Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery: June 10

Matt Lucas is guest this week on Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery, and by the looks of things it is the first time the two have met.

But the two hit it off which is just as well given his childhood home doesn’t agree to any cameras being allowed inside to film. A first for the show, perhaps….?

Matt Lucas, star of Little Britain takes Julia back to the ‘burbs of London. It’s a rare interview as he is famously private; a performer who prefers quiet nights at home to red carpet openings.

Matt had a tumultuous childhood which included his father being sent to jail briefly for fraud. Outside his family home he reflects on his life there with his brother and parents before they divorced, and how childhood eczema and alopecia helped shape the comedian in him. The cameras aren’t allowed inside, but he tries his luck with surprising results.

At his old primary school he finds a songbook and plays Julia one of his favourites on the piano. He reflects on how he learnt to cope with playground taunts and how an inner resilience was born.

Next stop is the Edgeware and District Reform Synagogue. Matt is now an atheist but has warm memories of running a youth group here. Quite by coincidence both his mum and step-mother are at the hall, and chat about the young Matt. They tour the synagogue and Matt shows Julia the window he had installed in memory of his beloved father who died just as Matt was enjoying his first early success.

The episode concludes at the prestigious Haberdasher’s Askes Boys School where his recollections and impressions are mixed. Unlike his older brother who shone academically, Matt was consistently at the bottom of his classes. He felt daunted and intimidated for most of his time there, but in the school’s drama studio he describes how performing ‘saved’ him.

9pm Wednesday ABC.