Born to a musician father and teenage mother, Sara Pascoe grew up in Dagenham without many rules and says grown ups told her she could do anything, even fly to the moon.

But the former Godwin Junior School pupil never dreamt she would end up as a comedian with her name in lights.

When her family moved to Romford in the ‘90s, Sara and her two sisters were sent to Eastbury Comprehensive School, and life changed dramatically.

“I found that a lot harder. It was a real slap as no one was telling me that I could be an astronaut or anything I wanted any more and suddenly not conforming was not a good thing.

“I guess they thought I was weird because I was very outspoken. I liked to run assemblies, give lectures, set up a bully line and basically made myself a real target by never just shutting up or conforming.

“So I look back now and think adolescence was about learning to keep my mouth shut, rather than walking around telling everyone what to do and now, of course, that‘s virtually my job.“ It all turned around for Sara thanks to her mum Gail Newmarch who fought to get Sara into Gaynes School in Upminster and then, without realising, set her daughter on the path to fame.

“When I was 14 I had a party to try and get the other children to like me when my mum was out with her boyfriend, but the house got trashed and the police got called.

“My mum really wanted to punish me, but she worked full-time and wasn‘t at home until 7pm, so she made me join a drama group, Theatre Box in Romford, to keep me off the streets and away from people and it was just the best thing that could have happened to me because I suddenly had friends outside of school and I realised all I wanted to do was act.“ After a degree in English at Sussex University, Sara took any acting job she could get in between temping, but it wasn‘t until she was 27 that she tried her hand at comedy.

“I had always been very sneering of comedy as I thought it was easy as it‘s so flippant and silly. I didn‘t realise it was all written down, I thought comedy was all improvised. I had seen Billy Connelly, Jack Dee and Harry Hill and thought they were making it all up and were geniuses.

“Then I realised it was all written down and I found that much less intimidating, so I thought I would book a gig. I did my first show – I loved the feeling of it.

“I think the thing with fear, be it jumping out of a plane or doing stand up, is your body gives you lots of endorphins flooding through you and it becomes a very physical addiction. The minute you finish a gig you want to do another one.“ After just five months she was spotted by talent agent Dawn Sedgewick.

“She changed my life. For the first time I had someone really believing in me and saying ‘no matter how long it takes it‘s going to happen’.

“She got me acting work on TV and suddenly I didn‘t have to work proper jobs any more and could concentrate on stand-up and acting.“ Since then Sara has gone on to appear on our small screens in Live at the Apollo, QI, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Mock The Week, Stand Up For the Week and has been to Edinburgh five times.

And this year the 33-year-old has been travelling the country for her first 26-date headline tour, Sara Pascoe v History, which sees her talk about female sexuality, Miley Cyrus and her own relationship with fellow comedian John Robins, and which she is bringing to Essex this week.

Sara, who now lives with John in Lewisham, says of falling in love: “For me it was the first time since I was a teenager that it was wholly consuming. I thought that wouldn‘t happen again and that once you become a bit older and wiser things were much more balanced and sensible.

“But I was on a five-hour car drive with a fellow comedian who I didn‘t know very well and we just had this incredibly stimulating conversation. When I got out of the car I was madly in love with him. I just got swept off my feet in a way I hadn‘t been expecting, and fortunately he felt the same way.“ She continues: “It made me consider how when you go into a relationship now, once you are out of your teenage years, you always have a back story, you have exes and things that have gone wrong for whatever reason. And then I started thinking about how we are influenced by our parents’ relationship and how they interacted. Then I started researching the evolutionary history of pair bonding and how that works and our animal instincts.

So I have combined all those three things to create a funny show and it‘s really about what hope do any of us have really of staying monogamous for any length of time?

“It‘s not cynical, though. I guess what it is saying is that we should forgive ourselves for how hard it is.”

Colchester Arts Centre, Church Street, Colchester, CO1 1NF, Thursday, November 27, 8pm. Details: 01296 500900, colchesterartscentre.com. Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, Essex, CM20 1LS, Saturday, November 29, 8pm. Details: 01279 431945, playhouseharlow.com