IN Rare FORM

Billie Piper hasn’t been feeling very well. She’s asked for the video to be turned off for our Zoom chat. “There’s a freedom in not having to see each other!” she tells Total Film with delight. It’s hard to begrudge her a quiet moment where she doesn’t have to be on screen for once, especially as we’re here to talk about her directorial debut. As well as taking control behind the camera, she also wrote and played the lead in Rare Beasts. It was an all-consuming experience, not least because she was heavily pregnant during the shoot.

“Starring in the film was an oversight,” sighs the 38-year-old Brit, regret creeping in as she chats from her home in Dorset. “I wouldn’t do it again. You have to jump around in your mind too much. It meant that I could never really be present in the directing of people – I was just pulled in too many places.