In Julian Simpson’s latest audio serial, Who is Aldrich Kemp?. Phoebe Fox is front and centre as agent Clara Page, who is put on the trail of Aldrich Kemp by her boss, Mr Bartholomew. Over the course of the five episodes, Clara faces incredible situations but comes out triumphant. Fox, who SFB last spoke to nearly a decade ago for the ITV drama Switch, is currently working on the new series of The Great, but as she tells Paul Simpson, loves reuniting with Julian Simpson, and the rest of the repertory company – which now includes her husband, Kyle Soller.

How did you get caught up with Julian Simpson’s audio work in the first place? You’ve been working with him for more than a decade now.

He gave me one of my first jobs out of drama school, which was an episode of New Tricks. We just really connected as people, and apart from being a friend he fulfils a kind of mentor role in my life. He’s someone I go to when I want advice about my career and he’s a big champion of mine so he’s become quite an important figure in my life.

The radio dramas [came from] ‘We’re mates, do you want to come and join in the fun?’ That’s his attitude to all of his audio work. It’s just one group of mates, you can see from the cast lists. Once you’re in, you’re in. Nicola Walker is also a great mate of mine and now my husband’s part of the group as well, so it’s a right love in!

And I would have thought particularly during Covid it’s quite handy being with people that you know and trust.

Oh for sure, especially after all that time of being isolated from people. I’m still finding it such a balm to go to work with people I know and who are friends. It feels very safe and comforting, for sure.

Were you able to do much during lockdown?

I didn’t work for seven months maybe, during that first lockdown and loved it, if I’m honest. Me and my husband unable to leave the house, we really indulged in it. I think that first lockdown for most people, the weather was so good, no one had to go to work and there was an element of ‘Oh, no I’m quite enjoying this actually.’ Not so much the later ones.

By the second lockdown I was filming. Working in the height of Covid, during the pandemic, was strange but it was such a lifeline to have somewhere to go and friends to see because in your normal life you weren’t allowed to see anyone but at work you could.

With this one, with the brief appearance of Parker and Kennedy Fisher, it’s linked across to Lovecraft and that’s linked across to Pleasant Green, so we’re in the “Julian Universe”. But Clara is different to anything else you’ve played for him before. How did he approach you? Did he just say ‘Oh this is the latest script’? Or did he ask you if you fancied playing the protagonist.

He kept banging on about Modesty Blaise for years. He kept bringing it up, but I’ve never seen it, I’ve never read it. And I think I had maybe once mentioned to him that I would love to play… I think I said a ninja. I’d love to do something physical, playing a secret agent or something like that

Maybe that lodged somewhere in his mind although I don’t want to take too much credit for this because it was definitely his idea. He kept saying, ‘I’m writing a character for you, are you up for it?’ So I was like ‘Yes, always.’ It came through and I was like ‘Oh, it’s the lead role, OK cool, great.’

He knows that I’m good at that kind of Parker, sarcastic, very dry, laconic energy, that’s me naturally. Especially in audio – my voice just naturally has quite a laconic tone to it.  He really wanted to push himself and me to play something really different. He was like ‘This character is upbeat and she’s inherently optimistic and she’s having a good time, she enjoys her life.’ Whereas Parker, everything’s a bit of a bore. You get the feeling she’d rather be sat at home, hating on the world a little bit.

So yes, I think the idea was to do something a little bit different. When we were recording this I said to him, ‘You know what I really want to do, Jules? I’m a character actress really. It may not seem that way but at heart I am a character actress, will you write me some proper characters to do because I’d love to do that.’ I think it was off the back of my husband playing this Dutch florist at one point in Aldrich Kemp and I just couldn’t stop laughing because it was wonderful to see him do something so big, against type.

The opening episode starts off with Clara being drowned. Did you read it and think ‘Are you having a laugh? This is where it starts, I’m going to be the hero but actually you’re killing me off immediately.’

