John Hannah The TV That Made Me


John Hannah

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TV, the magic box of delights.

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As kids, it showed us a million different worlds,

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all from our living room.

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-This takes me right back.

-That's so embarrassing!

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I am genuinely shocked.

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Each day, I'm going to journey through the wonderful

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world of telly with one of our favourite celebrities...

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It is just so silly.

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Oh, I love it! Is it Mr Benn?

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Shut it!

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..as they select the iconic TV moments...

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Oh, hello.

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..that tell us the stories of their lives.

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Oh! Oh, my gosh.

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-BOTH:

-Cheers.

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Some will make you laugh...

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Wah!

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SHE LAUGHS

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..some will surprise...

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HE QUACKS

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SHE LAUGHS

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..many will inspire...

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-Oh!

-Look at this. Why wouldn't you want to watch this?

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..and others will move us.

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Seeing that there made a huge impact on me.

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Got a handkerchief?

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So, come watch with us, as we rewind

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to the classic telly that shaped

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those wide-eyed youngsters into the much-loved stars they are today.

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APPLAUSE Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The TV That Made Me.

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My guest today is a brilliant actor.

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Ladies and gentlemen, it is the one and only Mr John Hannah.

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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Come on.

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Oh, good to see you, mate. Good to see you. Welcome to my flat.

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Come and sit yourself over there.

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This boyish, yet ruggedly handsome, Scot shot to international

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fame in the British blockbuster Four Weddings and a Funeral.

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And he's had big, gritty TV hits with Rebus, and Truth or Dare

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alongside the beautiful Helen Baxendale.

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The TV that made him

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is linked to the longest-running children's show in the world.

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And includes the comedy of a madcap genius.

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And the TV show that really did make him.

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John Hannah is here.

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-And you've brought someone with you.

-I did. The dog, actually.

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-She wants to come over. Come on, then. Coco, this is live television.

-What's the dog's name?

-Coco.

-Coco.

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-Coco. You coming up? Come on, up you come.

-Up you get.

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-AUDIENCE:

-Aw!

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Oh, look.

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It is like having another pillow, isn't it, really?

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-Yes, she is kind of toasty.

-How old is she?

-Six.

-Six. What sort of breed?

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It's a female.

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LAUGHTER

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-They are different from us, aren't they?

-So...

-It is a bichon frise.

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A bichon frise. Oh, bless.

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John, today is a celebration of some TV classic moments that

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-you've chosen.

-Cool.

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Stuff that we hope has probably shaped you,

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-to make you the person you are today.

-Possibly, yes.

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We are going to have a little look back now,

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look back at what it was like growing up.

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-There's the young John Hannah.

-OK.

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John Hannah was born

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and raised in a small town just outside Glasgow,

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where his mum, Susan, worked at the local sweet factory,

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and his dad, also called John, was a toolmaker.

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Little John grew up with two doting older sisters, Elizabeth and Joan.

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I think it is fair to say that the young John Hannah preferred

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football to book reading in his school days.

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He left when he was 16 years old, and after four years working

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as an apprentice electrician, he downed tools and took to the stage.

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He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

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in Glasgow, and was catapulted to international

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fame after his fantastic performance in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

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Then came Nick in Truth or Dare,

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Spendlove James in The James Gang,

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and John Wade in Sea of Souls.

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Where did John Hannah grow up?

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-Where or when?

-Where.

-Oh. Because I've not really grown up yet.

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I'm still only about 12 in here. East Kilbride.

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It was great, actually, it was a great place to grow up.

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You know, there was green fields, cows at the bottom of the street.

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They weren't in the field, they were just wandering around the streets. No, they were, they were in fields.

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Did you take it for granted that you had a telly, or was it a big thing?

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Most people had a telly,

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-but I remember the first people in our street that had a colour telly.

-Oh.

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Yeah, I remember we all went in to watch Doug McClure in

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-Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

-Oh, God, yes. In colour.

-In colour, yeah.

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That was like the first colour television in the street.

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And did your mum and dad put any restrictions on you watching TV?

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Parents didn't give a toss in those days, did they?

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You could do anything. I never did homework in my life.

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I never read a book. Stayed up late.

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Had a bath once a week, you know, on a Sunday, after my sisters.

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Never washed behind my ear. Never brushed my teeth before going to bed.

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I was Scottish, my mum worked at Schweppes, I didn't have any teeth.

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But I was very popular at school with the other kids,

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because we used to get these bags of broken chocolate and things, you know?

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-Right.

-So, yeah, the teeth had gone.

-So you used to get bags of broken sweets.

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Broken, like, chocolate bars, like Cadbury stuff, you know.

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Don't move, don't move. I'm just going in the kitchen. All right.

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Should I just carry on talking to these people, Brian?

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BANGING

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JOHN LAUGHS

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-There you go, John.

-Is that some broken biscuits?

-Sorry, Coco, no,

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-they're not dog biscuits. There you go, some broken biscuits.

-What is it?

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It's not toffee, is it? Because that'll pull my fillings out.

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-I don't know.

-It is toffee.

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LAUGHTER

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-Better suck on it.

-Yeah, I will do.

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All right, this is your first choice now.

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This is your earliest TV memory.

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'Here Come The Double Deckers, screened on the BBC in 1971.

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'It was a co-production between British and American producers.'

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'They're dancing and everything.'

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'So no expense was spared on the budget, then.

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'They're definitely on a bus in London, aren't they?'

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'I don't think they are actually singing that song.

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'I think this might be some Chinese remake,'

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because their lips are all moving at a different time to the words.

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'The 17-part series followed the adventures of the coolest

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'TV gang of the '70s.

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'Its swanky set and super-technicolour look

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'gave it production values most other

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'British children's TV shows could only dream of.'

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What used to happen on Double Deckers?

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There was usually some sort of mystery that they had to go

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'and solve or something, wasn't there?'

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I still don't see why it has to have a skirt!

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Bacon bonce!

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If it didn't, all the air would rush out the sides

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and then it wouldn't lift up, would it?

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-Aren't you clever?

-Ooh, pardon me.

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Look at that! The Peter Firth.

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'Peter Firth, of course,

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'went on to star in the BBC's

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'smash hit spy caper Spooks.

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'But he's not the only one who went on to have a brilliant career.

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'Spring went on to form the reggae band Aswad.

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'Billie is now a professor

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'of women's performance history.

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'And Doughnut became a theoretical physicist.'

