Miranda Hart has helped teenagers tackle anxiety thanks to her sitcom ‘Miranda’.
The 47-year-old comedienne – who stars as the titular character on the BBC One series – has been inundated with messages from viewers who have been inspired to be their true selves thanks to her performances as her socially awkward self-titled character.
Speaking on ‘The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show’, Miranda said: "I suddenly sort of realised … getting messages from teenage girls saying that it’s helping them with their anxiety and they were feeling better about themselves.
"So I noticed people falling in love with her in terms of identifying with, ‘I’m trying to fit in be acceptable to culture and society but I just want to be me.’ "
However, playing the iconic role has also helped the actress deal with her own struggles, admitting it was like penning a "therapeutic role" for herself.
She said: "It’s helped me. I ended up realising I was writing a therapeutic role for myself as well as a comedic role."
‘Miranda’ first aired between 2009 and 2013, and was followed by two specials in 2014 and 2015.
The show will return on Christmas Day (25.12.19) to celebrate its 10-year anniversary.
The actress will reunite with her co-stars from the sitcom for an evening at the London Palladium called ‘Miranda: My Such Fun Celebration’, which will see them look back on the show and share some behind-the-scenes gossip.
Miranda explained: "We considered doing a scripted special but the lovely Tom Ellis, who plays my on screen husband now, is in LA. So it’s a bit complicated.
"I thought the next dream for me would be to stand on the London Palladium stage and get some cast members and special guests together and do a bit of dancing on the home of showbiz."
And the star of the show can’t wait to reunite with her onscreen best pal Sarah Hadland – who plays Stevie Sutton – after they grew incredibly close after the second series of the BBC sitcom.
She added: "We are really close. After about the second series, we felt we had known each other forever. And me and Sarah particularly, we were like, I think Miranda and Stevie are pretty close to us. We’re not quite as eccentric but there are things that happen when we’re together, where we think we might as well be filming this."
Miranda Hart’s character helps teens tackle social anxiety
