0:00:02 > 0:00:04TV, the magic box of delights.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07As kids, it showed us a million different worlds,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09all from our living room.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12- This takes me right back.- That's so embarrassing!
0:00:12 > 0:00:14I am genuinely shocked.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Each day, I'm going to journey through the wonderful
0:00:17 > 0:00:21world of telly with one of our favourite celebrities...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23It is just so silly.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Oh, I love it! Is it Mr Benn?
0:00:27 > 0:00:28Shut it!
0:00:28 > 0:00:31..as they select the iconic TV moments...
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Oh, hello.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36..that tell us the stories of their lives.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Oh! Oh, my gosh.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40- BOTH:- Cheers.
0:00:40 > 0:00:41Some will make you laugh...
0:00:41 > 0:00:42Wah!
0:00:42 > 0:00:44SHE LAUGHS
0:00:44 > 0:00:46..some will surprise...
0:00:46 > 0:00:47HE QUACKS
0:00:47 > 0:00:48SHE LAUGHS
0:00:48 > 0:00:50..many will inspire...
0:00:50 > 0:00:53- Oh!- Look at this. Why wouldn't you want to watch this?
0:00:53 > 0:00:55..and others will move us.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Seeing that there made a huge impact on me.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Got a handkerchief?
0:01:01 > 0:01:04So, come watch with us, as we rewind
0:01:04 > 0:01:07to the classic telly that shaped
0:01:07 > 0:01:11those wide-eyed youngsters into the much-loved stars they are today.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22APPLAUSE Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The TV That Made Me.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25My guest today is a brilliant actor.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Ladies and gentlemen, it is the one and only Mr John Hannah.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:30 > 0:01:31Come on.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Oh, good to see you, mate. Good to see you. Welcome to my flat.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Come and sit yourself over there.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40This boyish, yet ruggedly handsome, Scot shot to international
0:01:40 > 0:01:44fame in the British blockbuster Four Weddings and a Funeral.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48And he's had big, gritty TV hits with Rebus, and Truth or Dare
0:01:48 > 0:01:51alongside the beautiful Helen Baxendale.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54The TV that made him
0:01:54 > 0:01:58is linked to the longest-running children's show in the world.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02And the TV show that really did make him.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04John Hannah is here.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06- And you've brought someone with you. - I did. The dog, actually.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11- She wants to come over. Come on, then. Coco, this is live television. - What's the dog's name?- Coco.- Coco.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13- Coco. You coming up? Come on, up you come.- Up you get.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15- AUDIENCE:- Aw!
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Oh, look.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20It is like having another pillow, isn't it, really?
0:02:20 > 0:02:25- Yes, she is kind of toasty.- How old is she?- Six.- Six. What sort of breed?
0:02:25 > 0:02:26It's a female.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28LAUGHTER
0:02:30 > 0:02:33- They are different from us, aren't they?- So...- It is a bichon frise.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36A bichon frise. Oh, bless.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39John, today is a celebration of some TV classic moments that
0:02:39 > 0:02:41- you've chosen.- Cool.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Stuff that we hope has probably shaped you,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46- to make you the person you are today.- Possibly, yes.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48We are going to have a little look back now,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50look back at what it was like growing up.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54- There's the young John Hannah.- OK.
0:02:56 > 0:02:57John Hannah was born
0:02:57 > 0:03:00and raised in a small town just outside Glasgow,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03where his mum, Susan, worked at the local sweet factory,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07and his dad, also called John, was a toolmaker.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13Little John grew up with two doting older sisters, Elizabeth and Joan.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16I think it is fair to say that the young John Hannah preferred
0:03:16 > 0:03:19football to book reading in his school days.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24He left when he was 16 years old, and after four years working
0:03:24 > 0:03:28as an apprentice electrician, he downed tools and took to the stage.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
0:03:33 > 0:03:37in Glasgow, and was catapulted to international
0:03:37 > 0:03:42fame after his fantastic performance in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Then came Nick in Truth or Dare,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Spendlove James in The James Gang,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and John Wade in Sea of Souls.
0:03:51 > 0:03:52Where did John Hannah grow up?
