EE: What happens to stars after they leave....
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SpursFan1902
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[align=center]Jury in Mo George trial didn't understand legalities, claims News Group lawyer
05/05/09
Laura Oliver[/align]
The jury in the libel trial of former Eastenders actor Mo George against the Sun newspaper did not understand the proceedings, according to one member of the team.
Last month George won £75,000 in damages from the newspaper following an article in the paper that alleged he beat up his lover and mother of his child. The action cost the title £1,000,000, News Group Newspaper's senior lawyer Tom Crone told a parliamentary committee on press standards, privacy and libel today.
But, in a chance meeting in a pub after the trial, a juror told a member of the paper's defence team the jury had not understood the trial. "'There was a big rich newspaper on one side and the little guy, so we decided to give it to the little guy'," the juror reportedly said, claimed Crone. "You can have a two-week trial and the jury comes out the other end of it not understanding what's happened," added News of the World editor Colin Myler.
Under UK libel law the 'burden of proof' lies with the defendant, which has become 'a very onerous burden for newspapers', added Crone. Myler and Crone were giving evidence on press standards, privacy and libel to a hearing of a House of Commons select committee. More coverage to follow on Journalism.co.uk.
------------------
What was a member of the defence team doing talking with jury members in 'chance meetings' in pubs? tsk tsk.
05/05/09
Laura Oliver[/align]
The jury in the libel trial of former Eastenders actor Mo George against the Sun newspaper did not understand the proceedings, according to one member of the team.
Last month George won £75,000 in damages from the newspaper following an article in the paper that alleged he beat up his lover and mother of his child. The action cost the title £1,000,000, News Group Newspaper's senior lawyer Tom Crone told a parliamentary committee on press standards, privacy and libel today.
But, in a chance meeting in a pub after the trial, a juror told a member of the paper's defence team the jury had not understood the trial. "'There was a big rich newspaper on one side and the little guy, so we decided to give it to the little guy'," the juror reportedly said, claimed Crone. "You can have a two-week trial and the jury comes out the other end of it not understanding what's happened," added News of the World editor Colin Myler.
Under UK libel law the 'burden of proof' lies with the defendant, which has become 'a very onerous burden for newspapers', added Crone. Myler and Crone were giving evidence on press standards, privacy and libel to a hearing of a House of Commons select committee. More coverage to follow on Journalism.co.uk.
------------------
What was a member of the defence team doing talking with jury members in 'chance meetings' in pubs? tsk tsk.
[align=center]
Barry to do time in new Porridge stage show
Amy Oliver
10th May 2009[/align]
Former Eastenders star Shaun Williamson will step into the late Ronnie Barker's shoes in a new stage version of classic 70s TV series, Porridge. Williamson, best known as the hapless Barry in the soap, will bring Norman Stanley Fletcher - the show's loveable villain - back to life in the stage version and is said to be both 'terrified and excited' at the prospect of playing one of TV's greatest comedy characters that was immortalised by one of TV's greatest comedy actors.
The actor, who has also starred in Ricky Gervais's Extras and West End production Saturday Night Fever, won the role after Phoenix Nights creator Peter Kay turned down the part. Kay's decision may come as a surprise to his legions of fans however as he has often sited Porridge and Ronnie Barker as his comedy inspiration.
The original BBC sitcom ran for just three series between 1974 and 1977 but has been a regular fixture on the box ever since and in 2004, came seventh in a poll of the 100 greatest British sitcoms. There was also a feature film and sequel - Going Straight - plus two Christmas specials.
Original wrtiers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais will pen the stage version in a move that is sure to delight fans and one that promises the same quick-witted dialogue between characters including Fletcher and his side-kick Godber, played by the late Richard Beckinsale, and prison wardens Mackay and Barrowclough, that made the TV series such a hit.
With hits such as Auf Wiedersehen Pet and The Likely Lads under their belts Clement and La Frenais are one of the British televsion industry's most acclaimed partnerships. They have also written a number of screenplays including the adaptation of Roddy Doyle's The Commitments.
Porridge follows a spurt of classic TV sitcoms that have made the leap from screen to stage. Dad's Army, the much-loved series that ran from 1968 - 1977, about the antics of the home guard during the second world war and 'Allo 'Allo, the classic 80s sitcom that documented cafe owner, Rene Artois and a loveable cast in their constant quest to secure the painting of the fallen Madonna with the big boobies, have both been brought back to life for the theatre.
Porridge opens on August 28.
-------------
I did the picture...
Barry to do time in new Porridge stage show
Amy Oliver
10th May 2009[/align]
Former Eastenders star Shaun Williamson will step into the late Ronnie Barker's shoes in a new stage version of classic 70s TV series, Porridge. Williamson, best known as the hapless Barry in the soap, will bring Norman Stanley Fletcher - the show's loveable villain - back to life in the stage version and is said to be both 'terrified and excited' at the prospect of playing one of TV's greatest comedy characters that was immortalised by one of TV's greatest comedy actors.
The actor, who has also starred in Ricky Gervais's Extras and West End production Saturday Night Fever, won the role after Phoenix Nights creator Peter Kay turned down the part. Kay's decision may come as a surprise to his legions of fans however as he has often sited Porridge and Ronnie Barker as his comedy inspiration.
The original BBC sitcom ran for just three series between 1974 and 1977 but has been a regular fixture on the box ever since and in 2004, came seventh in a poll of the 100 greatest British sitcoms. There was also a feature film and sequel - Going Straight - plus two Christmas specials.
Original wrtiers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais will pen the stage version in a move that is sure to delight fans and one that promises the same quick-witted dialogue between characters including Fletcher and his side-kick Godber, played by the late Richard Beckinsale, and prison wardens Mackay and Barrowclough, that made the TV series such a hit.
With hits such as Auf Wiedersehen Pet and The Likely Lads under their belts Clement and La Frenais are one of the British televsion industry's most acclaimed partnerships. They have also written a number of screenplays including the adaptation of Roddy Doyle's The Commitments.
Porridge follows a spurt of classic TV sitcoms that have made the leap from screen to stage. Dad's Army, the much-loved series that ran from 1968 - 1977, about the antics of the home guard during the second world war and 'Allo 'Allo, the classic 80s sitcom that documented cafe owner, Rene Artois and a loveable cast in their constant quest to secure the painting of the fallen Madonna with the big boobies, have both been brought back to life for the theatre.
Porridge opens on August 28.
-------------
I did the picture...
[align=center]
The other side of Ross Kemp
From Albert Square to Afghanistan, Ross Kemp has earnt fame and a fortune as one of TV's best-known tough guys. But now he's knocking us out with his award-winning documentaries, eco films and books for young adults
Interview by Carole Cadwalladr
The Observer,
Sunday 24 May 2009[/align]
It is with a somewhat heavy heart that I settle down to watch the entire series of Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan. The premise of it seems to be that since Kemp once played hard man Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, he now gets to report on hard things around the world. First, there was a 2006 series on gangs (Ross Kemp on Gangs), then Afghanistan in 2008 (Ross Kemp in Afghanistan), and when I put on the DVD, I can't help thinking of about a hundred other things I'd rather be doing than watching Grant Mitchell pratting around in a war zone.
I tell you this in the interests of full disclosure. And because I couldn't be more wrong. It's absolutely gripping from the off. I'd assumed that Kemp would be hanging around a base waiting for the soldiers to come back. Or doing one of those steely jawed pieces to camera that the news reporters were so adept at doing, before Afghanistan got complicated and fell off the news agenda.
In fact, within 24 hours of arriving, he's out on patrol being shot at by the Taliban and looking, quite rightly, absolutely terrified. He's either cowering face down in a muddy ditch with bullets flying overhead or having to make a run for it across open ground wearing not just body armour but a backpack that's as big as a house. I'm not sure if I've just been watching the wrong programmes, but it's the first time I've ever seen the reality of war in Afghanistan up this close. And it's very, very scary.
This is not Kemp's line on it, though. "Someone once critiqued us and said, 'If you like dangerous stuff, watch this.' But we're not trying to be dangerous, we're just trying to show how other people live their lives."
The Afghanistan series has been a huge success for Sky, and presumably the new book he's written based on his latest experiences, out next month, will be a huge success, too: his one on gangs has sold more than 100,000 copies. What comes across in both the book and the programmes is that Kemp genuinely gets on with the soldiers. They open up to him. One of them says to him that he'd never have wanted to come to Afghanistan if he'd known what it's like: "It's just too damn dangerous."
Too right. But the confession gives you an insight into Kemp's secret weapon. He is - and I can't think of any other way of putting this - chatty. He's like the anti-Grant, a professional Good Bloke. I think he rather likes having the opportunity to tell someone his war stories, has a need to talk about them, even. Because as well as the weird adrenaline thrill of being in a war zone and then the even weirder loss of it coming home, Kemp is surely the first person ever to come straight off the frontline and into a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the New Wimbledon Theatre alongside Bobby Davro.
Kemp is a chameleon. He's a celebrity without portfolio. The soapiest of soap stars before performing one of the most remarkable career volte-faces of recent times to become an award-winning documentarian: the only person ever to have been nominated Sexiest Male at the Inside Soap awards and to have won a Bafta for best factual programme.
And then there's the small matter of his marriage to tabloid editor Rebekah Wade in 2002 (they separated in 2007 and are now divorced). His personal acquaintanceship with half the cabinet. And the regular weekends he used to enjoy chit-chatting with Tony and Cherie at Chequers. His career has no narrative cohesion at all. Just before I meet him, I come across an ancient interview from his Grant years, in which he says: "I'd love to win a Bafta, but I've got to be realistic about what field I sit in." Or not, as the case may be.
I suspect that the enthusiasm he now brings to telling war stories he once brought to recounting anecdotes about Barbara Windsor, who plays his mum Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders. He's also pretty good at asking his own questions, and then, helpfully, answering them. Even if, generally, they're not the ones I've posed. "Why did I become an actor? I've always been fascinated by people. My mum was a hairdresser and I used to sit and listen to the gossip, and I think that's partly why I wanted to be an actor. That and the power of TV. In the 1970s it was far more important than it is now. And I'm genuinely fascinated by people."
The book, Ross Kemp on Afghanistan, lacks the immediacy of the film, perhaps, but it has its highlights. Such as every time Kemp goes to the toilet there's someone standing by to record the moment. "Sometimes I wonder if there's a single soldier in Helmand province that doesn't have a picture on their digital camera of Grant Mitchell taking a dump," he writes.
But Kemp's decision to go to Afghanistan strikes me as brave in more ways than one. Not just because of the danger from the Taliban, but because he played Henno Garvie, the toughest nut in the SAS, in the ITV drama Ultimate Force, which ran for four years until 2006, and it strikes me that when faced with the real thing this might be just a bit embarrassing.
"You know what? It helped in many ways. It broke the ice. It broke a lot of ice. They'd all seen it. And a lot of them had quite liked it and a lot of them thought it was absolute drivel. But most people were pleased to see my bald mug. And also, after the first film went out, a lot of people who had been very sceptical about what I could bring to it really welcomed us back."
Nothing, he says, could have prepared him for what war was actually like. Or enable him to describe it properly. "No book. No film. Nothing prepares you. You can't explain what it's like to have air pressure around you and the sound, and that there's someone out there who's aiming at you and trying to kill you."
His first encounter was the most terrifying. "The longest, most exhausting, most nerve-shredding two hours of my life," he writes, with the jury still out on whether "the moistness at the top of my trousers" was where he spilt his water bottle or peed his pants.
The MoD reviewed all the footage, and the book, but not a lot was taken out. "And fair play to them for allowing us to film. They don't give access to many people and the only reason they gave it to us was because they knew we could cope with it."
But you say in the book that the only reason you got the access was because of the old boys' network.
"Sort of. Yeah. That helped. That adage that it's not what you know, it's who you know is probably right. But it was a bit of both. The first Afghan gig was about it being my dad's old regiment, me coming from East Anglia and Clive [Tulloh - his producer] knowing [Brigadier] Lorrimer. They'd both been to Marlborough."