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You wouldn't get away with some of those nicknames now.

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No, you wouldn't, would you?

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No, definitely not.

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That must've been very early.

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That must have been primary school, definitely,

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because it's obviously a childish thing.

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I think that was one of those shows

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that you watched in the summer holidays.

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You know, where they suddenly had

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things on like Don't Just Sit There, Let's Go And Do Something More

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Interesting and, like, The Flashing Blade and Belle and Sebastian

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and stuff like that, you know?

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Those, like, European programmes with dubbed dialogue.

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But do you think something like this...?

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Did you desperately watch this and want to become an actor?

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No.

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No, I probably wanted to kind of, like,

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incorporate some of those things into having our own little den.

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You know, the way the doors open and stuff.

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So who would you have watched this with?

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Nobody.

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Well, it's kind of embarrassing.

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You wouldn't want anyone to see you watching this, would you?

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"Don't tell anybody, right?" No, no, don't tell anybody.

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We're going to move on. We're going to look at must-see TV now, John.

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Right.

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When Sharron Macready, Craig Stirling

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and Richard Barrett crashed in the snows of Tibet

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and encountered the lost people,

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they could not even have imagined the powers that they would be given.

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So they had special powers?

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They had special powers, yeah.

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They were, like, telepathic and they knew stuff.

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'The Champions was one of the first accidental superhero series.

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'It followed the adventures of three UN agents who foil fiendish

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'terrorist plots

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'with their super-human abilities,

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'though the out-of-this-world

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'looks of Alexandra Bastedo were all her own.'

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So would you say Alexandra was your first TV crush?

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Oh, totally, yeah. Totally, yeah.

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She just seemed so exotic. Like, the make-up and everything

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and that hair. She had hair and lips and stuff. It was just...

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LAUGHTER

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-She looked like a woman.

-Yeah, she looked like a woman.

-Yeah.

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You know, I mean, it was the '70s.

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We didn't have vegetables in Scotland at that point.

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There weren't any women!

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You're going to tell us sooner or later, so why not now?

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'The Champions was produced by Monty Berman,

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'the man behind The Saint, Department S and Jason King,

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'shows where the baddies always wore the latest, most stylish suits,

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'and the action took place all over the world, even though it was

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'mostly filmed in the back lots

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'and car parks of Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.

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'I think he looks like he's on the toilet, doesn't he?'

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Ooh!

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It was in the garage. Quickly!

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'Yeah, that's her powers there. She obviously knows what's going on.'

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Jag. Nice car.

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Craig! Craig, where are you?

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I'm resting.

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You silly...

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Oh, look at that, in the boot. There you go. Good night.

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-I think he dived over that car.

-Yes. So you would watch this with your family?

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-JOHN HUFFS

-I don't know.

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Probably not. It's kind of silly, isn't it?

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My dad was probably asleep, or fixing the car.

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My sisters would've been doing the dishes, you know,

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after dinner. It would've been an early evening thing, wouldn't it?

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I never had to do the dishes, being a boy, I had two sisters.

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Terrible, isn't it?

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-Still don't do the dishes, I put them in a machine.

-Aha.

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We'll have a look at what you did all watch together, John.

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-Right.

-And this is...

-Growing up, good stuff.

-Yes, here we go.

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-Granada three litre.

-Sing the tune?

-Yeah.

-Go on, mate.

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THEY HUM THEME TUNE

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THE SWEENEY THEME TUNE

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'The Sweeney was British TV's antidote to the Hollywood-style

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'glamorous shows like The Saint and The Champions.

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'It was shot with hand-held film cameras in real locations.

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'And even though the stars Dennis Waterman and John Thaw

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'had a rugged charm, there was nothing pretty about The Sweeney.'

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What was it about The Sweeney that you love so much?

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I remember, one of the things I remember about The Sweeney

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was it didn't always have a happy ending.

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It didn't always end with the cops getting the bad guy.

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Regan, I mean, he was a flawed character, wasn't he?

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-Yes.

-You know, he had a drinking habit, things like that.

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Yes, I suppose it was the start of... We're still

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dealing with all those flawed characters with drinking habits

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and problems with authority. I mean, that's every cop show

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-that's ever been on the TV since then, hasn't it?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

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-Who are you?

-We're the Sweeney, son, and we haven't had any dinner.

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You've kept us waiting, so unless you want a kicking,

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you tell us where those photographs are.

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-"We're the Sweeney, son."

-They were asleep there, weren't they?

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-They should've known that was coming!

-Yeah, come on.

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'It may have looked rough and ready, but at £85,000 per episode,

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'The Sweeney was considered to be a very expensive drama.

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'And the risk paid off for ITV. As many as 19 million of us

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'tuned in to watch every week for guaranteed action sequences

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'and well-choreographed fights like this.

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'And we all repeated Waterman and Thaw's classic one-liners

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'every Tuesday morning. "You're nicked."'

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I've got on this card here some classic lines from The Sweeney...

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-Right.

-..that we're going to re-enact.

-All right, mate.

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-You better get your glasses...

-Better get my glasses on, yeah.

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I'll read the first one, you read the second one and we're going

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to let the audience judge as to who is the best DCI Regan, OK?

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So, I'll go first.

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"All right, Tinkerbell, you're nicked."

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GENTLE LAUGHTER

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"We're the Sweeney, son, and we haven't had any dinner."

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Yeah.

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"Get your trousers on, you're nicked."

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That's the same as the other one, wasn't it?

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Yeah. This one rolls off the tongue nice and easy.

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"Now, listen, little lord spy master, you may be Special Branch,

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-"but that doesn't make you God almighty."

-Yeah.

-All right?

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GENTLE LAUGHTER

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"What are you doing standing around, looking like...?"

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Do you mind? LAUGHTER

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I'm trying to be evil.

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-It's comedy, Brian, you've either got it or you haven't.

-I know.

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-Mate, you've got loads of it.

-Thank you, love.

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-It's oozing out of every orifice.

-Every orifice.

-Every orifice.

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"What are you doing standing around, looking like a motorway breakfast?"

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-LAUGHTER

-Shut it!

-Shut it!

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OK, ladies and gentlemen, so by applause,

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what do we think of...DCI Conley?

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APPLAUSE

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Thank you, that's very good.

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DCI Hannah?

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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-I have played a cop before, actually.

-Aha.

-Bit of an advantage there.

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-Give it me one more time.

