0:00:02 > 0:00:04He became a national icon playing one of the most loved
0:00:04 > 0:00:07but put-upon characters in British comedy.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Afternoon!
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Well, it was amazing to see Richard become so successful.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22When I met him, I'm pretty sure he was living in one room.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Bloody hell! I do not believe it!
0:00:28 > 0:00:34Before this startling elevation, he'd enjoyed a near faultless 30-year career as a character actor,
0:00:34 > 0:00:39a regular face in film, theatre and television.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44I intend to preserve and protect those values I hold most dear - the simple values of human dignity...
0:00:46 > 0:00:49I immediately was struck by him and immediately found him a very funny actor.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52But he's not just an actor.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56He's a distinguished and inspiring director of gritty and challenging productions.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01He is probably the busiest person I know.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05He's extraordinary. He literally goes from one project to the next, to the next, to the next.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11Today he continues to be one of the most bankable names in British television,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and his huge success hasn't diminished his relentless desire to work.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19A lot of people say to me, "Why are you still acting?"
0:01:21 > 0:01:28I say, "Because I enjoy it, (a), and (b) I'm still learning.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32These are the many faces of Richard Wilson.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Thank you very much.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49By the age of 54, Richard Wilson had
0:01:49 > 0:01:53built a significant body of work, both as an actor and as a director.
0:01:53 > 0:02:02But in 1990, cast in a major new BBC sitcom, he was about to experience a profound change in his life.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05DOORBELL RINGS
0:02:05 > 0:02:07HE HUMS
0:02:09 > 0:02:11- Good morning!- Goodbye!
0:02:13 > 0:02:16I think it's an inspirational story for actors.
0:02:16 > 0:02:25He was very well established, very happy, had a good career, and then suddenly he went off into...
0:02:25 > 0:02:27into space!
0:02:27 > 0:02:33I've never in all my life known such shoddy bloody...
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Oi, you - Superman's grandad!
0:02:37 > 0:02:41One Foot In The Grave had a huge impact in Britain and beyond,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46and the character of Victor Meldrew became an unlikely cultural icon.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Richard Wilson was catapulted into the cauldron of British public life.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53And the winner is... Oh, good.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Richard Wilson, One Foot In The Grave.
0:03:00 > 0:03:08I mean, I love the fact that Richard was taken to the national bosom in that way. That was brilliant.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12I was hugely pleased when he picked up a couple of BAFTAs.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15The winner is... Richard Wilson.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25It was certainly life-changing for me insomuch that
0:03:25 > 0:03:27one became a bit of a celebrity -
0:03:27 > 0:03:29certainly recognised much more.
0:03:29 > 0:03:36But it allowed me into areas of society that I'd never been in.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39For example, I was Rector of Glasgow University
0:03:39 > 0:03:46for three years, which was a job that I absolutely loved, because I'm very passionate about education.
0:03:46 > 0:03:55And it opened all these doors - and also, for the first time, gave me financial security.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00Well, it was amazing to see Richard become so successful.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01When I met him,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04even though he was an associate at
0:04:04 > 0:04:09the Oxford Playhouse, I'm pretty sure he was living in one room.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11He worked all the time.
0:04:11 > 0:04:18In many ways because he lived so simply, he could travel easily and toured a great deal as well.
0:04:18 > 0:04:24So when the success happened, it was fantastic.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27CRICKET COMMENTARY It's caught at slip by Gooch!
0:04:32 > 0:04:36One comedy role transformed Richard Wilson's life at a time when even
0:04:36 > 0:04:40the most successful actors were being forced into the wings.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46But after finding his true calling in his late twenties, his passion for acting has never waned.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51He still considers it a privilege to have been able to be an actor.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55He will still talk about
0:04:55 > 0:04:58the fact that he has had a life
0:04:58 > 0:05:02at one point in his life he never thought would happen, and it has.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10Becoming one of Britain's biggest stars was a major change in Richard Wilson's life.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14But it was the culmination of a dream that started in Greenock,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17on the west coast of Scotland, in the 1940s.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23When this young boy took to the stage in the Lady Alice Primary School,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26little did he know how it would shape his future.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Our school had a stage, which...
0:05:29 > 0:05:36in the gymnasium, which was turned into a theatre by putting seats in.
0:05:36 > 0:05:43We had a proper stage, and I played in the Princess And The Pea, and I was the king.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45The king was quite a small part.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47I remember that I got one laugh.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and I thought, "This is interesting.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52"I quite like this."
0:05:52 > 0:05:56As time went on, I began to think
0:05:56 > 0:05:59maybe being an actor was quite good idea.
0:06:01 > 0:06:08Bitten by the bug to perform, Richard Wilson kept his lofty ambitions strictly to himself.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16In post-war Greenock, a town dominated by heavy industry, acting was not an option.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22I kept it pretty secret, as I remember.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27I wasn't going to tell anyone for fear they would laugh.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Going into the theatre was strange.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37On the west coast of Scotland, you'd be called a big sissy.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42On leaving school, Richard Wilson mothballed any thoughts of acting
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and chose a respectable path into the National Health Service.
0:06:45 > 0:06:52Training as a lab technician, he became part of a crusade to fight the scourge of tuberculosis.
0:06:52 > 0:07:00I was quite good at science and I quite liked the idea of working in medical work and
0:07:00 > 0:07:04doing good for people and all the rest of it.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09When he was called up for national service, Richard swapped
0:07:09 > 0:07:13the hospital labs of Glasgow for the field hospitals of war-torn Malaya.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18Demobbed after his two years in the Royal Army Medical Corps,
0:07:18 > 0:07:24Richard Wilson was keen to swap bloody conflict for culture and headed to London.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34I came to London to see more theatre and to see cinema.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37I'd become very interested in cinema.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46When I came down, I, sort of, lived in the National Film Theatre -
0:07:46 > 0:07:49then I caught up with will the classics and it was just a wonderful time.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Now in his late twenties, Richard was content performing in am-dram
0:07:57 > 0:08:01as well as holding down his day job in Paddington Hospital.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06However, a chance meeting reignited his dream of becoming a professional actor.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16I met a girl at a party, a student at RADA, and she said
0:08:16 > 0:08:20you only have to have lived in London for a year to get a grant.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I didn't know that.
