How the tragic death of his beloved sister, Clare, gave Greg Wise a new outlook on navigating the end of life
Stepping inside Greg Wise’s home on a wet and windy day, he bursts into host mode. A cappuccino is made, pastries are served and – on noticing I’m a bit rain-lashed – a crackling fire is built. It’s incredibly homely, this place he shares with his wife, Emma Thompson. The kitchen is a riot of dangling pans, the living area is populated with fabric animals, and there’s a huge, inviting sofa to sink into – although Wise prefers not to use it (“I’ll take the floor,” he says, somewhat quirkily. “We really don’t need furniture in this house.”). Things couldn’t be more cosy, which perhaps makes it all the stranger that we’re about to embark on an hour-long chat about death.
Wise is best known as an actor. He met Thompson on the set of 1995’s Sense and Sensibility and has notched up more than 30 years in film and TV. But these days he has carved out a niche for himself as someone who wants to change the way we think, and talk, about the end of our lives. “Not having a proper relationship with one’s grief is one of the great ills of the world,” is how he puts it.