But then one of the unintentionally revealing aspects of the series, and the book, is how the army is so class-ridden. How everyone in charge seems to have gone to public school and literally says things like, "We are going to get biffed." Or, "Let's give them a bloody nose." The Taliban, that is, not Jenkins from the upper fourth.
And though he claims not to go into the politics of the case for - or against - Britain being in Afghanistan, Kemp can't help making observational asides. Breaking into a compound, he comments: "Everyone says the key is winning the hearts and minds of the locals, and I wonder how disposed I'd be to 30 guys who broke into my house and took a shit in the garden."
And, "It is a horrible irony that, during the 1980s, it is said that the SAS taught the Mujahideen how to construct IEDs [improvised explosive devices]." Most distressing are the civilian injuries. A little girl with shrapnel wounds, a man with his guts hanging out. "There's no figures for the number of locals who've died, and if there were they'd be too shocking to publish."
What astonishes me most, though, is how a dangerous, exhausting three-day sortie through enemy territory, in which a village is pounded with 2,000lb bombs, jets are called in from Kandahar, and the unit has a narrow and seemingly lucky escape, is deemed a "success" because "two Taliban were killed".
What the series and the book bring home is how much time and effort and money, not to mention the human cost, is spent in making such insignificant gains. There's something of the Great War about it. Anti-tank missiles, costing £60,000 apiece, are used to take out a single Taliban, and when push comes to shove, it's still a matter of the soldiers fixing bayonets to the end of their guns.
Fans of the series have come from unlikely quarters. Charlie Brooker, reviewing it in the Guardian, wrote of how he'd expected sequences in which Kemp "tries to stare the Taliban to death" but goes on to praise his "insane level of bravery". And the foreign correspondent Christina Lamb, author of a book on Afghanistan, wrote about how horrified she was at the idea of sending a soap star to the frontline. "What next, Deirdre Barlow goes to Basra?" But she finds it "sensitive and informative", and in the end finds herself questioning Kemp because "he's spent more time on the ground than any British journalist". Even the major under whose command he was says that Kemp would have made "a good soldier".
Kemp says he wrote the book but had "help" with it. And while it won't win any prizes for its prose (sample sentence: the base "is like a shit sandwich without the bread. It's a piece of mud with a load of shit in the middle and a piece of mud on top."), it's good at conveying the small miseries of war, the way his feet "boil" in his boots and then fester, the discomforts of crotch rot, the stench of the "thunderboxes", and the stultifying heat of the Afghan summer. He has also written a novel for young adults, called Ganglands Brazil, which is published in August.
Kemp won a Bafta for the series on gangs, and a huge audience for Afghanistan - difficult acts to follow. He wants children, he says, but "it would have to be with someone who didn't mind me travelling to interesting places". And although he has a girlfriend, he seems to be something of a workaholic. He hasn't taken a holiday in three years and is currently working on a series on pirates. He's off to Djibouti this week and is just back from Nigeria, "where a film on piracy suddenly became a film on ecology. Because it was honestly shocking. I make no great claims to be green, but what we saw - a 20-mile oil leak, no crabs, no fish, the mangrove had died, it was sick."
It's great isn't it, I say, that because of the background you come from you're able to do a populist take on serious, weighty issues? If I went to the BBC and said I wanted to make a film on Nigerian mangroves I'd get laughed out the door.
"The BBC don't commission me. But I'm lucky I do have somebody who listens [Sky]. And I hope it is a populist take. Would you rather do your Hamlet to three bored old-age pensioners and a dog, or your Grant Mitchell on EastEnders? I'd prefer to do it the way I've done it. I'll always be grateful to EastEnders for the doors it opened."
Half of it, it seems to me, is down to Kemp's impressive networking ability. His Good Blokeness is responsible for some of that. Born in 1964, he had a very ordinary, happy upbringing in Essex. His mother was a hairdresser, his father a policeman, and although he stood out in his desire to go to drama school he's always combined it with more rugged pursuits, like rugby. He's pretty New Mannish most of the time, or at least knows how to say New Mannish things, but there's a certain laddishness never too far from the surface. I can't imagine that he and Jeremy Clarkson are short of conversation topics over lunch.
And then there's the fact that he was, for a time, one half of Britain's most unlikely power couple, married to Rebekah Wade, one-time editor of the News of the World, and now the Sun. They were the soap star and the tabloid queen. She was Rupert Murdoch's young protege and together they were feted by the great and the good - most particularly, and visibly, Tony Blair.
They were the ultimate Labour luvvies, invited to No 10 for drinks with Tony, and having half the cabinet to their wedding. But then, as New Labour would itself implode, so, in a dramatic foreshadowing, did the marriage following The Incident Which Must Not Be Talked About. In November 2005, Kemp and Wade spent an evening drinking with David Blunkett, who had resigned that day for the second time. Later that night, Kemp called the police to report that Wade had assaulted him. Wade was held overnight in police custody and released the next day without charge.
The papers had a field day. Not only was the Sun in the throes of a campaign against domestic violence, but in an EastEnders style plot twist (ie, wholly unbelievable and rather hammily overdone), Steve McFadden, who plays Grant's brother Phil, was allegedly assaulted by his ex-girlfriend on the same night.
I've been told, firmly, on the phone and by email, that Kemp won't talk about his personal life. "I'd like to tell you what happened," he says. "It was very exaggerated. But I've never talked about my personal life and I never will."
Well you say that, but I was reading a very old interview with you this morning, and you spoke about it quite freely.
"Did I?"
With Janet Street-Porter.
"Oh Janet. I love Janet."
He does seem to still have a higher-than-average number of celebrity friends. He tells me that AA Gill was offered the series on gangs first "but they didn't realise that I was friends socially with him and was actually out to lunch with him and Jeremy Clarkson at the time". And when we're discussing his "hard man" image in relation to the Afghanistan series, he says: "But that wasn't how it happened. In fact, the reverse was true. It was because I knew those people that they knew that I wasn't like Grant Mitchell."
How do you mean, you knew them?
"Socially."
Is that how it all works, then? You just have to go to parties to get commissioned?
"There's... I don't think it's who you know, or what you know. It's a combination of all those things."
What, I say, has happened to the politicians?