0:03:52 > 0:03:56- Where or when?- Where.- Oh. Because I've not really grown up yet.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I'm still only about 12 in here. East Kilbride.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03It was great, actually, it was a great place to grow up.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06You know, there was green fields, cows at the bottom of the street.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11They weren't in the field, they were just wandering around the streets. No, they were, they were in fields.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Did you take it for granted that you had a telly, or was it a big thing?
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Most people had a telly,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19- but I remember the first people in our street that had a colour telly. - Oh.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Yeah, I remember we all went in to watch Doug McClure in
0:04:23 > 0:04:27- Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. - Oh, God, yes. In colour.- In colour, yeah.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30That was like the first colour television in the street.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And did your mum and dad put any restrictions on you watching TV?
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Parents didn't give a toss in those days, did they?
0:04:36 > 0:04:39You could do anything. I never did homework in my life.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42I never read a book. Stayed up late.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Had a bath once a week, you know, on a Sunday, after my sisters.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Never washed behind my ear. Never brushed my teeth before going to bed.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52I was Scottish, my mum worked at Schweppes, I didn't have any teeth.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54But I was very popular at school with the other kids,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57because we used to get these bags of broken chocolate and things, you know?
0:04:57 > 0:05:02- Right.- So, yeah, the teeth had gone. - So you used to get bags of broken sweets.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Broken, like, chocolate bars, like Cadbury stuff, you know.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Don't move, don't move. I'm just going in the kitchen. All right.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Should I just carry on talking to these people, Brian?
0:05:11 > 0:05:12BANGING
0:05:13 > 0:05:15JOHN LAUGHS
0:05:15 > 0:05:18- There you go, John.- Is that some broken biscuits?- Sorry, Coco, no,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21- they're not dog biscuits. There you go, some broken biscuits.- What is it?
0:05:21 > 0:05:24It's not toffee, is it? Because that'll pull my fillings out.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25- I don't know.- It is toffee.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27LAUGHTER
0:05:27 > 0:05:29- Better suck on it.- Yeah, I will do.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35All right, this is your first choice now.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37This is your earliest TV memory.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45'Here Come The Double Deckers, screened on the BBC in 1971.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48'It was a co-production between British and American producers.'
0:05:50 > 0:05:52'They're dancing and everything.'
0:05:52 > 0:05:55'So no expense was spared on the budget, then.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58'They're definitely on a bus in London, aren't they?'
0:05:58 > 0:06:00'I don't think they are actually singing that song.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03'I think this might be some Chinese remake,'
0:06:03 > 0:06:06because their lips are all moving at a different time to the words.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'The 17-part series followed the adventures of the coolest
0:06:09 > 0:06:11'TV gang of the '70s.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14'Its swanky set and super-technicolour look
0:06:14 > 0:06:17'gave it production values most other
0:06:17 > 0:06:20'British children's TV shows could only dream of.'
0:06:20 > 0:06:22What used to happen on Double Deckers?
0:06:22 > 0:06:25There was usually some sort of mystery that they had to go
0:06:25 > 0:06:27'and solve or something, wasn't there?'
0:06:27 > 0:06:29I still don't see why it has to have a skirt!
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Bacon bonce!
0:06:31 > 0:06:33If it didn't, all the air would rush out the sides
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and then it wouldn't lift up, would it?
0:06:35 > 0:06:37- Aren't you clever? - Ooh, pardon me.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Look at that! The Peter Firth.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40'Peter Firth, of course,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42'went on to star in the BBC's
0:06:42 > 0:06:46'smash hit spy caper Spooks.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50'But he's not the only one who went on to have a brilliant career.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53'Spring went on to form the reggae band Aswad.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55'Billie is now a professor
0:06:55 > 0:06:58'of women's performance history.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01'And Doughnut became a theoretical physicist.'
0:07:01 > 0:07:04You wouldn't get away with some of those nicknames now.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06No, you wouldn't, would you?
0:07:06 > 0:07:08No, definitely not.
0:07:08 > 0:07:09That must've been very early.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12That must have been primary school, definitely,
0:07:12 > 0:07:14because it's obviously a childish thing.
