I'm recovering from a bit of a hangover (the bit that makes you feel ill, that bit). Went out with the cast of The Koala Brothers for a reunion dinner at The Heights. (Great views of London, rather too much champagne). From L to R: Me (Frank, Archie and Sammy), Rob Rackstraw (Buster, George), Janet James (Ned, Josie), Alison Chopra (assistant producer), Baz (Lucinda's other half, who wasn't actually in the show but came anyway) , Lucinda Cowden (Mitzi, Lolly, Alice), Dave Johnson (creator and producer) and the ubiquitous Dave Peacock, our sound engineer. There will be no more Koala Brothers episodes made, but we live on through the repeats and also on stage in Cbeebies Live. Rob incidentally has managed to get an audition for The 39 Steps, thanks to Rupert Degas, another voice actor who will be leaving the show soon. Rob & I went to see the show when it was at The Tricycle in Kilburn. If Rob gets in, I'll be insanely jealous. The part is fantastic, hundreds of voices to do and lots of fast changes. Perfect for him, and also for me unfortunately. We spent the afternoon at The Heights, then on to Dave's club, Milk and Honey, in Soho. It was so dark in there we couldn't see each other. We could see enough to drink the wine though, so that was ok. I'd forgotten how crap travelling late at night on trains can be. At Kings Cross, there was a fight on the train and the police were called to arrest some bloke who had decided he didn't like some other bloke because of some remark he made to someone else, or something. It's how wars start. Quite dramatic, but all very pointless and intimidating. It took six large officers to pin the guy to the floor. I read the paper throughout. I've never been in a fight, and I don't intend to start now, particularly when it's not my argument.
More wincing with jealousy this week every time I see the British Gas ad featuring loads of their engineers. I did the VO for the TV ad (replacing Bill Oddie) and was then, in my turn, replaced by someone else. That's a lot of dosh completely diverted away from me. It's a huge campaign too, dammit.
The flipside of this was my meeting with Karl Woolley on Friday afternoon. Karl is the man responsible for The Tweenies when he was at Tell-Tale, and works at Lion TV. One night at the Groucho last year Karl decided to cast me in the TV series of Horrible Histories. He's producing it for Lion TV/BBC and it's been in the pipeline for a year now, following extensive re-writes, changes of personnel at the Beeb, and lots of other stuff Karl can't talk about without hitting things. I met him this week at his new office. He's working for The Creative Entertainment Group, who book huge gigs and tours for Elton John and the like. The office used to belong to the PR company of a minor Royal, and is rather too splendid to be the office of a friend of mine I felt. It's all original 18th Century Panelling and vast rooms. You can hear the footsteps of servants on the stairs, and smell the powder in the peri-wigs. For my entire life, I've wanted to be someone like Karl Wolley or Tony Collingwood. They never stop thinking of stuff. Ideas pour from them in a ceasless stream. I'm too lazy, or crap, or something, whatever, it means I have to work to think up stuff, or work with someone else. I' m a very good collaborator, but a fairly poor originator. As a performer my experience writing comedy over the years has been invaluable. Rob and I are good at adding stuff to scripts and finessing gags, which is one of the reasons we're employed I guess. (Rob's just started on series 16 of Bob the Builder, that's how much he's employed). Horrible Histories should be ready to film in about six weeks, and if it goes as planned, it'll be fairly high profile and make a huge difference to me (I hope). He also has other stuff planned that he wants me to get involved in, and the thing about Karl is that you can't actually refuse him, he's a constant creative force. We did a spoof phone in together last year, which was ruined by Radio 4 doing exactly the same thing.
The rest of my week was pretty much taken up with trying to get my study up and running properly. The house I've moved into is still a tip. I've put nearly everything I own in storage, and I'm still tripping over stuff the whole time. The shower still isn't installed. Typically, I bought a unit at a trade fair last year, and it was a bit of an impulse buy. The problem is that I can't have a bath as well, the bathroom is too small, and the shower needs to be installed by an electrician. (everything has to be certified these days). I've been waiting for the shower since last August, and the electrician was due on Friday. The snow meant that he couldn't make it, so it's been delayed another week. Argh. I'm starting to smell.
Domestic stuff is so unbearably dull, and there's so much of it at the moment. Two jobs tomorrow though, more NTL on demand stuff and a load of promos for something else, so that's a nice day to look forward to away from the house.
OK, I tried posting a comment and I think it disappeared into the ether. Here goes again.
Keith it's Curtis here (Franks Cat) and I just wanted to say what a lovely site you have here complete with insights into production and obligatory gossip about Hibbert and his alcohol consumption.
Say hello to the delightful Mr Rackstraw from me next time you see him - we go back to the early dark days on Bob the B - and he does the best "Emperor" voice from Star Wars. Earned him many a pint that one...
Lastly, thankyou for all your kind words on the CAT. I've put a link on my own blog to yours so expect some inquisitive traffic to come your way. And do call in yourself! Would be great to hear from you.
Look forward to seeing you at a record again in the near future
Fondest whatnots
Curtis
http://badablingthing.blogspot.com/
Posted by: curtis jobling | February 17, 2007 at 08:34 PM