PODCAST: On the Marie Curie Couch with Arabella Weir MBE

Arabella is a comedy actor, writer and charity activist. She wrote and starred in the sketch comedy show The Fast Show and the BBC sitcom Two Doors Down. She has also written several books, including the international bestseller Does My Bum Look Big In This? In 2024, she received an MBE for services to the Arts and to Young People.

In this conversation, Arabella talks with Jason about the death of her friend, Helen, and the deaths of her parents. She also talks about her desire to know when she’s dying and the importance of talking about death.

With Helen, we certainly didn’t have a Hollywood version of, ‘I’ve had a wonderful life and thank you so much for being my best friend.’ She was mainly angry. Her parents had lived until her late 80s. She said, ’I don’t know why this is happening to me.’ We had Marie Curie around a lot in her final days and they were unbelievably brilliant, as they were with my mother. Helen was a great joker. People would say, ‘How are you?’ and she’d go: ‘Dying’. That was her jokey thing. She’d say, ‘Yep, I’ve got terminal cancer.’ She was robust, shall we say.

It’s like you’ve lived all your life with a lovely rich carpet. You walk about on it without realising how it comforts you and keeps you warm. Then threads keep being pulled out. You’ve still got the carpet but it’s a bit more worn, not as comfortable to walk on and there are bits missing. That’s what it’s like when you lose the people you love.

Tap the link near the top of this page to listen to Arabella's chat with Jason. Alternatively, listen to or download it via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also watch a subtitled version on YouTube.

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