"I'm possibly less of a friend now. Possibly because I might not be in the same situation as before, maritally."
Gordon Brown came to your wedding, though, didn't he?
"No he didn't."
Oh, I read that he did.
"To be honest I can't really remember my wedding. It was so hectic."
But David Blunkett was there? Mo Mowlam?
"Yeah. And I'm still close friends with Margaret McDonagh [the general secretary of the Labour party] and Lord Waheed Ali [the multimillionaire Labour peer]. But no, I haven't been invited around to No 10. I think Rebekah has. But no, that's not going to persuade me to change the way I vote."
Which is Labour. "I'm still a member of the party. And yes, I did campaign for them in 1997. And I'm proud that I did. I really did think that things can only get better. As for whether they've got that bad again ... I don't think so. I'm not one of those who've fallen out of love with Labour."
And then he's off again, answering questions that I haven't actually asked.
"Do I think it is wise to increase the upper tax rate before an election? Possibly not."
But then he's an upper-rate taxpayer. Still, the nicest thing about interviewing Kemp is that it feels like a conversation. We spar inconclusively about Gordon Brown and then I ask him about the gay rumours. Where do they come from?
"I've no idea. I used to think it was some Machiavellian plot to ruin my career, but I'm older and wiser now," he says, before a hint of his inner Clarkson lets rip. "Let's just say that it certainly hasn't stopped me being heterosexual."
We've still got time left and Ross is making no motions to go, so I read him a quote from FHM in 2008, which described him as one of the most divisive individuals in the country. "For all those who think his documentaries put the likes of Louis Theroux to shame," I quote, "others basically think he's a tool."
There's a silence. Oh dear.
"That's very British, isn't it?" he says eventually. "Very backhanded, isn't it? I think we love to do that in our country... build him up to knock him down. Don't think that if people write horrible things about you, that it doesn't hurt - because it does."
Later, when talking about the "boys" he met fighting, he says: "People talk about the hoodie generation, but when you see those young men behaving on the ground with compassion, with bravery, with intelligence, courage ... " And his eyes start getting all moist and shiny and I panic a bit at the idea that I might be called upon to wipe Grant Mitchell's tears away. It must be said that for a hard man, Kemp doesn't seem all that hard. There are moments, in fact, when he seems to come close to being the tearful Ross Kemp he played in an episode of Ricky Gervais's Extras - ie, not hard at all. And, Ross, that's a compliment.
• Ross Kemp on Afghanistan is published by Penguin on 4 June, price £6.99. Ross Kemp: In Search of Pirates is on Sky1 and Sky1 HD on 8 June
The other side of Ross Kemp
From Albert Square to Afghanistan, Ross Kemp has earnt fame and a fortune as one of TV's best-known tough guys. But now he's knocking us out with his award-winning documentaries, eco films and books for young adults
Interview by Carole Cadwalladr
The Observer,
Sunday 24 May 2009[/align]
It is with a somewhat heavy heart that I settle down to watch the entire series of Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan. The premise of it seems to be that since Kemp once played hard man Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, he now gets to report on hard things around the world. First, there was a 2006 series on gangs (Ross Kemp on Gangs), then Afghanistan in 2008 (Ross Kemp in Afghanistan), and when I put on the DVD, I can't help thinking of about a hundred other things I'd rather be doing than watching Grant Mitchell pratting around in a war zone.
I tell you this in the interests of full disclosure. And because I couldn't be more wrong. It's absolutely gripping from the off. I'd assumed that Kemp would be hanging around a base waiting for the soldiers to come back. Or doing one of those steely jawed pieces to camera that the news reporters were so adept at doing, before Afghanistan got complicated and fell off the news agenda.
In fact, within 24 hours of arriving, he's out on patrol being shot at by the Taliban and looking, quite rightly, absolutely terrified. He's either cowering face down in a muddy ditch with bullets flying overhead or having to make a run for it across open ground wearing not just body armour but a backpack that's as big as a house. I'm not sure if I've just been watching the wrong programmes, but it's the first time I've ever seen the reality of war in Afghanistan up this close. And it's very, very scary.
This is not Kemp's line on it, though. "Someone once critiqued us and said, 'If you like dangerous stuff, watch this.' But we're not trying to be dangerous, we're just trying to show how other people live their lives."
The Afghanistan series has been a huge success for Sky, and presumably the new book he's written based on his latest experiences, out next month, will be a huge success, too: his one on gangs has sold more than 100,000 copies. What comes across in both the book and the programmes is that Kemp genuinely gets on with the soldiers. They open up to him. One of them says to him that he'd never have wanted to come to Afghanistan if he'd known what it's like: "It's just too damn dangerous."
Too right. But the confession gives you an insight into Kemp's secret weapon. He is - and I can't think of any other way of putting this - chatty. He's like the anti-Grant, a professional Good Bloke. I think he rather likes having the opportunity to tell someone his war stories, has a need to talk about them, even. Because as well as the weird adrenaline thrill of being in a war zone and then the even weirder loss of it coming home, Kemp is surely the first person ever to come straight off the frontline and into a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the New Wimbledon Theatre alongside Bobby Davro.
Kemp is a chameleon. He's a celebrity without portfolio. The soapiest of soap stars before performing one of the most remarkable career volte-faces of recent times to become an award-winning documentarian: the only person ever to have been nominated Sexiest Male at the Inside Soap awards and to have won a Bafta for best factual programme.
And then there's the small matter of his marriage to tabloid editor Rebekah Wade in 2002 (they separated in 2007 and are now divorced). His personal acquaintanceship with half the cabinet. And the regular weekends he used to enjoy chit-chatting with Tony and Cherie at Chequers. His career has no narrative cohesion at all. Just before I meet him, I come across an ancient interview from his Grant years, in which he says: "I'd love to win a Bafta, but I've got to be realistic about what field I sit in." Or not, as the case may be.
I suspect that the enthusiasm he now brings to telling war stories he once brought to recounting anecdotes about Barbara Windsor, who plays his mum Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders. He's also pretty good at asking his own questions, and then, helpfully, answering them. Even if, generally, they're not the ones I've posed. "Why did I become an actor? I've always been fascinated by people. My mum was a hairdresser and I used to sit and listen to the gossip, and I think that's partly why I wanted to be an actor. That and the power of TV. In the 1970s it was far more important than it is now. And I'm genuinely fascinated by people."
The book, Ross Kemp on Afghanistan, lacks the immediacy of the film, perhaps, but it has its highlights. Such as every time Kemp goes to the toilet there's someone standing by to record the moment. "Sometimes I wonder if there's a single soldier in Helmand province that doesn't have a picture on their digital camera of Grant Mitchell taking a dump," he writes.
But Kemp's decision to go to Afghanistan strikes me as brave in more ways than one. Not just because of the danger from the Taliban, but because he played Henno Garvie, the toughest nut in the SAS, in the ITV drama Ultimate Force, which ran for four years until 2006, and it strikes me that when faced with the real thing this might be just a bit embarrassing.
"You know what? It helped in many ways. It broke the ice. It broke a lot of ice. They'd all seen it. And a lot of them had quite liked it and a lot of them thought it was absolute drivel. But most people were pleased to see my bald mug. And also, after the first film went out, a lot of people who had been very sceptical about what I could bring to it really welcomed us back."
Nothing, he says, could have prepared him for what war was actually like. Or enable him to describe it properly. "No book. No film. Nothing prepares you. You can't explain what it's like to have air pressure around you and the sound, and that there's someone out there who's aiming at you and trying to kill you."
His first encounter was the most terrifying. "The longest, most exhausting, most nerve-shredding two hours of my life," he writes, with the jury still out on whether "the moistness at the top of my trousers" was where he spilt his water bottle or peed his pants.
The MoD reviewed all the footage, and the book, but not a lot was taken out. "And fair play to them for allowing us to film. They don't give access to many people and the only reason they gave it to us was because they knew we could cope with it."
But you say in the book that the only reason you got the access was because of the old boys' network.
"Sort of. Yeah. That helped. That adage that it's not what you know, it's who you know is probably right. But it was a bit of both. The first Afghan gig was about it being my dad's old regiment, me coming from East Anglia and Clive [Tulloh - his producer] knowing [Brigadier] Lorrimer. They'd both been to Marlborough."
But then one of the unintentionally revealing aspects of the series, and the book, is how the army is so class-ridden. How everyone in charge seems to have gone to public school and literally says things like, "We are going to get biffed." Or, "Let's give them a bloody nose." The Taliban, that is, not Jenkins from the upper fourth.
And though he claims not to go into the politics of the case for - or against - Britain being in Afghanistan, Kemp can't help making observational asides. Breaking into a compound, he comments: "Everyone says the key is winning the hearts and minds of the locals, and I wonder how disposed I'd be to 30 guys who broke into my house and took a shit in the garden."
And, "It is a horrible irony that, during the 1980s, it is said that the SAS taught the Mujahideen how to construct IEDs [improvised explosive devices]." Most distressing are the civilian injuries. A little girl with shrapnel wounds, a man with his guts hanging out. "There's no figures for the number of locals who've died, and if there were they'd be too shocking to publish."
What astonishes me most, though, is how a dangerous, exhausting three-day sortie through enemy territory, in which a village is pounded with 2,000lb bombs, jets are called in from Kandahar, and the unit has a narrow and seemingly lucky escape, is deemed a "success" because "two Taliban were killed".
What the series and the book bring home is how much time and effort and money, not to mention the human cost, is spent in making such insignificant gains. There's something of the Great War about it. Anti-tank missiles, costing £60,000 apiece, are used to take out a single Taliban, and when push comes to shove, it's still a matter of the soldiers fixing bayonets to the end of their guns.
Fans of the series have come from unlikely quarters. Charlie Brooker, reviewing it in the Guardian, wrote of how he'd expected sequences in which Kemp "tries to stare the Taliban to death" but goes on to praise his "insane level of bravery". And the foreign correspondent Christina Lamb, author of a book on Afghanistan, wrote about how horrified she was at the idea of sending a soap star to the frontline. "What next, Deirdre Barlow goes to Basra?" But she finds it "sensitive and informative", and in the end finds herself questioning Kemp because "he's spent more time on the ground than any British journalist". Even the major under whose command he was says that Kemp would have made "a good soldier".
Kemp says he wrote the book but had "help" with it. And while it won't win any prizes for its prose (sample sentence: the base "is like a shit sandwich without the bread. It's a piece of mud with a load of shit in the middle and a piece of mud on top."), it's good at conveying the small miseries of war, the way his feet "boil" in his boots and then fester, the discomforts of crotch rot, the stench of the "thunderboxes", and the stultifying heat of the Afghan summer. He has also written a novel for young adults, called Ganglands Brazil, which is published in August.
Kemp won a Bafta for the series on gangs, and a huge audience for Afghanistan - difficult acts to follow. He wants children, he says, but "it would have to be with someone who didn't mind me travelling to interesting places". And although he has a girlfriend, he seems to be something of a workaholic. He hasn't taken a holiday in three years and is currently working on a series on pirates. He's off to Djibouti this week and is just back from Nigeria, "where a film on piracy suddenly became a film on ecology. Because it was honestly shocking. I make no great claims to be green, but what we saw - a 20-mile oil leak, no crabs, no fish, the mangrove had died, it was sick."
It's great isn't it, I say, that because of the background you come from you're able to do a populist take on serious, weighty issues? If I went to the BBC and said I wanted to make a film on Nigerian mangroves I'd get laughed out the door.
"The BBC don't commission me. But I'm lucky I do have somebody who listens [Sky]. And I hope it is a populist take. Would you rather do your Hamlet to three bored old-age pensioners and a dog, or your Grant Mitchell on EastEnders? I'd prefer to do it the way I've done it. I'll always be grateful to EastEnders for the doors it opened."
Half of it, it seems to me, is down to Kemp's impressive networking ability. His Good Blokeness is responsible for some of that. Born in 1964, he had a very ordinary, happy upbringing in Essex. His mother was a hairdresser, his father a policeman, and although he stood out in his desire to go to drama school he's always combined it with more rugged pursuits, like rugby. He's pretty New Mannish most of the time, or at least knows how to say New Mannish things, but there's a certain laddishness never too far from the surface. I can't imagine that he and Jeremy Clarkson are short of conversation topics over lunch.
And then there's the fact that he was, for a time, one half of Britain's most unlikely power couple, married to Rebekah Wade, one-time editor of the News of the World, and now the Sun. They were the soap star and the tabloid queen. She was Rupert Murdoch's young protege and together they were feted by the great and the good - most particularly, and visibly, Tony Blair.
They were the ultimate Labour luvvies, invited to No 10 for drinks with Tony, and having half the cabinet to their wedding. But then, as New Labour would itself implode, so, in a dramatic foreshadowing, did the marriage following The Incident Which Must Not Be Talked About. In November 2005, Kemp and Wade spent an evening drinking with David Blunkett, who had resigned that day for the second time. Later that night, Kemp called the police to report that Wade had assaulted him. Wade was held overnight in police custody and released the next day without charge.
The papers had a field day. Not only was the Sun in the throes of a campaign against domestic violence, but in an EastEnders style plot twist (ie, wholly unbelievable and rather hammily overdone), Steve McFadden, who plays Grant's brother Phil, was allegedly assaulted by his ex-girlfriend on the same night.
I've been told, firmly, on the phone and by email, that Kemp won't talk about his personal life. "I'd like to tell you what happened," he says. "It was very exaggerated. But I've never talked about my personal life and I never will."
Well you say that, but I was reading a very old interview with you this morning, and you spoke about it quite freely.
"Did I?"
With Janet Street-Porter.
"Oh Janet. I love Janet."
He does seem to still have a higher-than-average number of celebrity friends. He tells me that AA Gill was offered the series on gangs first "but they didn't realise that I was friends socially with him and was actually out to lunch with him and Jeremy Clarkson at the time". And when we're discussing his "hard man" image in relation to the Afghanistan series, he says: "But that wasn't how it happened. In fact, the reverse was true. It was because I knew those people that they knew that I wasn't like Grant Mitchell."
How do you mean, you knew them?
"Socially."
Is that how it all works, then? You just have to go to parties to get commissioned?
"There's... I don't think it's who you know, or what you know. It's a combination of all those things."
What, I say, has happened to the politicians?
"I'm possibly less of a friend now. Possibly because I might not be in the same situation as before, maritally."
Gordon Brown came to your wedding, though, didn't he?
"No he didn't."
Oh, I read that he did.
"To be honest I can't really remember my wedding. It was so hectic."
But David Blunkett was there? Mo Mowlam?
"Yeah. And I'm still close friends with Margaret McDonagh [the general secretary of the Labour party] and Lord Waheed Ali [the multimillionaire Labour peer]. But no, I haven't been invited around to No 10. I think Rebekah has. But no, that's not going to persuade me to change the way I vote."
Which is Labour. "I'm still a member of the party. And yes, I did campaign for them in 1997. And I'm proud that I did. I really did think that things can only get better. As for whether they've got that bad again ... I don't think so. I'm not one of those who've fallen out of love with Labour."
And then he's off again, answering questions that I haven't actually asked.
"Do I think it is wise to increase the upper tax rate before an election? Possibly not."
But then he's an upper-rate taxpayer. Still, the nicest thing about interviewing Kemp is that it feels like a conversation. We spar inconclusively about Gordon Brown and then I ask him about the gay rumours. Where do they come from?
"I've no idea. I used to think it was some Machiavellian plot to ruin my career, but I'm older and wiser now," he says, before a hint of his inner Clarkson lets rip. "Let's just say that it certainly hasn't stopped me being heterosexual."
We've still got time left and Ross is making no motions to go, so I read him a quote from FHM in 2008, which described him as one of the most divisive individuals in the country. "For all those who think his documentaries put the likes of Louis Theroux to shame," I quote, "others basically think he's a tool."
There's a silence. Oh dear.
"That's very British, isn't it?" he says eventually. "Very backhanded, isn't it? I think we love to do that in our country... build him up to knock him down. Don't think that if people write horrible things about you, that it doesn't hurt - because it does."
Later, when talking about the "boys" he met fighting, he says: "People talk about the hoodie generation, but when you see those young men behaving on the ground with compassion, with bravery, with intelligence, courage ... " And his eyes start getting all moist and shiny and I panic a bit at the idea that I might be called upon to wipe Grant Mitchell's tears away. It must be said that for a hard man, Kemp doesn't seem all that hard. There are moments, in fact, when he seems to come close to being the tearful Ross Kemp he played in an episode of Ricky Gervais's Extras - ie, not hard at all. And, Ross, that's a compliment.
• Ross Kemp on Afghanistan is published by Penguin on 4 June, price £6.99. Ross Kemp: In Search of Pirates is on Sky1 and Sky1 HD on 8 June
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Eastenders star on bingo TV show
by David Allen
June 9, 2009[/align]
The former Eastenders star, Chris Parker, who played the character Spencer Moon, appears to have changed direction in his career to join Gala Bingo TV, and is to star in a bingo soap show to be shown on the channel.
Every week the soap star will be joined by other famous or semi famous soap stars to bring the viewers an hour of soap related bingo fun. The Soap Star Bingo Show started last Friday evening and was available to viewers with Sky, or Freesat satellite services. This is a weekly event and a new show will be aired every Friday evening starting at 8pm.
The show will attempt to shed light on some of the viewers’ questions as well as providing gossip and other news.
-------------------
crikey.
Eastenders star on bingo TV show
by David Allen
June 9, 2009[/align]
The former Eastenders star, Chris Parker, who played the character Spencer Moon, appears to have changed direction in his career to join Gala Bingo TV, and is to star in a bingo soap show to be shown on the channel.
Every week the soap star will be joined by other famous or semi famous soap stars to bring the viewers an hour of soap related bingo fun. The Soap Star Bingo Show started last Friday evening and was available to viewers with Sky, or Freesat satellite services. This is a weekly event and a new show will be aired every Friday evening starting at 8pm.
The show will attempt to shed light on some of the viewers’ questions as well as providing gossip and other news.
-------------------
crikey.
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eefanincan
- Admin
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SpursFan1902
- Pitch Queen
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Gemma Atkinson, Jill Halfpenny, June Brown, Anita Dobson, Sara Crowe, Jill Baker and Jerry Hall
West End's Calendar Girls Welcomes Hall, Brown, Dobson and More
By Mark Shenton
28 Jul 2009[/align]
A new all-star cast, including Jerry Hall, June Brown, Anita Dobson, Gemma Atkinson and Jill Halfpenny, takes over in the West End stage version of Calendar Girls beginning July 28 and playing to Oct. 17. Also in the new company will be Jill Baker, Richenda Carey, Sara Crowe and Jack Ryder.
Hall will play Celia — Miss September. The former long-term partner of Mick Jagger (with whom she has four children) was last seen on the London stage in the musical High Society that ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2005; she has also starred in productions of Bus Stop, The Graduate and The Vagina Monologues, and on tour in Picasso's Women.
Brown, who will take over as Jessie (Miss January), is best known for her long-running BAFTA-nominated run as Dot Cotton in TV's "EastEnders." She has also appeared in such shows as "Doctor Who," "Coronation Street," "Minder," "The Bill" and "The Sweeney." Her stage credits include productions of An Inspector Calls, Nightshade, The Lion in Winter, Hedda Gabler, Rebecca, Laura, Absolute Hell and Macbeth.
Dobson, who will take over as Chris (Miss October), is best known for playing Angie in "EastEnders," and as the wife of Queen guitarist Brian May. She was last seen on the London stage as Gertrude in English Touring Theatre's production of Hamlet, opposite Ed Stoppard in the title role, that came to the New Ambassadors Theatre in 2005. Other appearances include starring in the musical Budgie (Cambridge Theatre in 1988), and productions of Stoppard's Rough Crossing and My Lovely Shayna Maidel.
Atkinson, who will take over as Elaine, came to fame on the Channel 4 series "Hollyoaks" and has also appeared in the spin-off series "Hollyoaks: Let Loose" and "Hollyoaks: In the City." She has been a contestant on such shows as "I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!," "Celebrity Weakest Link" and "Celebrity Mastermind." Onstage, she last appeared in the title role of the pantomime version of Peter Pan at Manchester's Opera House in December 2008.
Halfpenny, who will take over as Cora (Miss July), is best known for her roles as Katie Mitchell in "EastEnders" and as Izzie Redpath in "Waterloo Road," and for appearing in and winning the 2004 edition of "Strictly Come Dancing," with dancing partner Darren Bennett. Onstage, she has appeared as Roxie Hart in the London production of Chicago and regionally in the play Surviving Spike, opposite Michael Barrymore.
Jill Baker, who will play Annie (Miss February), has appeared onstage in the original production of Mike Leigh's Goosepimples and in a West End revival of All My Sons. Richenda Carey, who will play Marie, appeared in Mike Leigh's film "Nuts in May." Sara Crowe, who will play Ruth (Miss November), won the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress when she appeared in the production of Private Lives that also starred Joan Collins. Other West End appearances include productions of Twelfth Night, Hay Fever and The Constant Wife, and on tour she has appeared in Acorn Antiques the Musical and Absurd Person Singular. Jack Ryder will play the photographer Lawrence.
Calendar Girls is directed by Hamish McColl, has a set by Robert Jones, with lighting by Malcolm Rippeth, costumes by Emma Williams and music by Steve Parry. It is produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers.
To book tickets, contact the box office at 0844 482 5140 or visit www.seecalendargirls.com. The normal £1.50 booking fee will be going to Leukemia Research.
----------------------
Now we know where the 'stars' are going now that The Bill's been cut to one show a week!
Gemma Atkinson, Jill Halfpenny, June Brown, Anita Dobson, Sara Crowe, Jill Baker and Jerry Hall
West End's Calendar Girls Welcomes Hall, Brown, Dobson and More
By Mark Shenton
28 Jul 2009[/align]
A new all-star cast, including Jerry Hall, June Brown, Anita Dobson, Gemma Atkinson and Jill Halfpenny, takes over in the West End stage version of Calendar Girls beginning July 28 and playing to Oct. 17. Also in the new company will be Jill Baker, Richenda Carey, Sara Crowe and Jack Ryder.
Hall will play Celia — Miss September. The former long-term partner of Mick Jagger (with whom she has four children) was last seen on the London stage in the musical High Society that ran at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2005; she has also starred in productions of Bus Stop, The Graduate and The Vagina Monologues, and on tour in Picasso's Women.
Brown, who will take over as Jessie (Miss January), is best known for her long-running BAFTA-nominated run as Dot Cotton in TV's "EastEnders." She has also appeared in such shows as "Doctor Who," "Coronation Street," "Minder," "The Bill" and "The Sweeney." Her stage credits include productions of An Inspector Calls, Nightshade, The Lion in Winter, Hedda Gabler, Rebecca, Laura, Absolute Hell and Macbeth.
Dobson, who will take over as Chris (Miss October), is best known for playing Angie in "EastEnders," and as the wife of Queen guitarist Brian May. She was last seen on the London stage as Gertrude in English Touring Theatre's production of Hamlet, opposite Ed Stoppard in the title role, that came to the New Ambassadors Theatre in 2005. Other appearances include starring in the musical Budgie (Cambridge Theatre in 1988), and productions of Stoppard's Rough Crossing and My Lovely Shayna Maidel.
Atkinson, who will take over as Elaine, came to fame on the Channel 4 series "Hollyoaks" and has also appeared in the spin-off series "Hollyoaks: Let Loose" and "Hollyoaks: In the City." She has been a contestant on such shows as "I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!," "Celebrity Weakest Link" and "Celebrity Mastermind." Onstage, she last appeared in the title role of the pantomime version of Peter Pan at Manchester's Opera House in December 2008.
Halfpenny, who will take over as Cora (Miss July), is best known for her roles as Katie Mitchell in "EastEnders" and as Izzie Redpath in "Waterloo Road," and for appearing in and winning the 2004 edition of "Strictly Come Dancing," with dancing partner Darren Bennett. Onstage, she has appeared as Roxie Hart in the London production of Chicago and regionally in the play Surviving Spike, opposite Michael Barrymore.
Jill Baker, who will play Annie (Miss February), has appeared onstage in the original production of Mike Leigh's Goosepimples and in a West End revival of All My Sons. Richenda Carey, who will play Marie, appeared in Mike Leigh's film "Nuts in May." Sara Crowe, who will play Ruth (Miss November), won the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress when she appeared in the production of Private Lives that also starred Joan Collins. Other West End appearances include productions of Twelfth Night, Hay Fever and The Constant Wife, and on tour she has appeared in Acorn Antiques the Musical and Absurd Person Singular. Jack Ryder will play the photographer Lawrence.
Calendar Girls is directed by Hamish McColl, has a set by Robert Jones, with lighting by Malcolm Rippeth, costumes by Emma Williams and music by Steve Parry. It is produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers.
To book tickets, contact the box office at 0844 482 5140 or visit www.seecalendargirls.com. The normal £1.50 booking fee will be going to Leukemia Research.
----------------------
Now we know where the 'stars' are going now that The Bill's been cut to one show a week!
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Hannah Waterman strips down to a corset and suspenders for stage role after losing more than a stone
3rd August 2009[/align]
As she stripped off to her corset last night, Hannah Waterman must have felt that all the jogging, tricep dips and piles of vegetables had been worth it. The actress looked transformed as she unveiled her newly slimline figure, in front of a packed audience at London's New End theatre in Hampstead.
Although Hannah says she still has some weight to lose, in the last two months she has shed more than a stone through an intensive exercise and diet regime. And the results were obvious as the 33-year-old stripped down to a basque, stockings and suspenders.
The former EastEnders star plays a prostitute in Rattle Of A Simple Man, alongside former The Bill star Huw Higginson. But just two months ago stripping down to her underwear would have been a challenge for Hannah, who was shocked into getting in shape after seeing bloated photos of herself on a beach in Portugal.
She said: 'I looked horrible and knew I had to do something about that spare tire spreading around my middle... and quick. But then there is nothing like a fat picture to get you off your arse and back in shape.' Hannah hired a personal trainer to get in shape. Weeks later she has lost more than a stone, slimming down from a high of 10st 4lbs. She aims to lose another 10lbs to achieve a target weight of 8st 4lbs, a healthy weight for her petite height.
Hannah Waterman strips down to a corset and suspenders for stage role after losing more than a stone
3rd August 2009[/align]
As she stripped off to her corset last night, Hannah Waterman must have felt that all the jogging, tricep dips and piles of vegetables had been worth it. The actress looked transformed as she unveiled her newly slimline figure, in front of a packed audience at London's New End theatre in Hampstead.
Although Hannah says she still has some weight to lose, in the last two months she has shed more than a stone through an intensive exercise and diet regime. And the results were obvious as the 33-year-old stripped down to a basque, stockings and suspenders.
The former EastEnders star plays a prostitute in Rattle Of A Simple Man, alongside former The Bill star Huw Higginson. But just two months ago stripping down to her underwear would have been a challenge for Hannah, who was shocked into getting in shape after seeing bloated photos of herself on a beach in Portugal.
She said: 'I looked horrible and knew I had to do something about that spare tire spreading around my middle... and quick. But then there is nothing like a fat picture to get you off your arse and back in shape.' Hannah hired a personal trainer to get in shape. Weeks later she has lost more than a stone, slimming down from a high of 10st 4lbs. She aims to lose another 10lbs to achieve a target weight of 8st 4lbs, a healthy weight for her petite height.
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Mohammed George's charity single[/align]
Former EastEnders star Mohammed George is to release a charity single in aid of the Ben Kinsella Trust. Mo - who played street sweeper Gus Smith in the BBC soap for five years - will release Broken as a download on October 19 in aid of the trust, which was set up in memory of former EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella's brother Ben, who was tragically murdered in June last year.
Mo said: "This cause means a lot to everyone and this will hopefully help in raising awareness of knife crime on the streets." The actor also marched with alongside his friend and colleague Brooke to raise awareness for the Kinsella trust.
The single also features Dax O'Callaghan of boy band Lexington Bridge, who recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg. Mo and Dax, who met as pupils at the famous Sylvia Young stage school, hope that the single will speak for itself and bring a positive message to young artists.
The song which was co-written and recorded by Dax and Mo and co-produced with platinum producer Jay-F. It was originally recorded in Dax's home studio and was inspired when he heard about Mo's
Mohammed George's charity single[/align]
Former EastEnders star Mohammed George is to release a charity single in aid of the Ben Kinsella Trust. Mo - who played street sweeper Gus Smith in the BBC soap for five years - will release Broken as a download on October 19 in aid of the trust, which was set up in memory of former EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella's brother Ben, who was tragically murdered in June last year.
Mo said: "This cause means a lot to everyone and this will hopefully help in raising awareness of knife crime on the streets." The actor also marched with alongside his friend and colleague Brooke to raise awareness for the Kinsella trust.
The single also features Dax O'Callaghan of boy band Lexington Bridge, who recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg. Mo and Dax, who met as pupils at the famous Sylvia Young stage school, hope that the single will speak for itself and bring a positive message to young artists.
The song which was co-written and recorded by Dax and Mo and co-produced with platinum producer Jay-F. It was originally recorded in Dax's home studio and was inspired when he heard about Mo's
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SpursFan1902
- Pitch Queen
- Posts: 4147
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 9:41 pm
- Location: Sunshine State
[align=center]
[/align]
Here's a screenshot from 'Love Thy Neighbour' a 70s sitcom that was reknowned for its racist content... That's the guy who plays Patrick on the left, but is the white woman her that plays Owen's mum? It looks like it to me, though I could be wrong...
The full series of this show is available for members in the download section.
[/align]Here's a screenshot from 'Love Thy Neighbour' a 70s sitcom that was reknowned for its racist content... That's the guy who plays Patrick on the left, but is the white woman her that plays Owen's mum? It looks like it to me, though I could be wrong...
The full series of this show is available for members in the download section.
