‘I LOOKED UP AT THE SKY’
Star of 70s Confessions films Robin Askwith is back in demand on television. Does he know why?
The film is shrouded in such secrecy, I’m lucky not to be bundled into a van when I ask what she can share about the project. Instead, she leans forward with a quizzical expression. “Mickey7 ?” she asks… “I don’t think I can without being sued.”
Burke, who calls himself a “later bloomer with film” is able to discuss his experience in Australia filming Furiosa, the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, co-starring Anya Taylor-Joy and directed by George Miller.
For all the nightmarish visions in the 2015 film, Miller’s demeanour couldn’t be more different. “He’s spinning about ten plates at the same time while being the most courteous human being you’ve ever met, so that’s impressive in itself,” says Burke. “Some of the work was incredibly technical, but I enjoyed that because it was a nice working atmosphere. He creates space for performances for it to feel like an acting piece.”
Grainger says that she now considers filming schedules when it comes to jobs and Burke concurs since his six months in Australia filming Furiosa. But there’s a point even more pressing when Burke is deliberating over a job. “If it involves wearing a stiff collar, it’s got to be really good. I hate wearing a stiff collar. Sometimes you think about the costume because you’re going to spend a lot of time wearing it. If it’s a toga, it has to be a great script.”
That mindset, both of choices and collar rigidity issues, might stem from the advice of his godfather Alan Rickman. “Make the right choices with work,” he recalls him saying. “I
‘I’d love to see them together; they’d be so good for each other!’
remember him quoting [theatre and film director] Peter Brook, who said, ‘Choose your religion carefully.’” Strike is a character Burke is happy living with: “I’d definitely like to go the whole journey with Strike and I know it’ll be a weird thing to one day say, ‘That’s the last one.’”
On that day, you wonder if Strike and Ellacott will be more than partners-in-crime-solving. I ask a question that might take us back to alienating half the country: would they like Strike and Ellacott to be in a relationship? Burke’s uncertain. “It’s very hard for it to not somehow seem a bit smug. You always need a bit of tension and a bit of dysfunction – that’s not to say they wouldn’t not have that, but it’s a whole other world to get into.”
It seems Grainger is a little warmer to the prospect. “I’d love to see them together eventually; they’d be so good for each other!” she laughs. “I’d love to know they would get together one day, but I don’t necessarily think I want to see it.”
Speaking from the Mediterranean, Robin Askwith seems to be living the dream. He spends most of the year in the sun of Gozo where he lives, when he’s not back in the UK enjoying a late career revival…
How did you come by your role in Strike?
Fairly out of the blue. I’d just finished working on The Madame Blanc Mysteries [for Channel 5] and felt back in the swing of working in front of the camera again. When the Strike casting department contacted me, they caught me in a very good place, ready to do quality television. I was a fan of the show, and anyone I mentioned it to said, “You have to go for that.” I did a self-tape and it went my way. It’s a fantastic part. Steve Douthwaite is one of the main suspects with a shady past, particularly when it comes to women. He’s broken. It’s a cold case and a younger man plays me as a youngster.
Some say you’ve swallowed the Benjamin Button pill yourself — what’s the secret? Thank you, I’ve got good hair! Back in the day, I didn’t drink too much, as I worked. Although I had a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, I was a bit like Mick Jagger. I wasn’t quite as bad as I made out.
Until recently, you’ve not been on screen for a while. Is acting like riding a bike? For 20 years I was working but I wasn’t sure what I really wanted, but I kept going, just to exist. And then one day I looked up at the sky and I said, ‘I want to do television.’ And it happened. I don’t take myself seriously, but I take my work seriously. You have to be oiled up, and I don’t think I would have been able to take on Strike without having done Madame Blanc beforehand. For about four weeks before filming, there was no drinking, swimming every day over here in Gozo; I flew over and I felt ready. I fell in love with the camera again, whereas before I wasn’t sure I could.
You’ve been working on film and TV sets for more than 50 years — how’s it changed? Everything’s much faster now, there’s a new way of making television, so I had to get back in the swing. You have to create the quality a lot more quickly. Gone are the two weeks of rehearsal like the old days. Now you have to turn up on the day and be perfect. And everyone’s got better. To use a sporting metaphor, McEnroe couldn’t beat Nadal. As an older actor, when I work with someone like Michael Sheen or Tom Burke, I think, ‘You guys are really good!’ But there are older parts to play, and I’m allowed now to play them.
What’s next? I’ve shot something else that I can’t tell you anything about, but it’s pedigree. I’ll tell you this: Robert Lindsay wants to be in it.
Even out on your boat, does a day ever go by when somebody doesn’t yell out something about window cleaning?
It’s odd. I’m more likely to get, “It’s that guy from Benidorm” now, and I only ever did two episodes. CAROLINE FROST