0:07:14 > 0:07:15I think that was one of those shows
0:07:15 > 0:07:17that you watched in the summer holidays.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19You know, where they suddenly had
0:07:19 > 0:07:22things on like Don't Just Sit There, Let's Go And Do Something More
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Interesting and, like, The Flashing Blade and Belle and Sebastian
0:07:26 > 0:07:28and stuff like that, you know?
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Those, like, European programmes with dubbed dialogue.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33But do you think something like this...?
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Did you desperately watch this and want to become an actor?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38No.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40No, I probably wanted to kind of, like,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43incorporate some of those things into having our own little den.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45You know, the way the doors open and stuff.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48So who would you have watched this with?
0:07:48 > 0:07:49Nobody.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Well, it's kind of embarrassing.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54You wouldn't want anyone to see you watching this, would you?
0:07:54 > 0:07:57"Don't tell anybody, right?" No, no, don't tell anybody.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05We'll have a look at what you did all watch together, John.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08- Right.- And this is...- Growing up, good stuff.- Yes, here we go.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- Granada three litre.- Sing the tune? - Yeah.- Go on, mate.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16THEY HUM THEME TUNE
0:08:20 > 0:08:22THE SWEENEY THEME TUNE
0:08:22 > 0:08:26'The Sweeney was British TV's antidote to the Hollywood-style
0:08:26 > 0:08:29'glamorous shows like The Saint and The Champions.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34'It was shot with hand-held film cameras in real locations.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37'And even though the stars Dennis Waterman and John Thaw
0:08:37 > 0:08:41'had a rugged charm, there was nothing pretty about The Sweeney.'
0:08:43 > 0:08:46What was it about The Sweeney that you love so much?
0:08:46 > 0:08:49I remember, one of the things I remember about The Sweeney
0:08:49 > 0:08:51was it didn't always have a happy ending.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54It didn't always end with the cops getting the bad guy.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Regan, I mean, he was a flawed character, wasn't he?
0:08:57 > 0:08:59- Yes.- You know, he had a drinking habit, things like that.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Yes, I suppose it was the start of... We're still
0:09:02 > 0:09:05dealing with all those flawed characters with drinking habits
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and problems with authority. I mean, that's every cop show
0:09:07 > 0:09:10- that's ever been on the TV since then, hasn't it?- Yes.- Yeah.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15- Who are you?- We're the Sweeney, son, and we haven't had any dinner.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17You've kept us waiting, so unless you want a kicking,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19you tell us where those photographs are.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22- "We're the Sweeney, son."- They were asleep there, weren't they?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24- They should've known that was coming!- Yeah, come on.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28'It may have looked rough and ready, but at £85,000 per episode,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32'The Sweeney was considered to be a very expensive drama.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36'And the risk paid off for ITV. As many as 19 million of us
0:09:36 > 0:09:40'tuned in to watch every week for guaranteed action sequences
0:09:40 > 0:09:43'and well-choreographed fights like this.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51'And we all repeated Waterman and Thaw's classic one-liners
0:09:51 > 0:09:54'every Tuesday morning. "You're nicked."'
0:09:54 > 0:09:58I've got on this card here some classic lines from The Sweeney...
0:09:58 > 0:10:00- Right.- ..that we're going to re-enact.- All right, mate.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03- You better get your glasses... - Better get my glasses on, yeah.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07I'll read the first one, you read the second one and we're going
0:10:07 > 0:10:12to let the audience judge as to who is the best DCI Regan, OK?
0:10:12 > 0:10:14So, I'll go first.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17"All right, Tinkerbell, you're nicked."
0:10:17 > 0:10:19GENTLE LAUGHTER
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"We're the Sweeney, son, and we haven't had any dinner."
0:10:22 > 0:10:23Yeah.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26"Get your trousers on, you're nicked."
0:10:26 > 0:10:28That's the same as the other one, wasn't it?
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Yeah. This one rolls off the tongue nice and easy.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35"Now, listen, little lord spy master, you may be Special Branch,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- "but that doesn't make you God almighty."- Yeah.- All right?
0:10:38 > 0:10:40GENTLE LAUGHTER
0:10:40 > 0:10:44"What are you doing standing around, looking like...?"
