Star’s first day cold feet
Atrip back in time proved no joke for comedian and Cold Feet star John Thomson. ‘‘I was out of my comfort zone, I’ll have to admit,’’ says the 49-year-old actor of his part in the BBC period drama The Moonstone.
‘‘I hadn’t done a great deal of period drama over the years. I’d done a lot of contemporary work so I thought it was long overdue.’’
The Moonstone, screening on Vibe, is based on Wilkie Collins’ classic 1868 novel of the same name and follows charismatic adventurer Franklin Blake (Joshua Silver) as he seeks to solve the disappearance of a priceless jewel and win back its owner, Rachel Verinder (Terenia Edwards), his one true love.
TS Eliot described The Moonstone as, ‘‘The first and greatest of English detective novels’’ and Thomson’s character, Sergeant Cuff, is not only the first detective he is also considered the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
For Thomson – who has generated laughs in everything from The Fast Show to a stint as children’s entertainer Jesse Chadwick in Coronation Street – it was an opportunity to stretch the acting chops he was already putting to good use in the reboot of Cold Feet.
However, Thomson admits he struggled with the period dialogue and the fast turnaround nature of the series.
‘‘I don’t think we had the kind of luxury of time that they have on something like Poldark. I spent any down time, and scenes I wasn’t in, thrashing out (Cuff’s) revelations and denouements with the producer in the dressing room,’’ he says.
‘‘I’ve never had a harder first day as far as dialogue goes.’’
Not only was there a lot of dialogue but the style of speech was nothing like the modern vernacular he is usually required to speak.
‘‘When I do Cold Feet, it’s a lot easier to remember because it just rolls off the tongue. This dialogue was very different,’’ he says.
‘‘You’ve got a combination of huge weighty speeches and an accent that’s not my native (Lancashire) accent and the old English of 1868 as it was written. The combination of those three things was a challenge.’’
Nevertheless, Thomson relished the experience but admits he was a little apprehensive about how the series would look on screen.
‘‘It was nice to play something that I wouldn’t normally play but I was terrified to see it. But then I saw it and I was very happy with the result,’’ he says, admitting he is keen to take on more dramatic roles.
‘‘I was always an actor first and I did stand-up comedy to get my equity card when I was at drama school. It was a means to an end really.’’
However, his dramatic aspirations were put on hold when he met Steve Coogan who secured him a job on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image.
Several comedy roles followed, before he was cast as Pete Gifford in Cold Feet in 1998.
‘‘I did train as an actor but being funny is just in me. I’m kind of hardwired that way, but I get a great deal out of playing the straighter stuff,’’ he says.
‘‘I’d like to do both really. I’m an entertainer but also an actor. I like to have that ability to diversify.’’
Thomson says a few lean years also made him realise he had to be versatile to keep himself employed.
‘‘I had two very hungry years in 2012-13 and realised that I’d got quite a few strings to my bow as far as skill set goes.
‘‘I’m an actor, an impersonator, play drums professionally and I just thought, ‘This is all going to waste’,’’ he says, adding a new agent helped him rebuild his career.
‘‘I started doing some pretty decent projects, one of those being David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy. And then Cold Feet came back. It was rumoured for a long time but a lot of it was tabloid gossip.
‘‘We came back with a bang which I am so, so grateful about ... we just had a huge success.’’