Alex Lawther: How close have you come to dying? — FLAPSS

The question

How close have you come to dying?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

AL

Alex Lawther

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My failed driving test a few months ago. I got three majors and by the end of it the examiner couldn’t wait to get out of the car.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Stephen Graham English actor

I was knocked over by a taxi in Liverpool when I was seven. And I fell off the seventh storey of a car park when I was 10 and broke both legs, my collarbone and my arm.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 April 2018 source ↗

Tom Ellis Welsh actor

Every time I let my wife drive.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 September 2021 source ↗

Robert Peston British journalist

Being driven across the Atlas Mountains in a snowstorm 25 years ago, by a local taxi driver who plainly put a lower premium on the advantages of living than me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 June 2018 source ↗

Felicity Jones British actress

Nearly crashing into a train on one film, almost falling out of a hot-air balloon on another, narrowly avoiding getting knocked over by a taxi …

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 May 2023 source ↗

More from Alex Lawther

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Question If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

I would try and get to being comfortable with myself quicker.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

Last year, during four days in January, when I directed Rhoda, my second short film, in a tiny house in Camberwell with Juliet Stevenson and Emma D’Arcy.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Question When did you last change your mind about something important? Change of mind

I woke up this morning thinking maybe I don’t want to be an actor any more, then I had breakfast and I thought: actually, no, I really like being an actor.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Question Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought? Money & investment

My partner was doing a play in Hong Kong last year and I went to visit him, and I bought him a beautiful teacup. But I didn’t look at the price tag before I took it to the till and it was £100, the most expensive teacup imaginable.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

I spent about five years living in Paris thinking I would become Kristin Scott Thomas, and it didn’t happen.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

Not getting to the point.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

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