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Do you mind? LAUGHTER
0:10:46 > 0:10:47I'm trying to be evil.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50- It's comedy, Brian, you've either got it or you haven't.- I know.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52- Mate, you've got loads of it. - Thank you, love.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55- It's oozing out of every orifice. - Every orifice.- Every orifice.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59"What are you doing standing around, looking like a motorway breakfast?"
0:10:59 > 0:11:02- LAUGHTER - Shut it!- Shut it!
0:11:02 > 0:11:05OK, ladies and gentlemen, so by applause,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09what do we think of...DCI Conley?
0:11:09 > 0:11:11APPLAUSE
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Thank you, that's very good.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16DCI Hannah?
0:11:16 > 0:11:17CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:11:18 > 0:11:22- I have played a cop before, actually.- Aha. - Bit of an advantage there.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26- Give it me one more time. - Shut it!- See? He means it.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30John Thaw's Detective Inspector Regan of the Flying Squad
0:11:30 > 0:11:32set the template for many flawed cops
0:11:32 > 0:11:35who followed him into our living rooms.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It's easy to forget John Nettles' Detective Bergerac
0:11:41 > 0:11:45went in into the first series recovering from a nasty divorce
0:11:45 > 0:11:47and a heavy drinking problem.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52And Dominic West's multilayered creation McNulty had the same
0:11:52 > 0:11:56problems as he negotiated the mean streets of Baltimore in The Wire.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02At the end of Ashes to Ashes, it turned out Philip Glenister's
0:12:02 > 0:12:06DCI Gene Hunt was literally a cop with a tortured soul,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09caught between Heaven and Hell.
0:12:09 > 0:12:10That might explain the language.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Luther's major flaw is that he is emotionally damaged
0:12:16 > 0:12:18by his tragic life.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Idris Elba gives this tough cop a soft heart
0:12:21 > 0:12:23that makes the best of us swoon...
0:12:26 > 0:12:29..but one of the most complicated cops in recent times
0:12:29 > 0:12:31is Sarah Lancashire's Catherine Cawood,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34whose human frailty is barely hidden
0:12:34 > 0:12:36in the brilliant Happy Valley.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40- Can I tell the ladies and gentleman...- What?
0:12:40 > 0:12:43- ..that we once done a film? - Yeah, yeah.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45I wondered what you were going to say there. We did a few things!
0:12:45 > 0:12:48LAUGHTER
0:12:48 > 0:12:54And there's a scene where John had to threaten me with a gun
0:12:54 > 0:12:58and I was by the camera and John had to lift the gun up
0:12:58 > 0:13:03and threaten me with the gun and I would then deliver my lines.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06John lifted the gun up and I
0:13:06 > 0:13:10- was so terrified that I moved out of the way.- You laughed!
0:13:10 > 0:13:11I moved out the way.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14And he said, "Why are you moving out the way?"
0:13:14 > 0:13:17I went, "Because you looked as if you were going to fire it at me!"
0:13:17 > 0:13:19And then John went, "I'm acting."
0:13:19 > 0:13:21LAUGHTER
0:13:21 > 0:13:24- But that is how good an actor John Hannah is.- Ah!
0:13:24 > 0:13:28It's a film called Circus and that is how good this man is that
0:13:28 > 0:13:29I honestly believed
0:13:29 > 0:13:32- that you were going to fire that gun...- I'm going to kill you?
0:13:32 > 0:13:35- Yeah, that's how good you are, John. - Thanks, Brian. Thanks, yeah.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37How did it all start for you?
0:13:37 > 0:13:42- Acting?- Yeah, I mean, when did the first love of it, or...
0:13:42 > 0:13:44you know, when did that spark ignite?
