BRITBOX STARS TALK ABOUT WHAT TV MOVED, AMUSED AND INSPIRED THEM JAMES NESBITT The Cold Feet actor’s top picks on BritBox: ● Cracker ● Prime Suspect ● Boys From The Blackstuff ● Black Adder ● Fawlty Towers ● The Good Life ● The Two Ronnies ● The Young Ones “The notion of being part of a new platform that really does try and bring different genres together but all underscored by a certain quality is very exciting.” Is there anything you watched growing up that you have great memories of? I first really recall, in terms of drama, Boys From The Blackstuff. I thought it was just extraordinary. And The Monocled Mutineer. A lot of those programmes really gripped me. I also grew up watching a lot of comedy with my mum actually. Fawlty Towers was must see. I was quite young for that but I immediately understood the absurdity, the pain of it, the farce. The Two Ronnies I used to love. My mum actually looked a bit like Ronnie Corbett which was a bit odd! I also grew up watching sport and still love Match of The Day. To grow up on all those dramas and now to be part of it has been one of the great journeys to be honest. Can you tell us why you were interested in getting involved in the launch of BritBox? Television has been very, very good to me. I’ve been working for a long time now. I’m one of those people who people think is the youngest on set but I’m by far the oldest! I’ve been working since I left drama school in 1988. The day after I left drama school I got a TV job so it’s been very good to me. Obviously it’s a huge part of my life so I’m delighted to still be involved, to still be challenged by it. BritBox is all about bringing British TV to one place is that a good thing? I think it’s great. There’s so much access now which clearly, I think, upped the quality of a lot of the work. When I started out there were only four channels you could work for and probably two really in terms of drama. I was very lucky to come from Northern Ireland where there was a huge canvas to tell different stories. The notion of being part of a new platform that really does try and bring different genres together but all underscored by a certain quality is very exciting. Britain’s got a really rich history of programme making, why do you think that is? I think there’s such diversity here. I think there’s so many different stories to tell. These islands are not vast in terms of their size but in terms of the rich and diverse people, stories, backgrounds and history - there’s been so many platforms on which to create. Speaking for myself, I grew up in Northern Ireland at a very difficult time but out of trouble comes great art. I think that is something that is mirrored throughout the history of these islands in terms of the creativity of these islands. And, of course, as much as generations change, stories are still timeless. As long as children are born there will always be stories to tell. Do you agree with the popular view that we’re in a golden age for television? It’s still hard to get programmes made but it’s very easy to make a programme, in a sense. To make a programme all you need is a camera, you need someone who has a vision and all of a sudden you start a creative process. Young people are so much more aware now. They’re more encouraged to tell stories. We have a rich pool that starts quite early on now that then is developed. Competition is always very good and I think that’s healthy. I think everything comes back to diversity. I think there’s such a rich diversity here. We live in very complicated and worrying times, in a way, where diversity is being somewhat suppressed yet it will always flower and I think through that there’s so much to be told. What do you think the ingredients are for great, timeless television? It’s a complicated jigsaw that. Imagination, good storytelling, good narrative, good characters. It doesn’t matter what the genre is, say we’re talking about fantasy - great fantasies are working so much now because the characters are still believable. I think, as loathe as I am to often say it, so much is down to writing. You could be the best actor in the world but it’s hard to make bad writing work, but the worst actor in the world can make good writing work. We’re very blessed here, we have good storytellers and good writers. Obviously Cold Feet is on BritBox and it’s been a big part of your life. In terms of opening doors Cold Feet was so great to be involved in. They made the pilot for no money at all but funnily enough it was a script that went around and everyone wanted to be involved in it. That’s a long time ago, over 20 years. I remember at the time saying to my agent “I want this.” For many reasons I wanted it - from a personal point of view it felt like a good opportunity to have a Northern Irish accent out there throughout the UK, in a television drama that had nothing to do with the conflict so it didn’t have all that baggage. I felt the writing was good, the characters were accessible and people could identify with them. I felt they were real, not plastic, we all looked normal and people grew up with those characters. That’s one of the secrets of a long lasting drama or comedy drama, people begin to identify themselves in some of the characters so we were able to reflect some of their own lives. Do you think the future looks good for British television? I hope so. Ultimately, it’s there to entertain but it can be there to educate, to distract, to challenge. I think that, not only drama, television in general is continuing to do that. And people rely on television not just for entertainment but I think it can be seen as a force for good. There are too many people sometimes who are not involved, often in politics, that tell us it’s a force for bad and that’s not true, it’s a very good force. LESLEY MANVILLE “Mum reminds me of Chekhov in many ways. ​ It’s a rather brilliant series, I think.” What are you watching on television at the moment? I don’t watch a lot of television and I think I’m behaving like the rest of the country, and the rest of the world in that we watch television so differently now. We don’t have to sit down at 9pm, which is a shame in some ways. I suppose because of the life I lead, sometimes I’m filming and sometimes I’m doing plays. So, I may want to watch something in the middle of the day because that is my wind-down time. The on-demand thing is so great for me, and I guess that is why BritBox is such a good idea and why I should get it! I always try and find time to watch Have I Got News For You? I love that, a bit of political satire. I’m a Paul Merton fan as well. I like Graham Norton, he makes me laugh a lot. What about growing up? Are there any shows you have fond memories of? Growing up I remember Thursday nights, it was my favourite night of the week. My dad was always at the British Legion playing snooker so me, my Mum and my sister would watch Buster Keaton, Top of the Pops followed by the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I had such a crush on David McCallum who played Illya Kuryakin. I can even remember his character’s name and I don’t remember anyone's names anymore! That was great growing up. I still love a gag where someone drops their trousers or even falls over. Buster Keaton was brilliant and Charlie Chaplin. I think my parents liked Coronation Street, it was only twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm. That was a mainstay. Any particular show or TV actor that sparked the path you are on now? I can’t say there was a single actor who inspired me. But certainly, when there was the whole wave of realistic drama like Cathy Come Home and the early Mike Leigh films for the BBC and when I was in my 20s I got to work with him which was bliss. At the time that was really groundbreaking because you wouldn’t think that people would want to watch a ‘kitchen-sink drama’ but actually it sparked a whole wave because people wanted to see it. Having something that was so real, films like Sunday Bloody Sunday. That whole wave was quite an influential time in my life. Although I didn’t quite intellectualise what it meant to me, something about it was going in and touching a nerve with me. Why did you decide to sign up and help with the campaign for BritBox? I was in America and Canada recently doing press for ‘Mum’ which is coming out on BritBox and I was quite taken aback by how popular it is.