0:08:23 > 0:08:32By the time I was 27, I thought if I don't try now, I'll never try, so I applied to RADA.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37I applied to the London County Council, as it was then,
0:08:37 > 0:08:43and they paid all my fees and I had a living grant.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Otherwise, I couldn't have done it.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52I was absolutely thrilled, of course, when I got in.
0:08:54 > 0:09:02The thing about RADA was that there was a sort of mixture of ideas being thrown at you.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07It was pretty open, which I thought was very good.
0:09:07 > 0:09:19A lot of concentration on voice and technical work, movement, restoration movement, dance, everything.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25When he graduated in 1965, Richard Wilson could now called himself an actor.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29A new life beckoned and within days of leaving RADA,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33he headed north to make his TV debut on one of Britain's biggest shows.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39- Does that hurt?- Aye, it does.
0:09:39 > 0:09:40Will you be in court tomorrow
0:09:40 > 0:09:43to hear Moorcroft shoot done the schoolteacher?
0:09:43 > 0:09:46- I will not.- Aye, young Finlay will.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Oh, I bet he feels pretty sick now.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53- Why?- Well, nobody likes the teacher, do they?
0:09:53 > 0:09:57It was the Andrew Cruikshank version of Dr Finlay and they were
0:09:57 > 0:10:05always looking for fresh Scottish faces and one of my teachers at RADA had a friend who was directing one,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08so that's how I managed to get the part.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Excuse me.
0:10:20 > 0:10:26But it was in the radical theatre of the late '60s that Richard Wilson really began to develop as an actor.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31It all started at the end of one of Edinburgh's long, dark lanes.
0:10:35 > 0:10:42The Traverse, as it suggests, was a traverse, it was 30 seats on one side and 30 seats on the other.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45It was a tiny, tiny little theatre.
0:10:47 > 0:10:53It was run by Gordon McDougall at the time and it was a really exciting place to be.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56I loved it.
0:10:56 > 0:11:03It was very intimate as well and that was great for Richard because he's an actor, um...
0:11:03 > 0:11:09who likes to be very close to the audience and he works very well in close up.
0:11:10 > 0:11:16It was during productions of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot and Uncle Vanya by Chekhov
0:11:16 > 0:11:21that Richard's talent for drawing comedy from the tragic and the absurd emerged.
0:11:21 > 0:11:28That quality, that the whole thing is tragic but also absurd, was something that I think
0:11:28 > 0:11:38he responded to very quickly and in a sense, it's a gift to have somebody that has that ability
0:11:38 > 0:11:43to make you laugh and feel very deeply for the character at the same time.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Whilst at the Traverse, Richard Wilson was amongst
0:11:49 > 0:11:57a number of performers who caught the attention of Sidney Bernstein, the impresario behind Granada TV.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01It was his vision to form a company of actors and writers
0:12:01 > 0:12:07whose creativity would energise British TV drama. It was called The Stables.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12It was the first company in the country that was going to do television and theatre.
0:12:12 > 0:12:19We were a repertory company that did television, which was absolutely unheard of and very exciting.
0:12:19 > 0:12:26So we had money to commission plays, for example, which repertory companies didn't have.
0:12:26 > 0:12:32We were able to develop new writers and new plays in the theatre and some of them went on
0:12:32 > 0:12:40into television and Richard was part of that company from '68 to 1971.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45The collaborative nature of the company saw Richard flourish on and off stage.
0:12:47 > 0:12:56In 1969, he was confident enough to direct his first play and so began another successful career path.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00It was about a ventriloquist, an ageing ventriloquist,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02who had a great sex drive.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04- Who is it?- Task force.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06I don't want you.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08They asked me to get your groceries.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Groceries?
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Did you say groceries?
0:13:13 > 0:13:19All the helpers who were sent round to deal with him he attacked, basically, as I remember.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Maybe a tin of apricot jam.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Apricot jam.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30Before you go, make sure there's none down behind the bed there at the back. I hide it there sometimes.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Just have a look, there's a good lass.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Right over...
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Oh, God Almighty!
0:13:37 > 0:13:45When Granada ran into financial difficulties in the early '70s, The Stables Company was disbanded.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51But for Richard, the association with Granada continued when he has offered his first notable TV role
0:13:51 > 0:13:55as a flamboyant barrister in a memorable and long-running courtroom drama.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11The idea was that on Wednesday, you had the prosecution,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15on Thursday the defence and on Friday, the summing-up
0:14:15 > 0:14:16and the verdict
0:14:16 > 0:14:20and the special thing about it was that you had real people in the jury.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Richard played Jeremy Parsons, QC.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27- Philip da Costa?- Yes.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29You're not just a rancher, are you?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31I don't know what you mean, sir.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34I should have thought the question was quite simple.
0:14:34 > 0:14:35Shall I put it another way?
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Is ranching your only business interest?
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Oh, no, no.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42- You have other interests?- Sure.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47Jeremy Parsons was very sarcastic, as I remember.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51He could be quite nasty, in his, er...
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Well, of course barristers are.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57What is cryptorchidism, Senor Da Costa?
0:14:57 > 0:14:58Oh well... I...
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Well?
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- I don't know. - You're quite sure?- Sure I'm sure.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07Well, paraphimosis? What about paraphemosis?
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Who knows?
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Well, I trust you do, Mr Parsons.
0:15:11 > 0:15:12Yes, my Lord.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15What he brought to it,
0:15:15 > 0:15:22which a lot of the other counsels didn't, was quite a strong sense of comedy,
0:15:22 > 0:15:29that writers were able to give him material that was more probing and
0:15:29 > 0:15:32more...slightly more absurd and way out.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37Cryptorchidism is a condition which either one or both testicles are
0:15:37 > 0:15:41retained in the body and have not descended into the scrotum.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44The resulting body heat usually destroys the viability of the sperm.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49- Yes, I take your point. - Paraphimosis, on the other hand, is a disease of the penis and...
