From a menacing Trump to OJ Simpson trying to stab her with a banana, Wax looks back at her interview hits and misses – and it makes for jaw-dropping, fascinating TV
When Ruby Wax Met … (BBC Two) gives us a double whammy of Wax, then and now, and proves to be an absorbing analysis of celebrity, fame and the massive cultural shifts that have taken place over the past four decades. In the 90s and early 00s, Wax pioneered documentary-style celebrity interviews, with the camera often rolling before she and her subject had even met. She spent time with A-list stars such as Tom Hanks, Goldie Hawn and OJ Simpson (more on him later) and was granted a level of access that is unheard of in this age of brand management and “controlling the narrative”.
Now a writer, comedian and mental health campaigner, Wax says she has not seen these interviews for 25 years: “It’s another life. It doesn’t even feel like the same skin.”
