How
did you land the part of Jed Stone in Coronation Street and
what was it like joining such a popular programme and
established cast?
"I
was in shows like 'Strictly For The Sparrows' by Ted Willis playing a
mean and nasty Teddy Boys and crooks. I went into Coronation Street
for one episode to beat-up Dennis Tanner near the viaduct, I recall.
I ad-libbed one line and stayed for three years. The
show was still quite new so it wasn't really a question of
joining the established show like it is today. In those days
the older cast members, like Violet Carson (Ena Sharples) and
Jack Howarth (Albert Tatlock) all came from stage backgrounds
and were a great help and inspiration to the younger members
of the cast like me."
How
did this develop into and opportunity for joining the TW3
team?
"Coronation
Street was a twice-weekly show at that time and the script was
'rock hard' - by that I mean that it was written down and
for the most part actors would stick religiously to the
script. Now I used to add jokes and lines which weren't there
and these went down well with the production people and with
the viewers - I'm still very good friends with Tony Warren who
devised the programme. John Bassett at the BBC TW3 production
saw the comedy and that's how I got the part. So I was
on two top-rated shows at the same time. Given that for a lot
of an actor's life there's often no work at all, this was
unusual"
Do
you think that being from Liverpool gave you a comic
edge?
"Well,
there's certainly a Liverpudlian humour and something
inherently comic about people from Liverpool, although these
days it's turning into a very tough city."
What
pressures were you under working on such a high-profile show
as TW3? Was it enjoyable? How did you deal with the fame and
recognition?
"It
was great. I was living in north London and recording
Coronation Street in Manchester and TW3 in London and rushing
from one show to the other, me and scripts whizzing around by
plane and motorbike, learning scripts in less than a day. On
TW3 it was such a topical show that often the script would be
hot off the press. We had autocue which helped but sometimes
less than a day to rehearse. There were some fantastic writers
- Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall, John Braine, Muir and Norden,
David Nobbs, Dennis Potter. We did a sketch
about cricket - players and gentlemen - and you must remember
this was 1962, and at the end I hold up two cricket balls to
indicate what these gentlemen were talking. Another famous and
popular sketch was the 'Consumer's Guide To Religion', where
we looked at the merits and disadvantages of each major
religion like a 'Which?' magazine review. I didn't like
everything we did though - there was one sketch where David
did a commentary in the David Dimbleby style and it was
about the sinking of the Royal Barge. I found that one quite
tasteless!"
Were
you caught-up in the swinging sixties and did being a
Liverpudlian make you more fashionable given that the fab four
came from there?
"No.
To a large extent it passed me by. I was very busy and when I
wasn't busy I was looking for work or writing. I even went
into the restaurant business at one stage. Obviously I
picked-up on some of the fashions - I remember wearing
Beatles-style jackets."
How
did you manage to integrate into the close-knit Carry On team
and what are your memories of those productions?
"The
cast and crew on the Carry On films were all pro's and it was
very easy and enjoyable joining them. The productions were
tightly run. The idea was to get bums on seats
at the cinema, and Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas chose
someone like me because they knew we were recognised by the TV
public and had a reputation for making people laugh. The cast
were terrific and I have fond memories of Sid James, Hattie
Jacques, Kenneth Williams and them all. "
Some
of the 'Carry On' team
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Hattie
Jacques as the archetypal matron
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Kenneth
Williams
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Sid
James
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What
do you consider your biggest achievements to-date?
"Making
my mum and dad proud of me."
So
you're not a Liverpool supporter then?
"Get
out of here! My dad was a keen Evertonian, so that's why I
inherited a love of the team."
How would you
describe these people you have worked with?:
Mike Pratt - "A
lovely man. Should have been destined for big things - maybe
Hollywood. A great writer and actor and good looking too! I
miss him a lot - he was a good friend.
Annette Andre - "Annette
is lovely too. She kept me calm. She was able to develop her
character during the series so that it became more prominent,
which I was delighted about."
David Frost - "A
good lad. He's still a friend."
Lance Percival -"Another
good friend still. He was 'of the moment' when he joined the
cast of TW3. He had the ability to sing calypsos on any topic
and was an experienced cabaret performer. He also ended-up in
Carry On films."
Sid James -
"Professional. One-take Sid they called him."
Kenneth Williams - "Wacky
but fun to work with."
Hattie Jacques - "Warm
and brilliant! She always knew her lines. A very gentle woman.
