The Independent from London, Greater London, England • 19

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 1 APRIL 2007 home news 21 on tier conic tars She brightened up the late Seventies as part of the 'Not the Nine O'clock News' team. Now, in her latest TV venture, the comedian-turned-psychologist is privy to some serious celebrity confessions. Liz Hoggard meets her BIOGRAPHY wr From comedian to psychotherapist Bom: 4 December 1 949, In Taka-puna, Auckland, New Zealand. Attends University of New South Wales, then Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art and pursues a successful acting career. 1976: Moves to London 1978: Stars in Npttfie Nine O'clock News, with Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff RhysJones.

1984-85: Appears In the US sketch show Saturday Night Live Film roles Include. Superman IIL 1989: Marries Billy Connolly, 1996; Awarded a doctorate in clinical psychology. 2001; Writes award-winning biography of her husband, Billy, which sells two million copies. 2003: Publishes follow-up, Brave-mouth; Living with Billy Connolly around the South Parificfollowing Robert Louis Stevenson's route. Makes Murder or Mutiny, a film about one of her ancestors, who vanished In the South Seas, 2007: Launches Shrink Rap and a guide to self-analysis called Head Case.

sk men in their for- i ties about Pamela (j Stephenson, and theygoabit misty LJ LA eyed- In the late 1970s, along with Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones on Not the Nine O'clock News, she helped to reinvent the topical TV sketch show. Whether interviewing Gerald the intelligent gorilla, sporting huge fake breasts or impersonating Kate Bush (warbling "Oh England My Stephenson showed it was possible to be drop-dead gorgeous and a great physical comedienne. She paved the way for a generation of women in alternative comedy: today's stars, from Smack the Fonyta Green Wing, cite her as a key influence. We've barely seen Stephenson on our TV screens forever 20 years, but next week she launches Shrink Rap, billed as part chatshow, part psycho-dynamic interview: Her guests include Sharon Osbourne, Stephen Fry, David Blunkett and the Duchess of York, and it is already getting a lot of media attention. Stephenson wanted to get away from the usual chatshow, where celebrities trot out hoary anecdotes to plug their latest project.

The in-depth interviews are filmed in semi-darkness over an intense two and a half hours. "If the first time I've done something on TV where I absolutely didn't think for a second about what I looked like. And she gets results, Fergie reveals that her mother told her she was monstrously ugly, fihin-kett describes the difficulty of getting a sex education at his school for the blind Stephenson also cuts through evasion she won't let Fry, a self-confessed "people-pleaser'hu-mourously dismiss the rape he suffered at boarding school Now57, Stephenson has reinvented herself After marrying Billy Connolly in 1989 and moving to Los Angeles (they have three daughters), she trained as a clinical psychologist For 15 years she has practised as a psychotherapist, as Dr Pamela Connolly, specialising in anxiety, depression and self-esteem issues. Retiring from fame was easy, she insists: 1am quite fun-loving issues and so on, but she's bright." After 20-plus years of bringing up children, one senses Stephenson has a new sense of freedom. In 2004 she recreated the voyage ofRobert Louis Stevenson and bis wife Fanny around the South Pacific A year later she set sail to discover the fate ofher great-great-grandfather who was murdered in the South Seas.

She plans more travel, but first there's work to be done, Stephenson wants to take the stigma away from psychological problems -it is true that too many of us live lives of quiet desperation, she: says. She's horrified by the size-zero debate and says she sees a lot of gay men with eating disorders. The UK is still terribly therapy-averse. "Unfortunately ve don't reward for talkingabout feelings. David Blunkett was an example of this.

You're supposed to get over it and move on." She admits she has been "quite tortured" about the ethics of the show She knows political pun-dits will jump on every word Blunkett can control what we Mvem the programme, and take out things that might be misunderstood, but there's no guarantee ofhowtfsgoing to be reoavecL I will feel terrible on people's be-balf if anyone is publicly punished for saying how they feeL" is about" So is there a clash between TV work and therapyfShe trained in LA, and "all my mentors said, "You'll find what you've been through will help many of your patients She wrote her thesis on "the intrapsychic experience of Of celebrities, she says: "Their official story is there for a very good reason, it's a defence, but when you get that gap between the objectified famous self out there, and the true self inside, that's when people start to have a lot of problems." Stephenson was born in New Zealand, and later the family moved to Australia. She was quite anerdy, bookish didn't haveaTVunffllwasateenager. She went to drama school and carved out a stage career, only trying stand-up when she moved to London in 1976. When the comedy producer John Lloyd was looking for a woman to join Not the Nine Q'Clock News, but it was a problem when people expected me always to be funny and glamorous offstage" She sawPamela Stephenson the comic as a But she didn't disappear altogether. She wrote two best-selling memoirs about her husband (in2001's Billy she told of his abuse by his father).

And her status means she can call on A-listers for Shrink Rap. Robin Williams is a family friend, and she famously gatecrashed Prince Andrew's stag party dressed in police uniform, with Fergie and Princess DL She sees the new show as a chance for her interviewees to get beyond the "official story" of themselves that famous people learn to present to the world. Not only will they hopefully appear more human, we may gain an insight into our own problems. On screen Stephenson looks much the same: poker-straight Victoria Wood turnedhim down, and he approached Stephenson. She met Connolly on the show while doing a spoof interview in Janet Street-Porter teeth.

Both of them left their marriages. Later she threatened to end the relationship unless he gave up drinking, "With Pam I discovered you could not get away with anything," he has said Today they have one of the happiest marriages in showbiz, although Stephenson talks candidly about being married to a national treasure- "I belong to a sort of unofficial famous wives club where we share horrible: things that happen." Last week a paper wrote that one ofher daughters is "mentally handicapped" It was a painful moment, because the terminology was incorrect. "She struggles with some of the same issues that Billy struggled with when he was a kid, learning 'People expected me to be funny and glamorous offstage' 'I belong to a sort of unofficial famous wives' club' blonde hair, voluptuous curves encased in a smart suit She is also a fantastic listener. ShrinkRap is a far cry from the gladiatorial technique of aPaxman. "If good to be intrusive as a journalist, the wbole thing is aboutbacking people into a corner, but that's the opposite of what psychotherapy 'Shrink Rap1 starts on More4 tomorrow at 11 pm.