The Eighties Archive Podcast In Conversation with Actor Keith Jayne - The Small Town Boys Eighties Archive Podcast

Name: The Eighties Archive Podcast In Conversation with Actor Keith Jayne - The Small Town Boys Eighties Archive Podcast
Uploaded: 2025-10-02T17:16:16+00:00
Duration: 1 h 11 min 13 s
Channel: technovoyager
Description: interview with actor Keith Jayne, With carefully curated visuals, archive footage and clips from such cult shows as The Onedin Line, Stig of the Dump and Doctor Who. This is a deep dive into the life of one of the small screens greatest cult figures. <br />from the The Small Town Boys Eighties Archive Podcast

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interview with actor Keith Jayne, With carefully curated visuals, archive footage and clips from such cult shows as The Onedin Line, Stig of the Dump and Doctor Who. This is a deep dive into the life of one of the small screens greatest cult figures.
from the The Small Town Boys Eighties Archive Podcast

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00:00:00Hi, I'm John. And I'm David. And you're listening to The Small Town Boys.

00:00:04And this is the 80s Archive Podcast.

00:00:30In this edition, we bring you another one of our Spotlight episodes where we talk to a cult figure from the 1980s who wasn't in the music business.

00:00:45Our guest tonight is a jack of many trades.

00:00:47If he's not travelling through time in Doctor Who, sailing the high seas in the Aeneidin line, pretending to be a caveman in Stick of the Dump, or stealing an ambulance from Holby A&E in Casualty,

00:00:57he can be found living a mild-mannered life in the west of England.

00:01:01It's an absolute pleasure to welcome to the show Mr. Keith Jane.

00:01:06Good evening, Keith. How are you?

00:01:07Good evening, boys. I'm well. Thank you very much. Thanks for the invite.

00:01:10This is a big one for us. It's a big one for you. Because what did Stick of the Dump mean to you as a kid?

00:01:15Favourite programme. By a mile. That and Grange Hill.

00:01:18The Stick of the Dump thing was just gift that keeps giving for me.

00:01:21I mean, I hadn't read the book, to be honest. One of the questions people ask me, you know, did you read that book at school?

00:01:27Honestly, I wish I could say I did, but I didn't. Actually, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone for quite a while,

00:01:32because it was the first adaptation, and I didn't want to spoil it.

00:01:37Kind of raise expectations, really, with anybody.

00:01:41This was going to be quite a big thing, and they were in the middle of adapting it all.

00:01:45I was sworn to secrecy.

00:01:47Mum was a teacher, and I knew a lot of teachers who used it as a class reader.

00:01:52Once you start talking to them about the story, I actually did not realise the impact it would have on my life, really.

00:02:00Right.

00:02:00Because it's like 40 years ago.

00:02:03People are still talking about it.

00:02:04I still go to schools now to judge Stig's Caves, Stig Cavemen dressing up and that type of thing.

00:02:11And it's great, you know.

00:02:12I mean, they did do a follow-up in the 90s.

00:02:16I did it for Thames, and, you know, that was a good adaptation as well.

00:02:21I'm obviously not just saying this, but people always tend to remember the original.

00:02:24Sure.

00:02:25And so I've been lucky in that respect.

00:02:27Very lucky.

00:02:28I remember being at school, and because I think it was sort of 10 to 13-year-olds,

00:02:32it was on the curriculum for the TV tie-in adaptation, which had you on the front cover.

00:02:37If I could travel back in time 25 years and go, you're going to be interviewing that bloke soon.

00:02:42That would be so cool.

00:02:45I think we've said that about most of it, yes.

00:02:46Oh, yeah.

00:02:47Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:02:48You're all box tickers for us, just sort of rekindling our childhoods.

00:02:51But thinking of things that were on the curriculum when I was at school was stuff like Day of the Triffids was a big one for us.

00:02:57There was another one that no one...

00:02:58Killer Mockingbird.

00:02:59Killer Mockingbird was there, but also we had to study our day out.

00:03:03Willie Russell, right?

00:03:04I believe so.

00:03:05Yeah.

00:03:05And there was another dreadful American book called Golden Rod.

00:03:09It wasn't a porn film then.

00:03:11No.

00:03:12Christ.

00:03:14And we're off.

00:03:15Nine minutes in.

00:03:16Keith, taking us back to the beginning, tell us about your origin story.

00:03:21Where did you grow up?

00:03:21Where did you come from?

00:03:23A big part of my story, John, is that I didn't grow up.

00:03:25I had an accident when I was four at home, and I tripped over and smashed my head open at a door.

00:03:31And it was a big old cut in the front of my head, still with the scar now.

00:03:34So it was like touch and go, really, as to whether they'd get me to the hospital on time and all sorts of stuff.

00:03:40But when I was stitched up, it he-hawed, et cetera, et cetera.

00:03:44But as time progressed over the next year, two years, it became quite evident that actually I wasn't growing very much.

00:03:51Because when the old school photograph is always a giveaway, isn't it?

00:03:54Yeah.

00:03:55You know what I mean?

00:03:55He's a big lad in the club.

00:03:57Or he's small.

00:03:58And then people were saying to my mum, who was working at the school as a teacher,

00:04:02Pat, Keith is quite small, isn't he?

00:04:05He's not really growing very much.

00:04:07And in the end, mum and dad kind of gave him, took me the GP, you know, when you could get an appointment.

00:04:12They did some tests on me, and I ended up, I was an inpatient and an outpatient at Great Ormond Street Hospital for 11 years.

00:04:20Right.

00:04:20Because what had happened was that the accident I'd had had stunted my pituitary gland.

00:04:26It stopped working.

00:04:27And so I had all sorts.

00:04:28So I mean, I've looked to thank Great Ormond Street Hospital for.

00:04:32And there's also not such a great part of that, too, because I had injections for 11 years.

00:04:38It was an absolute nightmare.

00:04:40But ultimately, when I got to the age of 16, I'd already been in TV and theatre stuff for about four years.

00:04:47And my selling point, or my USP, was that I was still small and still looked about sort of three or four years younger than my real age.

00:04:57Sure.

00:04:58But the problem was that 15 years later, my agent said to my mum, once I'd had a fair degree of success,

00:05:06can you stop giving these injections?

00:05:09Because they were working.

00:05:10The growth hormone that they were giving me was actually working.

00:05:13And so I got to five foot four, and that's still pretty small.

00:05:17And my agent, Jim Collins, it was Phil Collins at mum, she said to mum, just please stop the injections,

00:05:25because otherwise Keith would lose his appeal to directors and producers.

00:05:31So I stopped it.

00:05:33We stopped the injections.

00:05:34That was all choice.

00:05:35Yeah, fine, that's fine.

00:05:37So I carried on.

00:05:38And we did okay, you know, on TV and stuff.

00:05:40But after 15 years, I had a letter from the Department of Health saying that they noted that I'd been an inpatient,

00:05:49an outpatient at Grey Ormond Street Hospital, which would be 1965, whatever it was.

00:05:52And as such, and I've got this letter and it said, you may have contracted a ferricary illness, which is CJD,

00:06:01Krusevall-Jakob disease.

00:06:02Because of the injections.

00:06:03And because of the injections.

00:06:04And what had happened, they'd looked back and seen the batches of the medication that had been given to the children

00:06:10and realised that there was a batch in there where the children, some children, sadly, passed away from CJD.

00:06:18And it linked back to the treatment that I'd had during that period.

00:06:22So this kind of difficult time, really, to be honest.

00:06:27But what happened also was that the papers got hold of it.

00:06:31The journalists got hold and said, hang on, at that time, you know, I was in, I've been in an ED9 and, well, on TV, really.

00:06:39And they said, that bloke's from Murphy's World, well, that bloke's whatever I'd done.

00:06:43And they asked me, I did a few interviews.

00:06:47Thing is, boys, I never actually realised what I was doing.

00:06:51I thought I was trying to, I was trying to raise the profile of all the families of the children like me that had that.

00:06:59But actually, what I'd done, in the meantime, was actually, I wasn't going to get any more work, basically.

00:07:05Now, at that time, I was between kind of child actor and going into young adulthood, if you like.

00:07:12But it's very difficult to get jobs in this business when you're up in.

00:07:16When you've got a casting director, they want you to be here for episode two, don't they?

00:07:19Do you know what I mean?

00:07:21So the problem was, on the ITN News, it was on one of the old 10 o'clock chimes or whatever.

00:07:26Did a little piece on me and Sam, my wife now, saying, this could be the last time you see Keith on your screen.

00:07:32Jesus.

00:07:33Because of this issue.

00:07:35And so whilst it did raise the profile, I just came out of the business.

00:07:39That's really why.

00:07:40I know that's one of your questions, you know, why did you come out?

00:07:43And I felt it was hard at that time for me to get work.

00:07:48I think you need to be extremely lucky.

00:07:49I think I stayed in Murphy's Mob too long.

00:07:52When I was doing acting, I like doing different stuff, you know.

00:07:55I like testing yourself by doing different things, not stuck in something.

00:08:00But the other point was with 96%, 97% unemployment, even back then.

00:08:05Yeah.

00:08:06In the business, you know.

00:08:07You get offered a third series, which I wasn't going to do with Murphy's Mob, and then a fourth series.

00:08:12And we were rivaling Grange Hill.

00:08:14Right.

00:08:15You know, that was written to rival Grange Hill.

00:08:17Yeah, yeah.

00:08:18And so it's the kind of security.

00:08:20The other thing is, in the third series, I was playing 16.

00:08:23I got bloody married.

00:08:25Right.

00:08:25I was 23.

00:08:26You suddenly got, you know, things like mortgages.

00:08:28You can't suddenly just go, actually, no, I don't think I'll do that series because I like living on nothing.

00:08:33So that's kind of why you haven't seen me for a bit.

00:08:37But obviously, I survived.

00:08:39Sadly, quite a few didn't.

00:08:41Yeah.

00:08:41But it did kind of stall my career.

00:08:43And to be honest, I came away from it thinking, I'm not going to beat this.

00:08:48I need to go and lay low for a while.

00:08:50But the business I went into was financial services.

00:08:53And you can't walk away from that because you've got commitments to clients.

00:08:56Sure.

00:08:56So I stayed in it.