0:13:44 > 0:13:46It's a funny thing, you know,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50I hear a lot of actors say they fell into it and I fell into it.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53I was working as an electrician, serving a four-year apprenticeship,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56and I wanted to give up and do something else
0:13:56 > 0:14:00and I'd left school at 16 so if I wanted to go back to
0:14:00 > 0:14:03further education I would've had to go to night school
0:14:03 > 0:14:05and if I wanted to go to art school
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I'd have had to have been able to draw
0:14:08 > 0:14:10and music school, I'd have had to have been able to play
0:14:10 > 0:14:13a musical instrument and the only thing that you didn't need
0:14:13 > 0:14:17any qualifications for was drama school, you just had to go
0:14:17 > 0:14:22and audition and through ignorance, really, I thought, I'll do that
0:14:22 > 0:14:25and I did, I went, I auditioned and I got in, bizarrely.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29The first year...was weird, but I kind of liked it, you know.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32You weren't on a building site, up at eight in the morning,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36seven in the morning, it wasn't hard work and there was women around.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37It was great!
0:14:37 > 0:14:41However, I think there was... I think there was a kind of epiphany
0:14:41 > 0:14:44in the second year, we worked with this great director
0:14:44 > 0:14:47and that was a moment where I felt like,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49oh, I can do this.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I don't have to be like Laurence Olivier, or,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56you know Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, I can be like me,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I can be truthful in that situation.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Er, I felt like I had something to offer at that point
0:15:03 > 0:15:04and then that was it.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12- This next show is not one of your choices.- Right.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15But it will give you a clue as to what is.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19- That's a bit cryptic, but have a little look.- Right. Blue Peter.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21First we're going into space.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Have a look at my bracelet and see if you recognise it.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29- Is that Blake's 7?- Yeah. - Right, OK. Cool.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30BLAKE'S 7 THEME TUNE
0:15:33 > 0:15:36'Blake's 7 was the brainchild of Terry Nation,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39'the man who created the Daleks for Doctor Who.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44'It was screened on Mondays on BBC One from 1978.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49'Experts say it's one of the most influential sci-fi series ever.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53'Although now it may seem a bit dated.'
0:15:57 > 0:15:59'That theme tune's terrible, isn't it?'
0:15:59 > 0:16:00JOHN LAUGHS
0:16:00 > 0:16:03'And that's, you know Star Trek's got the same sign,
0:16:03 > 0:16:04it's just vertical, isn't it?
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Ah, yeah, so that's where they got it from.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11- It's not just advanced, it's... - Conceptually alien?- Yes.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13There are a lot of controls that I haven't dared touch yet.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16'Blake 7's studio set may not have been as swanky
0:16:16 > 0:16:19'as the Enterprise, but in the UK,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22'the show was more popular than Star Trek.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25'Ten million of us were watching every week.'
0:16:25 > 0:16:26SHIP ALARM
0:16:28 > 0:16:30- 'Oh, hello!' - 'Oh!'
0:16:30 > 0:16:32LAUGHTER 'Stood in front of a hairdryer!
0:16:32 > 0:16:35'Oh, that's lovely, isn't it? Oh, that is...'
0:16:37 > 0:16:41'Touch the button, touch the button, look, we're going to crash into that big planet!'
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Oh, God, the things you have to do as an actor.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47- LAUGHTER - I hope they got well paid.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I mean, there was a whole raft of really bad British science fiction.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53I mean, the old Doctor Who with the Daleks,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55I never kind of got into that.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58But if you never got into them as a teenager, what was you into?
0:16:58 > 0:16:59Football.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Apart from when it rained, obviously, then I stayed in.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05It rained a lot more than I remember.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08British TV is responsible for producing some of the best
0:17:08 > 0:17:12sci-fi series in this or in any other world.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Our first ever sci-fi series for adults
0:17:15 > 0:17:17was The Quatermass Experiment.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Screened in 1953,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22five million people were completely hooked.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27In 1963, Doctor Who was originally planned
0:17:27 > 0:17:30as a time-hopping educational series.
0:17:30 > 0:17:31But that idea was dropped
0:17:31 > 0:17:35and it's now the most successful sci-fi series of all time.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42The late great Douglas Adams wrote three episodes
0:17:42 > 0:17:46of Doctor Who in the late '70s and went on to create the brilliant
0:17:46 > 0:17:50Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for TV in 1981.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58The creator of Blake's 7, Terry Nation, also cut his teeth
0:17:58 > 0:18:03on Doctor Who before giving us the post-apocalyptic sci-fi, Survivors.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09That series was re-made in 2008 and featured Neil Dudgeon,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13a very old friend of the one and only Mr John Hannah.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19We met down at Bristol. We were doing a DH Lawrence play down there.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23It was very funny, because there was two phone boxes out the back,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25stage door, and it was...
