Judith Lucy on a mission

“I would blow my brains out if people watched the show and thought it was me sticking the knife in,” admits Judith Lucy.

“I’m obviously asking people to open up and talk to me really candidly about their beliefs, which is so personal. Even if what I think people believe in is just plain nuts, I want to have the respect. Because I don’t know what the answers are. I probably don’t think the alien spaceships are arriving at the end of 2012. But then again I grew up believing that some guy rose up from the dead, so I don’t know that I’ve really got a leg to stand on.”

Yes Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey will see the wry comedian tackling religions, from outback odysseys to new‑age healing rituals, rebel churches and silent meditation retreats, re‑birthing in a bathtub to yoga on the Ganges.

But she promises it is more than simply being a platform for chucking rocks, which would have been the easy way out.

“I certainly went into the whole show not wanting to take the piss out of anyone, and I hope that if the interviews work they work because people sense that I was being sincere, because I really was and it is something I was fascinated with.”

Lucy’s own upbringing, which is dramatised via occasional sketches, was in a fiercely Catholic family. But not long after taking a Theatre Arts couse at University her father had a massive heart attack and lay in intensive care.

“Every night we’d go to the cathedral after we’d visited the hospital, and Mum would pray. And for some reason, that combined with what I was studying just seemed more and more absurd to me,” she explains.

“I guess I was just an extraordinarily gullible kid. If someone told me something was true, I’d just believe them. So when I finally had other people saying to me ‘No it’s not true,’ the argument made sense to me.”

Within months of her father’s death she also lost her mother. With her brother having shunned the religion, Lucy admits she too turned her back on Catholicism and became an athiest.

Now many years later, and with some hindsight, beliefs and meaning still resonate with her. In her first solo series for television she explores whether there is something meaningful in between the two extremes.

“I’m just fascinated why we all make sense of our lives and why any of us get out of bed in the morning,” she says.

The series came about after former ABC exec Courtney Gibson read an article that she wrote for The Age about Lucy family holidays.

After contemplating a potential sitcom, Lucy admits she felt uncomfortable with revisiting her family as a source of mirth.

“Suddenly the whole idea of going back into my childhood I thought ‘You know what, I’m really not comfortable doing that,” she says.

“But I thought we could keep a tiny part of it, so throughout the show there are little sketches which are re-enactments of me. Which of course I’m much happier about because I get to play me at every age.”

In the first episode she tackles the religion she knows best, spending time with a Catholic nun her own age, Sister Rebecca McCabe, and her fellow Sisters of Mercy. She admits the subject brought back mixed emotions.

“Hanging out with those nuns was fantastic. They were delightful women. They were smart, they were considered, which I suppose was not so surprising for Rebecca who was my age. But Margaret and Pauline who are in their 60s and 70s, were very open and very questioning of the church,” she says.

“What I liked about all of them was that it’s not like they don’t have reservations about the church, but I guess the good outweighs the bad for them. I think one of the things that’s important to all of them is helping people.

“Of course there are some really wonderful practicing Catholics and of course there are some Catholics doing some very good work, so it was kind of good to remember all of that.”

She also sat down with parish priest Gerald Gleeson but some of questions opened up old wounds for her.

“I like walking into a church but it wasn’t until I sat down with him and began a conversation about the doctrine that I remembered all my reservations,” she says.

“Despite the fact that he’s a very thoughtful, lovely man, it just made me want to run out and have sex with a lesbian monkey.”

There’s that trademark Lucy sarcasm.

“Catholicism was like a comfortable slipper for me because it was so familiar and so well-worn and yet I think it’s gone a little rancid. I think it needs to be popped in the skip.”

Although she does tackle other faiths Lucy admits there were more liberties in the Catholic episode, including dressing as a nun, because of her personal experience with the religion.

“I wouldn’t dress up in a burqa because that’s not my background,” she insists. “I think I can take a swipe at Catholicism because I know it pretty damn well and I grew up as a Catholic. So I’m not going to step into someone else’s religion and have a go at that. In much the same way that I can take the piss out of being adopted because I am adopted.

“In the second episode I go to a charismatic meeting which is the whole speaking in tongues business, and my mum used to do that.

“The speaking in tongues thing is not for me but they were such nice, decent, people.”

As well as religious followers the series will also see appearances from Tony Martin, Greg Fleet, Frank Woodley, Andrea Powell, Colin Lane, Denise Scott, Lawrence Mooney, Myf Warhurst, Kaz Cooke, former Sydney Swans captain Brett Kirk, Sara-Marie Fedele and Mr. Crossing Over, psychic John Edward.

“He was pretty relaxed because he knew the nature of the show and didn’t think I would be setting him up,” she says.

“I don’t believe in psychics but I will say he believes it. I don’t think he’s conning people. I think he absolutely believes that he’s got this gift.”

During her own mourning, Lucy even sought the advice of a psychic. But despite the emotional toil it wasn’t especially effective.

“I wept like a baby,” she admits. “But she also said mum said ‘Buy a scarf’ and Dad said ‘Start gardening.’ And the actual part that I will never forget was that she told me I was a very old soul and I had been around about 250 times, but that every time I’d been here I’d been a performer and single. And I just wanted to say ‘Well thanks a lot!’

“So anyone who thinks they’ve been single for a while, try thousands of years!”

Having now completed an array of spiritual experiences and interviews, Lucy won’t say if she’s found the answer to the meaning of life. But the series will provide a point of difference from her stand-up comedy and any expectations that she is simply out to snipe.

“I think my stand-up has changed over the years and I think you’ll find that the person I take the piss out of is me. And ok, I take the piss out of Nicole Kidman, but I think by and large my shows now are very much the dumb things I do. I’m not interested in sticking the knife in, and I certainly wasn’t interested in sticking the knife into people about what they believe in,” she says.

“I loved all of those experiences and I loved talking to other people about what they believed. But I loved shutting up for a change.”

Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey airs 9:30pm Wednesdays on ABC1.