Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
THE DAY I CAME A CROPPER
ON THAT BIKE
Joe McFadden may have a successful career under his belt, with roles in Cranford, Casualty and Scottish soap Take The High Road for starters, but his family – builders from a tough working- class Glasgow neighbourhood – still regularly ask him when he’s planning to get a ‘real job’.
Even after he made his name as the cocky policeman Joe Mason in the gentle 1960s crime drama Heartbeat, they weren’t convinced. ‘I think my family are still bemused by it,’ he says. The show was axed two years ago, despite pulling in audiences of six million. Outraged fans signed petitions to try to save it, but the sets in the Yorkshire Dales have now been demolished. ‘It was a big shock when it ended,’ says Joe. ‘Particularly for some of the cast, who’d been in it for 18 years. It was a way of life for them. And for some of the fans. I still get people coming up to me, saying how much they miss it. We’d get hundreds of people coming to Yorkshire to watch us filming.
‘When I first started I was terrible at handling my character’s motorbike, so for my first few scenes the production crew would wheel me onto the set to make it look as if I’d ridden it. Then the cameras would film me switching off the engine, kicking the bike’s stand down to prop it up, and I’d climb off the saddle, like a proper biker would. But there was one time when I was being watched by a huge crowd and I missed the stand. Both me and the bike toppled over. Everyone cheered.
‘I know everything has a shelf life, but the show was doing really well. I think ITV wanted to concentrate on what they saw as exciting new drama – not a long-running show like Heartbeat. I also think programmes like Heartbeat are suffering because of the popularity of reality shows. But it means other people don’t get what they want to watch.’ Heartbeat’s fans, says Joe, were special. He recalls one couple who cancelled a trip to Jamaica when they heard the show was coming to an end as they didn’t want to miss the last episode.
Joe was terrified he’d struggle to get a job after Heartbeat. ‘You think people get used to only seeing you in one role. The trouble is, I worry when there isn’t work, and when there is I worry I won’t be good enough. In my earlier days, while I was making The Crow Road [a BBC Scotland miniseries in which he played the leading role] I remember being physically ill – I felt so utterly terrified and completely out of my depth. And it felt a bit like that when I played Dr Jack Marshland in Cranford. Dame Judi Dench was over here, Imelda Staunton was over there and I thought, “I’m the only person I’ve never heard of.” But they were an inspiration because they were all having such a good time.’
As it turned out, after Heartbeat he walked straight into a part as a homeless man in Casualty, which lasted for eight months, and since then he’s worked almost non-stop on stage. When we meet he’s in the middle of rehearsals for Torch Song Trilogy, which will open at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. He plays teacher Ed Reiss, who’s torn between his feelings for a male singer and a female teacher. Originally three separate short plays, the trilogy has been cut from four hours to two and a half. ‘My character feels strongly for both a man and a woman,’ says Joe. ‘And, as this is the 70s, he knows his job would be at risk if his feelings come out. He’s a very interesting character. They’re all very selfish, and the play is very much about the politics of sex.’
Joe’s story has a touch of Billy Elliot about it. His career began when he won a role in Taggart at the age of 12, and his work has always seemed strange to everyone he grew up with. ‘None of us had ever known an actor before.’ But it’s a job he took to instantly after being spotted by Taggart’s director in a school play. ‘I was fascinated by the actors,’ he recalls of his first day on set. ‘They were so theatrical and having so much fun. I remember thinking it would be brilliant to make a career out of it, but I never thought I would.’
He was not an obvious actor – ‘I was an introverted, shy kind of kid’ – but Joe, now 36, felt instantly at home on set. ‘Then the jobs just kept coming in.’ As for his private life, Joe likes to keep quiet. His last known partner was the actress Kirsty Mitchell more than a decade ago. ‘I’m not single but I don’t want to say anything else,’ he tells me.
He lives in Highgate, north London, close to his posse of Scottish friends including old school friend Celia Graham – who was an understudy for the role of Christine in Love Never Dies and had to step in for the final dress rehearsal when the leading lady was taken ill. ‘When people see us together they’re amazed at how rude we are to each other. But that’s our sense of humour. If you say to someone, “What do you think you’re wearing?” it’s only because you care!’
After Torch Song he has plans for a new stage show but says his crippling self-doubt will never leave him. ‘With this show I’m excited; the cast is brilliant. Even if I’m really bad, it’ll be worth seeing.’
Nicole Lampert Torch Song Trilogy, Menier Chocolate Factory, London, SE1, until 12 August. Tel: 020 7378 1713 or visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com.