Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?

Originally asked

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

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

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

Recorded Harriet Walter said elsewhere, not written here
My mother, because I didn’t appreciate until after she’d gone that she was a vulnerable human being. I just expected her to know everything and be everything.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 209 →
To my cousin P, who was one of my best mates growing up. We lost him when we were in our 20s and, before he passed away, I was so busy with this stupid thing called life and a brand new kid. He called me and said: “Bro, I’m not feeling right.” And I said: “Bro, you’ve never been feeling right.” And it always sits on my head that if me or somebody else had been paying more attention maybe things would have worked out different. He had extremely rare bowel cancer and died five weeks later at 27.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 December 2025 source ↗
Val McDermid Scottish crime novel writer
To my mum, for never being able to live up to what she would have liked me to be. She always wanted me to be a little princess and I was never going to be that.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 February 2020 source ↗

More from Harriet Walter

View profile →

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Patricia Hodge, Angela Griffin, Omid Djalili, Dan Stevens, Ashley Jensen, Kiefer Sutherland

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer