{"id":378813,"date":"2026-04-14T10:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/378813\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:40:12","slug":"miriam-margolyes-how-harry-potter-stars-bonkers-lifestyle-got-in-way-of-one-mans-podcast-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/378813\/","title":{"rendered":"Miriam Margolyes: How Harry Potter star\u2019s \u2018bonkers\u2019 lifestyle got in way of one man\u2019s podcast dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When TV director Simon Draper decided to produce a podcast with Miriam Margolyes<\/a>, he kicked into motion a series of encounters that ended up changing his life in an unexpected way.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Draper, whose credits include Rob & Rylan\u2019s Grand Tour, had no work on the horizon and thought a project with one of his former collaborators \u2013 the 84-year-old national treasure, former Harry Potter star and outrageous anecdote-teller<\/a> Margolyes \u2013 would be a good creative use of his time. (He previously worked with the comedian and actor for 2016 documentary The Real Marigold on Tour, in which she visited a retirement home in Florida \u2013 and swiftly got booted out for getting in a row with a resident about Trump.)<\/p>\n

Margolyes accepted Draper\u2019s offer, and welcomed him and his camera into her home so he could track the podcast\u2019s journey to fruition. A new one-off documentary film, titled Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me, tracks his tireless efforts to create the audio series, pitched as her \u201cfinal act\u201d, only to be met with increasing obstacles thanks to her free-wheeling way of life.<\/p>\n

After completing just one episode of the podcast, Margolyes dropped a bombshell \u2013 she was going to Australia to embark on a lengthy tour. Realising his documentary would suffer as a consequence, Draper sold his guitar collection to travel across the world to be with Margolyes.<\/p>\n

Upon his arrival, things aren\u2019t as plain-sailing as he\u2019d hoped \u2013 rather than getting to work on the podcast, Margolyes keeps kicking the can down the road, with Draper essentially becoming her errand boy. If he isn\u2019t sitting around waiting for her to summon him, he\u2019s performing small tasks for Margolyes, like helping her with her shoes or fetching her a coffee. (Her order? A decaf almond milk cappuccino, extra hot.) \u201cShe has the amazing power to draw the people-pleaser out of everyone, including me,\u201d an obliging Draper says at one point as he hangs up her underwear on her hotel room balcony. <\/p>\n

But he\u2019s also there at a pivotal moment in Margolyes\u2019 life, as her surge in popularity led to her performing sell-out shows at iconic venues like Sydney Opera House, and responding to droves of Cameo requests, from which she reveals she\u2019s made more than \u00a3320,000 to date.<\/p>\n

\"MiriamMiriam Margolyes is at centre of sweer new documentary (BBC)<\/p>\n

It soon becomes clear that their companionship is more important than any podcast could be. One moving scene shows Draper accompanying a worried Margolyes to a hospital appointment where she\u2019s due to have a spinal injection. \u201cI\u2019m not chipper this morning, but I will be,\u201d the unusually restrained star tells Draper. She\u2019s clearly happy he\u2019s with her, even if she\u2019s not entirely sure why.<\/p>\n

Draper is disarmed by his experience with Margolyes in Australia, becoming inspired by \u201cher honesty and bluntness and way of expressing affection\u201d, which \u201cseems to make people feel alive\u201d \u2013 and he returns home one guitar collection down but enriched by an experience that forms the basis of the documentary.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the film, Draper said: \u201cI thought getting Miriam Margolyes to make a podcast would be easy, after all, everyone\u2019s doing them, but Miriam\u2019s lifestyle is bonkers.<\/p>\n

\"SimonSimon Draper with his friend and collaborator Miriam Margolyes (Rex TV)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn two years, we made just five episodes, but hanging out with her was life-changing. Mim\u2019s a woman with strong opinions and a weak bladder, and I feel lucky to have been able to capture all the chaos and sparkle of the bravest, most honest person I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me is available ton BBC iPlayer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-378813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}