Comedy part is in the spirit of the city
‘Mackem medium’ Ian D Montfort is set to make his prime time television debut.
The character is played by Tom Binns, who has perfected his Wearside accent thanks to his own heritage and countless comedy gigs.
While Tom grew up in Sheffield, his dad Robert is from Sunderland, with the family familiar to many through the newsagent shop run by the Binns family.
Now, Ian and three other characters performed by Tom are to feature in the sixpart comedy mockumentary Hospital People, which will be screened from Friday at 9.30pm on BBC1.
Tom was approached about working on the series by the BBC while performing at the Edinburgh Festival as hospital DJ Ivan Brackenbury, with the medium and porter joining his other characters, chaplain Father Kenny and hospital boss Susan Mitchell.
The series will also feature Russell Brand, Sally Phillips, familiar to many from Miranda, Sian Gibson from Peter Kay’s Car Share, Harry Potter star Mark Williams, and James Fleet, who has appeared in Vicar of Dibley and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The show was filmed in an unused area of the University Hospital of Hartlepool, with many of the extras and crew from the North East.
Tom said: “My dad is from Sunderland, so I spent birthdays, Christmas and holidays visiting.
“My dad is very proud, he’s always been very supportive.
“It is quite a difficult accent to do, but why not?”
The first episode of the series has been seen by Robert and Tom’s mum Mary, with good reviews from the Binns family.
Their son had to make some sacrifices for his art.
For the role of Susan, he had to spend an hour in and also out of make up and he had to shave his head for the part of Fr Kenny.