Bridget Christie’s future was always going to involve a stage. The creator, writer, and star of new Brit comedy The Change remembers a conversation she had in her early years that proved to be a clue to the kind of life she might lead.
“It’s been a long journey,” Christie says as she reflects on her career. “When I was four years old I remember saying to my aunty on the phone that I was going to be an actress.”
Flash forward two decades, and the realities of the competitive world of show business brought a twenty-three-year-old Christie, and her childhood dream, back down to earth.
“I went to drama school, and then left and never got a single acting job,” she explains. “I was auditioning for 20 years and never got anything at all.”
Despite her undeniable talent and resilience, Christie admits she became frustrated at the little success she was having, and decided she needed to take control of her own destiny. She began writing her own stand-up material and was quickly bitten by the comedy bug as she realised that it offered her the autonomy and opportunity she craved.
Bridget Christie's career takes another turn in 'The Change'. Credit: JON HALL
“You’ll never win at stand-up,” says Christie. “Every time you think ‘oh, I’m pretty good at this’ you’ll have the worst gig ever and you’ll be like ‘oh, I’m actually not’. I love that process. I love standing in front of people and figuring out why it isn’t working. It’s like a sort of alchemy and magic.”
The road to recognition in stand-up was a long one as well, with more than a decade passing before Christie was named recipient of the prestigious Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award, only the third woman in its history at the time to be awarded the honour. She was 42 years old.
Bridget Christie: "Keep doing it... beat your own path." Credit: Natasha Pszenicki / BBC / SBS
“I always want to say to younger comics, if you enjoy this job, just keep doing it and don’t worry about what other people are doing and comparing yourself to them,” she shares. “Just beat your own path and do your own thing. You’ll get there.”
Though she had proven herself one of the UK’s best comics, Christie wasn’t done with her original dream to bring her unique brand of comedic alchemy and magic to the small screen. A further ten years pitching ideas was finally rewarded when her story of a middle-aged woman fed up with the mundanity of her domestic existence, and on the precipice of the menopause, changed everything.
“I do find it very funny that I’m 52 and to get on television I had to create, write, and cast myself in it,” Christie says of the series.
Her six-part comedy drama The Change follows 50-year-old Linda, a recently menopausal supermarket worker and mum of two. Unbeknownst to her family and friends, Linda has been keeping a log of all the ‘invisible work’ she has done over the years, time spent caring for others, often at the expense of herself. This culminates when, at her fiftieth birthday party, Linda realises that between baking her own cake and wrapping her own present, she has forgotten who she is, beyond being somebody’s wife or mother.
“She’s inside me, she’s in my marrow and DNA, but she’s not me,” Christie says of playing Linda. “I’ve come at her with real empathy, though. I love my work, so I don’t feel like I’ve lost myself along the way like she has, but with all my heart I can feel what that’s like. I see it all around me all the time, in family, in friends, in neighbours. She’s not me, but I know that woman inside out. I know how sad that can feel.”
Linda (Bridget Christie) and Pig Man (Jerome Flynn). Credit: Expectation
As she dusts off her motorbike and heads into the Forest of Dean to find the childhood memory box she hid there, Linda has no idea of the incredible journey of self-discovery awaiting her, in no small part due to the unlikely collection of friends she makes along the way. Starring alongside Christie in the series is a who’s who of British acting talent, including Iranian-British comedian and actor Omid Djalili as Linda’s devoted yet clueless husband Steve, Game of Thrones alumni Jerome Flynn as the mysterious Pig Man, powerhouse duo Susan Lynch and Monica Dolan as the formidable Eel sisters, and star of stage and screen Tanya Moodie as radio DJ Joy. The inclusion of established female talent in the series was a no-brainer for Christie.
Agnes (Susan Lynch), Linda (Bridget Christie) and Carmel (Monica Dolan). Credit: Expectation
“All the female characters are over fifty,” she explains. “There’s also no sex and relationships in the show. I wanted everyone to see these women for who they are beyond that. It’s largely about female friendships and how you can strike up these really, really strong bonds later in life with people that you just meet.”
Tanya Moodie as DJ Joy. Credit: Expectation
These friendships also provided a forum for Christie to bring to light an issue often sidelined in mainstream media: the menopause. Her portrayal of Linda’s encounter with the various symptoms that accompany it is funny, authentic, and refreshingly honest, going beyond the stereotypical hot flushes and ageing that she believes women at this stage of life are often reduced to in some depictions.
“The menopause can be a brilliant, liberating thing,” Christie shares. “Mine has given me a gateway to the rest of my life. It’s a return to self in a way. It’s extraordinary to me (that we don’t see more of it on television). This is a process that every single woman on the planet will go through. Every single one.”
“When I look around in my own life, pretty much all the coolest people, the best people I know are women over 50. They know who they are, they’re funny, they’re sexy, they’re at the top of their game, they’re wise, they’re financially independent. The narrative that we only hear is one of negativity and dread - that is totally not the case. It really isn’t.”
Though the series is undoubtably a celebration of womanhood, with all its ups and downs, and an attempt to shatter long-standing misrepresentations of middle age, Christie says it also speaks to the broader human experience of discovering who you truly are, whatever your age or gender.
“That part of the story is pretty universal I think,” says Christie. “The idea that you get to a certain age and you think ‘oh hang on a second, what am I doing here and who am I?’ So often we forget our dreams and get bogged down in the admin of life. That’s something we can all relate to.”
I hope people feel joyful when they’ve watched the series, I hope it makes them think about themselves a bit more, and that they take time for themselves.
“I hope people feel joyful when they’ve watched the series, I hope it makes them think about themselves a bit more, and that they take time for themselves. I do hope, however, that it makes women feel more visible. I hope that women of all ages are inspired to make changes in their own lives that benefit themselves and put themselves first. I hope it makes younger women not dread the menopause because it really can be this liberating thing.”
As for Linda’s process of self discovery, Christie says that she feels it is only just beginning.
"We haven’t really seen her; you have not met 100% Linda,” she tells us. “It was very deliberate to me that Linda in that first series be edging towards her full potential. She’s just getting started.”
The same could be said of Christie herself. Her creation of characters that offer as many laugh out loud moments as they do heart-warming ones, and a story that is both relatable and bold in equal measure, are the result of decades of wisdom and the unique insight her comedy career has provided. The Change is a labour of love and Christie gets the chance to connect with her audience in a whole new way. And it was definitely worth the wait.
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The Change
