Gary Oldman

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0:35Hello and welcome to Table Miners. I'm Jessie Ware, and I'm here with Lenny. And today, we're at the Dorchester. Darling. It's where I belong, darling. The flowers in the reception. Gorgeous. Wow. But it's so beautiful downstairs. It's so lovely and ornate and luxurious. Well, we have a massive, massive British legend. Icon. Recently, well, just yesterday. Just call him Sir. Yeah. Knighted by Prince William. Yeah. We have Sir Gary Oldman on the podcast. I couldn't be more thrilled. I know, I'm excited. Jackson Lamb in the room. We are also going to be having a Chinese takeaway. Which he's chosen.

1:24Which is from Chinatang, which is downstairs in the Dorchester. Apparently Gary's favourite, Sir Gary's favourite. And he has actually chosen the menu. So we are very hands-off today. All we had to do was turn up. And eat. Yeah, perfect. Yeah. How are you, Mum? I'm all right, darling. We had a bit of a party last night. We did. To launch the new season. Yeah, we did. It was fun. And it was great fun. Yeah. It was at Brunswick House and it was delicious food. Delicious. In a beautiful room. Yeah. Decorated with beautiful flowers. We were drinking beautiful cocktails, which was even better. Yeah, thank you, Moth.

2:05So Sir Gary Oldman is on to talk predominantly about Slow Horses, but this is somebody who is an Oscar winner, an award winning director and writer, big United fan. Yeah. Resides in Palm Springs and... It's a strange place to end from New Cross to Palm Springs. Well, let's find out why he chose Palm Springs. He's been in big blockbusters, independent films. he's been many a villain but also quite a chameleon you know from playing Winston Churchill to Lee Harvey Oswald to a spy yeah he's good at spies isn't he but yeah we're here to talk about Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus the new season it's season 5 and it's fab it's really good I've watched two episodes and I mean they really like pull you in straight away how could you even bear to watch two I have to pace mine.

3:02I don't know. One a week because it's my best treat of the week. But you've got such restraint. I just have to, because I want to watch it on my big screen. Okay. Not on an iPad. I know. These are the first world problems that we lead as podcasters, that we get, you know, to watch a lot of things early. But Lenny doesn't like watching it on her iPad. No, I like to sit in my sitting room, a glass of wine and enjoy every single second. Well, I've watched two. Yeah. It's pacey, it's exciting, Shirley is still troubled, and Jackson is still swearing. And Ho is still annoying. Ho is annoying. Yeah.

3:44I wonder if he annoys Gary if he's a method actor. Sir Gary Oldman coming up on Table Manners.

3:59Sir Gary Oldman, how does it feel? Wonderful. Does it? Does it? It's surreal. Which knee do you go down on? I went down on the right knee. Do they tell you to do the right, not the left? Well, there's a kneeling stool. There's a special stool. And the handle to it is on the right-hand side. So it's obvious. Yeah, and they walk you through it. Okay. What you do, where you come in and you stop. and you don't bear help, but you acknowledge His Royal Highness. And was it just William there or was Kate there as well? No, it was just William. And he has a sword? He does have a sword. A big one? A big one?

4:45Shush, Jessie. Sorry, did you want that phallic little joke, did you? Sorry. Sorry. Carry on. She can be more filthy. Don't worry. Don't worry. Oh, but it's a real magic trick that they have because there's a gentleman neck just behind him and he takes the sword and taps and then the sword, it's there and it's gone. It's like a magician. So we don't know if it was sharp? Don't think so. You're taking your head off if you're nice, yeah. I think it's flat. It's not with the edge. Yeah, well. And of course this now, I mean, this dates back to the Norman kings in the 14th century. So now I am, should there be an uprising?

5:42Are you able to fight for your country? I would have to gather up my sword and protect the realm. So you wouldn't just stay in Palm Springs? Well, I'd have to get on a plane, wouldn't I? I mean, I wouldn't get on a horse. I'd have to get on an airplane, but I'd be, I'm there, I'm there. Give me, give me. Gary, when you're on your knee, do they then say what? I think they say, arise, Sir Gary Oldman. Did he say that? Bloody hell. No, it's, I tell you what it is.

6:22I was more emotional than I thought I would be. Why do you think? It's a big deal. It's a big deal for a new class boy. I mean, the journey one has made from a kid from Deptford, you know. You know, the Oscars are a big deal. it's looked as the you know as the sort of pinnacle of the art but I've been on stage before I've been in plays looking out at an audience so you can imagine what it's like to win an Oscar you you can put yourself there because I've been on stage and I've looked out at people yeah This is, you can't rehearse for this It's singular, unique It is what it is And it is what it is in the moment So it's quite overwhelming How did you celebrate?

7:31I celebrated with family and friends last night Did you eat anything good? Yeah, Italian We went to German Street this restaurant that I like called Franco's. Okay. We went to Franco's and it was my son Alfie and his wife Sarah. We hoped they'd bring the baby. So we had a high chair at the ready but she was at home with Grandma Leslie Manfield. Oh gosh, that sounds so funny. She was looking after that. You don't imagine her as a grandma. Well, she's still, I'm a granddad. I know you are. What's your nickname as a grandpa? Are you granddad or? I think it's granddad. Yeah. But Alfie and Sarah were there and some very, very close friends and my wife, Giselle, Lady Oldman now, should I say.

8:34Lady Oldman. Can she put that on her passport now? You can have it on, yes. And it's Giselle, Lady Oldman. That's how it's officially... Will you be changing your bank cards? No, I mean, I think... I believe that Mr. is done with from now on. Yes. You're Sir Gary. But, um... Sir Gary. I have to say, to describe it, And there's what they call the long walk. Which palace was it in? It was at Windsor. Oh, Windsor. So you drive up on the road. The long walk going and the castle appears. It was a beautiful day. Sun shining. People in the park with the dogs. And you go through a security check. And then you park up.

9:34And then you walk through one arch. and then, you know, it's all, no one does it. The pomp circumstance of all the pageantry and everything else, no one can do it like the British. It is absolutely, and you get there, and every room, the ceilings are hand-painted and imprisoned. There's a big, wonderful, wonderful marble statue of Queen Victoria. There's a quintet playing Handel or Bach. all the people in attendance and the thing. It is gorgeous. It's wonderful. Were you nervous? I wasn't nervous. Right, okay. But I was just, when I got there, we had a brief conversation. It took me a second to find my voice because I was surprised by how emotional I was.

10:37Can we take it back to Deptford? This is where you grew up. Which road were you on? I'm in New Crossgate. I was born in New Crossgate. Where are you? On Telegraph Hill. Oh, Telegraph Hill. I was born at number 10, Hatch and Park Road. Oh, my God, you're so near me. Yeah. So you grew up there. Can you paint the picture for everyone? Who was round the dinner table and what was a really memorable dish from your childhood? Well, I think Sunday lunch must have been... My mother was very good with pastry. Oh, yeah. She could really do a good stank kidney pie, good apple pie. Not so good with Italian cuisine, which was spaghetti and tomato sauce and some mincemeat was her version of a bologna.

11:37Did you eat it, though? Oh, yeah. But just looking back now, at the time, but looking back and thinking, God, that's a version of spaghetti bolognese. But pretty good Sunday lunch. I only really remember me and my mum around the table. My dad was gone by the time I was seven. And my sisters, who are El Morin, I think, is 13 years older than me. So they would have, they were young and had to fled the nest. So I was sort of, even though I've got two sisters, I was technically an only kid. Because my mum brought me up. But I was brought really amazed. The sisters did spoil me, particularly Jackie, who spoiled me.

12:36So I was just brought up by women. And did your sister inspire you to start acting? I know you acted locally in, what was it, the Young People's Theatre? Greenwich Young People's Theatre. I don't even know if that still exists, actually. Perhaps not. Was your sister going to that as well? No. OK. I would have these flights of fancy. I decided that I stumbled upon a Chopin record and had never really heard classical music before. And I remember just being so taken with it. And I decided I wanted to play the piano. So I saved up my pocket money, went to Peckham. There was a big old furniture store, big warehouse at the end of Peckham Rye.

13:28And I bought£10 for£10. I bought an upright piano and then took lessons locally. And then I went to the Blackheath Conservatory on music and I was just, it was like, I want to play the piano. So that happened before wanting to act? Oh, yeah. You know, what did I want to be? I think I originally wanted to be an astronaut Classic But when my mum was giving me a wash down on the You know, in the sink As we, you know I mean, we're still talking outside toilet Yeah Iron bath You know what I mean Yeah, and that's what we had where I was born In Coventry you had an iron bath You know, and the fire Coal fire And the coalman would deliver the coal.

14:26Yeah. So it was, you know, Charles Dickens was a very good friend of mine. Did you read a lot? No, not particularly. I was always, I was happy in my own company, in my head. And I would draw. And I loved plasticine as a kid. Plasticine. I would make models out of plasticine and a very old paper mache. Oh, God. Yeah, and I liked the smell of it too. Yeah. Because it was on newspaper. And the glue. And the glue, and then it would dry, and then you would paint. Did your mum kind of know what to do with this very creative, quite sensitive, I imagine, soul that was, you know, wanting to listen to Chopin, buying himself a piano, doing paper mache, whilst all growing up in, you know, working class Deptford.

15:25Was she enthusiastic and encouraging? I don't think she really, no. Not in that. She was a sort of woman. There are women of that generation that went through the war and, you know, they don't make them like that anymore. They're really... Oh, I don't know. Yeah, but, I mean, my mum was born in 1919. Yeah. And then, you know, died a few years back. But she was hoping for the 100th year to get the... Was she? She was of that generation where you'd get the letter from the Queen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was obsessed with this, getting the letter from the Queen. But she made 99. Crikey. Well, you're going to make old bones then.

16:23Oh, yes, but you've got to remember. People always say, oh, your mum lived for a long, you know, oh, you've got good genes. But then my mother wasn't eating processed food for half of her life. I mean, all the crap that we get. It's you that eats crap, Gary. We've seen it all on slow horses. Well, and this leads me to what we're eating. Now, we're in the Dorchester, and I hear you do like the restaurant downstairs quite a lot. Well, I've been a few times to Chinatang, yeah, downstairs. So you've kind of chosen the menu for today, or someone has. Some of your favourites. Yes, I was involved in that decision-making.

17:09Do you like a Chinese, wherever you are? Yes. I lived in New York for quite a few years. And there's something about, I'm sure if people haven't lived there or experienced it, they've seen it in movies where you get the... In the car, yes. I mean, it's... And they're ten a penny there. There's some really great Chinese places. It's just local little hole in the walls that you can go to and order Chinese food. We don't really have one in Palm Springs. We need. Well, yeah, I was thinking that. I mean, I don't know about Chinese. You certainly can't get a good Indian in maybe Palm Springs. You can.

17:52You can? There's a local that delivers. You're kidding. Yeah, that's really good. What's it called? Do you want to give it away? The Taj Mahal or something. No. Star of India. Star of India. Jessie's got, what's the name of that place that you've got near you? Two Star Tandoori I'd say it's funny I love that Two Star The Two Star Tandoori Why wouldn't you give yourself five stars? I'm going to do the Two Star Tandoori now It would be on Dancing with the Stars wouldn't it? And this week Fred and Linda are doing the two-star 10-0.

18:37But you did, as Jackson Lamb, you did incorporate the box of Chinese. You're always eating a bit of Chinese. Oh, yeah. Was that like an intention from you? Because I know that you take, from what I've heard, is when you take on a role, you kind of, would you call yourself a method actor? No, I wouldn't call myself. Okay, but food becomes quite important, I've heard. I mean, is it that each character has you think about the way he walks? Yeah, but there's an old thing of knowing what's in the fridge for the character. Oh, yeah. Yeah, what's in the fridge? Well, I have to say, with Jackson Lamb, Slow Horses, the show's adapted from books, these books by Mick Herron.

19:27and the universe, the world that we're in, and the characters are all from Mick's imagination. He created the character of Jackson Lamb, which is, it's all there in the book. I've read the book. Yeah, they're terrific. And I love Mick Herron. Yeah, they're terrific books. So all the signposts, it was like he laid out a map for me. And all the signposts are there. and it informs the choices that you make, how you move, the way you dress. You get clues from good writing. Bad writing is a whole different thing. I mean, I was absolutely thrilled. He was on the radio the other week and he's written a new one, A New Slow Horses.

20:17So what will that be, eight? No, it's about 12, 13. I think it's, well, he's done little short stories from the Slough House series, the offshoots, novellas, I suppose. But, well, here's the thing. He will keep writing. Thank God. Will we, will Apple keep writing the checks? Yes. Well, it's very successful. And how much do we, how many more lambs do I have? I think you've got a lot of lambs there, darling. I'm sure you have. You say about good writing and that he gave you all this map of this, you know, signposting. But then from what I understand of JFK, Oliver Stone kind of gave you a few aeroplane tickets and he was like, go research yourself.

