Tough TV cop: Society’s too soft now
As DS Ray Carling in Ashes to Ashes, he’s sexist, stroppy and stubborn.
But Dean Andrews, who plays the 1980s permed copper, says today’s world has gone over the top with political correctness.
Here the 44-year-old actor also reveals the secrets behind sex scenes as Brenda Blethyn’s toyboy, fate leading him to acting and his wife and why he never touched a drop of booze till he was 38.
Ashes to Ashes is set in the 1980s as a follow-up to Life on Mars. How does today compare in terms of political correctness?
Red tape and legislation have gone mad over the past few years. All the do gooders interfere and we can’t do this and we can’t do that.
What kind of punishment should be in place at school?
In my first week at secondary school I got six of the best. It taught me not to be stupid and I never got it again. I have two children, Sharni, 23 and Alice, 16. If a teacher asked if she could punish either of my daughters I would agree.
I’m quite in favour of discipline. I know my kids wouldn’t mess around but if they did they certainly wouldn’t do it again after that.
Ashes to Ashes is set in the Metropolitan Police of 1981. Is it an accurate portrayal?
My golf club has a lot of ex-policemen and they thought Life on Mars was the only ever accurate portrayal of a working police station in 1973. That’s from hundreds of them not just the odd one. They say: ‘We can’t watch The Bill or Heartbeat. The only one we can watch is Life on Mars because someone is telling our story for once.’ I think the same is true for Ashes, but we will have to wait and see how people take to it.
This time you are working opposite Keeley Hawes as Alex Drake as well as Phil Glenister as Gene Hunt. How has that been?
It’s a whole new dynamic with Keeley. She has some really big shoes to fill and she’s amazing. She’s a brilliant actress and she’s better looking than John Simm, which is definitely a bonus. She and Phil have perfect chemistry.
Ray is like a mini Gene Hunt. Do you compete over who has the most outrageous lines?
Phil always gets the best lines and delivers them brilliantly. He’s amazing. Nobody could have played Gene Hunt like Phil does. He’s the funniest bloke on set.
You were a cabaret and club singer from the age of 17 and didn’t land your first acting role till you were 38. How was it coming to the business so late?
I wouldn’t have dealt with it as well at all when I was younger. I would have probably blown out. I was full of youth and arrogance. Now I love it when people come up and talk to me.
Your first acting role was in 2001 Ken Loach film The Navigators. That’s amazing. How did it come about?
It was a one-in-a-million chance. I had gone out a couple of times as an extra as a way of getting a few extra quid. I saw an advert for an internet casting agency which was pounds 80 to join. I didn’t hear anything for four months then a woman called with a casting for a film. My cynical side thought it would be some bloke with a camcorder and some sex scenes. I didn’t know who Ken Loach was.
And your first ever sex scene was with Brenda Blethyn in Between the Sheets?
What an amazing woman to have to do it with. I don’t usually get parts with much romance to them, I’m usually beating someone up.
I never felt uncomfortable because she made it really pleasurable. I was 40 and she was 57 and we had to have sex in a bath and up against a tree.
I was very wary about getting my clothes off in front of a load of people.
It was made very nice with some beautiful lighting that hid a lot.
You didn’t touch any booze until your first acting job. How come?
I was brought up in a pub in Rotherham. I don’t know why I never drank. I never really felt the need. Then at the Ken Loach film everyone told me to have a drink. I had a glass of red wine and I really enjoyed it. I did end up shitfaced but I quite enjoyed that feeling. It was liberating.
And didn’t you meet your wife Denise in your parents’ pub?
It was another piece of fate. She’d never been in the pub before and it was New Year’s Eve. My mum asked me to take these two girls home because they didn’t have a taxi and one ended up being my wife.
Ashes to Ashes, Thursdays, 9pm on BBC1
By Jon Wise for The People.
(Source: highbeam.com)