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Amanda Redman Q&A - Radio Times, April 2007 |
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Benji Wilson meets the star of New Tricks.
BW: A fourth season of New Tricks
is upon us. Tell us all about it…
AR: Crikey, where do you start? The first
episode is a continuation of a story
from the first series, dealing with
the death of James Bolam's wife in
a hit-and-run. He finally finds out
who did it and starts to lose it slightly,
and that carries on throughout the
entire series. It's quite dark, actually.
Sounds highly entertaining.
Well, he's such a wonderful actor
and he was thrilled that it gave him
something more to play. New Tricks
is one of those rare phenomena
where you can go anywhere; it's not
a comedy or a tragedy. I think
what they've tried to do this series
is get a little bit more grown-up.
And the list of guest stars is
mighty starry: Sheila Hancock,
June Whitfield, George Cole,
Roy Hudd. How do you entice all
these stars? Free bus passes?
We have a wish list, obviously. And
I have to say that it's very rare that
people say no. Some ask us - the
executive producers get phonecalls
from knights and dames saying,
"I'd love to be in that show".
So it's the fourth series and
it's all about detectives of
"a certain age". How long can
it go on before someone gets
a dicky back or something?
Oddly enough, they're all really fit.
James Bolam is the oldest, bless
him, but that man has more energy
in his little finger than most
25-year-olds have. I think it's an
actor thing - you can't do those hours
unless you look after yourself.
So there won't be
any incontinence
plotlines?
No, but we do
actually play
on the fact
that they
can't run as fast as they used to do.
And they can't run as fast as me.
You also run the Artists Theatre
School. Do you show them
New Tricks episodes
as a study aid?
Not New Tricks -
other things,
depending on
what they're
doing. I set it up
and it operates
out of Ealing Film Studios. We help
students get into the top drama
schools. After this I'm going to teach
a four-hour lesson from my house.
Do you tell them that, with
reality TV throwing up new stars
every week, now's not a great
time to be getting into acting?
I tell them the truth. People who have
a real passion for the craft, I want to
help as much as I can. It's probably
more important to do that now
than when I started, because when
I started there was none of this s***
that's going on. To combat all these
people who just want to be famous,
they've got to really want to do it.
One final question: it's called
New Tricks - does that,
by implication, make you
an old dog?
I think the point is that I'm
the new trick - it's the boys
who are the old dogs.
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