Adrian Mole and the Early Acting of Chris Gascoyne, Aged 17¾

There are some links between Adrian Mole – one of England’s finest comedy characters – and Coronation Street that I have wanted to blog about for ages.

With Mole turning 50 in April and Penguin recently publishing ‘Adrian Mole The Collected Poems’ to mark World Poetry Day, now seems as good a time as any. 

For anyone unaware of Adrian Mole, he was created by Sue Townsend – who would become one of Britain’s favourite comic writers – and a series of books documenting his dysfunctional world were published between 1982 and 2009.

The books were written in diary form and the first two, ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾’ (1982) and ‘The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole’ (1985) provided an absolutely hilarious account of what it is like to be an adolescent boy, not to mention a biting social commentary on Thatcher’s Britain.

Set mainly in Leicester (well, Ashby-de-la-Zouch), the books followed the daily dramas and misadventures of Adrian’s teenage years and later his adult life during New Labour. They were simply brilliant – laugh-out-loud funny and also deeply moving and profound, pricking the nation’s conscience.

Perennially put-upon and unlucky in love, Adrian was one of life's losers. His dream was to be a writer and like a young Ken Barlow, he spent his days writing tedious prose that would never see the light of day. 

That said, at least the manuscript to Adrian Mole’s unpublished novel ‘Lo! The Flat Hills of My Homeland’ (later retitled ‘Birdwatching’) remains unburned.

Adrian was also an aspiring poet and he has finally had his work published. For the first time in a single volume, the very slim tome from Penguin gives us “the collected poems of misunderstood intellectual and tortured poet Adrian Mole”.

I would highly recommend it. It is a body of work that Daniel Barlow – one of the most naturally gifted students his lecturer has ever taught – could only dream of producing, especially now that he’s given up on Oxford.

I can’t be sure that Sue Townsend was a Corrie fan but I’d like to think that she was. Our beloved soap made it into a few of Adrian’s diary entries over the years.

For instance, on Wednesday February 2nd (1983), Adrian states: “Lucas [a neighbour who had an affair with his mother] turned up on our doorstep halfway through Coronation Street demanding to see Rosie” (The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole). 

On Thursday October 31st (1991) Adrian notes: “Ken Barlow of Coronation Street fame has been on trial for being boring. He was found ‘Not Guilty’ and awarded £50,000” (Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years).

On Wednesday 11th July (2007) Adrian remarks: “I happen to know that Mrs Wellbeck is an ardent follower of various soap operas. I have often heard her talking proprietorially about characters in Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale” (Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years).

Finally, on Tuesday 22nd April (2008), Adrian recalls a conversation with his half-brother: “Brett said, ‘I’ve been sickened by how Dad’s so-called family have treated him. Try to see beyond the wheelchair, Adrian. Dad is fully capable of making decisions, he is an intelligent man.’ I said, ‘Is that why he thinks the actors on Coronation Street make up their own dialogue?’” (Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years).

I love those references, which highlight to me exactly how important Coronation Street is within our national psyche. They also made me laugh when I read the books!

The first two Mole volumes were so successful they spawned a TV series. Both on ITV, ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾’ was broadcast in 1985 and the sequel ‘The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole’ followed in 1987.

The TV adaptation is notable for Corrie fans because it featured Chris Gascoyne in one of his first acting roles. Before Peter Barlow, the bad boy of Weatherfield, Chris played Barry Kent - the Neil Armstrong Comprehensive School bully who terrorised poor Moley, demanding money “with menaces”. Here’s a clip:

Chris is the only actor in the entire series that can pull off an East Midlands accent. He is from Nottinghamshire, mind. Still, no one else in the Mole adaptation – not even the superb Julie Walters – could avoid falling into the trap of a brummie accent.

With it being World Poetry Day, here is a clip of Barry Kent once again as Adrian recites his hard-hitting political poem ‘The Future’ in the school toilets:

Of course, in the books Barry Kent later displays a natural gift for poetry, which Adrian encourages. He soon regrets it when Baz goes on to become a successful poet, and the author of a hit novel ‘Dork's Diary’, which revolves around a loser by the name of Aiden Vole. Just Mole’s luck!

I’d love to know what Adrian Mole is up to these days. I bet he was delighted that Leicester City won the Premier League and incensed at the subsequent treatment of Claudio Ranieri. Whatever trials and tribulations he currently has to endure, like the rest of us, I bet he’s still watching Corrie. 

By Martin Leay
You can follow Martin on Twitter @mpleay
You can listen to Martin on croydonradio.com

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EXCLUSIVE Coronation Street Blog interview with David Neilson (Part 2)

David Neilson with Corrie Blogger, Martin Leay
(Photo by David Doig)

Following on from the first part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson (published yesterday and available here), in which David talked about how he became an actor and some of his roles before he joined Corrie – here is the second part, which focuses on David’s portrayal of Roy Cropper in Coronation Street.

Martin Leay (ML): Roy has had many interesting storylines over the years – do you have a favourite?

David Neilson (DN): I’ve been very lucky. I liked the Tony Gordon thing when Roy got obsessed with truth and honour and trying to get Tony to confess and redeem himself. It was nice to be involved in that story and to be thrown into the canal. I also liked the Tracy Barlow story – being drugged and sleeping with Tracy. And I liked the initial stories – when he was just this weird Roy. And then, of course, the cancer story probably topped everything because it was the climax of something.

ML: Roy was brought in for only six episodes. Did you imagine you would be playing him 20 years later?

DN: Well, it was a brilliant part. It really made me laugh. I did think, I wouldn’t mind five years of this! As long as the writers have the appetite for writing for the character, then you’ve got a future.

ML: During his early days on The Street, you described Roy as ‘a bit like Norman Bates’. Was Roy ever really a ‘Psycho’-type character?

DN: He was supposed to be quite sinister but it was really nicely written. They write these characters and because they’re not regular characters, they can be a bit outrageous. Right up until they brought Hayley in, you didn’t know whether he was daft or dangerous – which was great and I don’t think the writers knew. That was exciting because the audience didn’t know either – and that’s intriguing.

ML: Roy has become one of the most loved characters on The Street. How does it feel to play someone who is a ‘national treasure’?

DN: It always surprises me how popular he is. Sometimes it doesn’t happen but we call it ‘Croppermania’. My wife will say, ‘have you been ‘Roy’d’ today?’

ML: Roy has an amazing vocabulary. Do you have much input into the dialogue?

DN: Occasionally, I’ll tweak something. When my friend Stephen was writing it, I used to tell him stories about my mother and he did put something in once but he gave it to another character. I remember when I was a kid, I hadn’t got my bus fare and I had to get to school. My mother was looking for thruppence or something and in her panic she gave me a postage stamp and she said ‘give that to the conductor – it’s got the Queen’s head on it, he’s obliged to accept it’. He gave that line to Jamie Armstrong (played by Joseph Gilgun) who said it to Roy.

ML: I’ve read that Roy’s shopping bag belonged to your Mum. Are there any other props or mannerisms that you added to the character?

DN: My father-in-law was a bit Roy-like and always dressed in beige but the key on the string was my mother as well. It’s all from bits and pieces that you pick up. The great thing about being an actor is that everything, even the bad things; you can treat them like research. You can access it in some way and use it. That’s the nice thing. But then you try and make him who he is and not a type. It’s in the writing… and its development.

ML: It has been suggested Roy might have Asperger’s syndrome. What do you think?

DN: I don’t know, I’ve never asked him! I don’t think it’s anybody’s business. I don’t think labels are helpful – he’s just who he is.

ML: I agree. But would you say Roy has difficulties understanding social situations?

DN: My wife was a Special Needs Teacher and when I was first in it, playing this guy who stood too close and might be dangerous, it was her who said to me, ‘well he might have Asperger’s – he might just not get it’. And that’s when I thought, oh yeah - he just doesn’t get it. And the great thing about that for the writers was that it’s quite difficult when a character is on their own because they need to link to other parts of the show. Nobody would be surprised to find him in the corner shop and then in Ken Barlow’s living room because he didn’t know the barriers. It means you can interact with a story or take the story around. At that time he was just this guy who lived in these flats or sat in the café, went in the pub and brought his own coffee – he had his own flask. He broke the rules, really. That was a really interesting, exciting period, not knowing where it would go. 

ML: Do you share any of Roy’s passions?

DN: I read and I’m interested in stuff but I don’t think I’m obsessive – apart from, unfortunately, about football and Leicester City. Roy wouldn’t be into football. Steam trains are great – I like them but I prefer the Pendolino – 2 hours, 10 minutes from Manchester to London is very good.

ML: There is a replica of the Magna Carta on the wall of Roy’s Rolls. Did the criminal justice system treat Roy fairly after his recent altercation with Gary Windass?

DN: He really thought he deserved punishing. He thought they were a bit lenient!

Corrie Blogger Martin Leay serves up a Full English at Roy's Rolls

ML: Roy serves the most competitively priced breakfast in Weatherfield and his Full English has been frozen at £3.95 for years. Does Roy’s Rolls have an ethical pricing structure?

DN: Or the design department haven’t really kept up. There are also things about his organic suppliers. I think that’s an area we shouldn’t look too closely at.

David Neilson, Martin Leay and
the late, great Tony Benn

ML: Roy is quite politically active, having campaigned to save the Red Rec and Weatherfield Library. How would he exercise his democratic right in the general election in May?

DN: He would definitely vote and he wouldn’t postal vote - he would show up. He’d know all about the candidates and he’d challenge them… so it would depend on who is standing. He obviously cares about community. For him, there is such a thing as society.

ML: Would you have liked Roy to meet his father?

DN: I like the thing where Roy came in and you didn’t know who he was and where he was from and it always happens in these shows that they have to fill in the background. It was great when I heard they were bringing a mother in – I thought 'oh, what’s going to happen?' But then it was so well cast and Steph (Stephanie Cole) was brilliant, so that was nice. It was something I didn’t know was going to happen. It’s nice that you can continue to have some kind of mystery about him or about any character. That’s quite a quality because if you keep people wondering, that intrigues them.

ML: I’ve been wondering… is Roy still sleepwalking?

DN: Not that I know of but he’s asleep when he does it! It was a lead in to the cancer story. He had some wonderful things – like piling all the chairs on top – and that’s the thing about playing a character like that. You get quite eccentric things to do, which is good – whereas the others have affairs and all that stuff. You can’t give that to Roy because he’s no good at it. They find other things that are a bit off the wall, which I enjoy.

Don’t forget to visit the Coronation Street Blog again tomorrow (Friday 20th March) for the final part of our exclusive interview with David Neilson, focusing on Roy and Hayley’s relationship and what the future may hold for Roy Cropper.  You can read it here.

Interview by Martin Leay
You can follow Martin on Twitter @mpleay
You can listen to Martin on Croydon Radio

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