No, I knew where it was going and he had told me what we’re referencing and what he was trying to do tonally. I knew that the whole piece was quite light hearted although it deals with some dark stuff and obviously it deals with the criminal underworld.

He was trying to counteract the Bourne films or James Bond as it is now. Maybe in those films this character would die straight away but in the genre that he’s going for they definitely don’t.

Yes, this is more like the 60s serials, The Prisoner. Do you have an interest those sorts of over the top movies and TV series?

I have to say it’s not a world I know at all but recently I went to  Portmeirion. I loved it, it’s so weird in the most glorious way. In the shop they’re selling all this merchandise for The Prisoner and I was like ‘What’s The Prisoner?’ I’d never heard of it, it’s not really a world I know at all.

I grew up in the era, actually, of Austin Powers taking the piss out of it all, so that’s kind of my way in, that’s how I know what it is. I loved Austin Powers when I was growing up.

So, has this whetted your appetite in any way? Or would you rather just work with what Julian gave in the script?

Yes, I think for this particular project it seemed best using the script and wringing it for all its worth. Like I said, in a way I don’t need to go and watch the TV shows because Julian himself is such a fountain of knowledge about this stuff. Any reference or any tonal stuff that you weren’t quite getting, he could tell you what his inspiration was, from what episode of whatever TV series and that’s all you need really. Also you don’t want to try, as an actor, to play the genre too much. I think it’s good to nod to it but ultimately you’re trying to get to the truth  of the character and the scene that you’re in.

With this, did you have a favourite moment of recording it? One of those ‘Hang on, we’re in the middle of a kitchen on the South Coast and I’m supposed to be in the middle of black windmill in Amsterdam’ sort of thing.

Yes. The one that immediately comes to mind would be in the kitchen of the house in Hove and our sound recorder David put a colander on my face because I was meant to be fencing and he was like ‘Honestly, it’ll sound different.’ And he made me put Julian’s coat, which is massive on me, on backwards. It almost gave you the outline of a fencing suit then I had this colander over my face and I was like ‘Honestly David, are the audience going to hear this? Because I feel ridiculous!’

It’s full of those moments. Being served by a Dutch florist, which is my husband and not being able to stop laughing because it was just so ridiculous. His Dutch accent is very Austin Powers.

Obviously theatre work, film work, television work, audio work all present different challenges.

I think the main thing for me moving between TV and audio is that I come to the audio projects in a TV frame of mind where everything’s very small and minimal and you’re playing it all through your eyes. I can never quite get the level that you can go to in audio and it will sound not only OK but it will sound better. Listening to Aldrich Kemp I thought ‘Wow’. There were certain lines, where I thought, as I was doing them, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m doing a lot on this line.’ And then I listen to it and it sounds so normal and I could have pushed it even further.

That, for me, is the great lesson of good audio work. It needs a lot of energy and a lot of muscle and a lot of oomph; you can’t just mumble your way through it at all. It’s hugely technical and I think actors underestimate that. Most people think they can just pop in and do a lovely radio drama but actually, you know the actors who are really good at it because they do it all the time, they get hired over and over again. It’s such a skill and I’m very much in awe of them.

Are there any things you’d like to do with Clara for series 2? Apart from seeing her kick the living daylights out of Mr Bartholomew immediately after the end of episode five?

I wondered if she would become part of Aldrich’s gang because I have so much love for Nicola’s character, Mrs Boone, it’s so glorious. In fact, talking about moments that come to mind that were just so wonderful to do, being in the kitchen, in the boot room, pretending to beat the shit out of a whole group of men was just glorious.

I don’t know. Anything that I could come up with myself would be so trumped by Julian. I don’t even understand how his mind works. His capacity for storytelling, he’s just such a well of knowledge, he retains things, it’s unreal. So I’d hesitate to suggest anything actually because I’d never be as good!

Who is Aldrich Kemp? is available now on BBC Sounds.

Thanks to Sean Harwood and Karen Rose for assistance in arranging this interview.