00:08:58But now I've done 35 years out.

00:09:00And I'm looking to come back in now.

00:09:02So things like doing these fun things with you boys is great for me.

00:09:07I've been lucky because some of the stuff I've done, like God Do Who, like Stig, has lived on.

00:09:13And things like Talking Pictures TV has given us a kind of resurgence of stuff.

00:09:18And people are saying to me, Keith, did you used to be on so-and-so?

00:09:21And so it's kind of nice in a way that this thing's been brought up.

00:09:27And I'm keen to get back into it.

00:09:29And I've started doing a few bits and pieces and things like that.

00:09:32And I'm grateful to you guys, really, for giving me the opportunity to tell my little story.

00:09:37I've told it to a few people.

00:09:39Well, it's a kind of niche for us to look at the 80s the way that we do,

00:09:43but incorporates everything from musicians to engineers to producers to actors to dancers and playwrights.

00:09:50And the whole nine yards are the arts, really, because we were absorbing that when we were younger.

00:09:55So why wouldn't we want to talk to everyone?

00:09:56If that shines a light on people's career, then that's fantastic for us as well.

00:10:00You know, I'm a huge Doctor Who fan, always have been.

00:10:03And it's my favourite programme of all time.

00:10:06But as you get older, you start to absorb the credits a little bit more.

00:10:09And if someone strikes a chord with you, it's a bit like directors.

00:10:12If you see a film that's directed by Pony Scott or Steven Spielberg,

00:10:16you want to actively find out more about their work and find out other projects they've done.

00:10:21And it's the same with actors.

00:10:22If I see something like, you know, The Awakening, Episode 1, credits roll up, he's Jane.

00:10:27And you go, what else has he done?

00:10:29You know, you do a little bit of clicking about.

00:10:31I don't know if you've ever come across an actor called Will Barton, who was in Doctor Who.

00:10:36I listened to the podcast.

00:10:37He's got a hell of a story as well.

00:10:39He has.

00:10:39He's mad as arseholes.

00:10:41I love him to bits.

00:10:43He openly admitted that when he came out of theatre school,

00:10:47he found it quite hard to, A, get an agent, then B, finding work.

00:10:52As you might have heard, he didn't know about sending letters out to people

00:10:56and getting sponsorships and this, that and the other.

00:10:59So, yeah, that's why you're here, Keith, is because we want to know about your story.

00:11:01We're fascinated.

00:11:02You played a part of, certainly of my childhood, certainly of Dave's.

00:11:06That's why you're here, man.

00:11:07And we're honoured.

00:11:09I appreciate that.

00:11:09Same with Gary Shale.

00:11:11He had a story to tell.

00:11:12Just quickly, before we play the first track, touched on it already,

00:11:15but you had an agent and your agent was talking to your mum at that young age

00:11:19when you were working in TV.

00:11:21I guess that answers the question.

00:11:22Your parents were supportive of you going into the arts.

00:11:26It's a good question, Dave.

00:11:28They weren't at first, but only because my dad was a policeman,

00:11:32my mum was a teacher, so they had good, solid jobs.

00:11:35And it wasn't that they didn't want me to do that.

00:11:38I think they were nervous about me doing it because I'd always shown an aptitude for art and drawing and et cetera.

00:11:45And our next-door neighbour used to be a commercial artist.

00:11:49He's got some work hanging in Buckingham Palace, so he's a good guy.

00:11:53And his son, Gary, he's a very renowned photographer.

00:11:56And I got into grammar school.

00:11:58I didn't go to stage school until I was 12 and a half, 13.

00:12:02I got into grammar school, and because of my size, I was bullied there.

00:12:05That wasn't a good time.

00:12:07And I had to develop a sense of humour to kind of get out of the scrapes I was getting into.

00:12:14And Mick, Gary, just said to my mum and dad, he's always around here making us laugh.

00:12:20He's not having a great time at grammar school.

00:12:22Why doesn't he go to a stage school?

00:12:23Why doesn't he actually go and, instead of being a little man,

00:12:26why doesn't he be a little big man?

00:12:29Because we think that he could.

00:12:30So it's down to them, really.

00:12:32I have to say, at this stage, that actually there was this theatrical bench in my family

00:12:39because my granddad, there's a guy called Jimmy Croom,

00:12:42and he was kind of the UK's answer to Fred Astaire.

00:12:47He was a solo tap dancer at the age of 16 at the Palladium.

00:12:50And so it was in my blood, I suppose.

00:12:53Oh, wow.

00:12:54Once I started doing it, the fourth thing, I think, was upstairs, downstairs.

00:12:58Right.

00:12:59It was my mum's favourite programme.

00:13:00So, of course, you do no wrong then, can you?

00:13:04Yeah.

00:13:05So she went up to the studios and not doing very much, to be honest, in it,

00:13:10but you learn your trait, don't you?

00:13:13Yeah, of course.

00:13:13ELO, the band, the Beatles, could have been.

00:13:32Hold on tight.

00:13:34Yeah, as John said, that's the first time that somebody's chosen ELO in the series.

00:13:38So, yeah, very good spot.

00:13:40Big tune for you, Keith?

00:13:41It was a big tune, yeah.

00:13:42It was funny, because when you guys asked me to come up with some tracks from the 80s,

00:13:47there were a lot of songs there that were still hungover from the 70s.

00:13:51Yeah, 79.

00:13:52Yeah.

00:13:53So, having a look back, it was interesting, because I actually did a spreadsheet.

00:13:57This is how sad I've become.

00:13:58I've done a spreadsheet of all the programmes that I've done for that 10-year period,

00:14:05and I was trying to cheat by going, well, in October, November, I think it was half a boy,

00:14:09half a man came out with Nick Lowe, and that was, I used to love that.

00:14:13And then, so the ELO song, yeah, okay, so that was off the Time album.

00:14:18That was during the time I was doing Stig of the Dump, which was July 81.

00:14:23It was after the Aeneidine line, and one of the lines in it is when you see your ship go sailing,

00:14:30hold on tight to your dream.

00:14:31And what had happened is after the Aeneidine line, I was in it for two years,

00:14:36I became known, more mature people used to recognise me then,

00:14:41because before I'd been to kids' stuff, you know, so I had a different kind of audience.

00:14:45But I always wanted to have, I've never played a lead in anything,

00:14:49I was a supporting actor, which was fine by me,

00:14:52but my dream was to do something where I had the title role.

00:14:57And then when Stig came along, the year after, it was hold on tight to your dream,

00:15:02and that actually happened for me.

00:15:04So it always takes me back to that time where I went between the adult,

00:15:09adult and more mature series, established series,

00:15:13to something where I became really quite nervous about it,

00:15:17because as I said to you before, I've not read the book,

00:15:19but the series and the success of that series did kind of rest on me,

00:15:24and also the director, it was the first adaptation,

00:15:27and it's very difficult to say nothing for two and a half hours.

00:15:31Yeah, right.

00:15:32Right? Potentially.

00:15:33Yeah.

00:15:33But we managed to pull it off somehow.

00:15:37Richard Hanford, he and I just came up with the fact

00:15:40that Stig should actually say something,

00:15:42he should at least mean to say something.

00:15:45So it was us that came up with that.

00:15:47Whereabouts was it shot?

00:15:48It was shot predominantly around Dorking in Surrey.

00:15:51Okay.

00:15:52I've got a very good friend now called Kim Stevens,

00:15:56and she tells me that it's called Stigsville.

00:15:59Oh, really?

00:16:00Because that's where the original quarry was,

00:16:02and that's where the old black Humber went over the cliff.

00:16:05Yeah.

00:16:06Rubber's old Humber went over the cliff.

00:16:08Oh, fantastic.

00:16:09Yeah.

00:16:10And the only other place it was filmed was in the Thames TV studios.

00:16:15Right.

00:16:15Where they built a massive polystyrene cave.

00:16:19That's where the jars for windows were,

00:16:22candles and stuff.

00:16:24But all the outside stuff we did in Dorking,

00:16:26we didn't really go much further than that.

00:16:29You're 10 again, aren't you?

00:16:30That's brilliant.

00:16:31I remember reading in Look in Magazine.

00:16:34You must have done it.

00:16:35Yes, it was in that, Dave.

00:16:36It was in that.

00:16:36Yeah.

00:16:37I remember.

00:16:37I can't remember.

00:16:38I was talking to John about it today,

00:16:40but there was some sort of quote.

00:16:41And I think you said,

00:16:43I got some very funny looks stopping at the petrol station

00:16:46to buy whatever it was,

00:16:48dressed in your furs and your boots.

00:16:50And that came back to me like a bolt of lightning.

00:16:54Well, I'll tell you what had happened that day.

00:16:56What had happened that day was that England were playing that night.

00:17:01Right.

00:17:01And I needed to get back pretty bloody quick.

00:17:03And I lived in Harrow, North London.

00:17:05And it's a bit of a trek from Surrey.

00:17:07But I didn't.

00:17:08I just jumped in the car.

00:17:09I had a trap stick bottoms on.

00:17:11But I'd forgotten that I'd got the chicken bones around my neck.

00:17:14I'd still got the bloody wig and stuff on.

00:17:17And the make-up girls go,

00:17:18don't you?

00:17:18No, no, I've got to go.

00:17:19I've got to go.

00:17:20So off I went.

00:17:21Realised, shit, I'm out of petrol as well.

00:17:24So there, got out.

00:17:25And someone had told me once that I looked like Shirley Bassey on drugs.

00:17:32Oh, brilliant.

00:17:34And so, yes, I did.

00:17:36I went into the petrol station.

00:17:37And at that time, to make me feel even more of an idiot,

00:17:42no one had seen the show on television, of course,

00:17:44at that point.

00:17:45Some people think, what's that guy got on with?

00:17:48Is it a fancy dress or what?

00:17:49And I also had funny shoes on, furry shoes and stuff.

00:17:54Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:17:55Over my trainers.

00:17:57But anyway, he's got some issues.

00:17:59I'm surprised they didn't call the Linden Centre there and then.

00:18:02Brilliant.

00:18:02Keith, look, taking you back a little bit, just because I know we're jumping around a little

00:18:07bit here, but a friend of mine recently purchased the box sets of the BFI Children's Film Foundation

00:18:13films.

