I noticed, though I wouldn’t have
recognised him, that Karl Howman
(the lead in Brush Strokes) actually
followed in your footsteps into
EastEnders.
I didn’t see it but apparently he’s playing
Danny’s dad, isn’t he? Danny Dyer’s
dad… Danny is a really good friend of
mine … he did his first job with me. We
did an adaption of Hamlet. Well a take on
Hamlet - it was called Prince of Denmark
Hill and I played his mother, Gertrude.
Danny was 17 then so I’ve known him
all those years and I love him to pieces
and we’re really good friends. He’s from
the East End, Canning Town and he also
obviously played my Steven Marriott.
But going back to Brush Strokes, I
loved the sort of outrageousness of it
and people still say to me, “How’s your
Jacko, is he still lobster fishing?” And I
go “they’ve just gone lobster fishing in
Ilfracombe. And they go, “Is it dinky?” I
go, “Yeah, it’s really dinky.” That sort of
thing… They want me to do the Gloria
voice still. Funnily enough, Get Back,
which I love, was my favourite series, it
seems to be that every London cab driver
has seen it, and when I get in they go,
“Oh god, it’s you oh, I loved you in that
series.” I assume “Brush Strokes?” and
they say “no, no, the one with you and
Ray, where you’re husband and wife and
you lose all your money.” “It seems to be
the favourite of cab drivers. They love it,
and it is a brilliant series but not enough
people saw it unfortunately.
Has your son Alfie shown any interest
in following in your footsteps?
14
Well, Alfie is a really great actor and
when I’ve done promos for the films,
I’ve made him do bits with me - he’s so
good but I think, because his dad’s an
actor and his mum’s an actor, a lot of
his aunties are actors so he says, “but
you’re really good.” But he’s really good
and he does show interest in directing.
He’d like to direct and produce. He
studied film and got his qualifications in
filming at college and his last project at
college - which he came up with (he’s
great at ideas, fabulous at ideas) Behind
the Ball, or something like that, which
was following footballers one in top level
Premiership football, and then ones from
Brighton & Hove Albion. It was about the
difference in their lives so he shot some
of that and it was just a fantastic idea
so I approached some contacts of mine
and we got into Brighton & Hove Albion
to film. Then I told a friend of mine who
had a production company and I said “oh,
Alfie wants to do a bit of work experience
would you sort of take him on?” And he
said yes. I told him about some of his
ideas and he said “that’s amazing I’m
going into Channel 4 tomorrow, I’ll pitch
it.” So he went into Channel 4 and I
went away on holiday and he contacted
me and said he’d rung Alfie but couldn’t
get hold of him. I was still away when
he rang me and he said he’d been into
Channel 4 and that they’d loved it and
then they commissioned it - so Alfie’s
first project got commissioned but they
wanted someone else to direct it because
it fitted into their slot about new directors
and Alfie didn’t have the experience of
recording for a broadcast like that. Alfie
was assistant director and associate
producer on it and I helped. Channel 4
wanted it to be called Balls, Birds and
Brighton or something like that and it was
shown as a documentary.
He’s 23 now and still my baby. He’ll
always be my baby - he’s my one and
only baby boy.
He loves Brighton. I brought him here, he
was around 14 and the first two weeks
I’d ruined his life, obviously…and then I
picked him up from school and all I could
hear was, “Oh, Alfie…” and the girls, were
all around him and I couldn’t see him.
He then sort of popped up, and he got
in the car and he said “I love Brighton,
mum.” And actually he genuinely loves
Brighton. He loves being here, and for
me it was a great move, coming from
London. I thought it would be a wonderful
place for him to have his teenage years.
How much would I have loved what he
has, to finish school and to be able to go
down to the beach with 20 of my mates
and have a picnic and stuff like that? He’s
made some lovely friends here and he
does love it… he loves life here because
it’s kind of London enough but it’s not…
it doesn’t have the other sides to it,
because I didn’t want that for him in his
teenage years.
He went to Brighton and Hove City
College and I taught there for a while. I
didn’t teach Alfie and now I’m the creative
director of the Brighton Film School.
Before we go on to more recent
events, I’m going to have to ask you
about your time on Eastenders…