Ken Morley is having a lie-in. Tucked up in a Bournemouth hotel room doing a passable impression of some latter-day Proustian gentleman of leisure reborn as a dry witted and be-goggled soap star, the actor formerly known as Reg Holdsworth, Coronation Street’s buffoonish manager of Better Buys supermarket, is clearly happy with his lot. And why not? It’s been good to him, this acting lark, ever since he packed teaching in the classroom for the stage more than thirty years ago. Not so’s you would’ve noticed until fairly recently, mind, when, during his six year stint on Corrie between 1989 and 1995, Reg became something of a cult figure among the nation’s soap opera watching classes.
Like any actor’s moment in the spotlight, though, it didn’t last forever, and Morley left of his own volition during a period when the once believable slice of northern English sentimentalism was being upgraded to run five nights a week. So when he arrives in Edinburgh next week in a touring production of Paul Elliot’s play, There’s No Place Like A Home, audiences can be forgiven for thinking it looks more than a tad like art imitating life. Because, not only is this veteran comic actor appearing onstage alongside the likes of ‘Allo ‘Allo star Gordon Kaye and former Play Away presenter Brian Cant, but the play itself is set in a retirement home for clapped-out old thesps desperate to rekindle the drama in their lives. Out of such cravings comes a frankly ridiculous plot to kidnap disgraced Tory peer, bad novelist and raging egotist Jeffrey Archer.
“It’s very pertinent to a lot of people,” Morley says of the play, “in terms of how we treat the older members of the family in this country. We don’t really look after them. Society in this country is different from countries like Greece, where the elders of the family are held in esteem. Here we prefer to pack them off somewhere like the institution in this play. The only difference here is that it’s occupied by ego-maniacs in the entertainment industry.”
Indeed, given the elder-statesman-like status of some members of the cast, who’ve all become iconic figures at certain levels, there is some considerable irony in such a set-up, not least in the figure of 65-year-old Morley.
“Let’s face it,” he says chirpily, “There isn’t a long time to go, and we’re probably all coming to the end of our performing careers, but there are actors in this show who I watched on television when I was a child, and it’s a delight to be working alongside them. My character is a shagged out comedian who I partially based on Charlie Drake, who said that he wanted to die with a glass of whisky in one hand and a good looking woman in the other, and who said he never wanted to be put in a home like the one in this play, which is of course the sort of place he did end his days in.”
There’s No Place Like A Home was originally written for Danny la Rue and John Inman. But, as Morley points out, it being Elliot’s first stab at playwriting, it took him four years and umpteen draft versions to complete, by which time of course Inman had passed away and La Rue was now too old for the part he’s originally been earmarked for. A quick re-casting with some equally familiar faces on board, and Morley is with esteemed company in a play which probably shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Morley himself is clearly at ease with his facility for humour.
“I’ve played Volpone and lots of stuff that people don’t remember,” he says, “but that’s okay, because, to put it mildly, I’ve made a lot of money as an actor, and I’ve had a pretty fair crack at it. But if you’ve got something unusual about you, and you discover that, it’s both a burden and a delight. I always noticed that whenever I spoke to people it made them laugh, and even if I didn’t speak it made them laugh. You just have to go with it.”
In this spirit, last time Morley appeared in Scotland was as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show, though his associations with the city go back some thirty years, when he took up a post as teacher of English and Drama at the then newly built Craigmount High School in the city’s Clermiston district. During his brief time at Craigmount, Morley inspired at least one student to become an actor, as without Morley’s advice and encouragement, Tam Dean Burn, currently on tour performing his production of Venus As A Boy, would probably not have become an actor.
“One of the attractions of Craigmount,” Morley remembers, “was that it was brand new, but more importantly was the fact that it had its own purpose-built theatre attached to it. I hear that’s all changed now, though, and, like so many other schools, isn’t the place it once was.”
Born in Chorley, Lancashire, Morley left school with no qualifications, originally training as an apprentice mechanic before going back to college to get himself some O and A Levels. In 1966 Morley moved to London prior to studying English and Drama at Manchester University. He made his small-screen debut in 1970s daily legal drama, Crown Court, before serving his time at Oxford Playhouse and The Half Moon in London as an introduction to his lengthy stage career.
Most recently on television Morley played opposite Office star Martin Freeman in the shop-set sit-com, Hardware, until Freeman decided to move on to other vehicles before type-casting set in. While Morley clearly has too much fun as an actor to worry about such things, Coronation Street wasn’t his first regular role. Prior to Reg, Morley worked a three year stint on French resistance sit-com, ‘Allo, Allo, on which he played the equally buffoonish General Leopold von Flockenstuffen alongside his colleague in There’s No Place Like A Home, Gordon Kaye, who took the lead as libidinous café owner, Rene.
Although the show finished in 1992, ‘Allo Allo has arguably had even more of a cultural impact than Coronation Street. And, with repeat runs still playing all over the world, being such a familiar face does have its perils. Only recently Morley and his wife were on holiday in Spain, when, travelling by car and stuck in a queue to pay their road tolls, they became aware that they were under scrutiny from the occupants of the equally slow-moving cars next to them.
