0:00:13 > 0:00:15As we know, this is a fellow, you know,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Pre-Mr Ray and Mr Neeson and Dunbar and all those people.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24You were up there, that accent was on British television in a way it had never been before.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Let me tell you, Bob, I've been promoted.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28To crime patrol.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Come on. Dirty great big Irish breakfast, that's what you want.
0:00:33 > 0:00:39If you'll excuse me, I have to go to get some essence of goat.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44I remember stories you used to tell, they would start on a Monday and finish on a Thursday.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54He has a generosity of spirit
0:00:54 > 0:00:58that one hopes all fine artists have but they don't.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01But Jimmy has it in abundance.
0:01:01 > 0:01:09If James Ellis is your friend, then you've found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41All along there, Helen's Bay, Bangor, Bangor West,
0:01:41 > 0:01:47all places where I spent all my holidays in my childhood.
0:01:47 > 0:01:54'One of the things I most admire about Jimmy is his love of Northern Ireland.'
0:01:54 > 0:01:59He just sort of glows and puffs himself up at the mention
0:01:59 > 0:02:02of Samson and Goliath and Cave Hill, the Albert Clock.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Samson and Goliath, isn't it? Is that right?
0:02:06 > 0:02:09You've got me there with my eyesight, son.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Jimmy is never happier when you decide, "We won't fly back,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16we'll drive, take the Liverpool boat and we'll go across."
0:02:16 > 0:02:21And that to Jimmy is the proper way to return to Northern Ireland.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27You have the wonderful sort of welcoming of Samson and Goliath, glowing daffodil yellow
0:02:27 > 0:02:32in the mist, and you've got Victoria Park and you've got the hills of Belfast and so forth.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36And you can actually see this light up in Jimmy's eyes.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39He becomes alive when he comes back to Belfast.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51"Homeward I crawl, a wretched prodigal, to bide a while
0:02:51 > 0:02:53"and then again depart,
0:02:53 > 0:02:55"to leave once more,
0:02:55 > 0:03:01"once more to feel bereft, your picture album in my mental holdall,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04"the hills of Antrim etched upon my heart.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07"For truth to tell,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09"I never really left."
0:03:21 > 0:03:24To go back to the beginning,
0:03:24 > 0:03:31the chance of my becoming an actor at all was trillions, trillions to one.
0:03:31 > 0:03:39I was born in 1931 into the Depression years, into a working-class family.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45It was an unemployed-class family.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50I wasn't even very good at joining in family entertainments.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55My father loved to sing a song, my cousins would sing a song.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59I had several cousins who played instruments but none of it landed on me.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03I was so shy, I wouldn't get up and say a recitation even.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07And it got so bad, I would run and hide under the stairs.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Anything rather than have to get up and say anything.
0:04:11 > 0:04:17Or sing a song, oh, no. So I showed no promise at an early age.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28Ah.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Present.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Just taking a walk down memory lane, darling.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36'It's been well-documented,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39'I think, in the press in Northern Ireland'
0:04:39 > 0:04:44that Jimmy's had a bit of a blip with his ill health this last 12 months.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48He's had a little stroke but it's not deprived him of any
0:04:48 > 0:04:52of his vital faculties or any of the joy of speech.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56He's had to spend a little while in hospital.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00They've got the medication right and he's as good as new.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05I like to use this space because it gives me a kind of sense of theatre.
0:05:07 > 0:05:14A sort of small proscenium, so it helps me
0:05:14 > 0:05:16transmit myself ahead into the theatre.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Did you see a young lad passing this way
0:05:31 > 0:05:33in the early morning or the fall of night?
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Did you see the young lad?
0:05:46 > 0:05:49What kind was he?
0:05:49 > 0:05:54An ugly young streeler with a murderous gob on him and a little switch in his hand.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59I met a tramper who met him coming this way at the fall of night.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02For what do I want him?
0:06:02 > 0:06:05I want to destroy him for breaking the head on me
0:06:05 > 0:06:07with the clout of a loy.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11It was he did that
0:06:12 > 0:06:20and amn't I the great wonder to have traced him ten days with that rent in my crown, hey?
0:06:23 > 0:06:26What? What, what are you saying?
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Torment him, is it?
0:06:28 > 0:06:32And I who have to hold it out with the patience of a martyred saint.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Well, I'm driven out in my old age with none to aid me.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50# Life goes on day after day... #
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Memories,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53memories.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03It was early 1938, when I was just seven years old, that we travelled to Liverpool, where my father,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06a sheet-metal worker, got work at Cammell Laird shipyard.
0:07:06 > 0:07:13# ..cross the Mersey cos this land's the place I love
0:07:13 > 0:07:19I remember going across with my father to cross the Mersey on the ferry, which was more
0:07:19 > 0:07:24expensive than the train tunnel, but I used to hate going on the train.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26I always wanted to go on the ferry.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30# So ferry cross the Mersey... #
0:07:30 > 0:07:32One thing I do remember later on in life
0:07:32 > 0:07:36was my father couldn't afford to go into the Adelphi Hotel,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40which was very smart, but he'd got himself turned out very nicely.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42He'd got a nice suit on.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49I went through the swing doors with my father
0:07:49 > 0:07:54and I was taken down the stairs to this incredible palace of a place.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00The lavatory downstairs with all wash hand basins and everything.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04And my father said, "This is how the other half live, son."
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Then he saw somebody polishing... A toff was having his shoes polished.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11And he said to me,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15"Never do that, son."
0:08:15 > 0:08:17I said, "What was that, Father?"
0:08:20 > 0:08:25"Never let another man polish your shoes," he said, "It's demeaning."
0:08:25 > 0:08:29"You polish your shoes, no matter how well you do in life."
0:08:29 > 0:08:32That stuck in my head.
0:08:32 > 0:08:38After about a year across the water, we returned to 30 Park Avenue
0:08:38 > 0:08:43in the shadow of Harland and Woolf which was a target for the German Luftwaffe.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48It became the family home for the next half-century.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Let's go and have a look.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55During the war,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59it was a little, low-profit boarding house.
0:08:59 > 0:09:00Servicemen stayed there.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05I remember Aircraftsman Reynolds and Aircraftsman Thomas.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08We had two American sailors, from North Dakota,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11I remember, because I was interested in geography
0:09:11 > 0:09:16and I asked them where they came from and they said, "We're from North Dakota."
0:09:16 > 0:09:19And in the attic was Captain Nolan,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22the air-raid warden for Dun Laoghaire up the road there.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26As soon as the sirens started, he was up at his post.
0:09:26 > 0:09:32He had come up from Dublin but he'd served in the British Army and fought in Gallipoli.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35He was coming up to do his bit.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38So the whole house was actually like a theatre in itself.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41It was an extraordinary place for a little boy to grow up in
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and it was from here that I went to Strand School down the road.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Well, Paul.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58That's Strand Public Elementary School as I knew it.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03I don't know how but I went to a decent little primary school, public elementary school as they
0:10:03 > 0:10:06were called in those days, Strand primary, and I got
0:10:06 > 0:10:11a scholarship, a city scholarship to Methodist and that changed my life.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22I think, as far as I remember, we were the first lot of Belfast city scholars.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26There were 200 scholarships and he got one, I got one.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30And we started at Methodist together.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Me from the Ulmer Road, him from Sydenham.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38The first time I was aware of him must have been that first term.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41There was this very skinny,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45slightly buck-toothed guy from Sydenham.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Not much has changed.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58He didn't want to appear to be a swot, to be an intellectual, to know a lot.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I suppose because of his mates back in East Belfast.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05He, Ken Jameson, Jimmy and I, our threesome, didn't see a lot of those guys.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09But he would sometimes produce a facade
0:11:09 > 0:11:16of being something of a scallywag, a bit of an idiot, you know.
0:11:16 > 0:11:23And he would get himself off the hook and various scrapes that he'd get it into by acting this,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27which he's really continued to do off and on all through his life.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35- Well, look at that.- This wasn't here in our day, was it, that bit.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37- The roof was there.- Look at that.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Heritage visitors' centre.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Well. This ought to bring back memories.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46What was this?
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- A school room or something, wasn't it?- It must have been.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Jimmy, when he was very young, went to Methodist School.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56And his mates, his peer group,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58didn't particularly accept that.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Jimmy began acting by arriving home from Methodist and getting off
0:12:02 > 0:12:06the bus and pretending that he didn't like going to Methodist.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12Pretending that he didn't like this very academic exercise, complaining about the number of homeworks.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17The reality is, Jimmy adored it, he adored translating the poetry of Ronsard,
0:12:17 > 0:12:22he adored the discussions about the visual arts, about Cezanne and Monet and so forth.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Shall we sign the visitors' book?
0:12:24 > 0:12:26We'll do that later.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29I never thought the day would come that we'd be signing the visitors' book.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34I went right through the sixth form, got a fantastic education
0:12:34 > 0:12:37and that is where I picked up the French accent.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40The teacher, who was so inspirational,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43taught us and I mimicked him like a parrot, you know.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Comme on voit sur la branche au mois de Mai la rose
0:12:48 > 0:12:50En sa belle jeunesse,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54en sa premiere fleur. I'll never forget him.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Right, what did you find?
0:12:57 > 0:13:02That's, that's you as the leading part.
0:13:02 > 0:13:09That's right, yes, and where's Albert Jameson?
0:13:09 > 0:13:11There's Albert Jameson,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14in solitary state.
0:13:14 > 0:13:22Wonderful! That's a part of a set the three of us did together.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Look at that. Yes, it is.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27That's me as Dr Ford-Waterlow.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32We had a dramatic society, which I joined a very reluctantly.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Three of us did the set for this.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38Funnily enough, when I was on that stage,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42I thought, "This is funny, I know all my lines."
0:13:42 > 0:13:47the military people are laughing and my mother and father are out there.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51And I thought, "I'm not doing too bad here."
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I had wonderful make-up.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56I've got a marvellous photograph.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Dr Ford-Waterlow. I don't know what I was doing, you know.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05It was pretty dreadful but there you are, it was my blooding.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11From there, I went to university.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15I joined a dramatic society, which I thought would be great fun to do,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18now that I had got the flavour for it.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22I also was a bit short of money, a poor student,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25got some parts at the Arts Theatre for two or three quid a week
0:14:25 > 0:14:28and spent all my time doing that.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Jim Greene coped with it a bit but I couldn't cope with it at at all.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37And I couldn't cope with concentrating on two things at once so I lost my scholarship.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42And after that, to my utter amazement,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47I was awarded the Tyrone Guthrie scholarship to Bristol Old Vic.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49I couldn't believe it.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52But I had something to tell my mother and father.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57I had still no idea of becoming an actor but I thought, I can get away to Bristol
0:14:57 > 0:15:01and say, you know, that I'm getting another scholarship.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06My father was very pleased, "That's very good, is that what you want to do?"
0:15:06 > 0:15:08I said, "Oh, well."
0:15:08 > 0:15:12I didn't want to be an actor at all at that stage.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24The first time I met him, he'd just won a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28When I met him, I really didn't think
0:15:28 > 0:15:33he had a future as an actor because the accent was so strong.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35My accent
0:15:35 > 0:15:42let me down. I'm going in to see if I could perhaps join a company, I went in,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46"I just wondered, on the strength of what I have done, Mr Carey,
0:15:46 > 0:15:52"if you've seen any of my work at the school or heard my..."
0:15:52 > 0:15:55"Not with that accent, dear boy.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57"I'm afraid not.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03"I think your best chance of finding a start in the theatre is to go back to Ireland."
0:16:07 > 0:16:13When I got back home to Belfast, I went to the Group Theatre
0:16:13 > 0:16:17but it was taking you on on no money at all.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20So I was offered this part and my heart sank.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24I read the script and I was terrified.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28To cut a long story short, nobody said anything but I was a total failure.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31But JG Devlin went round and said,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36to the boss,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38"Right money, please."
0:16:42 > 0:16:46He became a lifelong friend, JG Devlin.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50A wonderful character, known in the business, known by everybody.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52I miss him very much.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Devlin was a terrific man of the theatre.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03And they just don't breed them that way any more.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06I think Jimmy was a great favourite of his.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Jimmy and I, our lives have sort of intertwined
0:17:10 > 0:17:17because I was instrumental in introducing him to his first wife,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Betty, Betty Hogg, who's now Beth Ellis.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Which was a pretty good marriage as long as it lasted.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32When I think of Jimmy Ellis, I do think of him as this kind of idealistic
0:17:32 > 0:17:38young man, coming back from England with a head full of ideas and ready to do some sort of good work,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41to bring the Group Theatre back to its former glory,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44and to give it a really vital place in the community again.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47And in order to do that, Ellis thinks, I think,
0:17:47 > 0:17:52he needs to start tackling some of the more contentious themes, if you like.
0:17:55 > 0:18:04I suppose Over The Bridge turned out to be the most sensational play ever put on in Belfast.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Perhaps the most controversial,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11powerful episode in the history of Northern Irish theatre,
0:18:11 > 0:18:16to this day. And Jimmy Ellis made that happen, he was the centre of that.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21Sam Thompson's play is basically about sectarianism within the trade union movement in the shipyard.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27To actually put that sectarianism on stage shows a contentious event, potentially, for the state.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32When Sam Thompson gives him the play, they agree to produce it, they cast it,
0:18:32 > 0:18:38they hold a press launch to advertise that they're going to launch this play
0:18:38 > 0:18:42and then the plug is pulled on it because they decide that this play is not appropriate.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50The directors of the Group Theatre felt that the script
0:18:50 > 0:18:53that they'd got from Sam Thompson was likely
0:18:53 > 0:18:57to reawaken the sectarian antagonisms in the community.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00It was about the shipyard and the relationships
0:19:00 > 0:19:03of the communities within the shipyard.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08And they, in fact, decided not to put on the play.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13Tony Guthrie described it as censorship unofficial by the establishment.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20I kept saying, "I don't think our board has the right to stop
0:19:20 > 0:19:25"the Belfast public judging for itself whether the play is fit to be seen.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29"If they don't think it's good, they'll judge with their feet."
0:19:29 > 0:19:35Jimmy rang me up and sent me the script and I read it and I thought, "God, you could never do this.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38"You couldn't do this in Belfast."
0:19:39 > 0:19:43I said, "Jimmy, if we do it, do you think we'll get shot?"
0:19:45 > 0:19:49And he said, "We'll take a chance," and he did, he took a tremendous chance.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54It took great courage, really, to put on Over The Bridge.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02They decided to stage it at the Empire Theatre of Varieties,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05which is a big theatre, it's a big variety, music hall type theatre.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08On the night of the premiere at the Empire Theatre,
0:20:08 > 0:20:14there is a police presence and people aren't quite sure how the public are going to react to it.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16But in the event, it's a huge success.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18The opening night was incredible.
0:20:18 > 0:20:27It was actually tingling with excitement and you peeped through the curtains and the whole stalls
0:20:27 > 0:20:31was surrounded by B Specials, revolvers at the ready.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33And we really did expect trouble.
0:20:37 > 0:20:44- The result and the outcome of Over The Bridge was that the Ulster Group Theatre disintegrated.- Yes.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47There was a kind of diaspora of Ulster actors.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51They went into television across the water and so on.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53- Yes. They did very well. - Yes indeed.
0:20:53 > 0:21:01The Group Theatre as a building was taken over by Jimmy Young, who ran it as a kind of comedy theatre,
0:21:01 > 0:21:07but the old tradition, the Group Theatre itself, foundered.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10I crossed the Irish Sea,
0:21:10 > 0:21:17with all that behind me, knowing that there was no future for me in the theatre in Belfast.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Jimmy did not leave Northern Ireland to pursue an acting career
0:21:20 > 0:21:23anywhere else, Jimmy had no choice but to leave Northern Ireland.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Jimmy was not going to have any future in Northern Ireland after producing Over The Bridge,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31because there was then, and there always has been,
0:21:31 > 0:21:37a core of special interest groups at work in Northern Ireland that if you offend, the black mark
0:21:37 > 0:21:40stains for quite some time. And Jimmy had offended.
0:21:40 > 0:21:46Worse than offending, Jimmy had then gone and had a huge, popular, commercial success with the play.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51And the future would have been a very bleak for him here in Northern Ireland.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56So off Jimmy went to England and indeed, the rest is history.
0:21:58 > 0:22:05After a few minor roles in things like Robin Hood and the title role in a play by a Stewart Love
0:22:05 > 0:22:14called The Randy Dandy, my first real break came in 1961, when I was seen for a new crime series.
0:22:15 > 0:22:22I went along and this producer was a very kindly looking man and he said,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27"The first question I'd like to ask you is, can you do Liverpool Irish?"
0:22:27 > 0:22:31I said, "I've heard this one before."
0:22:31 > 0:22:33I said, "Do Liverpool Irish?
0:22:33 > 0:22:36"I am Liverpool Irish."
0:22:36 > 0:22:38This is remembering my childhood.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I said, "What's the name of the part?"
0:22:41 > 0:22:44He said, "The part is McGinty."
0:22:44 > 0:22:49I said, "It's a bit of a joke name, that, in Ireland," I said.
0:22:49 > 0:22:56"Maybe it might be all right here but it's a bit stage Irish, you know, for a serious programme."
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"Oh, dear,
0:22:58 > 0:23:04"would you suggest something?" I said, "Something that sounds Irish,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06"like Lynch, you know?"
0:23:06 > 0:23:08"Lynch sounds good.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12"Could you catch the next train to Liverpool?"
0:23:12 > 0:23:16So that was how Z Cars started.
0:23:18 > 0:23:19Well, ten o'clock and all is well.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Oh, dear, I'm off to my pit.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24- Lynch.- Yes, Sergeant Twentyman.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27These fellows you caught in the van, I want a report.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30All right, Sarge, tomorrow. And tomorrow and tomorrow.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31Tonight, tonight and tonight.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Sarge, my shift finishes at ten.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40You're a copper 24 hours a day, I want that report on the CID with full particulars, right.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42- Sergeant Trentiman.- What is it? - There's a bundle at the tav.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44At the tav? Get your car out.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49I'll get my coat on, we'll get down there. Don't forget.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Come on, lads, let's have it!
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Where do they get the money to drink of a Saturday night?
0:23:53 > 0:23:55When they've drunk it all of a Friday?
0:23:58 > 0:24:03It was supposed to run for six episodes, which I thought was wonderful.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08If they thought it was successful, they might do another seven.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11And I thought, "Whoa,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13"what a job, this is lovely."
0:24:13 > 0:24:18Z Cars was real and you could see that they had their faults.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23And it was great to see a local fellow because Belfast wasn't really on the map in those days, you know.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27The Northern Ireland accent warmed the cockles of your heart,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30it really did, and that theme tune that they had, you know...
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Z CARS THEME TUNE PLAYS
0:24:44 > 0:24:49My mother and father were both very excited about him and they brought us down.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Something called Z Cars was starting on the television.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55I remember the tune of it coming up and I remember them sitting down,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and they were waiting.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02This was James Ellis, he was playing a policeman
0:25:02 > 0:25:06and he had a Northern Ireland accent and, it was kind of like,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08"Wow, he's a good policeman!"
0:25:08 > 0:25:13And also he had our accent and our accent was so rare on television.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16All right then, let's have your particulars.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21Date of birth, place of birth and all the names you've used in your bent life.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Look mate, I'm telling you nothing.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25- I know my rights. - Particulars, Stiegen.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Mind, he's got a nasty temper.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Now listen, mate. I've done time for wounding policemen before.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32And I'll do it again if you so much as touch me.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35- Particulars, Stiegen. - You interfering black enamel git!
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Thanks to Jimmy actually,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42the Ulster accent became known as the Ulster accent.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44And I think he was the first actor
0:25:44 > 0:25:47who really made it popular.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53We were talking there about...
0:25:53 > 0:25:57people who would go across, they would lose an accent.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02- Some people would retain their accent, some people would lose it quite quick.- You didn't.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07I think, I've been living in London now longer than I lived at home.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Which is absurd to me, in a way, but I think subconsciously with me,
0:26:12 > 0:26:17coming from Broughshane, moving to Coleraine, getting into acting, comes from my background.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21I think subconsciously, I daren't have lost the accent.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26That was my feeling exactly but don't forget, you're a brilliant actor, son.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29- Oh, well...- Don't forget.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34But one of the things I do feel proud about was something much later that I did, Cold Feet,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36was I felt that you were taking that accent
0:26:36 > 0:26:40out of the context Northern Ireland was always associated with
0:26:40 > 0:26:44and you were actually showing that there is a life outside of that.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49There's personalities outside of that world. It was good to...
0:26:49 > 0:26:52The only times you heard Northern Irish accents were in the news.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Yeah, but that's the way before my time. You never heard it at all.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59You never heard Northern Ireland news until the troubles started.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02I was over here long before the troubles.
0:27:02 > 0:27:08- I played Z Cars for years - You made it an awful lot easier for us, quite frankly,
0:27:08 > 0:27:15and if you have any legacy, of which there will be much written about your many legacies,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19you made it an awful lot easier for boys like me and Adrian and Liam
0:27:19 > 0:27:23to settle in this world over here. So we're grateful to you.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28And you were the first person to educate me about wine, my mother's never forgiven you!
0:27:30 > 0:27:36You're not going to believe this but the furnished Z Car, during the rehearsal week,
0:27:36 > 0:27:43that we got was two chairs like this, side by side.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46And two big eejits in there, going...
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Brrrrm! Brrrm!
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Like two kids.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Or reaching over.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59"Z Victor Two to BD."
0:28:01 > 0:28:04When I think back, it was all so ridiculous.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08But when we got in the studio, it was all very technical then.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14Then we had a... Well, even then, we had a sort of cut out car, it wasn't a real car at all.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17It was a sawn in half car
0:28:17 > 0:28:20with that little back projection behind us.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Hello, Z Victor Two to BD.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27- Z Victor Two, go ahead.- Z Victor Two proceeding to Parkfield West,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29pursuing enquiries.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33- Z Victor Two, Roger. - Here's a little memento,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37although we didn't have it at rehearsal.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39I've got it now, do you understand?
0:28:39 > 0:28:42And I've got this original police whistle.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53After 16 years, the series that put flesh on the television policeman,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57and in the process took a bit of blood out of him, is coming to an end.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02The Z Victors have finally become the losers in the battle of the telly cops.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04It's a nostalgic time for Jimmy Ellis,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08the actor who's put most of his professional life so far
0:29:08 > 0:29:11into the colourful character of Bert Lynch.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15There was a party when Z Cars finally ended
0:29:15 > 0:29:21that involved, obviously, all the people. All the stars were there -
0:29:21 > 0:29:23they gathered for this big party.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28And as Jimmy says, everybody was kind of seeking to impress everybody else
0:29:28 > 0:29:32as to what their next job was, and so-and-so was going to do something
0:29:32 > 0:29:35with the Royal Shakespeare and so-and-so had a movie coming up.
0:29:35 > 0:29:42Jimmy himself had heard there was a prospect of him taking part in a movie, in a big film.
0:29:42 > 0:29:48So everybody knows what everybody else is pretending they're doing, whether it's true or not.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52And there's a message for Jimmy that it's Hollywood on the line.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58So he decides it's somebody winding him up. He paid no attention and carried on talking.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02And the PA kept coming back saying, "Look, I've got Hollywood on the line."
0:30:02 > 0:30:06"Yeah, yeah, you've got Hollywood on the line". He eventually says,
0:30:06 > 0:30:11"All right, I'll take the phone." And he picks up the phone and a voice says, "Is that Mr Ellis?
0:30:11 > 0:30:15"I'm running a church fete in Hollywood in the next few weeks,
0:30:15 > 0:30:20and now that I hear you might be out of work, would you be free to come along and open it?"
0:30:20 > 0:30:25# I remember the days Of just keeping time
0:30:25 > 0:30:31# Of hanging around In sleepy towns forever
0:30:31 > 0:30:35# Back roads empty for miles
0:30:37 > 0:30:41# Well, you can't have a dream and cut it to fit
0:30:41 > 0:30:46# But when I saw you, I knew
0:30:46 > 0:30:51# We'd go together like a wink and a smile... #
0:30:53 > 0:30:59We got married on 10th of January 1976, here in this village.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07The village, of course, has never actually forgotten the wedding.
0:31:07 > 0:31:08That's the funny part about it.
0:31:08 > 0:31:14I sometimes get, "You were a handsome young man in those days".
0:31:14 > 0:31:17I said, "Well, I'm not so young
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and I wasn't as young as I looked, perhaps".
0:31:22 > 0:31:25We were a handsome couple, that's what we were.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29You were beautiful.
0:31:29 > 0:31:30Thank you very much.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34# We go together
0:31:34 > 0:31:39# Like a wink and a smile. #
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Z Cars ended in 1978.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51I was virtually unemployable.
0:31:51 > 0:31:58And suddenly I thought the only thing to do would be to get a stage place somewhere and hide.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01That's the only thing you can do.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05You don't get exposed on TV, you thought, "I'm in the West End."
0:32:05 > 0:32:08And I got the part in Once A Catholic.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12It ran for, in my case, a year.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Shortly after our son Toto was born in 1981,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27I was cast as Vershinin
0:32:27 > 0:32:33in Brian Friel's version of Chekhov's Three Sisters back in Ireland.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36During the rehearsals of that,
0:32:36 > 0:32:40towards the end of the rehearsals,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43I had these two men turn up -
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Chris Parr and Paul Seed.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50And I didn't know who they were.
0:32:52 > 0:33:00The Jimmy that I knew of then was the rather slim and always very affable Bert Lynch in Z Cars.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Well, firstly when I met Jimmy,
0:33:02 > 0:33:07a much bigger man than the Bert Lynch that I remembered...
0:33:07 > 0:33:09appeared.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14So, my fears were allayed on that score.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18And finally I plucked up courage and I said to him,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21"Jimmy, this is a fighting man.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25"Do you think you could play him convincingly?"
0:33:25 > 0:33:32And Jimmy stared at me, clenched his fists and held them under my nose and he said...
0:33:33 > 0:33:36"Well, what do you think, Chris?"
0:33:36 > 0:33:38And I...
0:33:38 > 0:33:41was convinced.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44My image of Jimmy at that stage, 25 years,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47I remember the beanpole sergeant in Z Cars.
0:33:47 > 0:33:53And we were talking about this to Chris Parr and Paul Seed,
0:33:53 > 0:33:59and I was saying, "Some of the hardest men I know, you'd think he'd blow them over".
0:33:59 > 0:34:00You know, they don't have to be big.
0:34:00 > 0:34:05But Jimmy had become physically big and physically impressive in that sense.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09He knew the hard man scene because he was brought up in East Belfast
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and he'd been around the pubs and the snooker halls.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16And he knew you'd get a dig in the gob if you looked at the wrong person at the wrong time.
0:34:16 > 0:34:22And this was part of what he brought to the Billy plays. He understood the subtext perfectly.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26Take care of them for me, son.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29This is the best way.
0:34:30 > 0:34:31It's the only way.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Good luck, Da.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55'The first day of rehearsal for the first Billy play'
0:34:55 > 0:34:58I walked into the room, you were already there, you were early.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01- You were already there. - I was always early.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04And I think I said hello.
0:35:04 > 0:35:10But you then went into a story as if we had known each other for the previous 50 years.
0:35:10 > 0:35:17And as far as I could tell, I didn't see you draw breath for about another hour and a half.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21And I don't think for the first part of my professional career, I opened my mouth.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24I just went, "Jesus, Jimmy hasn't finished yet! He hasn't finished!"
0:35:24 > 0:35:27And you were being very cute, as my mother would say.
0:35:27 > 0:35:34It was all by way of an illustration for Paul Seed about something very particular in the scene you wanted.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39'I remember telling my granny I was acting with Jimmy Ellis. And I thought she was going to faint.'
0:35:39 > 0:35:42It was like a hearthrob to her. "Jimmy Ellis from Z Cars?!
0:35:42 > 0:35:44"I can't believe it!"
0:35:44 > 0:35:47'When I did the first Billy play I was only nine,
0:35:47 > 0:35:52'and I didn't realise how well known and famous Jimmy Ellis was.'
0:35:52 > 0:35:55And it sort of went over my head a lot.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58What surprised me was he had so much time for me and Tracy.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03- He had no choice!- Well, maybe he didn't, but he was just such a father figure to us and he looked
0:36:03 > 0:36:09after us, and he had sweets for us and he didn't mind us crawling all over him like monkeys every day.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12He's just such a lovely man and that's what I always remember.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19- Dad?- I said a half a cup.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21That's three quarters.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25- What?- Can Billy come back?
0:36:26 > 0:36:28I told you, I'm going.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31After that you and him's in charge.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34He'll have to come back to collect some clothes, but I'd like him back.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38'We were all starting out for the first time.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43'Well, the three of us were anyway, and Ken was as well.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46'Jimmy had just so much television experience.'
0:36:46 > 0:36:49Does he still fart and blame it on the cat?
0:36:49 > 0:36:54But he didn't pass it on in a way that was ever patronising.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56- No, he was never a diva.- Never.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01It was always about helping you and helping the actual piece.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06Take care of yourself, Da.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10I'm only going to the bloody shipyard,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12not the Western Front.
0:37:16 > 0:37:22The scene where she's crying. Do you remember you crying?
0:37:22 > 0:37:26It was the whole scene where he roughs up Colm Convey
0:37:26 > 0:37:28and throws him out.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Your ma can't talk about nobody.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33She serviced half the American fleet in her day.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36I suppose that's where you got your yellow streak from, eh?
0:37:36 > 0:37:42You tell her if she ever talks about my wife again, I'll smash her brains all over the nearest wall!
0:37:42 > 0:37:45You tell her my wife's a lady compared with her.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49You tell her my wife's near dead and she's still a better looking woman than her.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52You tell your old bitch that!
0:37:52 > 0:37:54Quickly!
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Oh, that's right, the big bad wolf's here.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05You chase the kiddies off to bed.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07You're just like your ma.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09- It's late, dad.- "It's late, dad!"
0:38:09 > 0:38:11Damn the late!
0:38:11 > 0:38:17I'm their father. Why did you make me say I wasn't, because I am?
0:38:17 > 0:38:19They're mine! My kids!
0:38:19 > 0:38:21I pulled the tablecloth away.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I was raging and bawling.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29And Brid Brennan was standing at the end of the table and the little ones ran up the stairs in fear.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32And he yelled, "I want my children to kiss me night, night".
0:38:32 > 0:38:36"I want my children to kiss me night, night".
0:38:36 > 0:38:42And I thought, that wasn't bad, I thought to myself inside.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45- It's bound to be, "Shall we do it again?"- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48And I went over. Excuse me, I'm not going to do it to you.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53But between the banisters, I grabbed the banisters and I started to shake them.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56And a little face came in...
0:38:56 > 0:39:02- Stop bloody crying!- Leave them alone and let them go to bed! - Don't you tell me what to do!
0:39:02 > 0:39:04I'm sick of you telling me what to do!
0:39:04 > 0:39:06GIRL SOBS
0:39:15 > 0:39:17Goodnight daddy.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29At the time, I just cracked up.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33I cracked up because they were such lovely kids.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36I cracked up... The tears are in my eyes still remembering it.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38I cracked up and went...
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Collapsed in a heap.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44Sit down, Da.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49'We looked at each other.
0:39:49 > 0:39:55'And I said, had I done something wrong, why you crying for?
0:39:55 > 0:39:59'He was so emotionally involved. He was shaking and crying.'
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Paul Seed, the director, had to come over and hold him.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05I kept saying, "What are you crying for? What have I done wrong?"
0:40:05 > 0:40:07But it was just really,
0:40:07 > 0:40:09the whole emotion of it overwhelmed.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14I suppose that was what the Billy plays were about, it was such a powerful piece.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17And Jimmy was the real central figure.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20He gelled everything together.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32- Are you all right?- I'm fine.
0:40:34 > 0:40:40I've never known an actor with a track record like Jimmy Ellis, so little ego.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43There's no ego there at all, it's quite surprising.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47I mean, maybe in his bathroom in the mirror,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49but there's no ego-trip,
0:40:49 > 0:40:51- no nonsense tantrums.- Come on!
0:40:51 > 0:40:56Dirty you great big Irish breakfast, that's what you want.
0:40:56 > 0:40:57Soda bread, tattie bread,
0:40:57 > 0:41:04- egg, bacon, sausage. Smothered with that much sauce it will make your eyes water.- Sounds revolting!
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Come on.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16More than just the old rose-tinted spectacles, there was something about those plays, wasn't there?
0:41:16 > 0:41:20There was a kind of a fire in the belly of them.
0:41:20 > 0:41:26I remember when the first one went out, I was buying a cup of tea the next day in London.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30A woman said to me...she happened to be from Leeds. I remember.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36But she said, "Yes, I really loved that, just like up north as well."
0:41:36 > 0:41:38- I got a lot of that. - There was a connection.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43- A tremendous connection. - The end of a certain kind of working-class life.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45I don't think they realised.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50I got stopped by four lads who tried to take me off for a drink.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54"'Ere, you're just like my dad."
0:41:54 > 0:41:59And the other one's going, "Hey, you're like my dad."
0:41:59 > 0:42:02"You're just like my dad."
0:42:02 > 0:42:07"Are you coming for a drink?" They all grabbed me. And it was the middle of the day.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09And I thought,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12"I've got to go with these lads," you know.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33I was offered a very small part in Boys From the Blackstuff.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38I read the part, discovered it was right up my street.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41I thought, this is just me to a T.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43Hey, pop!
0:42:43 > 0:42:46You! Jimmy!
0:42:47 > 0:42:50'I wasn't expecting... It was a great opportunity for me'
0:42:50 > 0:42:54because it was a great chance to do a showing off part.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Don't I know you from somewhere?
0:43:01 > 0:43:04I'm...
0:43:04 > 0:43:07I'm...
0:43:11 > 0:43:13I'm wet.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16It's the climate, son.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19I wish I was dead.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22It's this city, man.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24It's nae use.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26'I have met a few winos in my time.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29'I've even talked to them.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34'As an actor, I'll talk to anybody, and I make it my business.'
0:43:36 > 0:43:43I talked to somebody the other day who was talking to me, and I said, "I know you're studying me."
0:43:43 > 0:43:46I said, "You don't know I'm studying you."
0:43:48 > 0:43:52"Oh, why is that?" I said, "I study everybody.
0:43:52 > 0:43:53"Because I'm an actor."
0:44:03 > 0:44:05Don't be in there.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10If you smash a window you get a cell for the night.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12You get the evening as well.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17It's dry in a cell. Nae more rain.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21HE SINGS DRUNKENLY
0:44:39 > 0:44:41ALARM BELL RINGS
0:44:45 > 0:44:48That was MA windae!
0:45:08 > 0:45:13We had the awful tragedy of Adams's death
0:45:13 > 0:45:16on the 25th August, 1988.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21My eldest son Adam was...
0:45:22 > 0:45:26..for want a better word...
0:45:26 > 0:45:29the newspapers called it "mugged",
0:45:29 > 0:45:32but he was stabbed, murdered.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38I think initially Jimmy felt that perhaps it was meant for him,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41because the man who murdered him was from Cork.
0:45:41 > 0:45:47And Jimmy thought it was something to do with Irish politics involved, which was totally wrong actually.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51This guy had been boasting to his friends that he'd kill someone
0:45:51 > 0:45:54and none of them believed him, so he set out to prove it.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58And he was trying to mug Adam who was fishing by the canal.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02He only had a couple of shillings on him, and this guy had a sock full of sand.
0:46:02 > 0:46:07And he battered him. And Jimmy be said, "I'll tell you about it some time, Graham, it was terrible."
0:46:07 > 0:46:12He said, "I was so angry, I used to go to where Adam's body was found
0:46:12 > 0:46:15"and they still had the chalk marks on the ground of the body.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19"I went into the local pubs and I just kicked the doors open.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21"I'd go to the bar and just scatter everything."
0:46:21 > 0:46:25And he said, "I wanted someone to say something or do something.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27"I'd have killed them."
0:46:27 > 0:46:30He said, "I came out one night and I was walking long, and somebody
0:46:30 > 0:46:33grabbed me, turned me around and threw me against the wall.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37It was a big policeman. And he said, "Do you want to know how your son died?
0:46:37 > 0:46:39I'll tell you how your bloody son died, I'll show you where he died."
0:46:39 > 0:46:44He said, "They dragged him down the canal and they stood there where chalk marks were still,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47"and he told me exactly what had happened."
0:46:47 > 0:46:50And he said, "There's nothing you could do to change that, Jimmy."
0:46:50 > 0:46:52And so it was one of those...
0:46:52 > 0:46:57life-changing experiences for Jimmy, I feel.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04Everybody has tragedies in their life.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Anybody else...
0:47:06 > 0:47:09It's not alone...
0:47:09 > 0:47:11for one person...
0:47:11 > 0:47:14to suffer disasters.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17There are many people...
0:47:17 > 0:47:20who my heart goes out to.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22It happens every day.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26It's just, when it happens to you,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29it seems to destroy your universe.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36'The family were devastated,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39'and Robina came to the rescue.'
0:47:41 > 0:47:43And since that moment,
0:47:43 > 0:47:45we are one family.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52My first wife calls Robina, Saint Robina!
0:47:54 > 0:48:00So, it's lovely to have a family around you one more time.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03It makes me a very happy man.
0:48:03 > 0:48:09Mandy rang, Jimmy, to say they'd all got back from holiday safe and sound.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13Well, where was I?
0:48:13 > 0:48:15Obviously, the way,
0:48:15 > 0:48:20the effect of that on his life was extraordinary and it's one of those
0:48:20 > 0:48:26things that I know you either don't come back from, or something
0:48:26 > 0:48:32inside you again comes to meet you and you can get over,
0:48:32 > 0:48:36get on to another level with that.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39And I think it's certainly also made him acutely aware.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42It's the moment when he obviously became a poet.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Because I do think poetry is the language of shock.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54His book comes out. And this is a major thing.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58And he's dedicated a poem to my father in the book, and he invites him to the launch.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00In fact, it's here in Belfast.
0:49:00 > 0:49:07And at this stage, diabetes has affected my dad and he can't read, and he can't see very well.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Obviously my mother and father were invited.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12So they declined and said it was for health reasons.
0:49:12 > 0:49:18And what happened was, on this day, and this is an extraordinary day for Jimmy, this is like...
0:49:18 > 0:49:23He wasn't young. If you think of all the events that led up to that,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27he actually has this day in the book,
0:49:27 > 0:49:33the book launch of Domestic Flight, and I didn't know this, but he had dedicated a poem to my father.
0:49:33 > 0:49:34So what did Jimmy do?
0:49:34 > 0:49:42On the day of the launch, he gets in a taxi and comes to the house here to the parlour.
0:49:42 > 0:49:48And he reads the poem to him, that he's dedicated to him, Over The Bridge.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50And it's...
0:49:51 > 0:49:54..it's the kindness of that. It's the fact that it's his day.
0:49:54 > 0:50:01And this is really hard for me because I'm a writer, selfishly, I wouldn't have done that.
0:50:01 > 0:50:08I haven't done that. I mean, to do that, that major... I mean, it was his book of poetry,
0:50:08 > 0:50:10his first publication and he does that
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and he comes up here to the sitting room and he reads from the poetry.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Jimmy's really an intellectual.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21There's a Beckett poem,
0:50:21 > 0:50:25I think it was written in French, and then Beckett himself
0:50:25 > 0:50:30translated it into English, and when they did the Beckett...
0:50:30 > 0:50:33anniversary, it was Jimmy's translation,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37which was slightly different from Sam's own, that was chosen.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39So he's not, you know...
0:50:39 > 0:50:43He's a Renaissance man really.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Other things I've done, of course, are One By One.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59I could talk about that for hours.
0:50:59 > 0:51:04One By One was all about animals.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08And I had a wonderful time doing it and I've met everything.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10I've made friends with a gorilla.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17And my pal the orang-utan.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Working with Jimmy is a real joy.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32I mean,
0:51:32 > 0:51:34he's a fantastic actor.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37A true professional. I mean, doing scenes and playing the field,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39we had some specifically
0:51:39 > 0:51:41quite serious scenes to do.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46And Jimmy can really switch it on and turn it on.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49It's easy to work with him because he's so accomplished.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53There you are now, Mother.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56It'll be a change of scenery for you.
0:51:56 > 0:51:57I'd be better off in my bed.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00But you've gotta get out of that bedroom some time.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04We'll be able to sit together and watch the telly.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09And I won't have to be up and down the stairs so much.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11RANDOM NOTES PLAY TUNELESSLY, BARKING
0:52:15 > 0:52:22I remember leaving set and saying to people, I've really learnt quite a lot today and that's great.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24You can just watch and learn.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29Genuinely. And with all that wonderful experience,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31he's a fine actor.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Well I've known Jimmy Ellis as an actor for a long time,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46since I was a very young child from seeing him on TV.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50I did think of him in my very young youth as an uncle of mine.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54He looked like an uncle and spoke like an uncle of mine on television.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59I was delighted when he turned up in Ballykissangel to play my uncle.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01And I'd said I'll introduce myself and I couldn't.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03I bottled because I was too
0:53:03 > 0:53:06afraid because he was such a hero of mine.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Because Jimmy has always been considered
0:53:09 > 0:53:12as theatrical and acting royalty.
0:53:12 > 0:53:18Then he came and introduced himself to me as if he'd known me all my life. He'd even done his research
0:53:18 > 0:53:22where he knew stuff about my family from talking about me before he got to the set.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27- Goodnight Irene!- Hiya.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39H-i-i-i...Hiya!
0:53:39 > 0:53:43H-i-i-i...Hiya!
0:53:43 > 0:53:47H-i-i-i-i-i...Hiya!
0:53:48 > 0:53:50Perhaps he said...
0:53:50 > 0:53:54- It must be Latin. - Jabba, jabba, jabba, jabba, jabba.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Jabba, jabba.
0:53:58 > 0:54:03'I worked with him for quite a bit after Bally K and recently on
0:54:03 > 0:54:07'a short film that he adapted from a short story called The Devil.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11'And discovered in the course of that that Jimmy had been a French student as I had been,'
0:54:11 > 0:54:16but unlike me, Jimmy had graduated with 100% in his French exams,
0:54:16 > 0:54:20which sickened my happiness cos I didn't do anything like as well.
0:54:22 > 0:54:30But it explains a lot about the man as a writer and poet and a wordsmith
0:54:30 > 0:54:32and about how well he used those skills.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41To be,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44or not to be:
0:54:44 > 0:54:46that is the question.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
0:54:50 > 0:54:54The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
0:54:54 > 0:54:59Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01And by opposing,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03end them?
0:55:03 > 0:55:06To die.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09To sleep.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11No more.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13And by a sleep to say we end
0:55:13 > 0:55:17The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
0:55:17 > 0:55:19That flesh is heir to,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25To die, to sleep.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31To sleep,
0:55:31 > 0:55:33perchance to dream.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39Ay, there's the rub.
0:55:40 > 0:55:45For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
0:55:45 > 0:55:48When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50Must give us pause.
0:55:50 > 0:55:51There's the respect
0:55:51 > 0:55:55That makes calamity of so long life.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59For who would bear the whips and scorns of time?
0:55:59 > 0:56:02The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely?
0:56:02 > 0:56:06The pangs of despis'd love,
0:56:06 > 0:56:08the law's delay?
0:56:08 > 0:56:11The insolence of office and the spurns
0:56:11 > 0:56:15That patient merit of the unworthy takes?
0:56:15 > 0:56:20When he himself might his quietus make
0:56:29 > 0:56:32With a bare bodkin?
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Who would fardels bear...
0:56:39 > 0:56:40And so on.
0:57:04 > 0:57:09Anywhere you go where you use the name Jimmy Ellis, is immediately,
0:57:09 > 0:57:13it's like a cosmic pass into any circle or any situation.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16There is such a wealth of goodwill for Jimmy, it's extraordinary.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19I don't know anybody else like him
0:57:19 > 0:57:21who carries that wonderful passport.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31He had a word for everybody, as I say, over here, you know?
0:57:31 > 0:57:35If you walked on the street in Belfast with Jimmy everybody knows him and he stops with every person.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37I think he sort of exudes
0:57:37 > 0:57:42the confidence in, he's never going to not be there for you.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01I tell you a marvellous thing about Jimmy is this,
0:58:01 > 0:58:06he's one of those people that if you see him, your heart gives a lift.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10He's a real life enhancer, Jimmy Ellis.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15And please, God, may he get on for a long time more.
0:58:36 > 0:58:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd, 2006
0:58:39 > 0:58:42E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk