One thing about Boxing day is an actor can pick up a lot of residuals. With the growth of TV channels, if you have been in as many programmes as I have, you are certain to be on somewhere.
It’s also nice to see so many old friends who have either apparently died or changed their phone number. For instance, on the Science Fiction channel at the moment, is a repeat of a show I worked on called ‘Moonshot’. Moon was one of those programmes destined to become a cult, running as it did for five episodes. We actually made twelve, but the powers at be considered it to be so ahead of its’ time, they decided that if it got too much of a following then at the end of the 12th there may be civil unrest. In retrospect they were right, as no sooner had the news of the cessation of broadcast leaked out, there was a ticket office dispute at British Rail.
In the show I played the second in command, the brilliant, charismatic alien Fred Stokes. There was a problem with how to define an alien. Star Trek had done ears, eyebrows and crinkly foreheads, so we needed another way of demonstrating his other world origins. We ignored the face area and went with my interpretation of extraterrestrial life as having really big feet. Gerry – the producer – had cast the excellent Peter Firth as Commander Rex Maximus and Penelope Keith as Doctor Rachel Plastercast, with Arthur English as the chief space pilot Ronnie Speed. We all got along magnificently, and being the professionals we are, when the show was over we all went our own ways, Peter to the west end, Penelope to BBC Sitcom, while I was able to finally concentrate on my cactii.
Many people wrongly think it’s incorrect for actors to be paid for work they did forty or fifty years ago. But I disagree. If you have put in a good performance and people are still getting joy from it, why should you not be rewarded? For example, when I was in the long running Edwardian drama ‘Three Storey Stories’, I played McWinder, the assistant butler to Mr Jeavons, played by the wonderfully talented John Thaw. McWinder was a comic relief, always using the wrong spoon for this, an incorrect place setting for that; much merriment the character brought until his untimely demise off camera being run down by a horse in the third episode. I remember dear John Thaw was so beside himself at my departure he hardly spoke to me again, a testament to my ability that one moment I would be gathering in the laughs to the nest moving people to tears. I am told by his widow he never wanted to work with me again, such was the quality of my work. Smashing Matriarch Peggy Mount, who played the cook in the series summed it up without over sentimentality as I prepared to leave. ‘Never mind’ she said, before going off to play cards with the crew. It’s always stayed with me. And that now people say it’s best to watch from episode four onwards, as what goes before is too awful, really makes me proud of my job there. So why should I not get paid? People remember it.
I flip through more channels. The Food Channel is always good, and I have appeared several times. Cooking With The Stars is a show I am totally in love with, not least because they invited me on when Chesney Hawkes had something else going on. They know they can rely on me when another lets them down. Plus extra viewers will tune in to see my latest culinary creation and whether I once again need the Fire Brigade.
Of course, unless you are in pantomime, the gap between the Christmas and New Year is a fine time to step back, take stock of what you have achieved. Once you have done that, you can concentrate on all the fine work you have lined up for the new year. I have an appearance on Womans’ Hour in July to look forward to, discussing the history of pantaloons. I had better get researchin’. Toodaloo.
No comments:
Post a Comment