00:18:14Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:15And you appeared in a couple of them.

00:18:17I think one of them was called, like, Charlie's Magic Shoes or something like that.

00:18:20I can't quite remember.

00:18:22Can you tell us a little bit about those?

00:18:24Because I know that they were played as sort of free features to main films in the cinema,

00:18:29weren't they?

00:18:30They were, yeah.

00:18:30These were great, great things to do.

00:18:32I cut my teeth, really, on the nose.

00:18:35The first one, I did four.

00:18:37Sorry.

00:18:37What sort of years?

00:18:39Time for them?

00:18:401974, 1975, 1976.

00:18:42Right, OK.

00:18:43And literally, the wages were £5 a day.

00:18:46Wow.

00:18:47Everyone got that as kids, you know.

00:18:49I loved doing them.

00:18:51I loved it because I hated some of the stuff I had to do.

00:18:54I mean, the first thing I did was a thing called Robin Hood Jr.

00:18:57And Robin Hood Jr, Keith Chaggin was Robin Hood.

00:19:00I was Will Scarlet.

00:19:01And I had to ride a horse.

00:19:04I mean, it was only about four foot two or something at the time.

00:19:07And I had to do all these stunts on the horse.

00:19:09And, of course, you know, when you go to an audition, guys, you don't say no.

00:19:13You know, they say, can you fly to the moon?

00:19:15Yeah.

00:19:16You know, no problem.

00:19:17You know, can you roll a skate?

00:19:18Yeah.

00:19:19Right.

00:19:19Yeah, yeah.

00:19:19So you say all that.

00:19:20And, of course, you get the job and they get found out.

00:19:23You know, I went to learn on a bloody pony called Lucozade.

00:19:26And when I got there, the thing was about this horse was about 14 hands,

00:19:30aren't they?

00:19:30I literally needed a step ladder to get on it.

00:19:33I'm not joking.

00:19:35The director, it was a miserable bastard, Matt McCarthy.

00:19:39Lovely guy until he started realising that I couldn't actually do what I said I couldn't do at the audition.

00:19:45But I had stunts to do in it.

00:19:46But I pulled it off, you know.

00:19:48And then the second one I did was, I'll tell you who else was in that, was Andrew Sacks.

00:19:53Oh, wow.

00:19:54So the things that I loved doing about those shows was that a lot of actors, established actors in those days, you know,

00:20:02just even carry-on actors.

00:20:04You know, Julian Holloway was in people like this would love to do those shows with the kids.

00:20:09Yeah.

00:20:09And so you learn from them.

00:20:12And I was frequently taking the side by some of these people.

00:20:16And, you know, it's a real great training round.

00:20:20And it was a real happy time.

00:20:21So we did Robin Hood Jr.

00:20:22That was quite well received.

00:20:24Then I did The Unbroken Arrow, which was the sequel.

00:20:28But it was a six-parter.

00:20:29So at Saturday Morning Pictures, they would show, like, one a week.

00:20:32And then I did a thing.

00:20:34You say, like, Charlie's Magic Shoes.

00:20:35It's actually called Sammy's Super T-Shirt.

00:20:37That's the one.

00:20:38Charlie and Magic Shoes.

00:20:40That actually, if you go onto the Facebook page, there's a still.

00:20:46And it's actually, I'm in the queue, in the thing.

00:20:49But, yeah, that was quite fun.

00:20:51A bit corny, but good fun.

00:20:52But the third one I did was the best one I did, which was the Glitterball.

00:20:56Right.

00:20:56And Glitterball was just fantastic to do.

00:21:00I had a great part in it.

00:21:01It was practically a two-hand, really, for, you know, 50 minutes or an hour,

00:21:05whatever long the film was.

00:21:07Harley Cocker's was the producer and a brilliant, brilliant guy.

00:21:13And we did all that for 50 grand.

00:21:15Now, that wasn't my wages, which I had to have been, but that was the budget.

00:21:19And 50 grand in 1975, but flatteringly, that it was actually because of the special effects,

00:21:29not because of mine or Ben's acting, it was down to the special effects.

00:21:33It was actually compared with E.T.

00:21:36I know, it's ridiculous.

00:21:39When you think about it, when you're looking for value for money, it did compare favorably.

00:21:44But, yeah, that was a fun thing to do, but loads of people.

00:21:51I think the Kemp brothers cut their teeth in a lot of those Children's Film Foundation stuff,

00:21:57didn't they?

00:21:58Yeah.

00:21:58Because that's how they started out.

00:22:01I would strongly suggest to listeners to go onto Amazon or the BFI website

00:22:06and order a couple of those box sets.

00:22:08I'm interested in myself, actually.

00:22:09Yeah.

00:22:09The Children's Film Foundation films are just, they're little time capsules, aren't they, as well?

00:22:15They're beautiful time capsules.

00:22:16Yeah.

00:22:17Yeah, they are.

00:22:17There's a great documentary, actually, guys, on the CFF and how it started.

00:22:21And you see clips from many, many of these shows, and that's well worth the work.

00:22:28...of Screen Test, which was just, at times, terrifying, quite bleak, all these little pieces

00:22:34of films that would come in.

00:22:36But my sister and I mention this whenever we talk, and it's like, do you remember Screen

00:22:39Test?

00:22:40Do you remember the one where the kid gets in the car and shouldn't take a lift from strangers

00:22:44and all that sort of stuff?

00:22:45Did you do any of those public information films at all, Keith?

00:22:48No, I didn't, but I did do an advert once of kids stealing cars in Westminster, breaking

00:22:56into them with a screwdriver or something.

00:22:59But no, I didn't do any of those sort of stuff.

00:23:00I know plenty of people that did.

00:23:03I've done loads of training films, you know, things like B&Q and Rank Xerox and all that

00:23:08sort of stuff, yeah.

00:23:09Oh, man.

00:23:10And a few commercials.

00:23:12Well, just keeping it in the 70s for a little bit, I just want to briefly touch upon another

00:23:16one of my favourite series, which is Secret Army.

00:23:18Can you tell us a little bit about the filming of that, please?

00:23:21Right.

00:23:22Well, the kids were all great in it.

00:23:24John Narnie and Rachel Beasley and me.

00:23:28It was actually quite a good episode.

00:23:29I mean, I'll tell you what, I've been very lucky with the kind of stories I've been involved

00:23:33in.

00:23:33But I liked the programme before I was in it.

00:23:38And, yeah, the story was about an airman that had been shot down and the kids kind of

00:23:43got a hold of him and used him as a bargaining tool, really, to get stuff for Christmas.

00:23:48And the only thing which I didn't particularly enjoy about the show was the song that he had

00:23:52to sing.

00:23:52It was so repetitive.

00:23:53By the end of the credits, I was like, I'm going to strangle myself, really.

00:23:57Let's play another track.

00:23:58This is another favourite of my childhood, my first coming-of-age band, without a doubt,

00:24:02Madness.

00:24:03This is House of Fun.

00:24:04I've got a great story about accents and doing things in the wrong order.

00:24:28I did a thing called the Ladove Festival and I brought lines in the wrong area.

00:24:33I brought lines forward in the show, basically.

00:24:37I told this guy that we captured that I was going to cut his head off.

00:24:41I was French and English, right?

00:24:43But, obviously, the French, I just moved the lines too far and I didn't know what I was

00:24:47doing.

00:24:47I just told him I was going to cut his head off.

00:24:50But that wasn't going to be for five minutes down the lines.

00:24:53So I actually cut five minutes out of the show because I delivered the wrong line.

00:24:57We've all done it.

00:24:58I've never told someone that I'm going to cut their head off.

00:25:00I'm thinking more from a theatrical perspective.

00:25:04This is so embarrassing.

00:25:06I did a production of A Few Good Men years and years ago and I played Sam, who was the

00:25:12Kevin Pollack character in the film.

00:25:14And there's a line right at the end where, to the female officer, says, Sam, are you going

00:25:20to stick around?

00:25:21And I'm supposed to say, no, I'm going to go home and see my daughter.

00:25:25Now, thank God this was during a dress rehearsal, because I went, no, I'm going to go home and

00:25:30sleep with my daughter.

00:25:34Can you imagine if I had said that on an actual performance?

00:25:40I think it would have got a good laugh.

00:25:41You could have turned that into a moment of surreal irony.

00:25:44Yeah, but I would have done some cheeky wink and it would have looked even more singing.

00:25:50Heath, tell us about Madness and House of Fun.

00:25:52And why did you choose that track?

00:25:54I chose it because I did a, funny enough, people ask me, what's the best thing you've

00:26:01ever done in terms of part, acting, whatever?

00:26:03And it was this, but it was a play for today, BBC Two, called Wayne and Albert.

00:26:08Arthur English played my granddad.

00:26:10And it was all about a lad.

00:26:12My granddad came from the country and I was a city lad, very much so.

00:26:18Again, a fantastic cast and it was Arthur English's first great part.

00:26:25And so he was quite nervous about it sort of thing.

00:26:27But because I was a bit of a bit of a tosser in it, I was playing madness in my bedroom in

00:26:34his country cottage sort of thing, which disturbed me.

00:26:37It was, you know, it was too loud.

00:26:38And so there were a lot of mad, there was a madness tape pretty much all of the time.

00:26:44And in the city was very poignant because that's basically where I came from.

00:26:50Sure.

00:26:50Of course.

00:26:50And so Arthur was banging on the ceiling, turn it down, turn it down, that type of thing.

00:26:57And of course, I would just turn it up.

00:26:59So it was, so I loved all the madness stuff.

00:27:02Yeah.

00:27:03Still do.

00:27:05There's nothing, there was nothing like it and there hasn't been anything like it.

00:27:09No, they're incredible band.

00:27:11Mike Barson is a phenomenal songwriter.

00:27:13Did you know In The City was specifically written for a Honda car adverts, Japan only.

00:27:19There's a video and everything, but it wasn't shown over here.

00:27:21No, I didn't.

00:27:22Interesting stuff.

00:27:23You're saying about actors saying they can do things when they actually can't just to

00:27:26get the gig and what have you.

00:27:27Didn't you say something you could drive for a job on EastEnders?

00:27:31Yeah, but.

