Star duo play roles in spinning new TV hit
TWO Rochdalians, one behind and one in front of the screen, have helped bring BBC spinoff series ‘Ralph and Katie’ to life.
‘Ralph and Katie’ is a spinoff from the BBC’S hit show ‘The A Word’ and Rochdale pair Matt Greenwood, who stars as Tom in the show, and Claire Minett, who served as a trainee producer, both played their part in bringing it to the small screen.
The new show follows two fan-favourite characters from the original show in Ralph and Katie, who both have Down’s syndrome and got married at the end of the last series of ‘The A Word’.
Claire Minett, who has Mosaic Down’s syndrome, is chair of Rochdale DS All Stars and set up the group to provide support and friendship to the Down’s syndrome community in Rochdale.
She was invited to be a producer trainee on the show and was shown the ropes behind the scenes, saying it was the best experience of her life.
“I’ve got a good eye for what needs to be filmed,” said Claire, who set up DS All Stars with Lalain Meskyzadeh and Emma Lambert, both parents to children with Down’s syndrome.
“I went on set and on location to do my job. It was very well done, I was so proud to be part of this exciting show.
“It’s a neurodiverse crew and everyone was so kind and considerate. It was just the best place to be.”
With the support of Action Together, the DS All Stars aim to provide an accessible and safe space for children with down syndrome and special needs to play and learn which they hope will create a community bond between parents and allow them to relax.
Claire, who is also a producer on the show’s podcast, said everyone in the Rochdale Down’s syndrome community has seen the show.
She said: “I think people enjoy the show so much because it reflects people with disabilities. I think it’s just a really good, touching story.
“Especially with Ralph because he’s got great comic timing and I was just laughing at his facial expressions.
“I just enjoyed it.
“It was the best experience of my life. I loved every second of it.”
Heywood-born actor Matt Greenwood reprises his role as Tom Clarke from ‘The A Word’ in the new series.
He said that filming a spin-off had its own challenges as ‘Ralph and Katie’ wasn’t able to call upon the big name stars of ‘The A Word’ such as Lee Ingleby, Morven Christie thoroughly and Christopher Ecclestone.
Matt, who attended Cardinal Langley High School in Middleton, said: “With ‘The A Word’ we had some really big names in terms of the cast so if we don’t have those household names will it be received as well? And it seems to have been.
“On ‘The A Word’ It was pretty much how you would expect a crew to be, straight, whit, male and not many differences in terms of disabilities.
“With ‘Ralph and Katie’ we wanted to make it as inclusive as possible to make it a production that should exist in 2022.
To make the set more inclusive Matt said producers introduced an easy to read call sheet, refrain from using the pressuring camera, action’ shouts and provided everyone with name tags.
He said: “Twenty to 25% of the crew were disabled and we had so many people of colour in the cast and behind the camera as well as so many different sexualities and gender identities.
“We have to introduce changes into the way we work in order to make things diverse and inclusive and we did that from the ground up.”
“This series challenges people’s perceptions of those with disabilities and the kinds of lives disabled people are “expected” to live.” Matt’s first professional acting role was as Martin Dunbar in Waterloo Road, set and filmed in Rochdale. I was 15 when I did Waterloo Road and that was great, it was a ten minute journey into work!” said Matt, whose mum lives in Bamford.
“How often do you have a television drama in such a specific location as
Rochdale? Usually it’s vague like ‘in Manchester’ it’s never actually a particular town. Waterloo Road is as Rochdale as it could get really! The vast majority of people don’t live in London so to see people like them and towns like them is really important.”
‘Ralph and Katie’ airs on Wednesday night at 9pm and all episodes are available now on BBC iplayer.
More information about Rochdale DS All Stars can be found on Facebook by searching for ‘Rochdale DS All Stars’.