Charlotte Ritchie: My thoughts can be like a mad person having five conversations… it’s actually kind of funny

Charlotte Ritchie is recognisable to comedy fans as the star of Ghosts, Fresh Meat and Feel Good, but it’s fair to say her profile has changed a little recently.

In 2023, she joined the cast of You, Netflix’s hit thriller series, for its fourth and fifth seasons, in which she played the icy and unsympathetic Kate.

She’s also about to star in tense drama Code of Silence – opposite Rose Ayling-Ellis – which begins tonight on ITV.

Actors who zig instead of zag probably wonder what audiences make of it. Generally it’s a bit of a no-no for them to outright ask the fans what they think in public, however.

Yet Charlotte couldn’t help it. In what was an out-of-character moment she did just that while in New York recently.

“It was a bizarre thing. I heard two girls next to me talking and they said: ‘She looks a lot like the girl from You,’” she recalls.

“They were talking about me and I just had this urge to find out what they thought. So I leaned over to say: ‘I’m actually in the show. What do you think of it?’”

The girls were complimentary and, you would imagine, quite surprised.

Perhaps taking the risk of speaking to a fan in real life is more rewarding than scanning through the bear pit of online comments.

“Even if that girl had thought I was really bad, I think that the necessity of social kindness that doesn’t exist on the internet does still sometimes exist in real life,” Charlotte ponders, before adding drily: “Maybe asking in person shielded me from her honesty.

“Yes, perhaps it’s better to ask people face to face, because they’re less likely to be rude…”

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Asking some fans what they think of her show then pretending it’s so they can’t be rude? Charlotte, it seems, is equal parts droll and self-effacing. When asked about working on Code of Silence, she would rather talk about her co-star’s performance than her own.

Rose plays deaf caterer Alison, who works to support her mother, when she is asked by the police (one of them played by Charlotte) to lip-read conversations between dangerous criminals.

Charlotte was drawn to the role because it was a chance to work with 2019 Strictly Come Dancing champion Rose, who has been deaf since birth.

The unusual telling of the crime drama from Alison’s perspective was what attracted Charlotte.

“We’re seeing this story told through the point of view of Alison, a young deaf woman who’s struggling with multiple jobs and looking to kind of find a way to just get a bit more out of life,” she says.

“There was that, but also I liked the writing, and I loved that character, and I liked the detail around Ashley, my character.

“But also the real clincher is when they told me that Rose was playing Alison, and I’m a big fan of Rose, both as an actor and as a person. One of the perks of this job is working with really interesting and lovely, thoughtful people, and I really would count Rose as one of them, and I wasn’t proved wrong. She’s brilliant.”

© BBC/Monumental Television

Charlotte prepared for her scenes with Rose by studying some rudimentary British Sign Language.

“She was reading my lips actively, so if I was to turn away or she couldn’t see me, she would tap me on the shoulder if she hadn’t heard or understood what I’d said,” she adds.

“So it wasn’t put on. It was a real-life interaction happening between us, which is what’s lovely about working with her. She’s very natural.

“She doesn’t have to be, but Rose happens to be very generous with her time and patience around hearing people.”

© BBC/Neal Street Productions

Charlotte appears in episode one wearing a fetching sleeveless jumper. Her knitwear game, as Ghosts fans know, is second to none.

Now, following her starring role in You, Charlotte has graced the likes of Harper’s Bazaar in some dazzling photoshoots.

She looks more than at home in front of the photographer’s camera, but this wasn’t always the case. “I used to worry: ‘I look awful, this is embarrassing,’” she explains. “I still feel it, but I let it get in the way less.

“I think I’m also just bored of my own anxiety. I feel more confident than I have before. Doing You helped, because the character had to be confident in her clothes.”

Charlotte explains how for years she battled anxiety but age helped, as did some practical measures.

“I do therapy and meditation, which helps,” she adds. “Now I can observe my thoughts a bit more. Sometimes I watch these thoughts, it’s like a mad person having five conversations. It’s actually kind of funny.”

© David Reiss

The hit series You is about Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), a dangerously charming book seller whose infatuations turn to murder. Over five seasons, the show’s fandom gleefully followed the dark story, veering between feelings of delight and disgust for its anti-hero.

Critics questioned the morality of following someone like Joe, and even rooting for him.

“The show treads a fine line which it sometimes crosses, and sometimes doesn’t,” Charlotte says, considering the fans’ strong reaction to the twisted storylines of You.

“What’s essential is that watching You is optional. You can stop watching! You can have a distance and control over what’s going on – that’s important.”

Charlotte also wants to give viewers credit where critics perhaps don’t.

“The fans seem to have so much self-awareness. They know what it is,” she says, before adding: “Honestly, that conversation about the influence of TV is too big for me. What matters is our individual relationship with the content and whether we understand why we’re engaging with it.”

Sitcom Ghosts, where Charlotte played Alison, the only person who can see the spectres haunting her stately home, began in 2019 and quickly became a viewer favourite, spawning five seasons and a US spin-off.

Between that, Fresh Meat and You, Charlotte looks as if she enjoys being part of an ensemble. I wonder if she wants to be the central star in a TV show.

“The biggest pleasure in acting has always been in the company of people,” she says. “It’s the whole experience – the crew, the cast.

“I love ensemble work. Couldn’t imagine leading a show on my own, maybe that would be just too much pressure? I don’t know.”

While Fresh Meat and You had a blackly comic streak, Ghosts was adored by viewers because it was wholesome.

“I look back on Ghosts and love it so much,” Charlotte adds. “I feel the same way about it as fans do. It has so much heart – about community, compromise, empathy, being silly.

“It sneaks all that in under the guise of silly humour, but it also resonates. To me, that’s the best.”

‘I just love going to Scotland’

Fresh Meat was a comedy created by Jesse Armstrong following his success on Peep Show, and before the screenwriter created the iconic drama Succession.

Charlotte Ritchie starred as Oregon, a student who had a relationship with her lecturer and then his son.

She shared the screen with Gary: Tank Commander star Greg McHugh, who played Howard, her socially inept housemate.

The series ran from 2011 until 2016 and Charlotte, unprompted, singles out Greg for praise.

“My first big job was Fresh Meat, which was an incredible ensemble. Greg McHugh was amazing – I learned a lot from him,” she says.

“He’s such a lovely man.”

Although she grew up in England, Charlotte’s family origins in the Borders make her, she says, an honorary Scot.

“I’ve been to the Edinburgh Festival most years since I was 18 and I first did a play there at 16,” she says. “Scotland is probably my favourite place to visit.

“I love Glasgow – it’s got a particular personality about it. I won’t get into Edinburgh vs Glasgow though…

“I’ve toured to different places with theatre shows – Inverness, Orkney, Ayr.

“I just love going to Scotland.”

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Charlotte stars in Code of Silence, which begins tonight on STV at 9pm, with episodes available on STV Player.