Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actor from the northeast of England, born in Sunderland.
On the island
Eight records
Violin ConcertoFavourite
it was my first introduction to um to serious music... which I'm absolutely in love with now.
to sort of remind me of those days... Elvis is the daddy of them all
I had a marvellous experience of seeing Ethel Merman on stage... she was doing Annie, Get You've Gone, and was absolutely wonderful.
I'd like some Mozart, please. I'd like the clarinet concerto.
one record that had me in hysterics when I first heard it and still makes me laugh... is um Gerard Hoffner and the bricklayer.
The Call of the Far Away Hills
apropos of Westerns I'd like the theme music from Shane
Original New York cast of Guys and Dolls
Apropos of Credo's daughter, our mare, our racehorse, I'd like first track from Guys and Dolls. Oh, the fugue for tin horns.
Silent Night (Seven O'Clock News/Silent Night)
I think this record would be particularly pertinent on a desert island if I got maudlin or sentimental. And I could play this and it would remind me of the awful world that I've left behind. And it's uh the seven o'clock news silent night.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:00When you left the North East, did you come to London?
No, I went to Derby first. Um I finished off my uh so-called education in Derby and then uh for a very brief period I was an article clerk to a chartered accountant and then I thought well I don't really like this and I'm not very good at it um and I would really rather like to try and be an actor. I thought well if I don't try I'll probably spend the rest of the rest of my life regretting it. So I tried and went to a drama school and came to London.
Presenter asks
4:14What was your first professional engagement?
I achieved the ambition I always had when I was at drama school, which was to go to the Royal Court Theatre. In 56, the court had the great revolution with Look Back and Anger, and I don't think the theatre's ever been the same since then. Thank heaven, as far as I'm concerned. And uh I just thought it was a it was a wonderful theatre and I I really wanted to work there. And what was the play? I I went there as a walk on an understudy in a play called Platinoff. Uh Chekhov play and I was understudying Monnie Barker. Well that seems unlikely because drawing, thank God I never had to go on for it.
Presenter asks
8:31How did that job [The Likely Lads] come about?
Well, I I was called to an interview at the BBC and and I thought the scripts are beautifully written by Dick Clement and Ian Frenay. And apparently after I'd left, um, Ian said to Dick, Well, yes, he's read all right and I I think he's quite a good actor, he said, but has he got a sense of humour? Look, he's on this programme to night, Sergeant Clough. Let's watch it and see how he comes over. So looking for my sense of humour they watched this programme and during which my father, my wife and my young baby were all murdered. So what that says about their sense of humour or how I got the part I shall never know.
The keepsakes
The book
J.R.R. Tolkien
There are very few books I've read more than once. I've read that three times. I think I could probably read it three more times.
The luxury
it might be nice to be washed ashore with a few selected cases of French wine.
Presenter asks
17:00Does it worry you that you're typecast so much in the Geordie role?
Well, yes, I suppose if I do anything else now on television, suppose I can get the chance, it's got to be away from the northeast.
Presenter asks
17:29What would you like to do if the telephone were to ring tonight with an offer?
Oh, I want to go and make a Western. A Western? Yes, I've always had an ambition to be in a Western. Even if it's only just the opening shot, the dot on the horizon gets nearer and nearer as all the credits go up and as I come into close-up I get a shot. I don't care, I just want to be in a Western.
Presenter asks
19:46Are you a resourceful man with your hands? Could you look after yourself?
Well, I think I think I'm going to be in a bit of trouble, really. I'll have hopefully have to find a cave, I think. Uh I don't think I could build anywhere. What about food? Well, this too would be a problem. I suppose I'm I I could try and winkle some fish out of the sea. But I'm not a fisherman. I've never fished as such.
“I thought well if I don't try I'll probably spend the rest of the rest of my life regretting it.”
“I achieved the ambition I always had when I was at drama school, which was to go to the Royal Court Theatre.”
“I was sort of in a sort of mould in those days, a sort of being Hero's friend, always at his shoulder, but never there at the kill.”
“He taught me so much about filming.”
“I don't care, I just want to be in a Western.”