21:09And there wasn't that much on him. So what would you have said that was in Lee Harvey Oswald? What would have been in his fridge? Oh, Lee Harvey Oswald. Well, I think before he met Marina, there had been very little in his fridge. Eggs, milk, processed food, an early version of processed food, what the Americans would call a TV dinner, where you would put it and just warm it up in the oven and then later became a family man. So it would have been the real standard American weekly shop. But yeah, Oliver, you become, not every job is the same, but that was, it was sort of unique because there wasn't just a great deal on the page.

22:09and then he sort of put me in touch with a few contacts and he gave me a bunch of airline tickets and things and just said, go off and find out. That's exciting. And you met different people. It was like being a detective. It was like being a sort of investigator. We went to the actual landlady where Oswald stayed. Fascinating. All the locations were the real deal. It was extraordinary to do in that respect. Fantastic. The attention to the researchers and the attention to detail on it was quite... I have a good feeling about it when I think of it, you know. Gary, you've now been associating with royalty and you're almost royalty yourself.

23:06Have you played any kings? Maybe it's time. Have I played a king? I don't know. You've played like everyone else. I think you should be playing royalty. Do you think so? Yeah, do, darling. Absolutely. Well, I've played a president. Yeah. And a prime minister. Absolutely. A composer. Yeah, I've never played a king. No. I don't think I've played a king. Have you done any Shakespeare? Yeah. Not a king in that? No. Didn't you tell someone to stop eating chocolate at an RSC production? How do you know that? We've done our research, guys. No, they weren't eating chocolate. They were sighing. Sighing?

23:47They were loudly tutting. Weren't Shakespeare fans? It wasn't Shakespeare. What was it? It was a modern play. It was a new play by Trevor Griffiths. Yeah, and I got a bit upset. So did you find, you found them after the thing and had a word? In the interval. I love, I love, I love that, that you're busy doing probably an incredible performance, as you always do, but you've still got an eye on somebody and you've got to locate them after the fair enough. Well, it came about because it was at the RSC at the Barbican and it was in the theatre downstairs in what they called the pit. Yeah. So the audience.

24:28It's small. The front row of the audience is where the world is. So it's not like they're out there. It's an intimate thing. And just this person was about two rows back. And every time we said a line or whatever, you just heard, oh, God. Oh, fuck off. Oh, God. Oh, shit.

24:56And that wound me up a bit. Yeah, fair enough. Now, producer Alice is bringing in your order. What is it? So, you may have to take us through your order, Sir Gary Oldman. Wow, it looks gorgeous. It looks delicious. Now, that is the green beans with chilli and garlic. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, look at those little ones. Oh, I love a dumpling. Me too. Yeah, I thought I'd get the dumplings. Some of these things I did not order. Someone's been busy. Sorry, it may have been me being busy. No, no, no, it's fine. Did you say that? I think they said, oh, you know, you probably don't eat pork. And I was like, because you're Jewish.

25:31And I was like, no, no, we do. We do. Crispy beef. Yum. Yeah. Chicken with black bean. Delicious. Lovely rice. Egg fried rice. Egg fried. Yeah, that should be a sort of mixed fried rice. And these are, they're like a soup. They're my favourite. Dumpling. Love them. Darling, do you want chopsticks or a knife and fork? Chopsticks, please. Thank you. That may be a prawn toast or something, but like a baby. I may be from Deptford. But you know how to use your chopstick. I may be from the gutter, but I know how to use a chopstick. You know what, I'm rubbish at them. Yeah, but do have one of... I love them.

26:11Would you like a soup dumpling? I'd love a dumpling. But careful, because it really bursts in your mouth. Oh, I think. Thank you. Gary, there's a lot of annoying people that are part of your gang in Slow Horses Yeah Who's the most annoying? Character or... Character, not actor There aren't any annoying actors No, they're all fabulous I'm happy to say it has been one of, in terms of just working with a group of people it has been one of the most joyful experiences I've had because they are just cracking bunch of people. It's a shame loads of them get killed, isn't it? I know. Yeah, they do. Yeah, and then you can't hang out anymore.

