Phoebe Waller-Bridge is on course for full-fledged national treasure status currently, what with her involvement in Bond 25 and the fact she tied off Fleabag in such a satisfying way this year.

That finale to Fleabag was nearly very, very different though. The Priest, played by Andrew Scott, wasn't going to tell Fleabag that he loved her too while they sat at the bus stop together.

"There are actual takes of Andrew Scott and I when we first filmed that scene and we were both in floods [of tears]," Waller-Bridge told the How To Fail podcast. "There was no building up to the scene... because it was so last minute. The road was so noisy, so we didn’t have much time to shoot. We all knew it was the most important scene. We got there, and I felt like I wasn’t emotionally prepared for the scene. We had two takes that we couldn't really use because we were crying."

This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Scott, though, was convinced that the Priest needed to tell Fleabag that he loved her.

"Andrew came to set that day determined to say 'I love you too' because it was an option. But I wasn’t sure if the character said, ‘I love you too’ at the end," Waller-Bridge said. “It was meant to be [Fleabag saying] ‘I love you’ [and the Priest responding], 'it will pass' but I wasn't sure if he should say it, too."

It sounds like he really wouldn't let it go.

"Andrew came and he was like 'I’m saying it'. Basically like, 'I’m not giving you another option because I have to say it'. You know when an actor feels that strongly about something, and they’re right? Especially someone like Andrew, and he had a huge input into the whole thing, but I actually think the clincher of the whole thing is that he says it. He was so right, and we have him to thank for that."

Thanks, Andrew Scott. He was right, wasn't he? Waller-Bridge is convinced of that, and reflected on how exactly right he was.

"In the first series [Fleabag] couldn’t love because she'd been so burnt by love... I think that’s what was so moving about the response [from viewers] is that people really do want to love each other, and watch shows about love."

Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox

SIGN UP

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io