-Shut it!

-See? He means it.

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John Thaw's Detective Inspector Regan of the Flying Squad

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set the template for many flawed cops

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who followed him into our living rooms.

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It's easy to forget John Nettles' Detective Bergerac

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went in into the first series recovering from a nasty divorce

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and a heavy drinking problem.

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And Dominic West's multilayered creation McNulty had the same

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problems as he negotiated the mean streets of Baltimore in The Wire.

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At the end of Ashes to Ashes, it turned out Philip Glenister's

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DCI Gene Hunt was literally a cop with a tortured soul,

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caught between Heaven and Hell.

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That might explain the language.

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Luther's major flaw is that he is emotionally damaged

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by his tragic life.

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Idris Elba gives this tough cop a soft heart

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that makes the best of us swoon...

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..but one of the most complicated cops in recent times

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is Sarah Lancashire's Catherine Cawood,

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whose human frailty is barely hidden

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in the brilliant Happy Valley.

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-Can I tell the ladies and gentleman...

-What?

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-..that we once done a film?

-Yeah, yeah.

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I wondered what you were going to say there. We did a few things!

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LAUGHTER

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And there's a scene where John had to threaten me with a gun

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and I was by the camera and John had to lift the gun up

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and threaten me with the gun and I would then deliver my lines.

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John lifted the gun up and I

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-was so terrified that I moved out of the way.

-You laughed!

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I moved out the way.

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And he said, "Why are you moving out the way?"

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I went, "Because you looked as if you were going to fire it at me!"

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And then John went, "I'm acting."

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LAUGHTER

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-But that is how good an actor John Hannah is.

-Ah!

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It's a film called Circus and that is how good this man is that

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I honestly believed

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-that you were going to fire that gun...

-I'm going to kill you?

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-Yeah, that's how good you are, John.

-Thanks, Brian. Thanks, yeah.

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How did it all start for you?

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-Acting?

-Yeah, I mean, when did the first love of it, or...

0:16:220:16:27

you know, when did that spark ignite?

0:16:270:16:29

It's a funny thing, you know,

0:16:290:16:31

I hear a lot of actors say they fell into it and I fell into it.

0:16:310:16:35

I was working as an electrician, serving a four-year apprenticeship,

0:16:350:16:38

and I wanted to give up and do something else

0:16:380:16:41

and I'd left school at 16 so if I wanted to go back to

0:16:410:16:45

further education I would've had to go to night school

0:16:450:16:48

and if I wanted to go to art school

0:16:480:16:50

I'd have had to have been able to draw

0:16:500:16:53

and music school, I'd have had to have been able to play

0:16:530:16:55

a musical instrument and the only thing that you didn't need

0:16:550:16:58

any qualifications for was drama school, you just had to go

0:16:580:17:02

and audition and through ignorance, really, I thought, I'll do that

0:17:020:17:07

and I did, I went, I auditioned and I got in, bizarrely.

0:17:070:17:10

The first year...was weird, but I kind of liked it, you know.

0:17:100:17:14

You weren't on a building site, up at eight in the morning,

0:17:140:17:17

seven in the morning, it wasn't hard work and there was women around.

0:17:170:17:21

It was great!

0:17:210:17:22

However, I think there was... I think there was a kind of epiphany

0:17:220:17:26

in the second year, we worked with this great director

0:17:260:17:29

and that was a moment where I felt like,

0:17:290:17:32

oh, I can do this.

0:17:320:17:34

I don't have to be like Laurence Olivier, or,

0:17:340:17:37

you know Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, I can be like me,

0:17:370:17:41

I can be truthful in that situation.

0:17:410:17:44

Er, I felt like I had something to offer at that point

0:17:440:17:48

and then that was it.

0:17:480:17:49

-This next show is not one of your choices.

-Right.

0:17:540:17:57

But it will give you a clue as to what is.

0:17:570:18:00

-That's a bit cryptic, but have a little look.

-Right. Blue Peter.

0:18:000:18:04

First we're going into space.

0:18:040:18:06

Have a look at my bracelet and see if you recognise it.

0:18:060:18:09

-Is that Blake's 7?

-Yeah.

-Right, OK. Cool.

0:18:100:18:14

BLAKE'S 7 THEME TUNE

0:18:140:18:15

'Blake's 7 was the brainchild of Terry Nation,

0:18:180:18:21

'the man who created the Daleks for Doctor Who.

0:18:210:18:24

'It was screened on Mondays on BBC One from 1978.

0:18:240:18:29

'Experts say it's one of the most influential sci-fi series ever.

0:18:290:18:34

'Although now it may seem a bit dated.'

0:18:340:18:38

'That theme tune's terrible, isn't it?'

0:18:420:18:44

JOHN LAUGHS

0:18:440:18:45

'And that's, you know Star Trek's got the same sign,

0:18:450:18:48

it's just vertical, isn't it?

0:18:480:18:49

Ah, yeah, so that's where they got it from.

0:18:490:18:52

-It's not just advanced, it's...

-Conceptually alien?

-Yes.

0:18:520:18:56

There are a lot of controls that I haven't dared touch yet.

0:18:560:18:58

'Blake 7's studio set may not have been as swanky

0:18:580:19:01

'as the Enterprise, but in the UK,

0:19:010:19:04

'the show was more popular than Star Trek.

0:19:040:19:07

'Ten million of us were watching every week.'

0:19:070:19:10

SHIP ALARM

0:19:100:19:11

-'Oh, hello!'

-'Oh!'

0:19:130:19:15

LAUGHTER 'Stood in front of a hairdryer!

0:19:150:19:17

'Oh, that's lovely, isn't it? Oh, that is...'

0:19:170:19:20

'Touch the button, touch the button, look, we're going to crash into that big planet!'

0:19:220:19:26

Oh, God, the things you have to do as an actor.

0:19:260:19:29

-LAUGHTER

-I hope they got well paid.

0:19:290:19:32

I mean, there was a whole raft of really bad British science fiction.

0:19:320:19:36

I mean, the old Doctor Who with the Daleks,

0:19:360:19:38

I never kind of got into that.

0:19:380:19:40

But if you never got into them as a teenager, what was you into?

0:19:400:19:43

Football.

0:19:430:19:44

Apart from when it rained, obviously, then I stayed in.

0:19:440:19:47

It rained a lot more than I remember.

0:19:470:19:49

Is it true to say John Hannah was a huge football fan?

0:19:490:19:53

Yeah, although I used to play football.

0:19:530:19:55

I played school Saturday mornings,

0:19:550:19:58

I played a team called Eastercraigs, a Glasgow team, Saturday afternoon,

0:19:580:20:01

I played with a local amateur team on a Sunday afternoon,

0:20:010:20:04

trained Tuesdays and Thursdays,

0:20:040:20:06

so I was out a lot, you know?

0:20:060:20:08

And the other thing, you'd make your own way there...

0:20:080:20:13

sometimes, especially with the Glasgow team, it was quite,

0:20:130:20:17

quite large distances to get to on your own when you're 12

0:20:170:20:22

and things, but you just got on the bus and went.

0:20:220:20:24

-Well, you did then, didn't you?

-Yes, you did. Nowadays,

0:20:240:20:27

even taking the kids to training, like my daughter swims

0:20:270:20:30

and my son plays rugby,

0:20:300:20:31

not only are you expected to drive them down,

0:20:310:20:34

you're expected to sit and watch them train for two hours.

0:20:340:20:36

Have you watched somebody train in a swimming pool for two hours?

0:20:360:20:39

BRIAN LAUGHS

0:20:390:20:41

I mean, I'm really proud of her and everything, but two hours

0:20:410:20:44

watching somebody go up and down, sometimes they use one arm.

0:20:440:20:47

-But John, this is your daughter.

-I know, but...

0:20:470:20:50

LAUGHTER

0:20:500:20:52

I'm from the '70s.

0:20:520:20:54

British TV is responsible for producing some of the best

0:20:540:20:58

sci-fi series in this or in any other world.

0:20:580:21:02

Our first ever sci-fi series for adults

0:21:020:21:04

was The Quatermass Experiment.

0:21:040:21:07

Screened in 1953,

0:21:070:21:09

five million people were completely hooked.

0:21:090:21:12

In 1963, Doctor Who was originally planned

0:21:130:21:16

as a time-hopping educational series.

0:21:160:21:19

But that idea was dropped

0:21:190:21:21

and it's now the most successful sci-fi series of all time.

0:21:210:21:25

The late great Douglas Adams wrote three episodes

0:21:290:21:32

of Doctor Who in the late '70s and went on to create the brilliant

0:21:320:21:36

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for TV in 1981.

0:21:360:21:40

The creator of Blake's 7, Terry Nation, also cut his teeth

0:21:440:21:47

on Doctor Who before giving us the post-apocalyptic sci-fi, Survivors.

0:21:470:21:53

That series was re-made in 2008 and featured Neil Dudgeon,

0:21:540:21:59

a very old friend of the one and only Mr John Hannah.

0:21:590:22:02

We met down at Bristol. We were doing a DH Lawrence play down there.

0:22:040:22:09

It was very funny, because there was two phone boxes out the back,

0:22:090:22:13

stage door, and it was...

0:22:130:22:14

it was in the old days where you needed money for the phone!

0:22:140:22:17

-Yeah...

-Nobody had it, yes, 2ps and 10ps, yes,

0:22:170:22:20

and both of us had girlfriends at the time.

0:22:200:22:23

And we used to go out after the play,

0:22:230:22:26

phone your girlfriend.

0:22:260:22:27

Anyway, at the end of that play, we both got dumped by the girls,

0:22:270:22:30

I don't know what that was about!

0:22:300:22:31

So I ended up sharing a flat with Neil.

0:22:310:22:34

Today Neil plays tough DCI John Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.

0:22:340:22:39

While the two of them were living together

0:22:390:22:41

they shared John's next TV choice.

0:22:410:22:43

Neil and I obviously sharing a flat and then this particular Christmas,

0:22:500:22:54

there was another mate of ours, Simon, who came,

0:22:540:22:56

he was sleeping on the couch. And...

0:22:560:22:59

They were all buddies from college, Simon and Dudge.

0:22:590:23:02

I came in the living room, made some tea and toast and stuff.

0:23:020:23:06

Er, for breakfast.

0:23:060:23:08

Two o'clock in the afternoon or something. Christmas, it was Christmas.

0:23:080:23:11

Dudge came in, got his tea and Simon was still sitting in bed,

0:23:110:23:15

so Dudge got in the bed and they were sitting, we were watching

0:23:150:23:18

It's A Wonderful Life.

0:23:180:23:19

We were watching it, got to the bit where he finds Zuzu's petals,

0:23:190:23:21

cos...his life had gone, then he's back

0:23:210:23:24

and he's got Zuzu's petals in his pocket.

0:23:240:23:26

And...I could feel the tears coming,

0:23:260:23:28

I was sitting there watching the telly, they were sitting in bed like this, Simon, Dudge,

0:23:280:23:32

me over there and I could feel, oh, my God,

0:23:320:23:34

I'm going start crying, and I looked over

0:23:340:23:36

and the two of them were sitting here, tears streaming down their face!

0:23:360:23:39

It was really sweet, actually, yeah.

0:23:390:23:41

And what age?

0:23:410:23:43

Oh, I was in my 30s!

0:23:430:23:45

LAUGHTER

0:23:450:23:47

Let's have a little look.

0:23:470:23:49

Oh, Wonderful Life, I'll start crying.

0:23:490:23:51

Quiet, quiet! Now get this, it's from London.

0:23:510:23:53

-Oh!

-"Mr Gower cabled you need cash. Stop.

0:23:530:23:57

"My office instructed to advance you up to 25,000. Stop.

0:23:570:24:01

"He-ha and Merry Christmas, Sam Wainwright."

0:24:010:24:04

CHEERING

0:24:040:24:05

'It's A Wonderful Life isn't just a great tear-jerker,

0:24:050:24:08

'it's up there with the greatest films of all time.'

0:24:080:24:11

-Ah, it's a great film.

-It's brilliant.

0:24:110:24:13

-It's a classic.

-It's brilliant.

0:24:130:24:15

To my big brother, George...

0:24:150:24:16

'It cost nearly 4 million to make,

0:24:160:24:19

'but when it was released in 1946, the movie bombed,

0:24:190:24:23

'putting director Frank Capra's film company into bankruptcy.

0:24:230:24:27

'There were no parties like the one depicted in the gloriously

0:24:270:24:30

'uplifting final scene.

0:24:300:24:33

'But when copyright lapsed on the film in 1974,

0:24:330:24:37

'TV companies discovered they could play it for free.

0:24:370:24:40

'Then it became appreciated as the ultimate Christmas

0:24:400:24:44

'feel-good masterpiece it really is.'

0:24:440:24:47

-BELL RINGS

-Look, Daddy!

0:24:470:24:48

Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

0:24:480:24:54

-Well, your next choice is comedy hero.

-Right.

0:25:000:25:03

And you've gone with, well, as far as I'm concerned, a genius.

0:25:030:25:08

And utter madness. Have a little look.

0:25:080:25:11

-Spike Milligan.

-Yeah.

0:25:110:25:13

'Spike Milligan shot to fame in 1951

0:25:140:25:17

'when he wrote a radio show

0:25:170:25:19

'and performed it with Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers.

0:25:190:25:23

'And The Goon Show was born, changing British comedy forever.'

0:25:230:25:27

-It is Spike Milligan in that costume, isn't it?

-Yeah, in the brown Hilda costume, yes.

0:25:270:25:32

'He looks good as a woman!'

0:25:320:25:34

-You need to get out more!

-LAUGHTER

0:25:340:25:37

HE BLOWS RASPBERRIES

0:25:370:25:39

LAUGHTER

0:25:390:25:40

'Spike died in 2002 at the age of 83.

0:25:490:25:53

'And his gravestone reads, "I told you I was ill."

0:25:530:25:57

'But if it could make a sound,

0:25:570:25:59

'I'm pretty sure it will be something like...'

0:25:590:26:02

HE BLOWS RASPBERRIES

0:26:020:26:04

It's just so silly!

0:26:040:26:06

LAUGHTER It's ridiculous.

0:26:060:26:09

Is that what you loved about him, just that simplicity of it?

0:26:090:26:12

No, in truth, when I first started watching, er,

0:26:120:26:16

Q5 or something like that, right,

0:26:160:26:20

it was my dad, that was my dad's programme and I have to

0:26:200:26:22

hold my hands up and say I was a bit bemused by what was really going on.

0:26:220:26:25

-I didn't get it.

-Mm.

0:26:250:26:27

I probably didn't get it till about Q9, do you know what I mean?

0:26:270:26:30

But there was something that I did want to get.

0:26:300:26:34

I could see that my dad loved it and I could see that...

0:26:340:26:37

he thought it was funny and I'm looking at it, going...what?

0:26:370:26:41

'And I stuck with it because I kind of wanted to.

0:26:410:26:43

'He's just brilliant.'

0:26:430:26:45

-Did your dad have a good sense of humour?

-Yeah, he did.

0:26:450:26:47

One of the things that makes me really sad though is...

0:26:470:26:51

JOHN SIGHS

0:26:510:26:52

I never really... I don't suppose any of us do,

0:26:520:26:55

get to know your dad the way other people know your dad.

0:26:550:26:59

My dad used to have a lot...

0:26:590:27:00

He was a toolmaker and he had a lot of apprentices and stuff

0:27:000:27:03

and you knew a lot of the guys that were his apprentices

0:27:030:27:06

and they would tell me how brilliant my dad was and how funny he is

0:27:060:27:10

and what a great guy he was and I'd be like,

0:27:100:27:12

"Really? We're talking about the same person?" You know? And...

0:27:120:27:16

Do you think every child...?

0:27:160:27:18

I do, I think... And I notice with my own kids,

0:27:180:27:20

I spend a lot of time looking up and looking down at, you know,

0:27:200:27:25

what age was my dad when I was that age?

0:27:250:27:27

What age was I when they were...? That kind of stuff.

0:27:270:27:30

And I do think that, I feel like...

0:27:300:27:33

I feel like my kids don't realise how cool I am!

0:27:330:27:36

LAUGHTER

0:27:360:27:38

Do you know what I mean?

0:27:380:27:39

They're just like, I'm an embarrassment, "Dad, don't sing."

0:27:390:27:43

My daughter, every time I say,

0:27:430:27:45

"Give us a kiss", she goes like that.

0:27:450:27:47

I get to kiss the top of her head.

0:27:470:27:48

It's a great personal tragedy

0:27:480:27:50

-that they will never know how cool I really am.

-Yes!

0:27:500:27:53

LAUGHTER

0:27:530:27:54

The genius of Spike Milligan lit up British broadcasting

0:27:540:27:58

for over 50 years.

0:27:580:28:00

After The Goon Show,

0:28:000:28:01

Spike wrote A Show Called Fred.

0:28:010:28:03

It was a star vehicle for Peter Sellers

0:28:030:28:06

and it set him off on the road to Hollywood.

0:28:060:28:08

Spike proved he had another string to his bow

0:28:110:28:13

when he presented Muses with Milligan,

0:28:130:28:16

a show about poetry and jazz.

0:28:160:28:18

1969 saw the first in his legendary Q comedy series,

0:28:220:28:27

screened on BBC Two.

0:28:270:28:29

It was the Monty way before the Python.

0:28:290:28:32

And one of Spike's last and most poignant TV appearances was in 2000.

0:28:320:28:37

In the BBC adaptation of Gormenghast

0:28:370:28:40

he played headmaster De'ath.

0:28:400:28:43

And I know he would've chuckled at that.

0:28:440:28:46

The next choice is an interesting one,

0:28:560:28:58

this is an actor that had a big influence on you. Sir Alec Guinness.

0:28:580:29:02

Why don't we sit back, relax,

0:29:020:29:04

-and enjoy a little bit of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?

-Ah. Yeah.

0:29:040:29:08

FLY BUZZES

0:29:090:29:10

Do you know where your wife is?

0:29:120:29:14

I mean, at this moment?

0:29:140:29:16

'Look at that. Patrick Stewart.'

0:29:160:29:18

'Is that Patrick Stewart?

0:29:180:29:19

'I wonder if that's his own beard or if they stuck it on.'

0:29:190:29:21

'I don't know. 'It looks stuck on.'

0:29:210:29:24

He would've been at the RSC a lot,

0:29:240:29:25

so he might have had a Shakespearean kind of beard.

0:29:250:29:28

'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is quite rightly regarded

0:29:280:29:33

'as one of the best TV dramas ever made.'

0:29:330:29:35

Perhaps we could get in touch with her secretly?

0:29:380:29:41

If you stay with us, we might be able to arrange something.

0:29:430:29:47

In exchange for someone your people want returned.

0:29:470:29:51

What do you think of Alec Guinness in this? You know?

0:29:510:29:54

I thought he was brilliant. I mean, it was an amazingly...

0:29:540:29:57

It's just, it's Alec Guinness.

0:29:570:29:59

He's amazing. I mean, he's a genius at what he does

0:29:590:30:02

or how he does it or how he achieves it.

0:30:020:30:04

When you've got a very complex plot like that, you know,

0:30:040:30:07

shooting it is very... You have to be very, very careful

0:30:070:30:11

with how you tell that story, you know?

0:30:110:30:13

I don't know who directed these, actually,

0:30:130:30:15

if it was one director who did all of them,

0:30:150:30:17

but it was brilliantly directed.

0:30:170:30:19

'It was actually directed by John Irvin,

0:30:200:30:23

'whose next job was directing the big Hollywood movie The Dogs Of War.

0:30:230:30:27

'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy screened on the BBC in 1979.

0:30:270:30:32

'It won a Bafta for its brilliantly atmospheric camerawork.

0:30:320:30:36

'Alec Guinness won the Best Actor award for his superb

0:30:360:30:40

'central performance as George Smiley.'

0:30:400:30:43

So, John Hannah, who had a big influence on your acting?

0:30:490:30:53

-Me.

-Yeah?

0:30:530:30:54

Yeah, I had a mate at work who suggested that I go to drama school

0:30:540:30:58

when I was looking for something to do.

0:30:580:31:00

He was like, "You should go to drama school, you'd be a good actor."

0:31:000:31:02

I was like, "How do you do that?" He told me, I auditioned and got in.

0:31:020:31:06

I suppose, like, the films I used to watch...

0:31:060:31:08

I mean, Sunday when it rained in Scotland and I always watched films

0:31:080:31:11

and always liked the old films and stuff, but I knew I wasn't

0:31:110:31:14

like Alec Guinness or Laurence Olivier

0:31:140:31:17

or any of... Or any of the, kind of, famous actors.

0:31:170:31:22

I'd never been to the theatre.

0:31:220:31:24

So I didn't really know anybody... I didn't know anything about theatre.

0:31:240:31:27

I did have that epiphany in second year where I realised that what

0:31:270:31:31

I could do was what was truthful within me.

0:31:310:31:36

If I had to play somebody that was waiting for a bus,

0:31:360:31:39

I could play that better than Laurence Olivier could

0:31:390:31:41

because he probably never had to wait on a bus.

0:31:410:31:44

So there was an honesty and a truth which I've tried to keep.

0:31:440:31:47

That's why I jokingly say me because it's the only reference,

0:31:470:31:50

it's the only points that you can have where you know

0:31:500:31:52

you can be truthful.

0:31:520:31:54

When you start pretending then you're pretending.

0:31:540:31:57

So I got accepted for drama school bizarrely

0:31:570:32:01

and I thought, "Well, I'd better go and see a play,

0:32:010:32:03

-"see what it's all about, right?"

-BRIAN LAUGHS

0:32:030:32:05

-So I took this...

-After being accepted?!

-Yeah, yeah!

0:32:050:32:07

So I took this girl... I can't remember her name.

0:32:070:32:09

But I took this girl to see this play at the

0:32:090:32:11

Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.

0:32:110:32:13

The Citizens Theatre is very European, very, kind of,

0:32:130:32:15

not absurd but strange.

0:32:150:32:19

Me and this girl, I'm trying to impress this girl

0:32:190:32:21

and look at the play...

0:32:210:32:22

The play was called Marriage a la Mode

0:32:220:32:25

and I didn't find out until...

0:32:250:32:27

I had no idea what was going on in this play!

0:32:270:32:30

I had no idea, not a Scooby!

0:32:300:32:33

It turned out that what was going on was that there was a play within

0:32:330:32:36

the play and I didn't realise you could do that!

0:32:360:32:39

AUDIENCE LAUGH

0:32:390:32:41

I didn't have a clue that you could

0:32:410:32:43

actually have a play within the play.

0:32:430:32:45

It was very, very bizarre.

0:32:450:32:47

But I'd tied my colours to the mast,

0:32:470:32:49

so I was going to drama school anyway!

0:32:490:32:51

I thought, "What am I letting myself in for?"

0:32:510:32:53

And at the end of the day, did you get off with the girl?

0:32:530:32:55

She was a nice girl.

0:32:550:32:57

We just went home and stuff. I didn't see her again.

0:32:570:32:59

I think she was like, "I'm not going there again.

0:32:590:33:01

"That's not a date, I wanted some chips!"

0:33:010:33:04

-John, I want to talk about your big break now.

-Right.

0:33:090:33:14

-Still waiting for it, Brian, still waiting.

-Gritty Glasgow drama.

0:33:140:33:17

-'Have a look at this. There it is.'

-'Brond?'

-'Yeah.'

0:33:170:33:20

'Stratford Johns, a bit like Alec Guinness as well. He was amazing.'

0:33:200:33:23

The name's Brond, James Brond.

0:33:230:33:25

Sorry!

0:33:250:33:27

I don't know why I did that.

0:33:270:33:28

-Because it's funny.

-Thank you.

0:33:280:33:31

-My mum and dad came to this location, actually.

-Oh, really?

0:33:310:33:33

-First time I was ever filming, yeah.

-So what was the series about?

0:33:330:33:36

JOHN EXHALES

0:33:360:33:38

It was one of those, like, weird psychological dramas.

0:33:380:33:41

It was kind of about Scottish independent movement -

0:33:410:33:46

independence movement -

0:33:460:33:47

but it was a more militaristic

0:33:470:33:49

'independence movement.

0:33:490:33:50

'You know, back in the '70s there had been statues blown up.

0:33:500:33:55

'The Tartan Army were taking, sort of,

0:33:550:33:58

'a republican view of things.'

0:33:580:34:00

Stratford Johns plays a kind of agent

0:34:020:34:06

who's brought in to infiltrate them.

0:34:060:34:09

I'm a student who's about to have peritonitis

0:34:090:34:11

and then everything is weird after that.

0:34:110:34:14

In as much as I don't know what's real and what's not real.

0:34:140:34:16

There's a scene on Gibson Street bridge in this sequence

0:34:160:34:19

-where I'm running...

-That's in Glasgow?

-Yeah.

0:34:190:34:22

There's a sequence on the bridge where I stop

0:34:220:34:25

and there's a little kid looking over the bridge,

0:34:250:34:27

really cool little sequence, actually.

0:34:270:34:29

Stratford Johns comes up and just throws the kid over the bridge

0:34:290:34:32

and as he walks past, he winks at me.

0:34:320:34:34

That's, like, really spooky.

0:34:410:34:43

I watch him and I follow him and I lose him,

0:34:430:34:45

and then go back to the bridge

0:34:450:34:46

and the kid who was thrown over, who had landed on this big rock,

0:34:460:34:49

isn't there any more.

0:34:490:34:50

Then I've got a burst appendix so I'm not sure quite where it all...

0:34:500:34:54

-Oh, right.

-What I imagine.

-What's real, yeah.

0:34:540:34:57

Then James Cosmo, sort of, ends up being...

0:34:570:35:01

Inveigles his way into my life in a summer job...

0:35:010:35:04

It's really weird.

0:35:040:35:06

It's a mystery and we have to find out what goes on.

0:35:060:35:08

I saw a boy being murdered.

0:35:080:35:11

-You're right.

-What?

-I don't believe you.

0:35:110:35:14

'Brond was a high risk.

0:35:140:35:16

'It cost £2.5 million

0:35:160:35:19

'and everything hinged on the unknown actor playing the lead role.

0:35:190:35:24

'So no pressure for John Hannah, then.'

0:35:240:35:27

-John, how important was this to your career?

-Oh, it was huge.

0:35:270:35:31

I mean, I was out of drama school a couple of months.

0:35:310:35:34

It was huge for a short period of time, funnily enough.

0:35:340:35:38

Out of drama school a couple of months, worked with Michael,

0:35:380:35:41

it was a ten week shoot, six days a week

0:35:410:35:43

and I was in just about everything.

0:35:430:35:45

So it was like a course in film acting.

0:35:450:35:48

Michael is a terrific director.

0:35:480:35:50

Richard Greatrex was the DP - the director of photography -

0:35:500:35:54

and similarly he was great to work with, and great for me

0:35:540:35:57

to suddenly have this kind of education.

0:35:570:36:01

So it was good for me for a while and then, as I say,

0:36:010:36:03

it died until the '90s,

0:36:030:36:06

-'93 I think with...

-Four Weddings.

-Four Weddings, yeah.

0:36:060:36:10

So let's talk about Four Weddings,

0:36:100:36:13

-the time schedule...

-Yeah.

-..and how difficult that was to shoot.

0:36:130:36:16

I mean, I think with all things there's always a limit.

0:36:160:36:19

You know, there's never enough money, there's never enough time.

0:36:190:36:22

Rehearsals are important to get to know each other

0:36:220:36:25

but there was a scene that...

0:36:250:36:27

The scene before Simon dies that we had rehearsed for half a day

0:36:270:36:32

before we started filming and that was all great

0:36:320:36:35

and everybody knew what they were going to do

0:36:350:36:37

and how it was going to be blocked and all of that.

0:36:370:36:39

Then on the day it got to quarter to seven

0:36:390:36:41

and the sparks are pulling the plug at seven o'clock

0:36:410:36:44

and Mike was like, "Right, OK,

0:36:440:36:45

'"we'll do it in the doorway."'

0:36:450:36:48

-SPEAKER IN BACKGROUND:

-And also I want to thank

0:36:480:36:50

all those wonderful ladies in the parish

0:36:500:36:52

who did the flowers in the church...

0:36:520:36:55

'So he improvised how he wanted to do it.

0:36:560:36:59

'We had 15 minutes to do it,

0:36:590:37:01

'two cameras, possibly three cameras, just shot it really quick,

0:37:010:37:04

'really simple. We put it somewhere where it was already lit.

0:37:040:37:07

'So we ended up having to do a really, really important scene

0:37:070:37:10

'in 15 minutes, probably 20 minutes or something.'

0:37:100:37:12

-But it worked.

-Yeah, it was a beautiful scene.

0:37:120:37:15

-It added to it, added to the suspense.

-It did, it did in a way.

0:37:150:37:18

I think sometimes there's a certain energy, a certain frisson

0:37:180:37:20

that comes from having to think on your feet.

0:37:200:37:23

-But you'll always come up against that, whether it's The Mummy...

-Winging it.

0:37:230:37:27

Whatever it is, yeah.

0:37:270:37:28

"We've got ten minutes, we need to shoot this somehow."

0:37:280:37:31

They didn't have that sort of...

0:37:310:37:32

They didn't shoot The Mummy in ten minutes.

0:37:320:37:35

There was stuff... It's funny, at the end of the day

0:37:350:37:38

you always want more, you always want more time.

0:37:380:37:40

So in the last ten minutes there's always things that they want to get

0:37:400:37:43

because maybe this is the last day on that location or you've

0:37:430:37:46

got 400 guys in the background that

0:37:460:37:47

you're not getting back tomorrow, or something.

0:37:470:37:50

So, yeah, I mean, it's big and it's a different planet

0:37:500:37:54

in terms of production,

0:37:540:37:55

but it still comes down to getting in front of the camera

0:37:550:37:58

-and doing your stuff.

-Yeah.

0:37:580:38:00

That's like this, or like a student film

0:38:000:38:04

-or Blake's 7.

-Yeah.

0:38:040:38:06

Does it irritate you that people keep bringing up Four Weddings?

0:38:060:38:10

-No, no. I like Four Weddings, you know?

-It was a great movie.

0:38:100:38:13

Yeah, and I always say it's not like I robbed a bank.

0:38:130:38:15

It's a bit of television or a film or something. It's good, yeah.

0:38:150:38:19

Somebody said to me at school the other day,

0:38:190:38:21

"Four Weddings and a Funeral was on and we watched the repeat.

0:38:210:38:24

"Oh, you've aged, haven't you?"

0:38:240:38:25

And you're like, "Yeah, well, so have you.

0:38:250:38:27

"It's just that we don't have you on television to go, wow,

0:38:270:38:30

-"you were kind of good looking back in the day."

-Yeah.

0:38:300:38:33

-Could you see yourself directing or producing?

-No, I don't think so.

0:38:330:38:36

-No?

-No, I think you really have to be...

-It's a special art, is it?

0:38:360:38:40

-It is but it's also something you have to be driven to want.

-Mm hm.

0:38:400:38:43

There's so much you have to put up with, that you have to want it

0:38:430:38:47

so much in order to put up with all of that.

0:38:470:38:50

And actually I like the acting bit, I like doing that bit.

0:38:500:38:53

-Also, it's a lot less hassle.

-It's a lot less hassle,

0:38:530:38:55

-you get time off. You're not in every scene.

-Yeah.

0:38:550:38:57

The director's got to be there for everything.

0:38:570:39:00

Well, what are you watching now?

0:39:050:39:07

Well, funnily enough, I was working down in Somerset recently

0:39:070:39:11

doing a wee film down there and I spent a lot of time on the train.

0:39:110:39:13

I watched this series called Mr Robot, which was great, really good.

0:39:130:39:17

It's about hacking and everything and I thought my son would like it but it got a bit rude.

0:39:170:39:21

-And what does Coco like watching?

-She likes watching anything.

0:39:210:39:24

She just likes getting rubbed, really. But she'll sit there and...

0:39:240:39:27

We've got a cat as well and the cat likes the football.

0:39:270:39:30

AUDIENCE LAUGH

0:39:300:39:32

I think it's because...

0:39:320:39:34

Do you remember that first electronic game

0:39:340:39:36

-where you had the two things...?

-Beep, beep!

-And the ball moved.

-Yeah.

0:39:360:39:39

So the cat comes in and sits on the thing that the telly's on,

0:39:390:39:43

I mean, right in front of the telly like that.

0:39:430:39:45

It loves a corner.

0:39:450:39:47

It'll take a corner and the ball goes from there

0:39:470:39:49

and the cat's like, that, "Where did it go?"

0:39:490:39:53

It looks to the side of the telly.

0:39:530:39:55

"Oh, it's there, right, OK."

0:39:550:39:57

-Watches the football!

-Yeah.

0:39:570:39:59

But I noticed you've got a very big telly because that was...

0:39:590:40:02

-Yeah.

-That's another thing the kids won't appreciate...

0:40:020:40:05

-What, small tellies?

-Yeah.

0:40:050:40:08

Do you know the other thing is, like,

0:40:080:40:10

because we've got the set-top box and all that

0:40:100:40:12

so you can pause live TV and stuff.

0:40:120:40:14

So you go away on holiday or something and you watch whatever

0:40:140:40:18

and they go, "Oh, can we pause it?"

0:40:180:40:19

And you're like, "No, no, we can't, no."

0:40:190:40:23

"Ah, I don't what to do!"

0:40:230:40:25

I still take analogue photography, film,

0:40:250:40:29

and I've got digital as well,

0:40:290:40:31

but when I've got the film camera out and take a picture they're like,

0:40:310:40:34

-"Oh, can I see it?"

-Yeah.

0:40:340:40:36

So, yeah, they don't get it.

0:40:360:40:38

Have you enjoyed your time on the show today?

0:40:380:40:40

-Yeah, it's been great.

-Yeah?

0:40:400:40:42

-I love sitting talking.

-Yeah.

0:40:420:40:46

Well, thank God for that, otherwise you would have been a very boring guest.

0:40:460:40:49

Yeah, I love that about going to work

0:40:490:40:51

because you've got somebody to talk to because the kids

0:40:510:40:53

don't listen to you, my wife's usually too busy

0:40:530:40:55

with the washing machine. She loves her washing machine, mate.

0:40:550:40:58

I don't know what it is!

0:40:580:40:59

She loves her washing machine and now, she never ironed

0:40:590:41:02

anything for me, irons stuff for the kids,

0:41:020:41:04

makes proper dinner for the kids -

0:41:040:41:06

she's never made a shepherd's pie for me, you know!

0:41:060:41:08

But, no, the kids will get shepherd's pie and proper food.

0:41:080:41:12

-Well, it's...

-You come in at lunchtime... Sorry, Brian!

0:41:120:41:15

But you come in at lunchtime sometimes and she's got

0:41:150:41:17

something on for the kids and I'm like, "What have you got for me?"

0:41:170:41:20

"Some soup or something."

0:41:200:41:21

What I love is the only reason you came on the show is

0:41:210:41:23

that you'd have someone who would listen to you.

0:41:230:41:26

It's the only reason I go to work!

0:41:260:41:27

Sitting in make-up having a chat and a rant about everything I hate.

0:41:270:41:31

"See that Doctor Who! Shut it!"

0:41:310:41:34

Oh, John, it's been a real pleasure to have you on the show

0:41:340:41:37

-and Coco of course.

-Yeah.

0:41:370:41:39

We've got to thank Coco.

0:41:390:41:40

She's been such a good little thing sitting here all this time.

0:41:400:41:43

We give you a choice now to go out with a theme tune.

0:41:430:41:46

What's it going to be?

0:41:470:41:49

Ah, well, I know what it's going to be

0:41:490:41:51

and it is one of the programmes that I loved as a kid.

0:41:510:41:54

Well, it's the Rockford Files but what I loved about

0:41:540:41:57

the Rockford Files, in that theme tune there's an answering machine.

0:41:570:42:01

Up to that point, the most advanced technological

0:42:010:42:05

piece of phone equipment I'd seen was one of the neighbours had

0:42:050:42:08

an address book that you moved a wee slider down

0:42:080:42:11

and it opened at a particular letter.

0:42:110:42:13

I thought that was amazing!

0:42:130:42:15

AUDIENCE LAUGH

0:42:150:42:16

-They had it on the wee table next to the phone in the hall.

-Yeah.

0:42:160:42:19

So the idea that James Rockford had a machine that

0:42:190:42:24

'answered his phone and took messages was...'

0:42:240:42:27

JOHN EXHALES

0:42:270:42:29

-ANSWERING MACHINE:

-'Mr Rockford, this is the

0:42:290:42:31

'Thomas Crown School Of Dance And Contemporary Etiquette.

0:42:310:42:34

'We aren't going to call again. Now, you want these free lessons?'

0:42:340:42:37

John, we've got an answering machine here

0:42:370:42:40

to pay homage to the Rockford Files.

0:42:400:42:42

So we're going to go out, press play.

0:42:420:42:45

ANSWERING MACHINE: 'Ladies and gentlemen,

0:42:450:42:47

'this was the TV That Made John Hannah.

0:42:470:42:49

'Please leave a message after the credits. Goodbye.'

0:42:490:42:52

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.

0:42:520:42:54

MUSIC: The Rockford Files Theme by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter

0:42:540:42:57

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