27:00Like gorgeous Khadif Cohen. Yeah, Khadif. Sorry, spoiler. We kind of miss him. No, not a spoiler, is it? Well, he went in season three, but still. Gary, you've got the most gorgeous scarf on that I'm admiring. Are you going to do a Jackson Lamb on us and get all your stuff down there? Yeah, I might. Do you know, I have a beautiful story behind the scarf. Oh, it's gorgeous. It is a bit of old vintage Paul Smith. You love Paul Smith, don't you? Paul, he's gorgeous. We had Paul on the pod, didn't we? He was great. And it's got one little heart. So the story goes, I did Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with John Hurt.

27:42and many other wonderful actors, but I adored John. And I was a big fan. And when I met him for the first time, I was like fanboy. It was like, God, John, I loved him. And he did not disappoint. He was a darling man, great storyteller, and we had many, many laughs. I then caught up with him in California, and he was doing Craps Last Take with Samuel Beckett. play and he went backstage and uh said hello and one of the first things he said to me was oh i love your scarf so i took it off put it around his neck i said it's yours now and I gave it to him. Anyway, I, earlier this year, I went back to York where I started my career in 1979 and I went back on stage and I did Craps Last Tape in York and Arnwen, John's widow, Now, came to see the play.

29:03So it's the same play that John had been in many years previous. And she said, she gave me a beautiful, a sort of first night card that she'd made in a box frame that she'd given John. And gave it to me to sort of pass it on. I was so touched by it Anyway we went to dinner And she had a little bag And she said I have something for you And she gave me the scarf back How important is that? And Yeah Sweet Really lovely Lovely thing So You mentioned the scarf Gorgeous That's the story behind it. It's a lovely story. It went all the way around and it came back. It came back in a sad but very beautiful way.

30:11It will always make you think of him, always. Yeah, he's there. I sometimes put it on. Just to have him with you. And I go, hello, John Lee.

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30:50This is delicious. These are so delicious. This is mushroom something. But to answer your question, Roderick Ho is the most annoying fucker. We've just said that. I'm sorry, I just can't. He's so annoying. A lamb just... It's like... I don't know why you don't get rid of him. Because he can do computers. He's so annoying. My husband loves him. I mean, in a lovely way. Yeah, I know. Annoying in an enjoyable way. He's not like... What's he like in true life? He's Australian, I think. I know, he's Australian. He's a doll. Great. I'm very close to... God, Jessie, this is so delicious. This is really good.

31:35Maybe we should come here for my birthday. Yeah, do you like sofa? Delicious. This is a perfect date, Gary. Good. I'm really enjoying it. Thank you. How many dates have you had? Well, now I'm going to sound like a right slag bag, but yeah. A lot. We're on our 18th season. So how many? About 300. About 300 dates. But you're the best, Gary. You tart. 300. What are these, Gary? They were ordered by someone other than me. Oh, it's a little crispy one-ton. You know what? It's probably a shrimp or a prawn. This is really good. Whilst you're spooning a bit of crispy chilli beef. Yeah, while I'm spooning crispy beef.

32:22You need to start thinking about your last supper, starter, main, pud and drink of choice. My last supper? Yeah. What I would put on the menu? Before you go away to a desert island. For a very long time. Yeah. There's a lot of kind of food that I like. I do like Chinese food. I happen to, I like Italian. I think for me, that gets the prize, you know. I have certain favourite Italian dishes but there's a simple dish that my wife makes and we all love it What is it? It's like prime beef and it's an ingredient that she uses called, have you heard of Maggie? Oh the seasoning yeah Her father is German and her mother's French.

33:22And her grandmother, her French grandmother, used to make this dish. Really, really simple. And it's just like chew pasta with this meat and the maggie and the various spices. And she adds something else. The sauce thickens. and it's what you would describe as a peasant dish, you know, like it's inexpensive and it was something that a grandmother made. And now we all have been, since she came into my life, my kids and everybody, we've all been introduced to this dish and it's called little meat. Little meat. Little meat. And often when the kids come over, I say kids you know my kids they're men but when the kids come over and she says is there anything that you like and they nearly always say yeah can we can you make a little meat can you cook if I have to if we were coming over what would you rustle up for us when I first met my wife she came over and I made a I think it was Instead of going toast with baked beans.

34:41How did you do the eggs? I was really. Oh, OK. Fried. What oil do you use or do you use butter? A bit of olive oil. Did she like... Well, she stuck around, so she obviously liked it. Yeah, she stuck around. I don't know. I do a very simple pasta dish. Butter, olive oil, sautéed like onions and peppers. I mean, nothing. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a cook. My son is. Oh, yeah. Charlie can cook. Yeah. I'm very experimental. Oh, yeah. Does some really nice stuff. Yeah, but I'm never... It's fuel. That's all it is. I mean, I do like a nice meal, but when I'm focused on work, I can go without lunch.