00:27:35At least you got the gig.

00:27:37I got the gig and they cut the scene.

00:27:39I got the gig and they cut it.

00:27:41I was livid, absolutely livid.

00:27:42No, but they said about Nicholas Lindhurst said he could drive when he got the part as the

00:27:47youngest son in Butterflies.

00:27:49Yeah, and he said he could drive and he couldn't.

00:27:51And I think he reversed off the drive and nearly ran over a cameraman or something like that.

00:27:55I was speaking to Gary Shaw the other day and he said that he said he thought they could

00:27:59drive and he was driving in some kind of American show or something.

00:28:03Anyway, he didn't tell him until later.

00:28:06I needed that.

00:28:07That's Gary.

00:28:07Classic Gary.

00:28:08Classic Gary.

00:28:09This is a question that we ask everybody and I haven't actually put it on your crib sheet

00:28:14for some strange reason why.

00:28:17I don't know why I've not put it on there because we do ask every single person this

00:28:20question.

00:28:21Okay.

00:28:22Keith, Jane, do you have a ghost story?

00:28:26Ghost story?

00:28:27Yes.

00:28:28Well, that'll do.

00:28:29Brilliant.

00:28:30Right.

00:28:30Next question.

00:28:31Next question.

00:28:33Here's one for you.

00:28:34But I'm not kind of a believer in that sort of stuff until something happens.

00:28:39This is it.

00:28:40It's true.

00:28:40When I got the part of the Aneedian line, my granddad had died the month before and it

00:28:45was his favourite programme.

00:28:46So it was not great timing.

00:28:48But when I got the script, I was up at the BBC TV centre dodging Jimmy Savile at the time

00:28:53and I was there reading the script.

00:28:55And I said to Garen Morris, who was a Jew, I said, Mr. Morris, this is this part of Tom.

00:29:03That's me.

00:29:03And he said, you never know.

00:29:05It could be you.

00:29:06I said, okay.

00:29:06Well, so I said, because my granddad's name was Tom and this was his favourite programme.

00:29:12And he said to me, better read it.

00:29:13So I read it.

00:29:15And I thankfully got the part.

00:29:17And we were filming it down in Falmouth.

00:29:19Part of the reason I live in Cornwall now.

00:29:20I had some time off one day.

00:29:23I don't know why.

00:29:23Probably with the weather.

00:29:24Weather dependent.

00:29:25Some of the filming.

00:29:26Because you're on the ship going five miles out to sea, trying to dodge the flight paths,

00:29:30you know, because it's a period piece.

00:29:32I had a sports car at the time.

00:29:34I was coming down the hill, not that fast.

00:29:37Suddenly the steering had gone.

00:29:39And it went to the left-hand side and up into someone's driveway.

00:29:44And do you remember the old yellow BT vans?

00:29:47The yellow television vacations comma vans, right?

00:29:49Yeah.

00:29:49And so I pulled up there.

00:29:51And as I pulled in this yellow comma van game, bouncing off edges, and flew past me, right?

00:29:58Suddenly my steering wheel became flexible again.

00:30:02But it wouldn't move until that had gone past.

00:30:05And I could have a hand on my shoulder like this, right?

00:30:09And it's kind of saying, you can go now, sort of thing.

00:30:12Now, I know that sounds crazy.

00:30:13Is it your granddad looking after you?

00:30:15Possibly.

00:30:15There's no vodka in here.

00:30:17I promise you.

00:30:17No vodka in this, boys.

00:30:18But that's the only time.

00:30:21Oh, man.

00:30:21I did a show called The Innocent.

00:30:23I did a theatre thing called The Innocents, which is a Henry James thing, adapted from The Turn of the Screw.

00:30:29Great cast in that.

00:30:31And that was a ghosty type thing.

00:30:32But I never really got spooked by it.

00:30:36But, yes, it's a real story.

00:30:39Oh, man.

00:30:39Are you quite a spiritual person, Keith?

00:30:41Do you believe that there's, not from a religious aspect, but do you believe that there's a bit more to life than just this, just flesh, blood, the end, see you later?

00:30:50It's hard to think that there isn't, especially if you've still got aspirations of things that you want to do.

00:30:55And I know it sounds a bit crazy, but there's so many people that don't get to do what they want to do.

00:31:00And I'm lucky because, you know, I don't want to tempt fate, but, you know, I've had a great life.

00:31:05I've been very privileged.

00:31:06A lot of it has been a bit shit, but most of it has been really happy.

00:31:10And I've been very privileged.

00:31:11But there are some people, I think, that would probably think there must be more to this, you know, that people less fortunate than ourselves, et cetera.

00:31:20You just hope that they can enjoy something in the future, whatever that may be.

00:31:25Is that what you believe, boys?

00:31:26No one's ever thrown the question back at us before, and that's quite lovely, actually.

00:31:29I think we've spoken about it quite openly on a lot of episodes, because I don't have a faith, but neither do I believe in paranormal, et cetera.

00:31:37But that's because, as John always says, you've never experienced something.

00:31:41When you do, then you might start thinking differently.

00:31:44Yeah.

00:31:44I do believe in some kind of power, you know, and some kind of influence, some kind of universal strength.

00:31:52But I wouldn't be able to explain it, but I feel something.

00:31:55I'd definitely say that we have some sort of energy about us as human beings.

00:32:00I have experienced things that have shaken me to the very core.

00:32:05I've experienced things that have been very, very enlightening and quite beautiful.

00:32:09I'd like to believe that there's a bit more to life than this.

00:32:11I'd like to believe that there's a bit more to life than this.

00:32:31Oh, M.D., Enola Gay.

00:32:33It's an anthem right up there.

00:32:35It set the standard in 1980.

00:32:37Tell us why you chose it, Keith.

00:32:38It's pointing with me because there's a real big meaning to that, isn't there?

00:32:42Yeah.

00:32:43Drop the atomic bomb.

00:32:44It was, yeah.

00:32:45Yeah.

00:32:46That's not why I chose it.

00:32:47I chose it because when I was doing Murphy's Mob, I was staying with my – we were filming

00:32:53at the first two years.

00:32:55I don't know if you guys watched it, but it was about a football club, Dunmore United.

00:33:00The first two years, we filmed at Elstree, where the standards is filmed.

00:33:05In the third and fourth years, because ATV was closing down and Central TV was taking over,

00:33:11we had to relocate.

00:33:12So not only did we have to relocate, but we had to recast a lot of the kids.

00:33:17Because I was the eldest, there's a shock, but a lot of the kids were under 16.

00:33:22Right.

00:33:22And so you couldn't actually relocate them because their schools were down in London.

00:33:27But anyway, consequently, I had the good fortune to be filming at Lenten Lane in Nottingham,

00:33:33Central TV.

00:33:34And my auntie and uncle and cousins live in Nottingham.

00:33:39So I stayed with them.

00:33:40And my cousins, this was the only thing that they could play on the organ.

00:33:44Oh, brilliant.

00:33:48At the time, wasn't it?

00:33:48Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:33:50That's right.

00:33:50Yeah, that's right.

00:33:51Yeah.

00:33:51I loved that those days.

00:33:53It was great.

00:33:54And also, I was working with, in the studio, we were next to things that you were automatically

00:34:01associated with the 80s.

00:34:03There was Blockbusters in one studio.

00:34:06Yeah.

00:34:06We had Spitting Him into another studio.

00:34:08We had The Price is Right in the other studio.

00:34:10And right next door to us was our boydizone pet.

00:34:12Oh, wow.

00:34:13Yeah, awesome.

00:34:14Which is how we got over to Gary Olsen.

00:34:16Right.

00:34:17Yeah.

00:34:17And the Murphy's Mob thing.

00:34:18Yeah, of course.

00:34:19So it was brilliant.

00:34:21But my God, there was a lot of drinking going on during those rehearsals.

00:34:27Because I could only work for a few hours a day.

00:34:29Yeah.

00:34:30But Keith, here it is for me, man.

00:34:35So 1984, Peter Davison's last series as Doctor Who.

00:34:39He is, without doubt, my favourite Doctor.

00:34:41I loved Baker's Bits.

00:34:42Everybody thinks Baker's the man.

00:34:44But I think things were getting tired.

00:34:46And when Davison came along, it breathed a new life into the show.

00:34:49And his final season in 1984, which began filming in 1983, was his strongest season, in my opinion.

00:34:56And it was a real shame because he'd made a decision to leave.

00:34:59And then all these great scripts started appearing.

00:35:03Warriors of the Deep, Frontiers.

00:35:05Then it was The Awakening.

00:35:07Just taking people up to where we are.

00:35:10The Awakening.

00:35:11A two-part story, which to this day, I still don't quite understand what it's all about.

00:35:17They are creating these time slides and they are bringing real-life people back, Keith being one of them, to 1984 England.

00:35:26In their period of time.

00:35:27Yeah.

00:35:28It's like time slides, but they're being done by this creature called The Malice.

00:35:33It starts becoming real and the people are becoming affected by it.

00:35:38Keith, you were in Doctor Who, man.

00:35:39I just, you're my best friend.

00:35:41Tell me about getting that gig, what it was like.

00:35:44I got the part through a guy called Michael Owen Morris, who'd been one of the production assistants on the Canadian line.

00:35:52Ah, right.

00:35:53And it was Michael's first gig as a director.

00:35:58I wanted to do it because it was Doctor Who, who doesn't.

00:36:01But the part was quite challenging, I have to concede.

00:36:05And I've said I was very nervous about it simply because of the peer pressure.

00:36:10I didn't want to let Michael down by ruining everything.

00:36:14And it had a West Country accent, but I really went over the top with it.

00:36:18And, you know, that was a bit of a Marmite kind of thing, really.

00:36:22But the part was a good one.

00:36:24It could easily have been three and probably four parts of that.

00:36:27It was just too much crammed into it, which is why the confusion arose, I think.

00:36:31But my part of Will Chandler came from 1643 up to that point in my career, my usual rags and ragamuffin look.

00:36:40I was always playing some kind of waif and stray, pretty much.

00:36:44And that was no exception.

00:36:45But it was a good part.

00:36:47Again, great people in it.

00:36:48I worked with Dennis Lill again.

00:36:49Polly James was brilliant.

