day after her 51st birthday, which she celebrated by taking a boat out on Paddington Basin with her family (her husband, the actor Richard Leaf, and children, Jakob, 18, Nathanael, 17, and Roxie, 12) and her sister’s family. “We had a cake that my husband made, and prosecco,”