British actress Laura Patch appears in the third season of the teenage drama Mystic, which is based on New Zealand writer Stacy Gregg’s Pony Club Secrets books. Laura plays the main character Issie’s mother Amanda Brown.
Mystic with Cathy Downes.
You have a busy career and a family in the UK, so how have the producers of Mystic persuaded you out to New Zealand for three series?
I turned down the audition for the series because it meant five months in New Zealand away from my family in the UK. I’ve got three children and a husband, so being away from them was not something I wanted to do. Then my husband said, “But we can all go – that’s such an adventure!” So, it was a little magical adventure. We have 12-year-old twin boys and an eight-year-old son, so we could move them halfway across the world for a while. Our boys got to experience things that they wouldn’t have experienced in the UK. Then the pandemic hit, so we were in lockdown in New Zealand and thinking, “Oh, maybe we live in New Zealand now?”
Now you’re back in the UK, what are you working on?
I’m auditioning for loads of things, which is always fun. But I’m also writing something that I’m in talks with some production companies about, which is quite exciting.
Showing the family a good time in Rotorua.
What is the best thing about your life at the moment?
I can’t imagine that it gets better than this particular moment. We’re on holiday in Spain together and my boys are still young enough to still feel like mine, and we’re all still under one roof. I love this bubble of a family that eats meals together every night. It’s so precious, because in a second, it’s all going to change. It’s just a moment in time and so I’m just enjoying what I’ve got. Hence this wonderful idea of an all-inclusive crazy kids’ holiday in Spain!
Who is the person who has most influenced you?
My school drama teacher Mrs Pearson. I was 15 and I’d chosen some fairly heavy feminist Spanish piece to perform. She took me aside, and I thought she was going to snatch the book out of my hand and I would be in trouble. But she said, “You can do this – you have talent and if you focus just a little bit, this is the path for you.” No one had ever seen me in that way. I’m one of five brothers and sisters, all from different marriages, so we were quite chaotic. It felt like somebody pointed me in the right direction.
What do you owe your parents?
Both of my parents were alcoholics and they say when you have those types of childhoods, you either go one way or another. Luckily, I went the good way. It instilled in me a bit of understanding about the human condition and helped me make good choices for myself. It also probably helped me become a kinder, more empathetic, understanding person.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
I can’t drive, so being able to do that would be quite good. I’ve had about 900 lessons and crashed on my driver’s test, so I have tried! The last driving teacher told me that I was like some of his older ladies who will never learn to drive. So that was helpful.
What is the nicest thing you’ve ever bought or done for yourself?
After my kids were born, I did a counselling course and it was one of the most fundamentally life-changing things I’ve ever done. I went right up to the bit where you graduate and get a qualification, then stopped, which meant I couldn’t actually be a counsellor and charge people money.
What advice would you give 15-year-old you?
At that age, I was battling quite bad anxiety. So I would say, “Go see a counsellor. They’re absolutely brilliant. You’re not crazy. Everything will be sorted if you go and speak to someone.”
What books are on your bedside table?
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a beautiful book. The message in it is that you can put down your bag of regrets and walk away.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
I was going to say I’m nearly a trained counsellor, so how about I used to have my own flower shop? I was 26 and I’d have all these flowers delivered to my tiny bedsit. I can’t drive, as you know, so I’d get a cab with all my flowers and go to my stall in Marble Arch in the Hay’s Galleria in London.
Mystic is available now on TVNZ+.
