"I wasn't very good at [stand-up comedy] and it frightened me to death."

1980 (continued)
The first thing she tried after university was stand-up comedy. Her style was confrontational and somewhat bawdy, and it just didn't feel right. She excelled as part of a performing team, not alone on a stage.

Fortunately, she had a lot of connections. Another Footlights alumni was a producer for BBC radio, and soon Emma was one of three female comic voices on Three Plus One on Four. It lasted only one series.

"One of the things he always used to say to me I've never forgotten was, 'Only be original.'"

1982
Emma's father died of a brain hemorrhage when she was 23 years old. In such a close family, the loss affected everyone strongly.

Her professional life, fortunately, improved. She joined the touring cast of Not the Nine O'Clock News, a popular satire. That led to a shot on a television series, a new comedy sketch show called Alfresco that also included past Footlights friends Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The show, and particularly Emma, was well-received by viewers and critics. It lasted for two series.

1983
Her confidence boosted, Emma tried a one-woman show, "Short Vehicle," though it brought her a great deal of stage panic. Fortunately, this solo performance went much better than previous attempts. She wasn't a star yet, but she was getting attention.

1984
Channel Four approached Emma to write and perform in a comedy special. She started writing. She wanted to call the show Sexually Transmitted. That didn't go over so well. The eventual name was Up For Grabs.

1985
Emma's new TV show, which was to some offensive and filled with explicit sexual references, was taped. Unfortunately, Channel Four ran the program in the middle of the night three days after Christmas. Not exactly a hopeful start.

But those that did see it liked it, and BBC decided to sign her up to create series of shows.

Right around the same time, Emma was cast as the lead in a revised version of the musical Me and My Girl. This was Emma's first real taste of professional-level "real" theatre, not the alternative theatre she had been involved in. Even though she had to sing, dance, and be funny, she pulled it off. Viewers and critics loved her. The play ran for seven years in London, with Emma performing for 16 months of it.

Emma was now a "legitimite" actress, and now considered a more mainstream entertainer, not just an eccentric comedienne.

"I never had that feeling of, 'Oh, I must act. I just fell into it by accident."

1986
BBC asked her to star as Suzi Kettles in a new television series, Tutti Frutti, a comedy-drama about an old Scottish rock band. The show, and especially her character, was a big success. Her versatility seemed to have no bounds.

The director of Fortunes of War, a larger-than-life television presentation, didn't even see Tutti Frutti. He cast Emma as the lead, Harriet Pringle, after seeing her in Me and My Girl. This was to be a full-out drama, her first taste of drama without comedy.

"I didn't know his work, but I did know he was sort of a young lion in the British theater."

On the set, she met Kenneth Branagh, a rising 26-year-old actor of theater and television who in acting leaned more toward polished technique than the blind instinct Emma followed. Branagh had already won awards as best student of the year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and as best newcomer to the West End Theatre. He had been a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, and was working on forming his own repertory company.

"I'm attracted to people who strike out in all directions, who see further than self and their own small concerns, natures with whom you can talk about anything, where there are no limits."

They spent three months shooting in Slovenia, and obviously got to know each other. Sparks began to spark, as it were. The relationship grew slowly, in part because of how busy they both were on and off the set. For her part, Emma was finally working on writing the comedy series that BBC had offered her.

1987
The shooting of Fortunes of War continued, in Egypt, London, and Greece. By the time filming was over, friendship had grown into love.

"I'd never wanted to be a successful actress - all I'd wanted to be was a comedian."

Fortunes of War was as big a hit as it was a production, particularly in England. Once again, Emma was singled out for her talents. The comedienne was now a fully recognized serious actress.

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