RICHARD JAMES
Yup, that's me on the left. Barely two years out of drama school, I found myself at Pinewood Studios filming 24 episodes of Gerry Anderson's Space Precinct. You'd never know that, of course, because I was hidden under an inch of prosthetic makeup and revoiced. I didn't mind too much. The weekly pay cheque certainly helped. It was a formative experience for me, learning the etiquette of a studio floor and just what it took to produce an episode of the (then) most expensive TV series ever made every couple of weeks.
I played alien police Officer Orrin who was the comic relief alongside his partner Officer Romek. I got to work alongside other actors like Steven Berkoff, Burt Kwouk and Ray Winstone (although things weren't going quite so well for him at the time). John Glen, who had directed many of my favourite Bond films, was at the helm for a good many of the episodes and I got to know him well. As I payed a masked part, he was able to offer me guest roles as other characters (usually the villain of the week) alongside playing Orrin. It was a huge learning experience for a young actor and one that stood me in good stead for subsequent film and TV roles.
Oh, and I met my wife on set.
I've often joked that Sir Gadabout was the most fun I've ever had in armour. In fact it was the most fun I've ever had in anything. I had initially auditioned for the role of the villain of the piece (a nasty piece of work called, appropriately, Rancid) but I think I landed on my feet playing the rather pompous Knight of the Round Table, Sir Gestion (geddit?). Filming 20 episodes over two series was the most collaborative experience I've ever had on a TV set, thanks principally to lead director Ian Eames who would encourage us to bring our own ideas to the (round) table.
Based on a series of books by Martyn Beardsley, we created a cross between Blackadder and Monty Python. The style was fast and loose and, admittedly, a bit rough around the edges but the resulting series was a delight to film. Oh, and we picked up a BAFTA nomination along the way.
Highlights include being attacked by carnivorous pancakes and blown across a medieval courtyard by an enormous farting horse. Very popular in Australia, apparently...
As an actor, it's important to find a champion or two. Someone who will remember you from their last project and think of you for their next. Director Angelo Abela had worked on Sir Gadabout (see above) and was now tasked with bringing The Mysti Show to the screen. Initially a one hour magazine programme featuring celebrity interviews and fun and games for the studio audience, it also featured a 20 minute comedy drama following the misadventures of Mysti, a fairy who finds herself on earth (don't ask...). And this is where I came in. In programmes like this, the kids need somewhere to hang out, and so I played Mr Kronkite the owner of the local diner.
Series 2 dispensed with the magazine programme and became a stand alone drama called, simply, Mysti. New characters were introduced and old ones ditched (not hugely successfully in my opinion) but luckily I survived the cull. With his oft-mentioned but never seen wife and a predilection for creating bizarre cocktails, Mr K was fun to play and made for a popular character among the young audience.
Getting mobbed at Legoland is not an experience I'll soon forget.
Playing a guest role in a long running drama has its ups and downs. It can be fun parachuting in to do your thing (in this case, in Belgrade), but it can also be frustrating to be on set with a cast who have grown to know each other over the preceding episodes. Luckily, I was joined in this instance by Sir Gadabout himself, Jason Thorpe. And we had a ball.
Miss Scarlet And The Duke is a Victorian detective series devised and written by Rachel New and directed by Steve Hughes. Steve had been trying to get me on board various projects over the years and, this time, the stars aligned. I played Mr Salisbury in the second series of the show, a rather punctilious store manager who also happens to be pimping out his staff for money.
It was an important job for many of us, coming just after the COVID lockdowns of 2020/21. It proved there was still life in the industry and work to be found, even if it did mean daily COVID tests and wearing a mask in between scenes.
