Ben Miller Says Storytelling Links Paddington, Physics and Austin
Actor and author Ben Miller, a Cambridge physics PhD who moved from comedy to Paddington 2 and Bridgerton, says one job runs through his career: telling stories. He spoke from his Cotswolds kitchen about quantum physics, his first adult novel and filming Austin in Australia.
English actor Ben Miller says the thread running from Paddington to physics in his 30-year career is storytelling. He made the case in an interview from his Cotswolds cottage, where he writes at a kitchen laptop with a goldendoodle named Stevie Nicks at his feet.
A career in four directions
Australian viewers may know Miller best as Julian Hartswood, father of Michael Theo's character in the series Austin. His wider credits include Johnny English, alongside Rowan Atkinson, plus Paddington 2 and Paddington in Peru.
On television he has starred in Death in Paradise and Professor T. He also played the hapless Lord Featherington in Bridgerton.
Miller writes too. His children's books include the Fairytale Woods series and The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale. His first adult novel, a historical spy thriller called A Very Dangerous Pursuit, came out earlier this year.
He began in comedy as half of the duo Armstrong and Miller. Before that, he was completing a PhD in physics at the University of Cambridge.
Why physics
Both his parents taught English, but they were also into science, Miller said. His father liked maths, and the family did a fair amount of it at home.
Quantum physics was what everyone was so into in the 1980s, he said. He called it "a bizarre theory that turns out to be true" and described the idea that things are both particles and waves as "just nuts". It is still the most accurate physical theory ever created, he said.
One job, many forms
Asked which of his roles he would want to be known for, Miller said he could not cope with doing just one. Acting means serving someone else's story, he said, while writing lets him tell his own.
"The common thread is storytelling," he said. "I think of it all as being the same job." He added that he is also interested in technology and is working on protecting actors from AI.
His new adult fiction, he said, is aimed at the kind of readers who grew up with his children's books.
Filming Austin in Australia
Acting also lets him travel, Miller said. He has filmed three seasons of Austin in Australia, spending the previous two in Canberra and also working in Adelaide. "I love Canberra!" he said, praising the city as "such a liveable city" that is very green.
He singled out the old Parliament House and its old buildings. He also noted a new area with cool bars and restaurants.
Austin's director, Darren Ashton, is an old friend. The two first worked together on the 2007 film Razzle Dazzle. Ashton later visited Miller in the Cotswolds and showed him a bit of Love on the Spectrum, including Michael Theo. Miller said he was immediately smitten.
