Eye witness
MINDHORN A new hero is born in this bonkers British bionic comedy…
Iused to love Bergerac and all those single-name maverick detectives,” says Simon Farnaby, co-creator of Mindhorn. He means Shoestring, Taggart, Spender, Bergerac, Morse and, if you’re from the US, Kojak and Columbo, the sort of gumshoe shows that dominated the TV schedules in the ’80s. Thinking of this beloved genre, he and Julian Barratt (a fellow star of surreal BBC comedy The Mighty Boosh) came up with the idea for Mindhorn.
Farnaby and Barratt were keen to ensure their moustachioed detective, who comes equipped with a bionic eye, didn’t just turn into a spoof. “It’s hard to sustain that,” says Barratt. The solution was to set it in the present. Barratt plays Richard Thorncroft, a washed-up actor whose high point was playing the titular Isle of Man sleuth on TV back in the ’80s. But after a series of murders on the island, Thorncroft is asked to reprise his greatest role after the killer refuses to speak to anyone but Mindhorn.
What emerges is a plot that must be every actor’s worst nightmare: becoming known for one early success then fading into obscurity. “With Richard, he thought he was going to fly,” says Farnaby. “He’d got this hit with Mindhorn and he’d go to Hollywood and he was going to get film offers. That was his flaw really. It ended up being the only thing he was famous for. So it was a thing he loved but also hates, because it defined him.”
While Farnaby takes the role of Clive, Thorncroft’s former stuntman who’s managed to shack up with his old girlfriend, Barratt plays the now pot-bellied, balding Thorncroft. “Simon said I should play him. I thought, ‘Who am I to argue?’” he says. “The joke being when I started it I was worried I’d be too young but it took us so long to get it made, I was exactly the right age!”
Directed by first-timer Sean Foley, the project really gained traction when Steve Coogan’s company Baby Cow got involved. Coogan himself features as Thorncroft’s nemesis, whose own
Mindhorn character Windjammer gained a hit spin-off. “Steve helped us a lot,” says Farnaby. “He’d give us ideas. As soon as he heard the idea, he wanted to get involved and said, ‘I’ll play whatever you want me to play.’”
Already, Farnaby and Barratt are thinking of possible spin-offs – either webisodes of the Mindhorn detective show or a Richard Thorncroft album, released during his post- Mindhorn days. “We even toyed with the sequel – where Julian, the actor, becomes defined by this film Mindhorn!” explains Farnaby. “We thought that’s getting a little too meta but it made us laugh. It’s the same themes: feeling your best days are behind you.” ETA | 5 MAY MINDHORN OPENS NEXT MONTH. read our review on p42.