00:36:50And obviously Mark Strickson, Janet Dilding, who's been in, you know, she's Doctor Who, she's Mrs. Who, isn't she?

00:36:56Do you know what I mean?

00:36:56Yeah.

00:36:57And I worked with Janet on Murphys, Mark, as well.

00:37:01It's funny, isn't it, who you actually work with at times.

00:37:04And there's so many different permutations.

00:37:06You know, working with these same people again.

00:37:08I really enjoyed doing that.

00:37:10There was a lot of running rounds, John, in that.

00:37:12There was a lot of running.

00:37:12It was like, do you remember the fast show when the family used to go from left to right to right?

00:37:16Come on, come on, James.

00:37:17So there was all that going on in the studio, dodging Jimmy Savile.

00:37:21And so, yeah, we're all over the place.

00:37:24Some people have said that I should have been in it more.

00:37:27I should have been a companion, which I wish I had have been.

00:37:29Christ, you know, it's been great.

00:37:31And one of the other things that happened in that show, there was an outtake in it, which was on Auntie's Bloomers.

00:37:37There was a horse and a cart behind it.

00:37:39So it's me, Polly, Peter, in the back of the cart.

00:37:44For some of the scene, they built a lich gate in front of the real church.

00:37:48When we turned up, the horse was pulling in.

00:37:51Of course, it didn't stop.

00:37:52It just carried on going.

00:37:53So the cart took the lich gate with it.

00:37:55I have to tell you, I actually got paid more for the outtake than I did for doing the show.

00:38:00Because it's shown in so many different places.

00:38:02It was great, yeah.

00:38:03Had I known the impact, let's put this into perspective.

00:38:08This is 1983.

00:38:10So we're now 40 years down the line.

00:38:12Okay.

00:38:13I'm still doing conventions, but in a much smaller way.

00:38:16Someone told me once, you can go to the States and do a convention every week.

00:38:20There's that many Doctor Who things going on.

00:38:23And, you know, some of the nicest people in the industry are Doctor Who followers.

00:38:27I've actually stood at a convention every September in Derby now.

00:38:32And someone recited all my lines, stood in front of me.

00:38:36Better than I did.

00:38:37Better accident than me as well.

00:38:38And I thought, well, hang on.

00:38:39You know, how did they know of this shit?

00:38:41But they, honestly, God, they're brilliant.

00:38:43The things you get asked to sign.

00:38:45I mean, it was crazy.

00:38:47But I loved it.

00:38:48I love all that.

00:38:50And the spin-offs from it as well.

00:38:51I wonder, Keith, obviously, it wasn't lost on you and it was a gig you really wanted.

00:38:58We know now with history and with nostalgia and with the huge fan groups all over the world,

00:39:06when did that start becoming, when did that occur to you that you were part of this legacy?

00:39:11Did it not happen for years?

00:39:13No, I think there was a bit of a lull there, to be honest.

00:39:15I think it was a lull because the 60th year has come up, the 60th anniversary has come up, etc., etc.

00:39:20But because I wasn't really, hadn't made myself available, if you say what I mean, I didn't have an agent or whatever.

00:39:25But I did one in, bizarrely, I did one in Exeter in the, I think, 1999.

00:39:31It was quite funny, you know, because someone said to me, you've done conventions before.

00:39:34And I just said, well, no, this is my first one, this is my second one ever.

00:39:38And someone wrote to me, PMed me and said, you were in Exeter.

00:39:42And someone said, well, is that really?

00:39:45And then she just sent me photographs.

00:39:46She's right, because I'm speaking to Colin Baker.

00:39:49Brilliant, brilliant.

00:39:50So it is a bit weird when you can't remember where you were.

00:39:53I was on YouTube the other day, looking at something or other, and I thought, I recognise that title.

00:39:59And it was a thing called A Kind of English, kind of Bollywood thing.

00:40:02And I thought, I recognise this.

00:40:05And I thought, oh, my mate was probably in it.

00:40:06I've got a good mate called Wayne Norman.

00:40:08He played Pickles in Wurzel Gummidge.

00:40:12He was his nephew.

00:40:13Oh, wow.

00:40:14I thought, oh, I think maybe Wayne did this.

00:40:16No, it was me in it.

00:40:17I'd only got a small part.

00:40:19It was only a small part.

00:40:20I even said to Sam, I said, my reason I said, come here.

00:40:23And not only that, I'd actually dubbed someone else his voice.

00:40:26Because I could see an Indian guy going into a cab firm.

00:40:29And I thought, that's my voice.

00:40:32Brilliant.

00:40:32So it's just bizarre.

00:40:34I would say that there was probably that lull, because The Awakening didn't actually get a home video release until 1998.

00:40:41Right.

00:40:41So unless you'd seen it on TV.

00:40:43You're right, actually, John.

00:40:44Because I didn't have people saying to me, oh, keep us here in Doctor Who.

00:40:46That didn't happen as much as, oh, I saw you in Absolute Death Survivors or whatever.

00:40:51It was quite an interesting, potentially interesting thing about Stig.

00:41:15which was that there was a series written called Stig on the River to follow up.

00:41:21This is a little known fact for us.

00:41:23And the reasons that it didn't go into production, we set the time aside to do it.

00:41:29We waited for the reaction to the original.

00:41:31It was written.

00:41:33Clive King, who was the original author, book, pen to paper, come up with this thing.

00:41:38But then there was, he got cold feet, apparently, because he didn't want to ruin the original.

00:41:44Right.

00:41:44Although he was very happy with the adaptation, the original one.

00:41:47Don't forget, this is 1981.

00:41:49And the makeup then wasn't as it is now.

00:41:52And I was literally covered in gravy browning.

00:41:55Right.

00:41:56Right.

00:41:56And they thought, Stig on the River.

00:41:58Right.

00:41:59That involves water.

00:42:00That ain't going to work, is it?

00:42:01It's Shirley Bassey.

00:42:02And come and build up stars in their eyes.

00:42:03Yeah.

00:42:03You know, come out as someone else.

00:42:05Yeah.

00:42:06So that's really one of the reasons why it didn't take off.

00:42:10But it was mooted.

00:42:12And it went further than that, actually.

00:42:14So it was a shame it didn't come off.

00:42:16I'd have loved to have done it, knowing what I know now.

00:42:18You're looking very pensive there, John.

00:42:20No, I'm thinking, I'm just thinking that they should do a Stig sequel with you as you are now.

00:42:25I'd need to lose about three stone.

00:42:28But would Stig have developed linguistic skills?

00:42:33Would he have evolved?

00:42:34Might have been a few Uggs.

00:42:35Yeah.

00:42:36Uggs and Man Uggs.

00:42:37You moved on from the Uggs.

00:42:37Man Uggs.

00:42:38Man Uggs.

00:42:39Yes.

00:42:39Yeah.

00:42:41In a key time, is it cold?

00:42:44In your little corner of the world.

00:42:52You could roll around the globe.

00:42:58Nick Kershaw played on that, didn't he?

00:43:00And Mark King and George Michael.

00:43:02Yeah.

00:43:02Oh, right.

00:43:03Nikita, Elton John, tell us your reasoning behind choosing that.

00:43:06Okay.

00:43:06So when we were filming Murphy's Mob, Mickey Dolenz was the director on some of them.

00:43:13And of course, Mickey Dolenz had also directed Metal Mickey, I think.

00:43:17This is a real weird thing, isn't it?

00:43:18That Mickey Dolenz would actually direct his programme.

00:43:22Like Murphy's Mob, it just didn't seem to fit.

00:43:24It's weird.

00:43:24But what a nice guy he was, because I was much older.

00:43:29I was driving the other kids.

00:43:31We used to go next door to the pub in the afternoons, because the children could only

00:43:35work for so long, nine, three or four hours, and they had chaperones.

00:43:39And Ken Hutchison, who played Matt Murphy, established actively in all sorts of straw dogs,

00:43:45and he used to lock a drink.

00:43:48There was another guy called Terry Budd that was in it, Masputin Jones, he was in it.

00:43:53But of course, Ken was great mates with Dennis Waterman.

00:43:57And so there used to be some great kind of lock-ins occasionally.

00:44:02But Nikita was constantly on, remember, jukeboxes?

00:44:06Yeah.

00:44:07So as was Jerry Rafferty Baker Street.

00:44:10That was going on as well.

00:44:1278, mate.

00:44:13Yeah, I know.

00:44:14I didn't mention it, John.

00:44:15And I just, I love that track.

00:44:18I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

00:44:19I had a specific remit, and I kept it for once.

00:44:23But Nikita, I can remember just, you know, Ken leaning back and trying to stand this door

00:44:29and singing it and loving it.

00:44:30Linda Bellingham was there as well.

00:44:32Very good people in that show.

00:44:33I think it's one of Elton John's finest.

00:44:35I really do.

00:44:36I come from Pinner, which is where Elton John lived, wasn't it?

00:44:41Yeah.

00:44:41One of Duran is from Pinner.

00:44:43I want to know that Nikita's just very sophisticated, the production, the sound.

00:44:48Yeah.

00:44:48And like we said, you've got George Michael harmonising.

00:44:52You've got Nick Kershaw on guitar, Mark King, Liverpool, too, on bass.

00:44:55It's just, it's killer.

00:44:56It's killer.

00:44:57Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it?

00:44:58Yeah, it's amazing.

00:44:58It's good.

00:44:59What did Peter Davison like to work with as a person?

00:45:02Was he a nice guy?

00:45:03Lovely guy.

00:45:04Lovely guy.

00:45:04I've worked with him before, but very briefly, I have to say, a couple of times, I thought

00:45:10he was the best Doctor.

00:45:11I grew up with John Berkley, not literally, not in a Jimmy Savile way.

00:45:16That's three Savile bombs.

00:45:18Yeah.

00:45:19Peter's very easy to get on with.

00:45:20And I remember being on location in The Awakening, there was a big fire going on where we were

00:45:27going to be burning the Queen of the May.

00:45:28And I remember Peter turning up in his black sarg on that particular day, and I was thinking,

00:45:34that's who I'd like to be, right?

00:45:36And of course, he'd done all great creatures and the greatest war, which I love.

00:45:40Where was that filmed, by the way?

00:45:42That was filmed at a place called Shatwick in Dorset, but there were two Shatwicks, as

00:45:49we found out when we tried to film Myth Makers in the first Shatwick.

00:45:52Anyway, we had to come back and film it in the proper Shatwick.

00:45:55So, Heath, another one of my favourite programmes, and they've been re-showing them on drama

00:46:00recently, and they've really taken me back to what Saturday nights were all about for

00:46:05me as a kid, because as soon as I heard that particular theme tune, or the end credits of

00:46:08that theme tune, right, bed.

00:46:11Genuinely, it was right, bed.

00:46:14That was the professionals for me.

00:46:16It was casualty.

00:46:17Professionals, yeah, professionals.

00:46:18So, you stole an ambulance, you cheeky little scamp.

00:46:21Tell us about that.

00:46:22That was first series as well, 1986, the very first series of Casualty.

00:46:26Yeah, I like to get in early.

00:46:30Casualty, yes.

00:46:30This is where working with people on the other side of the camera is so important.

00:46:35I got this job through a guy called Mike Brayshaw, and Mike was on the Aeneidine line.

00:46:40And no wonder there's 97% unemployment, it's only 3% of actors working, they all know each

00:46:45other.

00:46:46And they were all in the Aeneidine line.

00:46:48In the Aeneidine line, exactly, yeah.

00:46:49Mike Brayshaw asked me to do it, it's as simple as that, isn't it?

00:46:53He said, it's not a great, but I'd like you to do it.

00:46:55He said, you're bored, you're going into a hospital for doing something or other, you're

00:46:59bored, you wander around, and then think it'd be fun to nick an ambulance.

00:47:03When I take the ambulance, basically, this thing goes into the credits.

00:47:07I take the ambulance, I decide to play around and put the blue lights on, flash the headlights.

00:47:13I bear in mind, always, brand new Mercedes ambulance.

00:47:16These are not cheap vehicles, are they?

00:47:18So, I'm a confident driver, but all night, we were filming, because we had two police

00:47:23cars, like stunt cars, either side, trying to trap me, trying to chase me, whatever.

00:47:28And I had to drive through.

00:47:30You might not remember this, but on the border of England and Wales, there used to be services

00:47:35called AUST services, A-U-S-T services.

00:47:38No, no.

00:47:39No, thanks, because now I feel really old, but the toll booths weren't very wide, but

00:47:45I had to fit this brand new Mercedes ambulance through these toll booths.

00:47:50Not only that, it was foggy.

00:47:52I had to put the blue lights on at a specific time, and I had to flash the lights at a specific

00:47:56time.

00:47:57And then the two Rover, the SDI Rovers, had to come through.

00:48:00That was a nightmare.

00:48:02It took probably five to six hours to actually complete that scene, because when you went

00:48:06through it, you had to learn to drive three miles to the next turn off, turn all the way

00:48:10back, back up.

00:48:10It took forever.

00:48:13Absolute nightmare.

00:48:14So, it was a very difficult thing to do, but it was fun.

00:48:18And you worked with the wonderful Derek Thompson, who has now departed.

00:48:23Oh, Charlie.

00:48:23Charlie Favre.

00:48:24Yeah, that's how he's done.

00:48:25He's gone from the show after...

00:48:27It was gutted.

00:48:28...4,000 years of being on it.

00:48:30And I just felt that he went, that's a bit of a weak outing.

00:48:34Stabbed by some chav in a corridor.

00:48:36Very weak parting, you know.

00:48:38It wasn't a bomb explosion or a car crash.

00:48:40It was...

00:48:41But it was nice to see Josh, the ambulance driver, come back.

00:48:43Yeah.

00:48:43That was a nice thing.

00:48:44I just didn't think it was realistic enough.

00:48:46I mean, he didn't have to ring 111, did he?

00:48:48Do you know what I mean?

00:48:48No, exactly.

00:48:50He just...

00:48:50And someone was there immediately.

00:48:52I mean, how does that happen?

00:48:53Yeah, exactly.

00:48:54Just great waiting for hours.

00:48:55If you're a pensioner that falls in the snow, you may as well just hunker down for the

00:48:58night.

00:48:59You're there.

00:49:00Keith, also, another medical-based drama before we get on to Murphy's...

00:49:03Medical-based drama.

00:49:04Before we get on to Murphy's mob, Angels.

00:49:07Tell us about that.

00:49:08Angels.

00:49:08Oh, yeah.

00:49:09This is an early part for me.

00:49:11I did two things in Angels.

00:49:12This got picked up by some eagle-eyed viewer that said, why has Jane come back?

00:49:18So soon, it was a different person.

00:49:20But first of all, I played a young lad whose mum had brought me in because I was...

00:49:27I don't know what was happening.

00:49:29I either had the shits or something.

00:49:30But anyway, I went into hospital.

00:49:31And they couldn't find out what was wrong with me.

00:49:34But then they discovered that actually it was eating cake.

00:49:39But my mum had brought me in some cake because it was either my birthday or whatever, just

00:49:44to cheer me up, you see.

00:49:46But the nurse, played by Julie Dawn Cole, also a brilliant actress, went to my school.

00:49:53She gave me the cake and then got into the crap because it then made me ill.

00:50:00This then led to...

00:50:01This was in an episode of Appraisal.

00:50:04She then had a fantastic scene.

00:50:08We think it was June Watson with her superior and brought this issue up with her.

00:50:14But if you watch that episode again, you look at the time of that scene.

00:50:20I'm not sure there were any breaks, but I'm pretty sure it's 15 minutes.

00:50:2315 minutes is a theatre scene.

00:50:26That's not a theatre scene.

00:50:27And she was absolutely brilliant in it.

00:50:30I don't know how I got to return in it, but I did.

00:50:33Maybe I was so forgettable as Nigel Clarke came back as Mark Allen.

00:50:39I do see a lot of actors doing that where they return to a series as somebody else several

00:50:44years later.

00:50:45And in a strange way, nobody notices.

00:50:48Casualties are the biggest culprit of that, I'd say.

00:50:51You'd have one bloke playing.

00:50:53He's a Russian captain of a vessel, like a cargo ship or something.

00:50:58Holby's obviously got a dox.

00:50:59It's got everything else.

00:51:00Holby Airport.

00:51:01Holby International Football Team.

00:51:04Less than a year later, he's back and he's playing like the...

00:51:07A dustman.

00:51:08A dustman.

00:51:08Yeah.

00:51:09You know.

00:51:10It's who you know as well.

00:51:11Yeah.

00:51:12I've worked for different directors.

00:51:13I've worked for Pellant Roberts three times.

00:51:15Oh, Pellant Roberts, yeah.

00:51:16And if they remember you, you're a lovely man.

00:51:18A lovely man.

00:51:19In fact, when I was thinking about this difficult time around life, I was thinking, well, actually,

00:51:22I wouldn't mind going on the other side of the camera and doing a bit of directing or

00:51:25writing.

00:51:26I needed recommendations and I went to Pennant.

00:51:28I went to Richard Hanford and a couple of other guys for those kind of testimonials, if you

00:51:35like, which got me onto the Beaconsfield course, but I didn't go through with it.

00:51:39There was other things going on in my life at this moment.

00:51:40But Pennant, Robert, Doctor Who connection there as well.

00:51:43Survivors.

00:51:44Yeah.

00:51:44Survivors as well.

00:51:45Yeah.

00:51:45Good friends with Terry Nation.

00:51:47Yes.

00:51:48Yeah.

00:51:48The writer.

00:51:48But Survivors is another thing.

00:51:50It's another cult thing.

00:51:52Do you know, I've been involved with an awful lot of cults in my time.

00:51:56And, you know, which is great.

00:51:57Do you consider yourself to be a total and utter cult?

00:52:00Yes, absolutely.

00:52:02Gary Shell told us in no uncertain terms that he was the biggest cult we'd ever met.

00:52:08He'd be right.

00:52:12I know you've mentioned Murphy's Mob throughout the interview and bits and pieces.

00:52:17You mentioned Gary Holden being in Elvita's own pet in the neighbouring studio and obviously

00:52:23being involved in the theme tune.

00:52:25But, yeah, tear that open.

00:52:27Yeah, go nuts, Keith.

00:52:28We had apparently lined up, I think it was a Danish band, to come in and play the theme

00:52:34tune to Murphy's Mob.

00:52:35But they never turned up.

00:52:37I think it was David Foster.

00:52:40But anyway, he was panicking and thinking, well, where with hell are we going to do that?

00:52:43I think someone suggested, are there any bloody musicians in the studios?

00:52:46For Christ's sake, we need to get this sorted out.

00:52:48Anyway, Gary was on hand to, he said, yeah, I'll do it.

00:52:53He did that.

00:52:55And, you know, the thing is that sometimes it's the spontaneity of the way that things

00:53:00happen that make them famous or make things more special than they otherwise would have

00:53:05been.

00:53:05And the theme tune to that is famous for a couple of reasons.

00:53:10One is that, well, I've just told you about, but the other thing is that one of the reasons

00:53:14I was told that Murphy's Mob hasn't been repeated, it was repeated once, right?

00:53:19But that was it.

00:53:20As far as I'm aware, anyway.

00:53:21We should have been repeated more, obviously.

00:53:24But it was because of the drugs references to it in it.

00:53:28Now, I read that thing and I can't see any reference to drugs at all, but that's what

00:53:34I was told.

00:53:35One other reference, or one other thing, is that because of the manager, or the owner

00:53:41of the football club used to smoke cigars in the manager's office.

00:53:45So this is a big no-no, isn't it?

00:53:46When you watch children's TV and you're having a fan.

00:53:49So really, it's out of time now, I think, and sadly.

00:53:53You know, and I kind of agree with that.

00:53:56It's a shame because these stories were actually quite good in Murphy's Mob.

00:54:02The only problem, I think, was that some of it was a little bit repetitive in terms of

00:54:07the speeches, but nevertheless, yeah, some good characters in that.

00:54:13Wurzel was a good character.

00:54:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:54:15And he and I actually often get mistaken because, you know, we both were at the front

00:54:19of the queue when noses were given out.

00:54:22Did you ever get offered any soaps at all through your agent?

00:54:25I did a couple of it in EastEnders, but not really.