35:36I wish I was like that. God, I wish I was too. Yeah, no, we live to eat rather than eat to live. Have you got a sweet tooth? I developed one. Really? What made you develop a sweet tooth? I think because I gave up drinking. Right. You know, you're getting sugar from booze. Yeah. Jessie, can I have some beans for these? So what would be your pudding on your last supper? Rice pudding, probably. Rice pudding? From the, like, ambrosia? Yeah. Or more fancy pants. No, that would be alright. Or a homemade rice pudding. Bit of jam? Yeah, I like a sponge cake. What, like kind of school meals sponge cake?

36:19School meal sponge cake with custard. Gary, while you're over here, will you go to a football match? I haven't got time. What a shame. Leaving, I'm leaving on a jet plane. Tomorrow? Yeah. Back to Palm Springs. Yeah. Do you love it there? Yeah. It's warm, isn't it? It is warm. All the time. That's about 360 days of sunshine. Yeah, but in August, July, August, it gets to about 123 Fahrenheit. Did you come to Europe, though? No, I just suffered. We suffered, you know, putting the air conditioning on. That's what we need to start getting here. I've only been to Palm Springs once. Coachella. Jessie was singing at Coachella.

37:12But I really like Palm Springs, actually. Palm Springs was gorgeous. Coachella was... I never knew dust could get in crevices of your body. I have dogs. What kind of dogs? I've got a little papillon and a little terrier. They're rescue dogs. And my son, who's staying with us at the moment, has to, he has an Australian sheepdog and a scruffy, adorable terrier.

37:46And dog hair and the dust in the desert. I've given up. I can't bear dust. And now, you have to. Are you constantly hoovering? Yeah. and you go, after a while, you have to surrender to it. You have to give in to it. And fur balls and the things, you know, vacuum. We don't have a cleaner. We do it, my wife and I. Why do you not have a cleaner? Can't you afford it?

38:27I'll treat you.

38:35You don't like the intrusion It's annoying Yeah I know lots of people like that My wife wants to just Do the duvet on the sheets You know Not have someone come in So You know I have my skill set That I'm good at And hers and then we're kind of between us. But we don't have a big... We have a nice yard and stuff. You've got a pool. Of course you have. But it comes with it. But in terms of just real estate or size, it's modest. It's not a mansion. Have you got homes in other places? No. So when you're filming Slow Horses, you live here? Yeah. That's not too sad. Oh, no. Not here? I have lived here, but we've got a house that we're renting.

39:37Okay. That the company rent, you know, and we go to that. But the first season of Slow Horses was the pandemic. Oh, God. COVID. And Doug and I were the only two people in this hotel. That's insane. It was like The Shining. It was like The Overlook. It was so spooky. We were the only two. And for the first time in its history, it closed down. So what, like, because staff weren't able to be here. But they said you can keep your room. That's crazy. And we used to order in, and they brought in a limited, a skeleton staff, and they'd prepare some food and then refrigerate the food.

40:28And I could call room service and there was someone answering the phone and they said, oh, we can knock up. Whatever. But we had this. I don't know why we were on different floors, but he was on a higher floor than me. And we were there at the pandemic with no one around, as you know, a ghost town. No one here. I took some video, actually. I walked around the hotel. all the back elevators it was really really spooky some of the floors were closed but also we're on Park Lane and you've got Hyde Park and just everything being so silent yeah it was there was no traffic yeah spooky so we needed to entertain ourselves and I said look I had a nice little corner suite that they gave me and I said look come down and have dinner in my room and so we'd order something from downstairs it would arrive and I called Dog up and I'd say dinner's here I said he'd come down I said Below Deck's is about to start did you watch Below Deck?

41:52so we watched that and then we went Marriage at First Sight, Australia. Oh, no. That's amazing. Then we watched Naked Attraction, and I'd never seen anything like it in my life. Real Housewives? Or you draw a line there? I draw a line. And we would sit and eat dinner, watching reality TV. Do you still watch reality TV? Or does it kind of brings back trauma of being stuck with Doug in the door to her stomach? No, I don't. Before we let you go. Yeah. Which we don't want to let you go because we're loving your company. Yeah. And you've eaten your whole dinner without nothing. I know. Well done. And you, Lenny.