“Three or four people got out of their car,” Morley recalls, somewhat aghast, “and they gave me the Nazi salute. They were smiling when they did it, but that’s the power a show like ‘Allo ‘Allo can have.” says a man clearly not quite ready for the knacker’s yard just yet.
There’s No Place Like A Home, Kings Theatre, Edinburgh, October 8-13
The Herald, October 2nd 2007
ends
Like any actor’s moment in the spotlight, though, it didn’t last forever, and Morley left of his own volition during a period when the once believable slice of northern English sentimentalism was being upgraded to run five nights a week. So when he arrives in Edinburgh next week in a touring production of Paul Elliot’s play, There’s No Place Like A Home, audiences can be forgiven for thinking it looks more than a tad like art imitating life. Because, not only is this veteran comic actor appearing onstage alongside the likes of ‘Allo ‘Allo star Gordon Kaye and former Play Away presenter Brian Cant, but the play itself is set in a retirement home for clapped-out old thesps desperate to rekindle the drama in their lives. Out of such cravings comes a frankly ridiculous plot to kidnap disgraced Tory peer, bad novelist and raging egotist Jeffrey Archer.
“It’s very pertinent to a lot of people,” Morley says of the play, “in terms of how we treat the older members of the family in this country. We don’t really look after them. Society in this country is different from countries like Greece, where the elders of the family are held in esteem. Here we prefer to pack them off somewhere like the institution in this play. The only difference here is that it’s occupied by ego-maniacs in the entertainment industry.”
Indeed, given the elder-statesman-like status of some members of the cast, who’ve all become iconic figures at certain levels, there is some considerable irony in such a set-up, not least in the figure of 65-year-old Morley.
“Let’s face it,” he says chirpily, “There isn’t a long time to go, and we’re probably all coming to the end of our performing careers, but there are actors in this show who I watched on television when I was a child, and it’s a delight to be working alongside them. My character is a shagged out comedian who I partially based on Charlie Drake, who said that he wanted to die with a glass of whisky in one hand and a good looking woman in the other, and who said he never wanted to be put in a home like the one in this play, which is of course the sort of place he did end his days in.”
There’s No Place Like A Home was originally written for Danny la Rue and John Inman. But, as Morley points out, it being Elliot’s first stab at playwriting, it took him four years and umpteen draft versions to complete, by which time of course Inman had passed away and La Rue was now too old for the part he’s originally been earmarked for. A quick re-casting with some equally familiar faces on board, and Morley is with esteemed company in a play which probably shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Morley himself is clearly at ease with his facility for humour.
“I’ve played Volpone and lots of stuff that people don’t remember,” he says, “but that’s okay, because, to put it mildly, I’ve made a lot of money as an actor, and I’ve had a pretty fair crack at it. But if you’ve got something unusual about you, and you discover that, it’s both a burden and a delight. I always noticed that whenever I spoke to people it made them laugh, and even if I didn’t speak it made them laugh. You just have to go with it.”
In this spirit, last time Morley appeared in Scotland was as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show, though his associations with the city go back some thirty years, when he took up a post as teacher of English and Drama at the then newly built Craigmount High School in the city’s Clermiston district. During his brief time at Craigmount, Morley inspired at least one student to become an actor, as without Morley’s advice and encouragement, Tam Dean Burn, currently on tour performing his production of Venus As A Boy, would probably not have become an actor.
“One of the attractions of Craigmount,” Morley remembers, “was that it was brand new, but more importantly was the fact that it had its own purpose-built theatre attached to it. I hear that’s all changed now, though, and, like so many other schools, isn’t the place it once was.”
Born in Chorley, Lancashire, Morley left school with no qualifications, originally training as an apprentice mechanic before going back to college to get himself some O and A Levels. In 1966 Morley moved to London prior to studying English and Drama at Manchester University. He made his small-screen debut in 1970s daily legal drama, Crown Court, before serving his time at Oxford Playhouse and The Half Moon in London as an introduction to his lengthy stage career.
Most recently on television Morley played opposite Office star Martin Freeman in the shop-set sit-com, Hardware, until Freeman decided to move on to other vehicles before type-casting set in. While Morley clearly has too much fun as an actor to worry about such things, Coronation Street wasn’t his first regular role. Prior to Reg, Morley worked a three year stint on French resistance sit-com, ‘Allo, Allo, on which he played the equally buffoonish General Leopold von Flockenstuffen alongside his colleague in There’s No Place Like A Home, Gordon Kaye, who took the lead as libidinous café owner, Rene.
Although the show finished in 1992, ‘Allo Allo has arguably had even more of a cultural impact than Coronation Street. And, with repeat runs still playing all over the world, being such a familiar face does have its perils. Only recently Morley and his wife were on holiday in Spain, when, travelling by car and stuck in a queue to pay their road tolls, they became aware that they were under scrutiny from the occupants of the equally slow-moving cars next to them.
“Three or four people got out of their car,” Morley recalls, somewhat aghast, “and they gave me the Nazi salute. They were smiling when they did it, but that’s the power a show like ‘Allo ‘Allo can have.” says a man clearly not quite ready for the knacker’s yard just yet.
There’s No Place Like A Home, Kings Theatre, Edinburgh, October 8-13
The Herald, October 2nd 2007
ends
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