Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ross King: The special one! I knew Hannah would be a star long before footy comedy

© Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP/ShuttHannah Waddingham.
Hannah Waddingham.

The Emmys are fast approaching, so it feels about the right time to mention how many I have…have I mentioned that before?

Yes, multiple times!

One of my favourite Brits will be in attendance and hopefully we’ll see her lifting another one of the statues aloft.

Back in the late ’90s when I was doing musical theatre in London’s West End I auditioned for a show at Sadler’s Wells – happily for the audience it wasn’t a ballet!

Alongside me was Hannah Waddingham. She oozed star quality and, of course, thanks to the fantastic comedy series Ted Lasso the world has seen that quality, too. Last year she won the Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series, and many other awards have followed.

This year she’s aiming for two in a row after being nominated in the same category for the awards which take place next month.

Ted Lasso is about an American coach who takes over a British football team and turns the cynical dressing room into an optimistic and happy place.

Has the optimism of her Ted Lasso character rubbed off on Hannah?

“Not so much on me, but I think it has rubbed off on the British community,” she said. “I think globally we have been roasting people because it’s seen as funny, instead of celebrating people which can be funny as well.”

Hannah was a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and I confessed to being giddy about it. She was asked if she had any nightmares about appearing on the show, which she did in a rather stunning outfit.

“Just about getting into a pale pink latex rubber dress,” she laughed.

How do you get into one of those dresses, I wonder.

“Bottles of talc,” said Hannah. Oh, I’ve already tried that method.

Next up, Hannah is in the Hocus Pocus 2 movie.

“Oh I’ve earned some serious Brownie points with my daughter,” she laughed. “I was kind of summoned on set and got to meet the three ladies with them in their costumes! Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy…just magic!”

I first knew Hannah as an incredible singer. Thankfully we’ve seen her sing in Ted Lasso.

“Jason Sudeikis told me I was to sing a Rick Astley song in the episode as a eulogy and I tried to get out of it,” she said. “It took a bit of time for me to break it down for my character. I love Rick Astley.

“Rick put a video out saying he liked what I did with the song and I was like, ‘He knows my name!’ He’s an icon.”

We keep hearing that the third series of the much-loved Ted Lasso will be the last.

“We don’t know that for definite,” said Hannah. “I think that because Jason said that there was a beginning, middle and end to this story. But who knows, I hope not.

“I want to play her till she’s walking on a frame.”

And so do we!