42:39That's a first. That's a first. But I've got more. No, but that's where it usually lands. You've got a chance of catching stuff. You've got a little more front. Yeah. Oh, I've got a lot of front, Gary. before we before we leave you would you be able to give us a nostalgic taste I thought you were going to say a fart there no I was going to ask for that after actually oh Christ she's really Miriam Margulies came on and she did a fart without you know it wasn't a performance I found it hysterical she kept forcing them out I was going to ask about a nostalgic taste okay then yeah which feels really gross now that we're talking about farts but um nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere happy or sad or smell?

43:22A few years back, I went to the London Transport Museum. Oh, I hear that's supposed to be quite good. It's fantastic. Were you taking a grandchild or you just fancied it? I think I just fancied it. Okay. I think I was in Covent Garden. Okay. I just thought, oh, it's right there. It's there. And, you know, it's the old underground and how they built the underground and how they tunnelled and all full of wonderful things. But I got on an old bus and went upstairs on a double decker from when I was a kid. You know, late 1962. Would it have the wooden floors still? Yeah. And you could still smell the tobacco because you could smoke upstairs.

44:23And it took me, I was a bit blindsided by it. I just thought, God, you know, and memory started sort of rushing back. But isn't it odd that the breeze or the wind will catch something and when you least expect it, you get deja, you get like a, you know, you get a memory. And it's just something that whatever that is, it's carried for that split second on the breeze or the, I guess there's certain tastes as well. But there's nothing like, you talk about favourite food.

45:14What can be eggs and bacon and a bit of fried bread and a cup of tea? I mean, like... From a greasy spoon? Oh, God. You need to open one up in Palm Springs. My mum wanted to open one up. I moved my mum out to California. I think that's what kept her alive for so long. And she loved it, made lots of friends, always went out. My mother would say to me, oh, God, oh, you never know. I was at dinner last night with Peter Falk. Columbo. And I'd go, I love Peter Falk. I've never met Peter. How the fuck did you end up with Peter Falk in a restaurant? And she would, like, talk about people that she'd run into.

45:59She lived a life. she had her own thing in LA she lived in an apartment in Beverly Hills and she had this fantasy that she wanted to have a double decker bus and turn it into a fish and chip shop oh I love that and park it up you know on Ventura Boulevard or something in the valley and Kay's fish and chips was her... This was her fantasy. What have you got then? Shall we tell each other our fortunes? OK, oh, lovely. And then also, before you go, I really want you to do a fuck-off to me and a fuck-off to Lenny. You know, lamb style. Gary, what's your fortune say? My fortune says subtle flatulence...

46:53No. So, subtle influences are swirling around you today. Is that it? Yeah. I don't know if that's positive or negative. Mine is a light heart carries you through all the hard times. Oh, that must be me. I'm the light heart. And then my one is if you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. OK, these are crap. What does that fucking mean? So, you... Yeah. Fuck off. And you... You can fuck off as well.

47:50darling yes they say don't meet your heroes but we just did and he was even more fabulous than i thought he could be. That was one of my favourite episodes. Me too. He was such fun. He tells a good story. The story about John Hurt's scarf was just really beautiful. It was moving. He's very warm. Really warm. Loved you. Had a giggle with you. Yeah. I think he needs a cleaner though. Maybe you could be his cleaner. Maybe I could. You've just been going with your vanish stick on the floor. Oh it's gone. Ish. Do you think his hair's long? for Jackson or he likes it long he's always had a good hair in the 90s he had the kind of flop do you think it's because he lives in America now and he drives a big truck we don't know if he drives a big truck I just wonder because the hair goes with it I think your fantasies of Gary Oldman's life in Palm Springs are becoming very vivid I wonder if he'd ever play a cowboy well we'll have to ask him if we ever get him round to New Cross we're going to try and get him Thank you so much to Sir Gary Oldman for coming on Table Manners and ordering the food, which was delicious.

49:07I think it might be my new favourite place. You just have to come to the Dorchester to eat it. Be fabulous. It was really delicious. You can watch the new season of Slow Horses, season five on Apple TV Plus right now. He's being brilliantly Jackson Lamb. Isn't it interesting though, he finds Ho annoying too. Well, no, the character. I know, Ho. Not the person. Okay, fine. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week.