00:54:29I'll tell you what, my only claim to fame with the soaps is that I was actually born the

00:54:33night before Coronation Street started, I was born on the 9th of December, 1960, on

00:54:40the 10th.

00:54:41My birthday is exactly the same day as Kenneth Branagh, you know, whatever happened to him.

00:54:46Yeah, whatever.

00:54:47Exactly.

00:54:49No, he's in prison at the moment.

00:54:51Would you say there were any gigs that you didn't get, that you were a bit gutted about?

00:54:56Yes, yes, yeah.

00:54:57Oh, you're rearing up for this one, aren't you?

00:54:59Oh, I'm rearing to go with this one, yeah, absolutely.

00:55:00Yeah, go on.

00:55:01In fact, I've written it down, I've got notes everywhere here.

00:55:03There were a few, I got a, oh, sorry about that, I got a commercial, I went for an audition

00:55:09and I got a really big commercial to go to the States.

00:55:13I used to do impressions as a young kid, just one of the things that used to amuse people

00:55:17to get me out of trouble and stop me being locked in freezers and thrown over fences

00:55:21and stuff.

00:55:22And I used to do David Frost and went for this audition and I got the part and we were

00:55:28going to go out to the States and do this.

00:55:30I don't know what it was for, some kind of travel thing, commercial, and they didn't raise

00:55:34enough money.

00:55:35And so I didn't, I didn't go, which was a shame.

00:55:39There was another thing they were doing, the American version of Black Beauty.

00:55:41I got a role in that and they didn't raise the money.

00:55:45And that was going to be done by Gerry Anderson, the first producer, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.

00:55:51Yeah.

00:55:52Didn't get that either.

00:55:53There's another bloody thing as well.

00:55:54Let's have a look.

00:55:56Oh yes, there was.

00:55:57If anyone needs a drink, Keith's got bitter on tap.

00:56:01Absolutely.

00:56:02I'll tell you something else I did.

00:56:03I went for an audition for Foxville Cars, General Motors.

00:56:09This was around the CF at the time I was doing Robin Hood, right?

00:56:13Book to do Robin Hood, The Unbroken Hour, the second part.

00:56:17So I went for this job and they said to me, this is a big ad geek, you know, it's like,

00:56:22so you have to read, it's for a part of Harry and it would be the housewife's favourite.

00:56:28You know, you've got to be a good looking lad.

00:56:29And I thought, well, I haven't really passed in that department, but I can do the cheeky bit.

00:56:34June Collins rang me and said, Keith, I got, she said, you've actually got this part.

00:56:39And I said, what?

00:56:40Yeah, you have got the part.

00:56:42I said, oh, that's brilliant.

00:56:44And it was going to be a good pay as well.

00:56:46And I thought, well, happy days, here we go.

00:56:47And then she rang me and said, oh, Keith, it's June.

00:56:50She said, I've just realised that you've been double booked.

00:56:54And I said, well, of course.

00:56:55She said, for The Unbroken Hour, you've got to go.

00:56:57So she said, you've already signed the contract for that.

00:57:00So we've got to do so-and-so.

00:57:02But Jesus Christ, oh, no.

00:57:04Anyway, what happened then, this is a story I was told, obviously,

00:57:09was that another guy I know called Dave John.

00:57:12Dave John played the part, OK, and he did it brilliantly.

00:57:15And he would have been a lot better than me anyway.

00:57:17The story goes that he did some kind of ad that, I think,

00:57:21where he told him he was driving a battered old Toronto Toledo.

00:57:23And because they were selling, like, new Astras and stuff at the time,

00:57:27I think General Motors might have ended up giving him a new car.

00:57:30So I was really gutted, I can tell you.

00:57:34And the last thing, I was even closer to something I really wish I'd been in.

00:57:40And that was I actually went over to Austria to be in Prisoner of Zender,

00:57:45Peter Sellers' film.

00:57:46And I had a part, right, and I played the part of the boy, servant boy.

00:57:52I didn't care, right?

00:57:53It was great because I met Peter Sellers.

00:57:55It was a great cast in that.

00:57:57I was over there for, like, four or five weeks, I think,

00:58:00waiting for the right weather for this stuff.

00:58:01And Peter Sellers didn't like the bloody lighting on that show.

00:58:05He had the right hump with it.

00:58:06So they cut the scene.

00:58:07So I did all that.

00:58:08I did earn a few bob out of it.

00:58:10But the point was I'd have done it for nothing.

00:58:12They cut it.

00:58:15So, you know, sick of the car.

00:58:17It was an outbreak.

00:58:17A bit like John's scene in EastEnders.

00:58:19That's twice you've brought it up.

00:58:21Pick her up at five o'clock.

00:58:22No, no, that wasn't the line.

00:58:24That wasn't the line.

00:58:25Come on, give us the line.

00:58:26Come on.

00:58:27You know what I'm doing?

00:58:28Getting into character.

00:58:28Sorry, sorry, sorry.

00:58:30I'll pick it up later, all right?

00:58:32Beautiful.

00:58:33That was it.

00:58:34And, yeah, my BAFTA is in the post.

00:58:38We're going to play Keith's last choice of the evening

00:58:40before these two absolute fuckers embarrass me even more.

00:58:44This is Walk of Life by Dire Straits.

00:58:47Dire Straits' Walk of Life.

00:59:13First choice we've had for Dire Straits on the series.

00:59:16I'd say so, yeah.

00:59:18What were your reasonings behind choosing that, Keith?

00:59:19Okay, right.

00:59:20So this was, I didn't realise, but it was the B-side of So Far Away.

00:59:25Correct.

00:59:25You probably knew that, I guess, to start with.

00:59:27I think they ran out of tracks on Brothers in Arms to release.

00:59:30Yeah.

00:59:31Because it was, what, eight-track albums?

00:59:32Something like that.

00:59:33This was played all the time at the same time as Stevie Wonder's

00:59:38I Just Called to Say I Love You.

00:59:40It was that kind of era.

00:59:42So, but Walk of Life is played all the time.

00:59:46I'm sorry, it's another Murphy's Mob thing, but I've spent four years of the ten in it.

00:59:51And there's also some kind of reference to John Lennon, I think, Walk of Life.

00:59:56But this is played all the time on the way to and from rehearsals at Murphy's Mob.

01:00:01That's really the reason that I picked it, takes it back to that time.

01:00:05That's what music does, though, isn't it?

01:00:07It takes you back to certain memories, certain times in your life, some of which are quite emotive.

01:00:14But had I had another choice, it would have been Half a Football and Half a Man, Nick Lowe.

01:00:19Because that's the kind of place I found myself in.

01:00:22Oh, of course, yeah.

01:00:23What year was that released?

01:00:2479.

01:00:25No way.

01:00:2578, 79.

01:00:27That's a big period for stiff records.

01:00:29I'm guessing he was on stiff.

01:00:30I really like you, Keith.

01:00:32It's 79, but I'm going to play it.

01:00:34We're going to throw it in.

01:00:34It's going in the show.

01:00:36Don't care.

01:00:36And it's better than Crawl to be kind.

01:00:39So there you go.

01:00:40Now, Luke, you mentioned a little bit at the very, very top of the interview about your agent advising your mum to stop giving the injections and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

01:00:48And then we talked through your career and then you took a step out of acting.

01:00:53Kind of talk us through that a little bit because that can't have been easy.

01:00:57It wasn't easy because it was my chosen profession, my first love, if you like.

01:01:02And it's one of those things where I never even envisaged doing what I did.

01:01:07Even quite a long time after the accident.

01:01:10I can only say that when I went on, when I got onto a stage, first thing I did was carry on London on stage, but I wasn't phased by it.

01:01:17You were on stage first time unfazed.

01:01:20I guess that's where you felt your calling and you felt that size wasn't an issue.

01:01:26It wasn't an issue.

01:01:27Yeah.

01:01:27I think people say, weren't you nervous?

01:01:30Weren't you nervous?

01:01:31No, I wasn't.

01:01:31I was more nervous doing TV.

01:01:33And it's normally the other way around.

01:01:35TV, you get another crack at it.

01:01:37But you learn that as theatre, I loved it.

01:01:41When I stepped back from it, it was a difficult decision to do.

01:01:44I got married in the third series of Murphy's Mob.

01:01:46And then I was convinced to move to Wales to buy a pottage there.

01:01:52And that was to kind of get away from it all.

01:01:54And I was then started a business doing CBs for other actors and stuff and just trying to find stuff to do.

01:02:02And in the end, I just answered an advert, then just kind of got into.

01:02:07And when I went to an interview, someone said, oh, you're a good people person.

01:02:11And then we'll take you on.

01:02:13Took one commission only job.

01:02:15But I was never really a sell it and leave type person.

01:02:18I wanted to build a business, which I've done.

01:02:21And just in the process of leaving now, thank you, to go back and do the lovely stuff.

01:02:27And I remember going into someone's house, talking to them about retirement, etc.

01:02:33And there was a girl sat on a sofa and she was looking at me and looking at her dad.

01:02:37And Murphy's Mob was on TV.

01:02:40And she said, you look very like that black plane boxer in that thing.

01:02:44So I said, oh, because I wasn't that much older than them, really.

01:02:48I didn't look that much older.

01:02:50I could hardly bloody deny, especially when my name came up on the screen at the end of it.

01:02:54And her dad, the only time it ever has been a disadvantage to me was when her dad said, so how do we know we're not acting now?

01:03:04Oh, no.

01:03:06Honestly.

01:03:06Wow.

01:03:07Honestly.

01:03:07So I didn't, you know, they didn't become clients or anything.

01:03:10But I mean, most of the clients I have now I've had for 30 years.

01:03:14You know, I'm now doing pensions for their children and their grandchildren.

01:03:19So I've served my time in that profession, I think.

01:03:22And, you know, I've always wanted to go back and do what I'm doing.

01:03:24But as I say, it's not something you just leave.

01:03:26People are paying you to look after them.

01:03:29Yeah, of course.

01:03:30One of my all time heroes and someone I've always said I must write a book about him is Peter Butterworth.

01:03:36Oh, right.

01:03:36Yeah.

01:03:37OK.

01:03:37Yeah.

01:03:38Yeah.

