One of the books I read last week while lazing around in Lanzarote was Bill Tarmey's autobiography, 'Jack Duckworth and Me'. It's not the first Corrie actor autobiography I've read but it was the most odd. Normally, I dive straight in and relish the parts about their time on Coronation Street, hoping for a glimpse of the person behind the character and for some behind-the-scenes secrets from our favourite soap. With Bill Tarmey's book, the first part of his life story, before he joined Corrie was actually the most interesting, for me.
The second part of the book, from when he joined Coronation Street firmly as Jack Duckworth, turns into just that. It's a book about Jack Duckworth, not Bill Tarmey, which I thought rather odd. Jack Duckworth's storylines are outlined, with help from Daran Little's 40th Corrie anniversary book, from which whole sections are lifted in terms of dates and storylines, and to be fair, Bill does credit Daran's book. But I ended up scanning pages, not reading, to find out anything more about Bill Tarmey himself, as it was all about the fictional character of Jack.
When Bill's true persona shone through the Jack storylines, he excelled himself and revealed hilarious snippets (a caper with Kevin Kennedy had me in stitches) and a great deal of moving, emotional depth too especially when detailing his working relationships with Liz Dawn (Vera) and Alan Halsall (Tyrone). But for this fan, there was too much Jack Duckworth and not enough Bill Tarmey in this book. Still, it's a decent enough read and if you're interested in the life story of Jack Duckworth and finding out more about Bill Tarmey's early years, it's worth splashing out on for yourself or for the Corrie fan in your family.
