Cooper: Okay, everybody. We have a special guest today, Steve, my friend. I met Steve because he worked with a very good friend of mine named Dave and another good friend of mine named Dan, who worked on the television show, Game of Thrones. Actually, they were the ... what were they, Steve? What were they? How would you refer to them? Steve: David and Dan are Game of Thrones. Cooper: They are Game of Thrones. Steve: They are Game of Thrones. In my eyes, they are Game of Thrones. Cooper: If I said they're the bosses of Game of Thrones, not enough? Steve: Not enough. They created it, they wrote it, they directed it. In my eyes, they are Game of Thrones. Cooper: On the set, they are the ones who control everything that happens? Steve: Well, on the set, we have a ... You've seen, Cooper, with being on the set lots of times. Give 500, give 600 people. David and Dan can stop that in a minutes notice because a word is wrong, or something they just don't like. That's what they do. That's why I call them game of Thrones. The two guys are so laid back as you know yourself. If you met these guys, you wouldn't believe, and I don't think they believe the machine they have made is so good. They're so well grounded. Cooper: Yeah. Could you say that one more time, because cut we had a little bit of a cut. So, you said don't think they believe? Steve: I don't think they believe how much they are Game of Thrones. They are very, very modest, and a lot of people who run a show that is less would be bouncing around saying, "This is my show." But with David and Dan, you know they just get on with it. It doesn't matter if you're the cleaner, or the director, or the leading actress, they treat you exactly the same way. Cooper: Well that's one thing that, you know, I've know Dave more than the majority of my life. So, I would say that it doesn't surprise me, but it's still interesting that I don't think they talk to anybody that this show, and it's such a big show, and I don't think they talk to anybody differently. They don't. Steve: No. Cooper: Sometimes you're on the show, I don't know, you tell me, it seems to me that sometimes people on the show may be snobby, but not Dave and Dan. Maybe somebody who works in some other capacity, I don't know. Steve Game of Thrones -- podcast (Completed 10/04/18) Page 1 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com Steve: David and Dan are just, they're two nice guys. As I said, it doesn't matter if you're the cleaner or the leading start. They speak to everybody the same way. They treat everybody with respect for what they're doing. They're just two nice guys. Cooper: And first of all, what were your main duties on the show? Well, with Dave and Dan, actually. I think you worked most with them. Steve: See, that's just the funny thing. I retired from a job I used to do in Belfast. A friend of mine- Cooper: What was the job? Steve: Nah, that's okay. I was a police officer in Belfast. I was a police officer in Belfast, and I retired. And a friend of mine who owns a company said, "Look, do two weeks work for me." And my two weeks work started off with picking Dan, Andrea, Leo, it was only them at that stage. Picking them up. They were the first ones in, and that was to do the pilot of Game of Thrones. Steve: Then David, and Amanda, and at stage it was only Frankie. They came. And that was nine years ago. So, my job was looking after them, their families, driving. Basically doing what they needed or what they wanted. And over the nine years, we have become ... I would class them as very good friends, as part of my Ulster family who visits. Cooper: Do you think that do you miss it now? I mean, because now it's coming around the time where you would be working. And do you miss it at all? Steve: I would say there's part of me does, and part of me doesn't. I was supposed to retired nine years ago. Now, it was strange in August when everything finished. It was sort of another end of an era, you know another end of nine years. And you go, "Right. I am retired now." And then six weeks down the line, you're going, "Yeah, I do miss it." But I still keep in touch with David and Dan, and their families. And it's nice. Cooper: Yeah. That's the thing, I think. He never forgets his friends. I was gonna ask what it was like at an end of filming. I know he came to my wedding, right? Steve: Yeah. Cooper: Right at the end. But what the emotion like? Steve: They were very kind to me. They left me in little drips and drabs. David was the first to go on the Thursday, and it's hard. You stand there, and you have a lump in your throat, and you're saying to them, "You were a good friend." You know? You have a lump in your throat, and then it was okay the next day. The families went with all the kids who you had watched growing up. Little Hugo, who's dad's part part of Ulster, man. He was born in the Ulster hospital in Belfast. Yeah. You know, so you seen him being, well took Andrea to the hospital, I brought him out out of the hospital. So you seen him, I watched the families grow up. And they grew up as part of my family as well. Steve Game of Thrones -- podcast (Completed 10/04/18) Page 2 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com Steve: It's one of those friends, you have to Cooper, to see him as yourself. Once you have made an Ulster man as your friend, we might not speak for two or three years, but when we speak again, it's as if we haven't left each other for a week. You just go over all the things that you've done over the last three years, have a pint of Guinness, that's it. That's Hugo. Cooper: I'm looking forward to going there and having a pint of Guinness. I want to go, really, as soon as possible. I remember you said that to me. Steve: Yeah, the thing is we'll have to pay for ourselves. Who knows, there's no sponsors anymore, David and Dan are away. With that said, we'll have to pay for ourselves. Cooper: Tell me a little bit about something else. So, you were with Dave and Dan and their families, and you saw them grow, and you also saw the show grow. What was it like? Like the surprise, and the different things that you might not have expected? What's it like to be on a show that at first is just a pilot, and then before you know it might be the most famous television show in the history of television? Steve: It's not might any more, Cooper, it is. Cooper: It is not might, it is. Steve: It is. Again, I watched all the actors grow up. Children, and very young. At the start, the only recognized actors were Mark Gatiss, Sean Bean, Jason Mamoa, Peter Dinklage, Kit, Amelia, Maisie, Sophie, Art, Isaac, all those kits, they were children. They were 10, 11 years old. And to watch them grow up and become the stars that they are now, and still be able to chat, the catch them, you know. I would class Kit as friend, Amelia is a friend. All the cast is friends, because I've watched them with David and Dan go through the show. Steve: And with myself, I was never ... I had already done my career. This was just a past-time. And to watch these people grow as actors, and again, as people. And to watch them being coached by David and Dan, don't be silly. Don't step on the small people. You know, you're gonna get there. Just treat everybody with respect. And that's something that all the actors are to Game of Thrones, little in part, and thank David and Dan for. Because they taught them a great lesson: respect everybody. Cooper: So maybe they taught them to be humble, you think? Steve: Not humble. I wouldn't say humble. You know, humble is a different sort of thing, Cooper. Humble is being kind. But they taught them to treat other people with respect. Treat other people the way you like to be treated yourself, and that's a great lesson that David and Dan and other people were able to give the actors and everybody coming up a great step. Steve Game of Thrones -- podcast (Completed 10/04/18) Page 3 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com Cooper: Tell me about any surprise. For example, maybe going on to the different places in Europe, what was that like, you know? Because it wasn't just filmed in Northern Island, and [crosstalk 00:11:30].