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PIPING UP
Feuds, cheating, a struggling salon – and Robson Green belting out a tune. The cast of Age Before Beauty, the new BBC drama with a musical twist, reveal what's in store
Robson Green, singing again for new BBC drama Age Before Beauty, tells us why he wishes he’d never been a pop star
Can you believe it’s been 24 years since Robson Green sang Unchained Melody with Jerome Flynn on ITV series Soldier Soldier, lighting the fuse on a pop career that would see them go on to land three No 1 singles and two No 1 albums? And now, in new BBC1 series Age Before Beauty, a drama which in a surprising twist has some of the cast members breaking into song, Robson is flexing his vocal cords once more.
The series is set in a struggling Manchester beauty salon, and we’ll hear Robson’s character, financial adviser Teddy Roxton, perform various numbers throughout the show, including a duet with costar Polly Walker on the Fleetwood Mac classic Don’t Stop. And it seems musical stardom could be beckoning again for the 53-year-old Geordie – but not in the pop charts. ‘Singing in this show has whetted my appetite to do a musical like West Side Story, but relaunching a pop career is not a choice I’d make. I was asked a few weeks ago if I’d do an album off the back of the series and I said no,’ reveals Robson in his trailer on the set in Manchester. ‘In fact, given my time again, if I’d known what was ahead of me it’s not a choice I would have made in the first place!’
Chart stardom came along first time around after Simon Cowell persuaded Robson and Jerome to release Unchained Melody as a single after their characters Dave Tucker and Paddy Garvey sang it in an episode of military drama Soldier Soldier in November 1994. Sales of 1.8 million, a sevenweek stay at No 1 and appearances on Top Of The Pops raised the actors’ profiles and added several noughts to their bank balances. ‘It’s true that it made me lots of money and I was able to invest in a film company,’ says Robson. ‘But the defining moment came during an episode of the BBC1 documentary series Animal Hospital, when a woman brought in two guinea pigs, Robson and Jerome, and said to the vet, “It’s Robson, he’s not right.” Too right he wasn’t – the poor creature died!
‘That summed up the whole thing. It didn’t feel right being in the pop business. I had a good time with Jer- ome – the best thing about it was our friendship – but artistically it wasn’t a good choice for me. From being a respected actor, I became a celebrity and that didn’t sit well.’
Even so, Robson’s acting career wasn’t damaged by his time in the charts. He’s been a regular on our screens since his last album with Jerome in 1996, and he’s now filming series four of ITV’s Grantchester.
Age Before Beauty, written by Debbie Horsfield, the woman behind early-noughties series Cutting It and the
revived Poldark, will provide him with yet more exposure, particularly with its song and dance numbers, which appear in fantasy sequences imagined by the characters. Debbie says of the idea, ‘I thought it would be fun to add extra elements to the drama; colourful, lively additions to the main storyline.’ By Robson’s account they’re quite spectacular. ‘There’s a huge number at the start of the second episode, involving many of the cast, and the use of professional dancers backing us made the whole thing look like a West End production,’ he says.
His character Teddy is the financial adviser to the Mirrorbel beauty salon in Manchester. He’s also married to Leanne, one of four sisters in the Regan clan who run the salon. Sharing centre stage with Robson is Royle Family star Sue Johnston, who plays Regan family matriarch Ivy-Rae, an expert at Northern Soul dancing and the salon’s spray tan technician, who’s cheating on her husband. ‘She’s actually rather scary,’ shudders Sue, 74. ‘She doesn’t suffer fools and it’s not for nothing she’s nicknamed Razor. But I did get to try my hand in at the dancing, which I loved, even if I did need a choreographer to work my stiff old bones!’
A slimmed-down Lisa Riley slips into skin-tight leather trousers for the role of tattoo artist Tina, while Polly Walker appears as the eldest Regan sister, Bel, who established Mirrorbel before taking a back seat 18 years ago to bring up to her two children. Now she’s back at the business, a move that spells trouble for Leanne, played by former Casualty star Kelly Harrison. ‘Leanne is jealous of her more creative and business-minded sister, although it’s a good job Bel is back as Mirrorbel is on its knees and in urgent need of Bel’s input,’ says Polly, best known for her roles as Atia in explicit historical drama Rome and nightclub owner Delphine Day in Mr Sel f r idge. ‘ Mi r rorbel has become a bit too cosy, run more for the benefit of the family in charge than for its customers. Something has to be done otherwise it’s going to go bust.’
Teddy’s on hand to help Bel, a long-time friend of his, turn things around, but is his interest entirely innocent? On the surface, he appears happily married, as Bel does to her husband, Wes, played by James Murray, but Teddy’s a master of manipulation who holds a secret that is revealed at the end of episode one. ‘Nothing is quite what it seems,’ says Robson. ‘Yes, Age Before Beauty is about a salon but it’s also a series of love stories and poses the question: how far would you go for love? I think viewers will be shocked by how far certain people in the story are prepared to go.’
Robson smiles when asked how far he’s willing to go for love. His own romances have been well documented, from the break-up of his marriages to occupational therapist Alison Ogilvie and Page 3 model Vanya Seager, by whom he has a teenage son Taylor, to his relationship with Zoila Short, a Sunday school teacher who left her husband, the Reverend Geoffrey Short, for him in 2016. Robson says his philosophy has always been to be straightforward. ‘I’ve never been like Teddy,’ he insists. ‘Love, to my mind, is just love: you fall in love and that’s it. You can’t be manipulative, which is why I have nothing in common with Teddy.’
As well as romance, the drama focuses on our pursuit of perfect looks. Mirrorbel offers all manner of beauty treatments, but just how far should people go with them? Polly Walker’s experiences suggest it’s a good idea to proceed with caution. ‘When I first started as an actress, my teeth were very pointy and this Svengali figure I worked with on a film suggested I got my fangs filed,’ she recalls. ‘I did so because I didn’t really feel I had a choice. But I’ve tried not to be influenced like that again. Staying true to myself has allowed me to stay commercially viable as an actress.
‘So Age Before Beauty is to some extent a cautionary tale, with the message that the outside of our bodies don’t really matter, it’s what’s going on inside that’s important. There’s so much importance attached nowadays on what you look like, especially for young girls on social media, and it’s all a lie,’ says Polly. ‘Age Before Beauty proves it.’
‘Given the choice again, I wouldn’t have been a pop star’