LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR NEW TV PROJECT, QUIZ. YOU’RE PLAYING DIANA INGRAM, DID YOU MEET HER AND HER HUSBAND?

Only on the last day of shooting. We wanted to protect them as much as protect the integrity of the script. They were so sweet and huge Fleabag fans. So that was very funny. The first thing that struck me was this sweetness – she had been portrayed as sharp-edged and severe, aspects you could see in Claire in Fleabag, too. She’s nothing like what [the press said] so I binned all of that.

WAS SHE PARTICULARLY VILIFIED BECAUSE SHE WAS THE WOMAN IN THE SITUATION?

I’m sure she was because [the patriarchy] informs everything culturally. It was a complete media frenzy and they were persecuted for years. There was no question as to their guilt and that’s the question we’re raising with the show. It’s important, especially with our relationship to the truth and fake news, that we really call that into question: how our perceptions of people are being distorted. As soon as you start to dehumanise anyone, we’ve lost. Everyone’s fighting their own battle.

WE’VE SEEN IN CASES LIKE MEGHAN MARKLE AND CAROLINE FLACK THAT TRIAL BY MEDIA HASN’T STOPPED. SO WHAT CAN PEOPLE DO?

I’m optimistic that something is about to shift massively culturally. [Author] Matt Haig posted that we need a kindness revolution. I am an optimist; I do think it’s coming. The combination of everything that’s happening politically and environmentally [means] we’re at this crisis point. I have faith that we’ll be on the right side of history and we will move towards kindness. I think we’re living in a revolution but we’re in it so we can’t see it. This is my hope [laughs].

THE SHOW IS ABOUT QUIZZES, ARE YOU HISTORICALLY A QUIZ PERSON?

I’ll go to a quiz for the social aspect, not to do the quiz. If it’s there, I’ll play it and I’ll commit to it, but I’m never the person that suggests going to a quiz. I’d be pretty good at film and TV, depending on the era – I could do the 90s. I don’t read the papers now, partly because of what is happening to our media. I’m very deliberate about what I engage with. There are a lot of famous people who I’ve encountered in the last few months and I have no idea who they are. But I always prefer it when you meet people on a level. I like to meet people and just be real.

WHO HAVE YOU MET RECENTLY?

[Casually] Brad Pitt, Leo… [laughs]

AND YOU RECOGNISED THEM?

Yes, but they were huge in the 90s! Recently famous people I couldn’t recognise. The Kardashians I could not point out of a line-up.

HOW WERE BRAD AND LEO?

I brushed shoulders with Leo. Fully met Brad. He said he wanted to fangirl with us about Fleabag. It was at the American Film Institute Awards and there’s a picture of Phoebe and Brad seconds after that happened. My arm is in the picture because I backed out of it. I was like, ‘This is too embarrassing.’

AND YOU TOOK THAT IN YOUR STRIDE?

Phoebe and I were pretty cool – we walked off and we were giggly. I got overwhelmed meeting Laura Dern because Jurassic Park was such a huge part of my childhood. I genuinely sing the soundtrack every single day – I listen to movie soundtracks when I run. I really recommend it. But Laura Dern’s role in that film was one of the first that I remember where she was a paleontologist but she also happened to be a woman.

YOU SPENT A LONG TIME WITH CLAIRE IN FLEABAG. HOW DID YOU GET TO THE HEART OF HER?

Phoebe’s writing speaks to my soul. If she handed me some pages right now with a new script, I could jump straight into that character. Playing Claire was one of the greatest joys of my life. But Phoebe and I are continuing to work together, we’re going to keep collaborating for the rest of our lives. There will be more. We just won’t be Fleabag and Claire any more.

Sian Clifford: “We are more connected than ever. I hope this is what we take from this experience”