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Spare us the details.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57Richard became very popular with audiences, but also with directors,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01because generally speaking, as it was such a fast turn around,
0:16:01 > 0:16:07the actors wouldn't bother, the actors playing the counsel wouldn't bother to learn the script.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11They would just have it in front of them and refer back to it.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13But Richard would always learn the script.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16You could always get a reaction shot on him.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20He wouldn't be buried back in the script looking at the next question.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Because you had your lines, your questions in your note book, which is absolutely
0:16:25 > 0:16:33legitimate, I realised if you had your head down too much of the time, you weren't going to get into shots.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38At a stroke, Richard Wilson became a well known face for
0:16:38 > 0:16:42the role of Jeremy Parsons and his TV career took off.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49His comic touch led to regular supporting roles, particularly in sitcoms,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54working alongside Leslie Crowther and Sylvia Syms in My Good Woman,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59and opposite David Jason in A Sharp Intake of Breath.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06But his next comedy role moved him a little closer to centre stage.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09After years spent working in hospital labs, he was well suited
0:17:09 > 0:17:13to play Dr Gordon Thorpe In Only When I Laugh.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24I had a lot of doctors to go on, because I had watched them in hospital work.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26But of course a lot of my patients thought I was a doctor.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28They used to call me "doctor"
0:17:28 > 0:17:32when I was taking blood from them and things like that.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34And I used to explain that I wasn't.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36But then I got fed up,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40because it took too long. So I used to strut around in my white coat.
0:17:40 > 0:17:41Oh dear, oh dear.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45- Not for me to comment, of course. - Of course not.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48- Not a pretty sight.- I've seen Christmas turkeys in better shape.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Not to worry, old chap, you're in good hands now.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58- Who did this to you?- You did!
0:17:59 > 0:18:05Despite the show being a huge hit for ITV, Richard found his role less than taxing,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08a point he brought up with the writer.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11I remember, I used to say to Eric Chappell, because I was playing
0:18:11 > 0:18:18a doctor in a series about patients, and I remember saying to Eric, look, just write me another scene,
0:18:18 > 0:18:23we don't have to broadcast it, but just do it in rehearsal. Because I got so bored.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27I shouldn't really accept. Thank you, Norman.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32You know, there are days in medicine, not very many, but from time to time,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34everything seems worthwhile.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42- Now, Mr Binns, we need a few details. We don't appear to have your sample.- My what?
0:18:42 > 0:18:46- Your urine sample. - I've just given it to the doctor.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57But there were more substantial roles for Richard to play and each brought its own benefits.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01It was while appearing in a BBC drama in 1978 that Richard first
0:19:01 > 0:19:07worked with actor Anthony Sher, who had become a lifelong friend and regular collaborator.
0:19:09 > 0:19:16It was a series for the BBC called Pickersgill People, written by the late Mike Stott.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22And it was different stories set in this imaginary place, Pickersgill,
0:19:22 > 0:19:31and the one we were in was called the Sheik of Pickersgill, about a very rich, young Arab sheik,
0:19:31 > 0:19:37which I played, coming to an English language school, which Richard was running.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Welcome, your highness.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Mackenzie Tooth, sir,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48pronounced Tyooth, spelt tooth, as in mouth.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50'Scuse?
0:19:50 > 0:19:51Boss.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Ah, fuck me.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Yes. Well...
0:19:58 > 0:20:04He had no English at all, this sheik, but he really came to watch football and it was an extremely funny play.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07I remember he used to spit quite a lot.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13I mean, you've already done a year's study at Cowper College,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16I understood, so you will have mastered...
0:20:16 > 0:20:20- Cowper College, yes, nice place. Rubbish. - HE SPITS
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Oh dear.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Every now and again he would go pffut!, which Mackenzie Tooth didn't take to much.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34His father, king Fakmed - socialist!
0:20:34 > 0:20:36HE SPITS
0:20:36 > 0:20:40So speak English, my son, he said.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43We just hit it off immediately.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48So well that we ruined take after take with laughing.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Hmm?
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Oh, well - aye, there is the rub.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Well, yes. Yes.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Now.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10Richard was carving out a niche for playing authority figures, often with a comic edge.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17But he played it straight when he was cast as a condescending colonial governor
0:21:17 > 0:21:19in the film A Passage to India,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23working under the great director, David Lean.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Working with David was very exciting. Really exciting.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34It was wonderful to see his sort of visual eye and
0:21:34 > 0:21:43how keen he was on the visuals and his eye for detail was extraordinary.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49He used to regale us with stories of his early days. et cetera,
0:21:49 > 0:21:54which was wonderful. It was wonderful to be working with him.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57# A wop bop a loo mop a lop bam bam Tutti Frutti.. #
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Regular work followed A Passage to India.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03But it was in 1987 that Richard would redeploy his comic talents
0:22:03 > 0:22:09in a BBC comedy drama that launched the talents of Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11# A wop bop a loo mop a lop bam bam... #
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Tutti Frutti followed the troubles of old-time rockers, The Majestics,
0:22:16 > 0:22:23as they struggled to keep body and soul together, as well as their chaotic tour on the road.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Fink, scummy rat fink!
0:22:29 > 0:22:31That's what Danny Boy saint is.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Get off that stage, careful, you two timing, scummy rat fink!
0:22:35 > 0:22:36Me?
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I'm a two-timing rat fink?
0:22:39 > 0:22:41What about you? Where are you?
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Where I should be and you shouldnae - on stage at The Pavilion for The Majestics' sound check.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Get that stupid guitar off and get back to your knitting.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54It was after a chance TV viewing that Tutti Frutti's writer, John Byrne, became convinced
0:22:54 > 0:22:59there was only one man to play the hapless and shifty band manager.
0:22:59 > 0:23:05Richard Wilson, I had seen years before in a play and I thought, God, he's wonderful, that guy.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08And when we came to the part of Eddie Clockerty,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Tony Smith and I were talking about it and he said to me,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15there is only one guy can play this part.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18And I looked at him and I said - and we both said it -
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Richard, we both said it simultaneously, Richard Wilson.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23So we both had the same idea.