She seemed to have a good life and enjoyed it. She made you
happy."
Barbara Windsor - "A
fair, fair lady.
Up-front! She had a better wig than me!!"
"...............There were no egos on
the Carry On sets. The scripts were good and all the cast were
pro's. They tried to make a Carry On after all the important
stars had died and it didn't work. The same with the re-make
of Randall and Hopkirk - they just wanted a vehicle for the
main actors and to make some money - there was no real
interest in keeping the 'spirit' and integrity of the original
show. They didn't pay homage or respect to the original."
The
same was true with the re-makes of Alfie and The Italian Job
in my view.
"Yes."
.........David Jason
- "I
wrote some scripts for his show 'A Sharp Intake Of Breath. I
worked with him on one of the 'Frosts'. A good dedicated pro."
"
........One bit of advice I would always give any writer is to
make a copy of any story or script and package it up and send
it to yourself or your lawyer and don't open it. Then, if somebody
receives another copy of your script, rejects it and then in
the future your idea suddenly appears on the screen, you have
got proof that the idea came from your head. Also, make your
stage directions funny."
What do you think you'd be doing if you hadn't been a
successful actor and writer?
"I
might have been a typewriter salesman - I was for a while for Olivetti. I
had some lean years. We opened a restaurant which is still
going although under new management. The Bayleaf near Oxford.
How
would you compare the TV and film business today with that of
the sixties?
"The
sixties TV and films had dignity, integrity, honesty and
truth. They were entertaining. On a Saturday night restaurants
had to install a TV set or they wouldn't get the clientele as
TW3 was so popular. There's no skill or technique
these days. It's all Big Brother and instant celebrity. I was
three years at drama school. "
The
'That Was The Week That Was' team
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David
Frost |
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Lance
Percival
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Roy
Kinnear
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Can
you describe the atmosphere on the set of Randall and Hopkirk?
I know that filming of The Champions and Department S was
going on at the studios at the same time. How did those shows
compare?
"It
was very pleasant and they were a joy to work on. I don't
think the atmosphere on the other shows came close to ours -
too many egos. When we had a star on our show, we'd welcome
actors like Peter Vaughan or Timothy West with a plastic cup of champagne first thing in the
morning. It was a fun set - a good-humoured and professional set.
There was one live man, one dead and a lovely lady."
Can
you let us into any secrets regarding the production of
Randall and Hopkirk? What technical difficulties did you have
to overcome to get actors to work with a ghost and for you to
walk through walls and so on?
"The
techniques we used were primitive by today's computer
standards. I would stand in front of a black piece of velvet
and my mirror image would be reflected to obtain the ghost
illusion. We had to innovate and make lots of things up. Mike
would often get a bit naughty. It was difficult for the other
actors reacting when they were told to 'freeze' so that I
could join or exit the shot. Mike and I invented a lot of
character traits and dialogue. For example, Marty didn't like
Jeff driving the mini which used to be his car before he died
because Jeff was a bit of a maniac when it came to driving.
"
Peter
Wyngarde and Alexandra Bastedo were filming Department S
and The Champions at the Elstree studios at the same time
as Randall and Hopkirk was being made
What
makes you laugh, what makes you angry, what makes you sad and
what makes you hopeful?
"Eric
Morecambe makes me laugh. New York Jewish humour. And Tony Hancock.
Angry - lack of professionalism, amateurs who don't check
their props. Sad - World War I - my dad was in it - at Gallipoli
and The Somme and somehow he survived, more incredibly as he
couldn't swim. Hopeful - every day I'm
hopeful. I was told in 2002 that I had asbestos cancer and that I was
going to die. This proved to be an mis-diagnosis - I was
actually bruised internally in a stunt on the Brookside set. I had to
deal
with the certainty of dying and me and my loved ones trying to come to terms with
it and getting my affairs sorted. I'm suing the incompetent
b******s!"
The
two Carry On films in which Kenneth starred -
Carry On At Your Convenience and Carry On Matron
Paul
McCartney wrote the theme tune to your series Thingamybob.
How did you manage that coup?! Did you ever meet 'the lads'?
"I
did Six-Five Special which they were also on - and I saw them
in Tramp. Somebody approached Paul McCartney to write
the theme. The show was a good one and featured Stanley
Holloway, John Junkin and Kate Williams. It was directed by
David Askey."