0:18:25 > 0:18:28it was in the old days where you needed money for the phone!
0:18:28 > 0:18:30- Yeah...- Nobody had it, yes, 2ps and 10ps, yes,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33and both of us had girlfriends at the time.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36And we used to go out after the play,
0:18:36 > 0:18:37phone your girlfriend.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Anyway, at the end of that play, we both got dumped by the girls,
0:18:40 > 0:18:41I don't know what that was about!
0:18:41 > 0:18:44So I ended up sharing a flat with Neil.
0:18:44 > 0:18:50Today Neil plays tough DCI John Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52While the two of them were living together
0:18:52 > 0:18:54they shared John's next TV choice.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Neil and I obviously sharing a flat and then this particular Christmas,
0:19:04 > 0:19:06there was another mate of ours, Simon, who came,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09he was sleeping on the couch. And...
0:19:09 > 0:19:12They were all buddies from college, Simon and Dudge.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17I came in the living room, made some tea and toast and stuff.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Er, for breakfast.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Two o'clock in the afternoon or something. Christmas, it was Christmas.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Dudge came in, got his tea and Simon was still sitting in bed,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28so Dudge got in the bed and they were sitting, we were watching
0:19:28 > 0:19:29It's A Wonderful Life.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32We were watching it, got to the bit where he finds Zuzu's petals,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34cos...his life had gone, then he's back
0:19:34 > 0:19:36and he's got Zuzu's petals in his pocket.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39And...I could feel the tears coming,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42I was sitting there watching the telly, they were sitting in bed like this, Simon, Dudge,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44me over there and I could feel, oh, my God,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46I'm going start crying, and I looked over
0:19:46 > 0:19:50and the two of them were sitting here, tears streaming down their face!
0:19:50 > 0:19:52It was really sweet, actually, yeah.
0:19:52 > 0:19:53And what age?
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Oh, I was in my 30s!
0:19:55 > 0:19:58LAUGHTER
0:19:58 > 0:19:59Let's have a little look.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Oh, Wonderful Life, I'll start crying.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Quiet, quiet! Now get this, it's from London.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07- Oh!- "Mr Gower cabled you need cash. Stop.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11"My office instructed to advance you up to 25,000. Stop.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"He-ha and Merry Christmas, Sam Wainwright."
0:20:14 > 0:20:15CHEERING
0:20:15 > 0:20:18'It's A Wonderful Life isn't just a great tear-jerker,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21'it's up there with the greatest films of all time.'
0:20:21 > 0:20:23- Ah, it's a great film. - It's brilliant.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25- It's a classic.- It's brilliant.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27To my big brother, George...
0:20:27 > 0:20:29'It cost nearly 4 million to make,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33'but when it was released in 1946, the movie bombed,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37'putting director Frank Capra's film company into bankruptcy.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41'There were no parties like the one depicted in the gloriously
0:20:41 > 0:20:43'uplifting final scene.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47'But when copyright lapsed on the film in 1974,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51'TV companies discovered they could play it for free.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54'Then it became appreciated as the ultimate Christmas
0:20:54 > 0:20:57'feel-good masterpiece it really is.'
0:20:57 > 0:20:59- BELL RINGS - Look, Daddy!
0:20:59 > 0:21:04Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15- John, I want to talk about your big break now.- Right.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- Still waiting for it, Brian, still waiting.- Gritty Glasgow drama.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20- 'Have a look at this. There it is.' - 'Brond?'- 'Yeah.'
0:21:23 > 0:21:26The name's Brond, James Brond.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27Sorry!
0:21:27 > 0:21:29I don't know why I did that.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31- Because it's funny.- Thank you.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34- My mum and dad came to this location, actually.- Oh, really?
0:21:34 > 0:21:37- First time I was ever filming, yeah. - So what was the series about?
0:21:37 > 0:21:38JOHN EXHALES
0:21:38 > 0:21:42It was one of those, like, weird psychological dramas.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46It was kind of about Scottish independent movement -
0:21:46 > 0:21:48independence movement -
0:21:48 > 0:21:49but it was a more militaristic
0:21:49 > 0:21:51'independence movement.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Stratford Johns plays a kind of agent
0:21:57 > 0:22:00who's brought in to infiltrate them.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03I'm a student who's about to have peritonitis
0:22:03 > 0:22:04and then everything is weird after that.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07In as much as I don't know what's real and what's not real.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09It's a mystery and we have to find out what goes on.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11I saw a boy being murdered.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15- You're right.- What?- I don't believe you.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17'Brond was a high risk.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19'It cost £2.5 million
0:22:19 > 0:22:24'and everything hinged on the unknown actor playing the lead role.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27'So no pressure for John Hannah, then.'
0:22:27 > 0:22:31- John, how important was this to your career?- Oh, it was huge.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35I mean, I was out of drama school a couple of months.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38It was huge for a short period of time, funnily enough.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Out of drama school a couple of months, worked with Michael,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44it was a ten week shoot, six days a week
0:22:44 > 0:22:45and I was in just about everything.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48So it was like a course in film acting.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Michael is a terrific director.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55Richard Greatrex was the DP - the director of photography -
0:22:55 > 0:22:57and similarly he was great to work with, and great for me
0:22:57 > 0:23:01to suddenly have this kind of education.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04So it was good for me for a while and then, as I say,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06it died until the '90s,
0:23:06 > 0:23:11- '93 I think with...- Four Weddings. - Four Weddings, yeah.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13So let's talk about Four Weddings,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- the time schedule...- Yeah.- ..and how difficult that was to shoot.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20I mean, I think with all things there's always a limit.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23You know, there's never enough money, there's never enough time.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Rehearsals are important to get to know each other
0:23:25 > 0:23:27but there was a scene that...
0:23:27 > 0:23:33The scene before Simon dies that we had rehearsed for half a day
0:23:33 > 0:23:36before we started filming and that was all great
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and everybody knew what they were going to do
0:23:38 > 0:23:40and how it was going to be blocked and all of that.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Then on the day it got to quarter to seven
0:23:42 > 0:23:44and the sparks are pulling the plug at seven o'clock
0:23:44 > 0:23:46and Mike was like, "Right, OK,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48'"we'll do it in the doorway."'
0:23:48 > 0:23:50- SPEAKER IN BACKGROUND:- And also I want to thank
0:23:50 > 0:23:52all those wonderful ladies in the parish
0:23:52 > 0:23:55who did the flowers in the church...
0:23:56 > 0:23:59'So he improvised how he wanted to do it.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01'We had 15 minutes to do it,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05'two cameras, possibly three cameras, just shot it really quick,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07'really simple. We put it somewhere where it was already lit.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10'So we ended up having to do a really, really important scene
0:24:10 > 0:24:13'in 15 minutes, probably 20 minutes or something.'
0:24:13 > 0:24:15- But it worked.- Yeah, it was a beautiful scene.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18- It added to it, added to the suspense.- It did, it did in a way.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21I think sometimes there's a certain energy, a certain frisson
0:24:21 > 0:24:24that comes from having to think on your feet.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27- But you'll always come up against that, whether it's The Mummy... - Winging it.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Whatever it is, yeah.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31"We've got ten minutes, we need to shoot this somehow."
0:24:31 > 0:24:33They didn't have that sort of...
0:24:33 > 0:24:35They didn't shoot The Mummy in ten minutes.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38There was stuff... It's funny, at the end of the day
0:24:38 > 0:24:40you always want more, you always want more time.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43So in the last ten minutes there's always things that they want to get
0:24:43 > 0:24:46because maybe this is the last day on that location or you've
0:24:46 > 0:24:48got 400 guys in the background that
0:24:48 > 0:24:51you're not getting back tomorrow, or something.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54So, yeah, I mean, it's big and it's a different planet
0:24:54 > 0:24:56in terms of production,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59but it still comes down to getting in front of the camera
0:24:59 > 0:25:00- and doing your stuff.- Yeah.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Does it irritate you that people keep bringing up Four Weddings?
