Dame Joanna Lumley has revealed why she won’t be planning her own funeral as she opened up about turning 80 next year.
The British actress admitted she is ‘conscious of growing older’ but doesn’t like to shy away from the difficult subjects including death.
Joanna insisted she ‘doesn’t want a memorial service’ however, her conductor husband Stephen Barlow, 71, who she married in 1986, has told her it will be his and her son Jamie’s decision, as she will be gone.
Speaking to Hello! the Wednesday actress said: ‘I’ve spoken to my husband and he said, “Look, your own funeral has nothing to do with you. You’re not even going to be at the funeral, you’ll be gone, so you can say what you like about whatever”.
‘So I said, “But I don’t want a memorial service”.
‘And he said, “That’s going to be up to me and Jamie if we’re around. There’s no point in saying, I don’t want one, because you’d have gone, darling, you’d have gone”.’
Dame Joanna Lumley has revealed why she won’t be planning her own funeral as she opened up about turning 80 next year
The British actress insisted she ‘doesn’t want a memorial service’ however, her conductor husband Stephen Barlow, 71, (pictured) has told her it will be his and her son Jamie’s decision
Joanna shares her only child, son Jamie Lumley, 57, with photographer Michael Claydon, who she remains friends with.
She married her first husband, scriptwriter Jeremy Lloyd, in 1970, but the pair divorced after a year.
The much-loved actress married her second – and current – husband Stephen in 1986, and they remain as happy as ever.
Joanna’s son Jamie is living in Scotland with his writer wife and their two daughters.
It comes after Joanna announced the return of the beloved BBC comedy Amandaland – and filming kicked off last month.
The actress, who plays protagonist Amanda Hughes’ (Lucy Punch) mum Felicity in the hit show, has confirmed that the beloved programme will be back for a Christmas special this year.
Amandaland hit screens on BBC One in February this year and it was confirmed the following month that it would be back for a second.
It follows the life of a recently divorced mum called Amanda who is trying to juggle looking after her children, a new relationship and friendships with the parents at her kid’s school.
She said: ‘I’ve spoken to my husband and he said, “Look, your own funeral has nothing to do with you. You’re not even going to be at the funeral, you’ll be gone”‘; pictured 2015
She added: ‘So I said, “But I don’t want a memorial service”, and he said, “That’s going to be up to me and Jamie if we’re around. There’s no point in saying, I don’t want one, because you’d have gone, darling, you’d have gone”‘; pictured with son Jamie
Speaking on the Chris Evans breakfast show, Joanna said: ‘I’m just about to start another series of Amandaland which was the spin-off from Motherland, which was a gorgeous, wild success.
‘Clever, clever Lucy Punch. We’re just about to start seven more episodes and one is a Christmas special for this year.’
Amandaland is written by Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz, Barunka O’Shaughnessy and Laurence Rickard.
The show is directed by Simon Bird and Alyssa McClelland.
It stars Lucy Punch as Amanda Hughes, Joanna Lumley as Felicity Sanderson, Phillippa Dunne as Anne Flynn, Samuel Anderson as Mal, Siobhán McSweeney as Della Fry, Rochenda Sandall as Fi and Ekow Quartey as JJ.
The comedy is a spin-off of popular sitcom Motherland, which ran 19 episodes across three seasons between 2016 and 2022.
Motherland was created and written by Sharon Horgan, Graham Linehan, Helen Serafinowicz and Holly Walsh.
It followed the lives of a group of parents whose children all attended the same school.
Joanna shares her only child, son Jamie Lumley, 57, with photographer Michael Claydon, who she remains friends with and married current husband Stephen in 1986
Anna Maxwell Martin played protagonist Julia Johnstone, Diane Morgan played Liz, Paul Ready played Kevin Brady and Tanya Moodie played Meg.
Lucy and Philippa’s alter-egos also starred in Motherland.
Since the first series aired back in January, Amandaland has averaged 6.4million views and has become the BBC’s second biggest comedy launch.
Despite being a success, it has faced mixed reviews from fans with some feeling it lacked the same charm as the original and questioned why the BBC didn’t just continue the beloved series instead.
However Daily Mail’s Christopher Stevens rated it five stars and praised the show for its compelling acting and quirky storylines.
The BBC has now confirmed that Amandaland will run for a second series after being overwhelmed by the response from fans.
