Miranda Hart has said that she has outgrown, and is a little embarrassed by, her sitcom alter-ego.
The comedy actress, 41, is ending popular BBC One show Miranda after this year’s Christmas specials, having said that she wants to go out on a high.
Now she has suggested to Radio Times magazine that acting out her character’s constant mishaps had lost some of its appeal.
“She couldn’t stay in that ‘getting it wrong’ place perpetually. Well, she could, that’s the sitcom, but I feel it’s time for her to learn a bit and grow a bit and start to like herself a bit,” she said of her accident-prone, unlucky-in-love on-screen persona.
“And when she knows what do, she’s not funny any more. She’s come into her own – and once she’s come into her own, we’ve done her. It’s over.”
Miranda added: “I will really miss her – she has been so very good to me. But I’m terrified of not leaving on a high, plus I think in some way I’ve grown out of performing it.
“When I trip over, or sing, or do fruit people – I think, ‘Oh come on Sitcom Miranda Person, that’s a bit embarrassing now’.”
Miranda, which also stars Patricia Hodge, Sarah Hadland and Tom Ellis, was first broadcast on BBC Two in 2009 before moving to BBC One.
As for her future, the Call The Midwife star said that she wanted to take “a step back from the pressure of making people laugh … (to).. find the joy of it again”.
She said: “I suppose I’m at a bit of a crossroads. In a nice way, I feel like my star has waned.
“My ‘Oh my God’ moment has been and it was lovely. Some people are terrified of that moment going – but another thing about being a bit older is that I’m fine with that, I always knew it wouldn’t last.”
Miranda, who has been considering presenting an entertainment show with elements of The Generation Game, said: “Dawn (French) and Jennifer (Saunders) are the queens of comedy and will always be national treasures – but their moment of, ‘Oh my God’ has been and gone too. Everyone only gets the initial ‘Wow’ thing once.”
The actress said that she was “very low on my looks” when she made the first two series of Miranda.
She said: “It’s only now I’m beginning to think I might be allowed to consider myself attractive. It’s not fame that brings you confidence that’s for sure.”
The sitcom appealed to teenagers because her character is living out an inner turmoil that they can relate to, she said.
The actress, who was mistaken for a woman dressed up as Miranda by trick-or-treaters at Halloween, said: “I don’t think I’ve ever really fallen over in the street. Except for the classic little pavement trip and we’ll all do that to our dying day. I hope. I find it funny, not embarrassing now.”
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