0:25:04 > 0:25:07- No, no. I like Four Weddings, you know?- It was a great movie.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Yeah, and I always say it's not like I robbed a bank.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13It's a bit of television or a film or something. It's good, yeah.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Somebody said to me at school the other day,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18"Four Weddings and a Funeral was on and we watched the repeat.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19"Oh, you've aged, haven't you?"
0:25:19 > 0:25:21And you're like, "Yeah, well, so have you.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"It's just that we don't have you on television to go, wow,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27- "you were kind of good looking back in the day."- Yeah.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Well, what are you watching now?
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Well, funnily enough, I was working down in Somerset recently
0:25:39 > 0:25:41doing a wee film down there and I spent a lot of time on the train.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I watched this series called Mr Robot, which was great, really good.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48It's about hacking and everything and I thought my son would like it but it got a bit rude.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Have you enjoyed your time on the show today?
0:25:50 > 0:25:52- Yeah, it's been great.- Yeah?
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- I love sitting talking.- Yeah.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Well, thank God for that, otherwise you would have been a very boring guest.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Yeah, I love that about going to work
0:26:01 > 0:26:03because you've got somebody to talk to because the kids
0:26:03 > 0:26:05don't listen to you, my wife's usually too busy
0:26:05 > 0:26:08with the washing machine. She loves her washing machine, mate.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09I don't know what it is!
0:26:09 > 0:26:12She loves her washing machine and now, she never ironed
0:26:12 > 0:26:14anything for me, irons stuff for the kids,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16makes proper dinner for the kids -
0:26:16 > 0:26:18she's never made a shepherd's pie for me, you know!
0:26:18 > 0:26:22But, no, the kids will get shepherd's pie and proper food.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25- Well, it's...- You come in at lunchtime... Sorry, Brian!
0:26:25 > 0:26:27But you come in at lunchtime sometimes and she's got
0:26:27 > 0:26:30something on for the kids and I'm like, "What have you got for me?"
0:26:30 > 0:26:31"Some soup or something."
0:26:31 > 0:26:33What I love is the only reason you came on the show is
0:26:33 > 0:26:35that you'd have someone who would listen to you.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37It's the only reason I go to work!
0:26:37 > 0:26:41Sitting in make-up having a chat and a rant about everything I hate.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44"See that Doctor Who! Shut it!"
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Oh, John, it's been a real pleasure to have you on the show
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- and Coco of course.- Yeah.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50We've got to thank Coco.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53She's been such a good little thing sitting here all this time.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56We give you a choice now to go out with a theme tune.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59What's it going to be?
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Ah, well, I know what it's going to be
0:27:01 > 0:27:03and it is one of the programmes that I loved as a kid.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Well, it's the Rockford Files but what I loved about
0:27:06 > 0:27:11the Rockford Files, in that theme tune there's an answering machine.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Up to that point, the most advanced technological
0:27:15 > 0:27:18piece of phone equipment I'd seen was one of the neighbours had
0:27:18 > 0:27:20an address book that you moved a wee slider down
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and it opened at a particular letter.
0:27:23 > 0:27:24I thought that was amazing!
0:27:24 > 0:27:26AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:27:26 > 0:27:29- They had it on the wee table next to the phone in the hall.- Yeah.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34So the idea that James Rockford had a machine that
0:27:34 > 0:27:37'answered his phone and took messages was...'
0:27:37 > 0:27:39JOHN EXHALES
0:27:39 > 0:27:41- ANSWERING MACHINE:- 'Mr Rockford, this is the
0:27:41 > 0:27:44'Thomas Crown School Of Dance And Contemporary Etiquette.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47'We aren't going to call again. Now, you want these free lessons?'
0:27:47 > 0:27:50John, we've got an answering machine here
0:27:50 > 0:27:52to pay homage to the Rockford Files.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55So we're going to go out, press play.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56ANSWERING MACHINE: 'Ladies and gentlemen,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59'this was the TV That Made John Hannah.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01'Please leave a message after the credits. Goodbye.'
0:28:01 > 0:28:04- Bye-bye.- Bye.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07MUSIC: The Rockford Files Theme by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter