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IT WAS ALMOST LAST ORDERS FOR ME!
Robert Webb tells how a serious heart condition left him days from death while making series two of his dark comedy Back
Robert Webb is an intelligent man, with a degree in English from Cambridge University, an accomplished television CV full of successful comedy shows and two acclaimed books under his belt, his memoir How Not To Be A Boy and the novel Come Again. But for a week in the autumn of 2019 he did something decidedly daft – and potentially fatal.
Despite having been diagnosed with an extremely serious heart condition, he carried on working on series two of Channel 4 black comedy Back.
‘I still don’t know why I did it,’ he admits now. ‘Maybe it goes back to that idea that you don’t pull sickies, that you can’t miss a day. For whatever reason I did a further week’s filming, even though I knew I was about to undergo a major operation.
‘It was inexplicable really, ridiculous. I filmed a scene where my character Andrew had to carry this box upstairs, and the art department made it as light as possible, bless them. But it completely knocked me out. It was at that point that I thought I should maybe go home, download some audiobooks and try not to have a heart attack. So I did!’
Had he not already been diagnosed, Robert, 48, would probably have explained away his fatigue on his age and drinking too much. But shortly before starting on the new series he underwent a medical examination as part of the pre-filming process. Halfway through, the doctor holding the stethoscope to Robert’s chest turned pale and said, ‘So what have you been doing about this heart murmur?’
Robert had no idea what he was talking about. He was sent to see a cardiologist two days later, and told that his heart was in urgent need of surgery. ‘The prognosis was, “This is going to fail in two to six months,”’ he recalls. ‘And that really got my attention.’
The father of two, whose comedy credits include Peep Show and That Mitchell And Webb Look with longtime collaborator and Back co-star David Mitchell, was suffering from a ‘mitral valve prolapse’ – also known as click-murmur syndrome. Surgery was set for a month later, and that’s when Robert decided to go back to work. By the time his appointment came round the situation was critical. But there was a problem with the intensive care unit in the hospital and a chance the surgery might have to be postponed.
Chillingly, Robert’s cardiologist told the surgeon that he wouldn’t last two more days without urgent action. The operation went ahead and work on the show was delayed as Robert recovered. During the enforced break, the entire cast and crew took a picture of themselves standing outside shivering in the cold, and wrote on the bottom, ‘Get well soon, Robert, we can’t wait to have you back.’
‘It was one of the few times I actually cried during the whole rodeo,’ says Robert, who had to take three and a half months off work, which means he looked significantly different as Andrew Donnelly than in the scenes shot before the operation.
‘Potentially that was quite a challenge for the continuity department,’ says Robert. ‘When we were first filming my face was bloated and pastily white, like a man who might be about to have a heart attack at any moment. But I looked a good deal healthier after the op. Fortunately they can do wonderful things in postproduction these days, using technology to achieve more or less the same complexion from two very different starting points. I don’t think viewers will spot the difference.’
What they will almost certainly spot during the six-part series is a change in the dynamic of the show. The first series in 2017 was all about Andrew worming his way into the affections of his long-lost family. Stephen Nichols (David Mitchell) was about to take over failing pub the John Barleycorn after the death of his father Laurie, who had fostered Andrew many years previously.
When Andrew turned up, eager to renew his relationship with his foster family, they were all totally taken in by him – except Stephen, who was convinced he was a sociopath. ‘He thought Andrew was scheming and on the make,’ explains David. ‘So he resented him becoming so popular in the eyes of his family. Stephen was also unnerved by the way Andrew seemed to be able to read his mind.’ The two constantly clashed, with Stephen coming off worst, and at the start of series two he’s receiving treatment for conditions including OCD, alcoholism, paranoia and depression. ‘When we first see him he’s a patient at an establishment. But he wants to get out as quickly as he can and return to the John Barleycorn,’ explains David. ‘He believes there are more positive times ahead, that when he goes back to the pub he’ll be the centre of attention in the way Andrew was when he arrived.
‘Stephen thinks he’s the exotic one now, and that Andrew will no longer be able to get under his skin. To quote Stephen, he believes Andrew no longer has the keys to his head because he’s changed the locks.’
There’s talk of another series to be filmed later this year, and Robert believes playing Andrew actually has its health benefits. ‘There’s something almost therapeutic about playing someone as nasty as Andrew,’ he says. ‘I played a murderer in a Miss Marple some years ago, and because the identity of the killer is only revealed at the end there’s only a small part where you can be truly evil. But in Back I’ve effectively been able to play a murderer for two whole series, verbally sticking the knife in and being sadistic towards poor old Stephen! Long may it continue!’ ■
‘I effectively play a murderer, verbally sticking the knife in’