01:03:38Do you remember any time?

01:03:40Yeah.

01:03:40Miserable bloke.

01:03:41Was he really?

01:03:42Yeah.

01:03:43That's all I remember.

01:03:45Yeah.

01:03:45Sadly.

01:03:45Sorry to piss on your chips.

01:03:47But if I just said to you, no, he's a lovely guy, I'd be lying.

01:03:51I mean, he wasn't like that with all the boys, really.

01:03:53I love watching him.

01:03:54He's very funny, isn't he?

01:03:56Yeah.

01:03:56We're a great part of the carry-on team.

01:03:58But speak as you find.

01:04:00Sid James was lovely.

01:04:02Barbara Windsor was brilliant.

01:04:04So was Bernard Bressler.

01:04:05Me and a few lads from school.

01:04:07Barbara Speaks had a song with Sid James called Our House.

01:04:11The ceiling still leaks.

01:04:12We made leaks.

01:04:13The floor was like a creek.

01:04:14There's a door ringing off of the sideboard.

01:04:16Ranging off of the sideboard.

01:04:17Our house.

01:04:19There's a little love in every corner.

01:04:21Oh, brilliant.

01:04:22Yeah, it was great.

01:04:23Love it.

01:04:24Good God, that's it.

01:04:25That's the original programme.

01:04:27No, you know, I'm not lying.

01:04:28Jack Douglas was in it.

01:04:29How the hell have you got that?

01:04:30Because he hasn't had a life.

01:04:31God, blimey.

01:04:32That's amazing.

01:04:33Listeners, he's just handed the original programme up to the screen.

01:04:37Yeah, carry on London at the Victoria Palace.

01:04:40I'm going to have to open it.

01:04:42I'm going to have to open it.

01:04:42I'm not...

01:04:42Don't open it.

01:04:43Don't open it.

01:04:44You'll ruin it.

01:04:45It's all right.

01:04:46You've just lost five quid by opening it.

01:04:48In 1974.

01:04:50That would be about right.

01:04:51Why the move to Cornwall?

01:04:53It's somewhere I've holidayed for most of my life.

01:04:56You've obviously done filming down that way.

01:04:59I loved it when I was working here.

01:05:01I got back from filming the Anedia 9.

01:05:03There were no mobiles in those days.

01:05:04When I got home, this never happens.

01:05:07All the editions were in London normally.

01:05:09June had rung my home and said, Keith's got an audition.

01:05:14You've got to go back to Cornwall tomorrow because you've got an audition at 10 o'clock.

01:05:17Wow.

01:05:18I had to go back to Penzance.

01:05:19That's weird.

01:05:20To come back.

01:05:21It was an 8-hour journey then.

01:05:22Yeah, yeah.

01:05:238.30.

01:05:24So I had to go back.

01:05:25And I got the part.

01:05:27Oh, man.

01:05:27And this is a thing called Last Summer's Child with Billy Whitelaw and Anthony Bates.

01:05:31It was quite a nice little part playing a little fisherman, Cornish fisherman.

01:05:34I sounded Irish, to be fair, but it was Cornish.

01:05:38Very close, aren't they?

01:05:39Yeah, exactly.

01:05:40Yeah.

01:05:41So I've kind of been drawn here.

01:05:43Some things are just meant to happen, aren't they?

01:05:46What was meant to happen, Dave, was my dad was a policeman, as I've mentioned.

01:05:50And at the age of 43, he had a severe heart attack and so much so that the chief medical

01:05:57officer for the Met Police said to him, you days are overtime, you're in the police, sort

01:06:00of thing.

01:06:01And he'd always said to mum, if ever the post office and stores comes up for sale in St.

01:06:07Morgan, which is kind of between Newquay and Padstow on the North of Cornwall Coast,

01:06:12we've got to get it.

01:06:13In those days, I'm not sure if it's still around now, but there was a paper called the

01:06:16Dalton's Weekly.

01:06:17And all the businesses used to be across the UK.

01:06:20It was incredible that it was for sale when dad was recuperating.

01:06:26And so when he got his payment from the police, good behaviour, they bought it.

01:06:31They bought it in Cornwall.

01:06:32Of course, I used to then go down and see them and help them in the shop and the post

01:06:37office and stuff.

01:06:38That wasn't the days of the Horizon scandal.

01:06:40No.

01:06:41It was slightly before then.

01:06:42Ultimately, because my mum and dad weren't in great health, we decided that we would move

01:06:48here and then make sure to try and look at them some help.

01:06:52My sister was, my sister Debbie was down here as well.

01:06:54She had the other shop.

01:06:55My son, Tom, lives down here now.

01:06:58And so that's kind of why we are in Cornwall.

01:07:00And it's a kind of thing that they say that once you move, you don't move away.

01:07:04Agreed.

01:07:04But have you ever used to come down here then, David?

01:07:08I've never lived down there, but like John, I've holidayed and yeah, Padstow, Foy, all

01:07:13sorts of places.

01:07:14I'm right in thinking.

01:07:15I think it's Liskard.

01:07:17Liskard has the oldest post office in the country.

01:07:21It may well have.

01:07:22I visited it and it's, it's plaqued up and it's, it's ancient, it's medieval, but it's

01:07:27post office and still operative.

01:07:29I still maintain that St. Ives is one of the most beautiful places in the, in the UK.

01:07:34If you can park there, John, it's brilliant.

01:07:36Yeah.

01:07:37And it was just, yeah, it's just absolutely lovely.

01:07:40But my parents holiday at the Watergate in Newquay.

01:07:45That's where they always go.

01:07:46My son, my son worked at Watergate Bay and yeah, that's a great place.

01:07:51I'll tell you what, as you come down the coast road towards Watergate Bay from, from Porth,

01:07:57from kind of Newquay, that is probably one of the best of the most scenic places you

01:08:02can see in formal.

01:08:03We're very lucky that we live where we do, I must admit.

01:08:06But nowadays, with as much as I'm trying to get back into, or be trying to get back into

01:08:12the business, it doesn't matter where you live.

01:08:16So you don't have to really live in and around London really, to be honest.

01:08:19But my agent is in Cardiff.

01:08:22It doesn't really matter where your agent is either.

01:08:24It sounds like you're living the dream, Keith, really.

01:08:27I've been lucky to have been involved with a lot of people that I've worked with.

01:08:33I mean, you know, you still keep in touch with these people.

01:08:35I think half my problem is going to be that people, some people are shocked that I'm still

01:08:41around.

01:08:42When all that news broke, I was being sent cards, sympathy cards, and notes.

01:08:47Oh, so people assumed that was your fate, basically.

01:08:49Oh, yeah.

01:08:50Wow.

01:08:50Oh, yeah.

01:08:51There didn't seem to be much doubt about it.

01:08:54But not only am I alive, but I'm also happy to be back involved in it again.

01:08:59Yeah, of course.

01:09:01Keith, you're coming back to the world of acting, which is amazing.

01:09:05Well, I haven't yet.

01:09:07Well, I have in a way.

01:09:08But I've done a little short film called The Creek with Terriway Films.

01:09:13Keith, we're glad you're not dead.

01:09:15Yeah, that makes three of us.

01:09:16It's been so good.

01:09:17And I know we've said it a lot, but it's actually happened very few times where I feel

01:09:21like I've properly plugged into my childhood, like in a really resonating way.

01:09:26Oh, that's great.

01:09:27It's been really lovely.

01:09:28And what's really great as well is that you're not done.

01:09:31You've got tons to do and you will do it.

01:09:33I know you will.

01:09:33Well, I hope so.

01:09:35What advice would you offer to a young actor who's just starting out, who might want to

01:09:39listen to this?

01:09:40I would say to them, believe me, I wish I'd done this.

01:09:45Education.

01:09:46Get something behind you.

01:09:47At least get something else that you can fall back on.

01:09:49Because if you haven't got that, you've just got to be prepared to be unemployed for long,

01:09:54long periods of time.

01:09:55Just try and be nice to people on the way up because I've met a few coming down, you know.

01:09:59Keith, Jane, you've been amazing.

01:10:00Thank you so much for your time.

01:10:02That's all right.

01:10:02It's been a pleasure, guys.

01:10:03I think we should play out with your chosen track of Nick Lowe.

01:10:06Half man, half boy.

01:10:10Small man, big child.

01:10:11Half man, half biscuit.

01:10:12Charlie and the chocolate bootlaces.

01:10:15What was it called?

01:10:16Half a boy and half a man.

01:10:18Yes.

01:10:18Yeah, that'll do.

01:10:19That'll do.

01:10:20And it's just for you, mate.

01:10:21Hopefully we'll meet up in person and have a beer at some point.

01:10:24We certainly will.

01:10:25That'll be lovely.

01:10:26Guys, I've really enjoyed it.

01:10:27It's been great.

01:10:28Oh, thank you so much.

01:10:29Wicked.

01:10:30I've no doubt I've had a couple of beers in front of us.

01:10:32We've gone all night.

01:10:32It's been a real pleasure.

01:10:34Yeah, thank you.

01:10:34I'm very grateful for giving me and giving the opportunity.

01:10:36To be honest.

01:10:37So we're grateful that you said yes.

01:10:39Yeah, great.

01:10:40Simple as that.

01:10:40All right.

01:10:41Yeah.

01:10:41Where are you guys anyway?

01:10:43Chelmsford in Essex.

01:10:44Oh, yeah.

01:10:44I know Chelmsford.

01:10:45Yeah.

01:10:45Don't judge us for that, though.

01:10:47Okay, guys.

01:10:48Thanks very much for your time.

01:10:49Thanks, Keith.

01:10:50All right.

01:10:50Cheers, Keith.

01:10:50All the best to you.

01:10:51He's been Keith Jane.

01:10:52We've been the Small Town Boys.

01:10:53Thanks very much.

01:10:54Be seeing you.

01:10:55Bye.

01:10:56Bye.

01:11:06Bye.

01:11:07Bye.

01:11:08Bye.

01:11:09Bye.

01:11:10Bye.

01:11:11Bye.

01:11:12Bye.

01:11:13Bye.

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The Eighties Archive Podcast In Conversation with Actor Keith Jayne - The Small Town Boys Eighties Archive Podcast

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