0:23:23 > 0:23:24Hello, Tommy.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Eddie Clockerty.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32Listen, we might be able to salvage The Majestics' Silver Jubilee junket after all.
0:23:32 > 0:23:38I remember reading this man Eddie Clockerty and thinking,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42I have got to research this character - I don't know anyone like this.
0:23:42 > 0:23:48But then the more I read - John's writing was so explicit and
0:23:48 > 0:23:53then we had the great Katy Murphy came along very late in the casting.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55He never signed that, did he?
0:23:55 > 0:23:57That's yours with the lumpy milk.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Of course he signed it - he just didn't sign all of it.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02You could go to the Bar-L for that, Mr Clockerty.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06What, for making up for an incompetent PA, Miss Toner? Look at this.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10He forgot to staple the bottom 12 pages to the top sheet.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13I'm just trying to rectify a clerical blunder, that's all.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18I was Janice Toner, who
0:24:18 > 0:24:25was the secretary to Richard Wilson's character, Mr Clockerty.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Katy was wonderful to work with. She had
0:24:29 > 0:24:32never played anything that big before, I don't think.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34And she just grasped it.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Vincent Diver. He doesn't sound too pleased about something.
0:24:38 > 0:24:39Tell him I'm away home.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41You've just told him.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46You're on a verbal warning, Janice.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Aye, that'll be right.
0:24:48 > 0:24:49Vincent!
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Richard's incredibly supportive
0:24:51 > 0:24:54of me and incredibly kind and when I did actually learn a lot about
0:24:54 > 0:25:01acting, speaking to him, because he is a wonderful director as well, so he is very knowledgeable.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03You had a pleasant enough journey through?
0:25:03 > 0:25:04Nice bunch of lads. Nice bunch.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06No, keep that arm up.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Do you mind, sweetheart?
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Do I mind what? Standing here like an idiot,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14holding on to the slack of your bum, when I could be downstairs in the bar having a last gin and tonic?
0:25:14 > 0:25:19- What do you think?- Pay no attention to Miss Toner, Danny. She's going to get her jotters when we get back.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21Just try it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:28The writing was exceptional and John wrote in the Scottish vernacular. We didn't water it down.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33I remember Anthony Howard, I think it was, on some review programme saying,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37I don't understand a word of it. Just dismissed it.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42- Is that what you're wearing, Miss Toner?- Yeah.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44- What's up with it?- No, no, it's...
0:25:44 > 0:25:46very eye-catching.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Oh good.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54- Is that us, then? - Do you not want to take a coat, just in case it rains?
0:25:54 > 0:25:58If it's your pals in the miner's welfare in Methil you're bothered about, don't.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01I'll be tucked up nice and cosy in my bed with a good book.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05John Byrne's Tutti Frutti walked away with six BAFTAs
0:26:05 > 0:26:10and Richard Wilson's reputation for a distinctive comedy touch was significantly enhanced.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14The winner is Peter Hayes for Tutti Frutti.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Lora Blair for Tutti Frutti.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Sandy Anderson
0:26:21 > 0:26:23and John Byrne for Tutti Frutti.
0:26:23 > 0:26:24Tutti Frutti.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28I think it just
0:26:28 > 0:26:30hit the spot.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32In terms of
0:26:32 > 0:26:34the fact that people
0:26:34 > 0:26:36talked about it the following day.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41It went out on a Tuesday night, it was on the graveyard slot on the BBC at that time. BBC1.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And people were talking about it the following day.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52But there was another writer who had played by far the most significant role in Richard's career.
0:26:54 > 0:27:01His scripts sparked Richard's rise from solid second billing to the pantheon of British comedy greats,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04where only a handful of performers exist.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12However, back in the 1980s, writer David Renwick looked to Richard to play the foil to Peter Cook,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15in the movie Whoops Apocalypse,
0:27:15 > 0:27:21a satirical swipe at the deeply divisive Conservative policies of the 1980s.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26The entire country has gone stark staring raving...
0:27:27 > 0:27:30- Morning.- Morning Prime Minister.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35I first became aware of Richard's work generally, I think, watching him in Only When I Laugh.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37He played those kind of
0:27:37 > 0:27:40sort of authority figures with, I don't know,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42a kind of ineffectual pomposity to them.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46I immediately was struck by him and found him a very funny actor.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49What we need now is a radical job-creation programme.
0:27:49 > 0:27:55Now I have devised one here that will create half a million new jobs in its first year of operation.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Basically, the scheme works like this.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Every week, 10,000 working people jump off a cliff,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04thus creating 10,000 new jobs.
0:28:04 > 0:28:12We knew he was of the left, so he was kind of politically sound and he seemed ideal material for that role.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Now some people argue this crisis is as a result of Government mismanagement and under-spending.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Well, they could not be more wrong.
0:28:20 > 0:28:27- Hear, hear.- Because we all know what really causes unemployment in this country, don't we gentlemen?
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Unemployment in this country is caused by pixies.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37Anything that was trying to do down Margaret Thatcher, I accepted
0:28:37 > 0:28:40with open arms.
0:28:40 > 0:28:48Because by this time I was a member of the Labour Party and hated Margaret Thatcher and her government.
0:28:48 > 0:28:54I think that kind of anarchic comedy, which was very wild, very surreal in a lot of cases, works
0:28:54 > 0:28:58better the straighter the performances are within it.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01And people like Richard are just gold dust
0:29:01 > 0:29:05in that respect, because they do give it such a kind of weight.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11It wasn't a very successful film, unfortunately.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14But it was great to do.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18And of course started my relationship with David.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23The following year, writers David Renwick and Andrew Marshall looked to Richard Wilson again
0:29:23 > 0:29:29for their sitcom that satirised the charging juggernaut that was '80s tabloid journalism.
0:29:29 > 0:29:36# Paper, paper, give us your daily news... #
0:29:36 > 0:29:39We really just want to get the knives into the
0:29:39 > 0:29:42scurrilous activities of the press at that time
0:29:42 > 0:29:47and prior to that time and since that time. Nothing has changed. Nothing whatsoever.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Hello, good morning, Dicky. How are you today?
0:29:50 > 0:29:53I just ran into Greg Kettle in the lift, who said he was on his way to
0:29:53 > 0:29:57investigate a story that tennis player Boris Becker was a lesbian.
0:29:59 > 0:30:05Based on the somewhat flimsy evidence that he's been seen going out with women.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10Now this is just the kind of pernicious pap that Mr Rathbone brought me into stamp out.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14David Renwick had been a journalist
0:30:14 > 0:30:18and he said everything was true that happened in Hot Metal.
0:30:18 > 0:30:26It was. It was having a real swipe at press barons and tabloid papers.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33As well as taking broad swipes at the barely-legal excesses of the press, the series also served as
0:30:33 > 0:30:37a perfect showcase for Richard Wilson's comic timing.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40No, I do not propose to bring back topless girls in the Crucible.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43To be frank, I find naked bosoms quite distasteful...
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Well, stop tasting them then!
0:30:46 > 0:30:48..quite distasteful and an insult to women
0:30:48 > 0:30:52and I intend to preserve and protect these values I hold most dear.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54The simple values of human dignity.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Humphrey Barclay, who produced the show, said, "Who is it funny to cut to?"
0:31:00 > 0:31:02Answer, not very many people, not many actors.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Richard obviously is one of those.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07This is a job for the experts.
0:31:07 > 0:31:08Ah, come in, come in.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15'He put Richard entrapped inside a magic box'
0:31:15 > 0:31:17from which he's being removed by Ali Bongo.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21It's just very funny to see Richard's face poking out of that hole.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23We'll have the skewers out of you in no time.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25Right, Mr Bongo!
0:31:28 > 0:31:31I can't make it funny unless it's well written.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36David would always say that yes, the writing was there,
0:31:36 > 0:31:41but he needed an actor who had that extra whatever.
0:31:44 > 0:31:50Hot Metal only ran for two series but it strengthened a bond between David Renwick and Richard Wilson
0:31:50 > 0:31:54that would reach a whole new level on their next project.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59As well as the continuing on-screen success,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Richard was also prospering as a director,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06regularly taking the helm in theatre and television plays.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09It's enormously nourishing to him,
0:32:09 > 0:32:10the directing career.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13He takes great pride in it
0:32:13 > 0:32:15and has great love for it.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20It's really from Richard that I've learnt the way I work as an actor.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I think he's incredible.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25He's by far and away the best director
0:32:25 > 0:32:28that I've worked with in my 30-year career.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32He doesn't try to control you. He allows you to blossom.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37He just gives you complete confidence in yourself and your abilities.
0:32:42 > 0:32:47In 1990, Richard Wilson faced one of his biggest creative challenges
0:32:47 > 0:32:51when he devised and directed a feature-length drama for the BBC.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58It dealt with the emotional toil of soldiers sent home to convalesce
0:32:58 > 0:33:03in country houses after losing limbs in the slaughter of World War I.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07It was a subject very close to Richard's heart.
0:33:07 > 0:33:13My father had fought in the First World War and had told me a little bit about it.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17A lot of the grand houses were turned into hospitals
0:33:17 > 0:33:22because there was a flood of wounded and not enough space.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24- ALL:- Morning, sir.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Good morning. Don't get up.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29And also because of my experience in Singapore,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33where I was dealing with battle casualties,
0:33:33 > 0:33:38I always felt that it hadn't been dealt with properly before.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41All right now, you tell me if it hurts.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Relax. Lie back.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48Were you in the line long?
0:33:48 > 0:33:49Just a year, sir.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53'I felt that the people who were playing the wounded should be'
0:33:53 > 0:33:59played by disabled people, not by actors who were just pretending.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03Hurts everywhere, sir.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05Yes, I know, try and relax.
0:34:05 > 0:34:10'This was so much his project from the start'
0:34:10 > 0:34:14and his fascination as well with those well-bred young ladies
0:34:14 > 0:34:15who became VAD nurses
0:34:15 > 0:34:18and these shattered young men,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21often physically and mentally shattered,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24who were coming back from the Front.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27There's the most astonishing scene,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31which is right at the beginning of the film when I,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34as this young nurse, arrive to be interviewed
0:34:34 > 0:34:36and I'm standing in the hallway, waiting,
0:34:36 > 0:34:41and I look out of the window and there is the parade ground.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44One! One! One!
0:34:44 > 0:34:48One! One! One! One! One!
0:34:48 > 0:34:51But of course, they all have their crutches,
0:34:51 > 0:34:56and the sergeant major is shouting, "One! One! One!
0:34:56 > 0:35:01One! One! One! One!
0:35:01 > 0:35:06And a bigger anti-war statement I don't think I've ever seen on the screen in fiction.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10It won the first prize at the Banff Film Festival.
0:35:10 > 0:35:16I had been invited to go to Banff to accept a prize and I was working
0:35:16 > 0:35:19and I couldn't go and I was so frustrated.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23It was the first time I'd won a prize for any television work.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29I was really upset that I couldn't get to Banff.
0:35:30 > 0:35:36During the production of Changing Step, Richard Wilson received a comedy script in the post.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41It was from David Renwick, who had co-written Whoops Apocalypse and Hot Metal.
0:35:41 > 0:35:47The script was for a new BBC sitcom with the unpromising title One Foot In The Grave.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51It may have been well before at the soaring success and the countless awards,
0:35:51 > 0:35:58but even at this early stage, David Renwick knew success lay in the comedic talents of one man.
0:36:01 > 0:36:06I wrote One Foot In The Grave very much with Richard in mind,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09having worked with him on those two other projects
0:36:09 > 0:36:11and knowing how strong he was,
0:36:11 > 0:36:15how great he was to work with, just on a personal level.
0:36:15 > 0:36:16That counts for a huge amount.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20And he wasn't such a star name,
0:36:20 > 0:36:24such a commodity that he was likely to be unavailable.
0:36:24 > 0:36:30Famously, he turned it down, so that set us back considerably.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Well, it was partly vanity, I suppose.
0:36:33 > 0:36:40I think the part of Victor, he was 60 and I was, I think, 55 at the time,
0:36:40 > 0:36:45and I just hadn't seen myself playing older people yet.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50After reading more scripts, Richard's reservations disappeared,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53but the BBC were also voicing their doubts.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56There were some dissenting voices within the BBC -
0:36:56 > 0:36:58I won't name them, quite high up -
0:36:58 > 0:37:01who felt that Richard was really only destined
0:37:01 > 0:37:05to be a "second banana", as they would have called it,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09in the same way that they said that about David Jason.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Fortunately, in those days, you could actually
0:37:11 > 0:37:14have arguments about it and, on occasion, win those arguments.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20I doubt that would happen today. And so good sense did prevail.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Fortunately, the producer assigned to it, Susie Belbin,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26was a huge fan of Richard's work to start with,
0:37:26 > 0:37:28so she was championing him from the start.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32# They say I might as well face the truth
0:37:33 > 0:37:36# That I am just too long in the tooth... #
0:37:36 > 0:37:44The sitcom revolved around Victor Meldrew, a man who felt the pain of life's daily grind very keenly.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49This made all the worse by being cast aside into the purgatory of early retirement.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Of course, the biggest problem of all was,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54how do you ever replace a man like Victor Meldrew?
0:37:54 > 0:37:56Well, basically, with this box.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02- Box?- I know! Isn't it amazing what they can come up with these days?
0:38:02 > 0:38:03It does everything you used to do,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06except complain about the air conditioning.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09The omens weren't particularly, erm,
0:38:09 > 0:38:11auspicious at the beginning there.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15There were the traditional kind of press responses.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19"It should be One Script In The Bin,"
0:38:19 > 0:38:22"I'd like to kick the other foot in the grave,"
0:38:22 > 0:38:23and all this kind of stuff.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27You know, there were people who said that Richard was wasted,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31who basically loved him in Tutti Frutti and that's where it should stop.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35I remember being a little bit disappointed, I suppose.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40But it was doing well enough to do another series
0:38:40 > 0:38:43and then another series.
0:38:43 > 0:38:49Susie Belbin, the producer and director, she always said,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52"Just wait, it will click."
0:38:52 > 0:38:55And, of course, she was right.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57A lot of people did come late to it.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01Although the viewing figures for the first two series were modest,
0:39:01 > 0:39:06One Foot In The Grave did eventually establish itself with the British public.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09They grew to love a character who fought manfully
0:39:09 > 0:39:14to live a life of dignity and free of idiotic interference.
0:39:14 > 0:39:20Let's face it, if you've got your health, what else is there possibly to worry about?
0:39:20 > 0:39:24I mean, you just don't know how well off you are...
0:39:28 > 0:39:33What in the name of bloody hell?!
0:39:33 > 0:39:36I do not believe it!
0:39:39 > 0:39:45He was just a wonderful mixture of standing up for the common man
0:39:45 > 0:39:49and fighting against society,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52fighting against authority.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Absolutely bloody hideous!
0:39:59 > 0:40:03It's much more sensible wearing a loaf of bread on top of your head!
0:40:03 > 0:40:06How anyone could... Hello, yes!
0:40:06 > 0:40:09I'd like to speak to the manager, please, and quick about it.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11Meldrew.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14No, he doesn't, but he bloody well will shortly!
0:40:16 > 0:40:22I never really tried to analyse too much why One Foot was so successful,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25because I just obeyed David's scripts.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30He wrote it, and he wrote it extremely well.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35You never know...
0:40:35 > 0:40:39whether to drink this stuff or clean the windows with it.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51"Caution - this medication can lead to darkening of the stool."
0:40:56 > 0:40:58'I remember, I think it was'
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Mark Lawson that said that
0:41:00 > 0:41:04David Renwick was the Beckett of the sitcom.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06Which is a wonderful compliment.
0:41:06 > 0:41:07And I think he was right.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10My God!
0:41:10 > 0:41:13"Colon tumour -
0:41:13 > 0:41:16"often no symptoms in the early stages."
0:41:16 > 0:41:18Exactly what I've got!
0:41:18 > 0:41:20'I'm not sure it was ever written'
0:41:20 > 0:41:23as a particularly mainstream kind of show.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28It looked like it. You know, it had the sofa and the chairs and the sort of comfortable setting.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32But actually it had a very dark, macabre side.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35This is the end to a perfect week, isn't it?
0:41:35 > 0:41:38To come home and find your husband has taken up necrophilia!
0:41:42 > 0:41:43Excuse me!
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Do you mind if I ask what you're doing here?
0:41:47 > 0:41:50SHE SCREAMS
0:41:50 > 0:41:54I think there are some that still think of it
0:41:54 > 0:41:57as a rather comfy, sofa-based show.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00But if you actually analyse what's going on,
0:42:00 > 0:42:05there's quite a lot of unpleasantness and bleakness to the whole thing.
0:42:05 > 0:42:13It was just great to get a David Renwick script in the post
0:42:13 > 0:42:18and see what he was up to, what he had planned.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20A lot of it, for Victor,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23'quite painful.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25'Quite unpleasant.'
0:42:25 > 0:42:29"Dear Mrs Meldrew, have filled in the hole now, hope it is to your satisfaction.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31"It certainly is to mine."
0:42:42 > 0:42:43Margaret?
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Victor?
0:42:47 > 0:42:49What are you doing?
0:42:49 > 0:42:50What am I doing?
0:42:50 > 0:42:53I'm wallpapering the spare bedroom!
0:42:53 > 0:42:56What the bloody hell does it look as if I'm doing?
0:42:56 > 0:43:00I never shied away from being as vicious as I possibly could
0:43:00 > 0:43:04against Victor. I'm not sure Richard resisted that either.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07I think the comic imperative would always dictate
0:43:07 > 0:43:10that you want to be as nasty to him as possible,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14because therein lie the greatest laughs, and hopefully that way,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18you'll engender the audience's sympathy.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Afternoon!
0:43:29 > 0:43:33As One Foot In The Grave became enormously successful,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Richard Wilson became inseparable from his character.
0:43:36 > 0:43:37Where's that glass?
0:43:37 > 0:43:42'In terms of his performance, he compared favourably with the finest around.'
0:43:42 > 0:43:43They're talking about us.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47I just caught the words "arsehole think he's playing at".
0:43:49 > 0:43:52It's gone quiet. I wonder what's happening.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00The other actor that I had worked with most closely before Richard
0:44:00 > 0:44:01was Rowan Atkinson.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04I did his stage show with him for several years.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08And Richard and Rowan both had a slightly similar approach
0:44:08 > 0:44:11to comedy acting, which was really to sort of regard it
0:44:11 > 0:44:14as the same as any other kind of acting.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17I'll tell you exactly what the problem is, Mr Sturgeon!
0:44:17 > 0:44:20I was working in the garden when he arrived, so I asked him if,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23for the time being, he'd put it in the downstairs toilet for me.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27And do you know what he's done? He's only planted it in the pan!
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Victor Meldrew quickly entered popular culture as a byword
0:44:34 > 0:44:39for any joyless outburst or act of ineffectual rage.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43And as the public and Her Majesty's press blurred fact with fiction,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46one recurring line stuck fast.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48PHONE RINGS
0:44:51 > 0:44:53I don't believe it!
0:44:53 > 0:44:56I do not believe it!
0:44:56 > 0:44:58I don't believe it!
0:44:58 > 0:45:01It was never meant to be a catch phrase.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04It was just that he used to say it quite a lot.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06And eventually it was picked up by the press.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14It was only when it appeared in print, "I don't believe it,"
0:45:14 > 0:45:19with the seven E's, that I became aware that I was using it quite a lot.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22And when we discovered that "I don't believe it"
0:45:22 > 0:45:25was being picked up on quite the way it was, I started to ration it.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30So he wouldn't say it very often, or he would say a half one.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32"I don't be..." or "I d..."
0:45:33 > 0:45:37The public love a catch phrase, and they can plague actors for years.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40And Richard Wilson suffered like the rest of them.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45But on one notable occasion, he played along to brilliant comic effect
0:45:45 > 0:45:48in another sitcom, of all places.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54God almighty! Look who it is - it's that actor.
0:45:54 > 0:45:59- Who?- You know, your man from One Foot In The Grave, the "I don't believe it" man.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02I was a greater admirer of Father Ted,
0:46:02 > 0:46:04and they were great admirers of One Foot.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09So when they asked, I was only too pleased.
0:46:09 > 0:46:14- Do you know what he'd love?- What? - He'd love it if somebody came up to him and said his catch phrase.
0:46:14 > 0:46:19Oh yeah, Ted, he'd love that. You should definitely do that.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21Should I?
0:46:21 > 0:46:24And, of course, a lot of people remember that
0:46:24 > 0:46:28much more than they remember One Foot In The Grave,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30'because they were Father Ted fans.'
0:46:30 > 0:46:34I don't believe it!
0:46:48 > 0:46:51After ten years and six dazzling series,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53in which Victor Meldrew's daily routine
0:46:53 > 0:46:55took every wrong turn possible,
0:46:55 > 0:46:59the character would suffer one last cruel twist of fate.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01None of which perturbed the star himself.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05'I don't think a main character in a sitcom had ever died before'
0:47:05 > 0:47:12and David thought that was a very suitable way to go.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19But also it meant he wouldn't be pestered into writing more,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22because I remember I was doing Waiting For Godot
0:47:22 > 0:47:26for the second time in Manchester and David came to see it.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30He said, "I'm thinking of killing off Victor,"
0:47:30 > 0:47:33and I said, "Yeah, kill him."
0:47:45 > 0:47:48'It was just becoming'
0:47:48 > 0:47:50a little bit of a routine
0:47:50 > 0:47:55in a sense of trying to find new ways of being angry
0:47:55 > 0:47:57and keeping it fresh.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01To have a sympathetic, realistic character like that killed off,
0:48:01 > 0:48:03I felt was probably a first,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and that would be one reason I thought it was a good idea.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11But mainly just to make it unequivocally final.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Throughout the elevation to national stardom, Richard's workload increased.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24The parts flooded in and Richard was most fulfilled when he was working flat out.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31Most actors worth their salt want to do different parts
0:48:31 > 0:48:33and play different roles.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36That's what they train for and that's what they want to do.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38They're happier when they're working.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45And because of long spells out of work, you grab any chance you can get
0:48:45 > 0:48:48because you want to meet new directors and all the rest of it.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55But as one of the most successful and recognisable faces in Britain,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58he now had to bear an unfamiliar burden of expectation,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00to deliver instant success.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07It was worrying, in a sense, that that pressure was on your shoulders
0:49:07 > 0:49:10and I suppose also that
0:49:10 > 0:49:17I was most suited to Eddie Clockerty and Victor Meldrew
0:49:17 > 0:49:19and some of the other characters I was attempting,
0:49:19 > 0:49:23maybe I didn't quite have the scope to deal with them.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29Away from the screen and back in theatre,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32Richard continued to seek out challenging material to direct.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39In 2004, when he worked yet again with Antony Sher,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41he'd be tested to the extreme,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43attempting the near-impossible task
0:49:43 > 0:49:46of dramatising the horrors of the Holocaust.
0:49:49 > 0:49:57It was my good fortune to be deported to Auschwitz only in 1944.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01That is, after the German government decided,
0:50:01 > 0:50:05owing to the growing scarcity of labour,
0:50:05 > 0:50:07to lengthen the average lifespan
0:50:07 > 0:50:12of the prisoners destined for elimination.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Well, I had done an adaptation
0:50:15 > 0:50:17of Primo Levi's great book
0:50:17 > 0:50:20If This Is A Man, which is his account of
0:50:20 > 0:50:23having been in Auschwitz.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27And I'd written it as a one-man piece.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31I'd always thought of Richard as directing it.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34When Tony asked me to direct this,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38I was extremely flattered that he'd asked me.
