“I’d love to come back and sweep Kim off her feet!”
FORMER EMMERDALE STAR IAN KELSEY PONDERS A RETURN FROM THE DEAD FOR HIS VERY FIRST SOAP CHARACTER, DAVE GLOVER…
Queen of the Dales Kim Tate may be happily loved up with fiancé Will Taylor these days, but 25 years ago, she was embroiled in an illicit affair with hunky farmhand, Dave Glover. Their steamy shenanigans lit up the screen and had everyone talking about the rural soap, while also making a household name out of young actor, Ian Kelsey, who played Dave.
Sadly, Dave met a sticky end in a house fire in 1997, while saving the life of Kim’s baby son James – who he had once believed to be his own. But as we catch up with Ian to chat about his latest project, he remains convinced that Dave is Jamie Tate’s father…
“Right, what’s the score here? Baby James is my son, isn’t he?” argues the star. “Because somebody said to me recently that he wasn’t mine, and that he’s back in it now and he’s about 25
– I thought that was hilarious!”
We’re sorry to break it to you, Ian, but two DNA tests proved that Jamie was indeed Frank Tate’s son, not Dave’s. Still, the actor tells us that he has very fond memories of his time in the Dales.
“It was a real family atmosphere on Emmerdale back then,” recalls Ian. “There was a pub opposite the studios, and everyone would go in there after work – writers, producers, actors, receptionists, we’d all have a laugh. Whereas now, everything seems a bit more fine-tuned and corporate. “Given the choice, I’d want to go back and do Emmerdale again in the early 90s, when there wasn’t technology,” he adds. “We’d finish work at lunchtime, then three of four of us would go into Leeds and have a jolly old afternoon. I’d get home and have eight messages on the answerphone saying, ‘Ian, we’ve pulled some scenes forward, where are you?’ Nobody had mobile phones then so they couldn’t get hold of you – it was fantastic!”
After leaving Emmerdale, Ian went on to star as doctor Patrick Spiller in Casualty, Howard Bellamy in Doctors and, more recently, Pat Phelan’s henchman Vinny Ashford in Corrie. Ian tells us that working alongside Connor McIntyre (Phelan) was a highlight of his time on Corrie – and the actor also helped out Ian with a side project.
“I’m a keen photographer, and
I got really lucky with a picture I took of Connor,” he reveals. “It was in Bev Callard’s [Coronation Street’s Liz McDonald] photo studio, she’d just had the toilet done out so I said to Connor, ‘Get in the toilet, this looks amazing!’ And
I took a fantastic portrait of him.
“I have an exhibition at the Theatre Royal Brighton at the moment,” adds Ian. “So I’m going to try to get some shots from this current tour, then display them the week the show is in Brighton – that way the audience gets to see behind the scenes of the show they’re watching.”
The show Ian’s referring to is the UK tour of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, which kicks off in Southampton this week. The actor can’t wait to get on the road, especially as the tour has reunited him with old pal Shobna Gulati (Corrie’s Sunita Alahan).
“Me and Shobna were going to be the new family in Where The Heart Is,” Ian tells us. “We signed a three-year
contract and were in the last couple of episodes of series nine – then they binned it! But we’ve kept in touch ever since, and we have a brilliant working relationship. We have some very funny moments together on stage.”
Ian will be busy touring until the summer, and he tells us that he can’t wait to get out on his motorbike to explore some new places. Yet he’s also open to another soap role…
“Oh, absolutely – work is work,” admits Ian. “I missed out on the initial casting for Waterloo Road due to this job, and I think there’s a new northern soap happening soon, which would be fun.
“I suppose what needs to happen is Dave Glover’s twin brother needs to come back and claim rights to Jamie,” he adds. “He’d have a different walk, but he’d look quite like Dave! I’d come back into the show and sweep Kim off her feet – can we make that happen?” Log on to littlevoiceuk.com for details of the Little Voice tour. Ian’s photography can be found at iankelseyphotography.co.uk