0:50:38 > 0:50:44Straightaway, I realised it was such a simple, lean script
0:50:44 > 0:50:47that it should be done in an empty space.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Death begins
0:50:50 > 0:50:52with your shoes,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55your wooden-soled shoes.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59At first, they're like instruments of torture.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03After a few hours' marching, you already have painful sores.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06These quickly become infected.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10And then you're forced to walk with a kind of shuffle
0:51:10 > 0:51:13as if dragging a convict's chain.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15This is the strange gait of the army
0:51:15 > 0:51:17which returns each evening on parade.
0:51:17 > 0:51:23If the sores get worse, you start arriving last everywhere
0:51:23 > 0:51:24and everywhere, you'll get hit
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and you can't run away when they chase you.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30It's beyond ordinary emotions, isn't it,
0:51:30 > 0:51:35because the experience is beyond ordinary experience.
0:51:35 > 0:51:41And because Primo Levi the was a chemist by profession,
0:51:41 > 0:51:49he had this scientific observation of these incredibly inhumane things
0:51:49 > 0:51:52that were happening, even when they're happening to him.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Each of us, as he comes out naked, must run the few steps
0:51:55 > 0:51:57between the two doorways,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00hand his card to the SS man and return to the dormitory.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05In a fraction of a second, with a glance at your front and your back,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07the SS man will judge your fate
0:52:07 > 0:52:10and pass your card to one side or the other
0:52:10 > 0:52:13and this will mean life or death.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17It was wonderful to watch when it started off at the National
0:52:17 > 0:52:20and people came in.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26It took about four or five minutes for them to realise
0:52:26 > 0:52:30that Tony wasn't going to do anything other than this
0:52:30 > 0:52:36and then he just managed to suck them in, and the stillness.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41The stillness in New York, which has a very huge Jewish population
0:52:41 > 0:52:47of course, the stillness in New York was extraordinary. Extraordinary.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50The audience were absolutely with him.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Richard Wilson's ability to balance challenging theatre work
0:52:58 > 0:53:02and popular mainstream television exhibits a versatility
0:53:02 > 0:53:05that's a result of his continuing passion for the craft.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08If you begin acting late
0:53:08 > 0:53:10and if you train late and if you start late,
0:53:10 > 0:53:12I think you always think to yourself,
0:53:12 > 0:53:14"How wonderful, I'm doing this,"
0:53:14 > 0:53:17and I think he has a real sense of that,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20that he's privileged to be able to do it.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25He's probably the busiest person I know. He's extraordinary.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29He literally goes from one project to the next, to the next, to the next.
0:53:29 > 0:53:35It can be performing or producing or directing or writing or whatever.
0:53:35 > 0:53:42He has many, many talents and he never seems to allow himself any break in between,
0:53:42 > 0:53:48which is extraordinary, and all at the age of 145, I think he is now.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50It's remarkable.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54A lot of people say to me, "Why are you still acting?"
0:53:54 > 0:54:01And I say, "Because I enjoy it, A, and B, I'm still learning."
0:54:01 > 0:54:05And I think a lot of people think that's a sort of false humility.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07"How can you still be learning?"
0:54:07 > 0:54:12But acting is such a complex and complicated creature.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21In 2007, at the tender age of 70,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Richard Wilson continued his education
0:54:24 > 0:54:28when he accepted a part in a magical family drama,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31a genre that forced him to work outside of his comfort zone.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Doing something like Merlin
0:54:38 > 0:54:40was quite testing.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:54:55 > 0:54:59It was a bit of a shock that I was being offered a part
0:54:59 > 0:55:06in a long-running drama and the fact that it was science-fiction-based fantasy.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08And it just seemed too good to turn down.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14I got your water. You didn't wash last night.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17- Sorry.- Help yourself to breakfast.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33'Merlin is a young Merlin.'
0:55:33 > 0:55:39I play his mentor and I was very fortunate in the actor they cast
0:55:39 > 0:55:46as Merlin, Colin Morgan, was quite new to television, but just a brilliant actor.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55- Are you using magic again?- No.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58What's all this, then?
0:55:58 > 0:56:01Richard is the one person I enjoy doing scenes with
0:56:01 > 0:56:02the most in the show.
0:56:02 > 0:56:07The whole cast, we get on so well together
0:56:07 > 0:56:11but I always look forward to a day when I'm doing scenes with Richard.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15What did your mother say to you about your gifts?
0:56:16 > 0:56:18That I was special.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20You are special,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23the likes of which I've never seen before.
0:56:23 > 0:56:24What do you mean?
0:56:24 > 0:56:30Well, magic requires incantations, spells, it takes years to study.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35What I saw you do was elemental, instinctive.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38- What's the point if it can't be used?- That, I do not know.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43'When you're working with him was an actor,'
0:56:43 > 0:56:45he'll offer advice sometimes
0:56:45 > 0:56:50but it's never what you'd feel a director doing it.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54It's always in a way which inspires you and makes you go...
0:56:54 > 0:56:58He'll say, "Try the line that way," or if you did it a certain way,
0:56:58 > 0:57:02he'll go, "That was really good, the way you did that,"
0:57:02 > 0:57:03and as a young actor,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07you'd be foolish to ignore advice from someone like Richard.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09I always feel with younger actors,
0:57:09 > 0:57:15they're much more open to listening to new ideas
0:57:15 > 0:57:22and I think that we have several young actors in Merlin
0:57:22 > 0:57:26and they are all, considering they've not done a series before,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30they are all up there and ready for it and well-trained.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34I thick the training of young actors, by and large,
0:57:34 > 0:57:36is very healthy in this country.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45After more than 40 years of uninterrupted work,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Richard Wilson has no plans to retire or fade away.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55Perhaps, in recognition of the significant role
0:57:55 > 0:57:56that a school play had
0:57:56 > 0:57:59in introducing him to the wonders of a life on stage,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02his workload may be about to increase.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06I haven't done a lot of teaching,
0:58:06 > 0:58:10but maybe the time has come that I should.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17But I still think of myself as a working actor,
0:58:17 > 0:58:20a director, actor/director.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22I don't have any plans to retire.
0:58:22 > 0:58:26I don't think I'd be any good at retiring as such,
0:58:26 > 0:58:30as long as my health stands me in good stead.
0:58:38 > 0:58:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:41 > 0:58:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk