My favourite photo

The star of The Bill, 58, looks back on acting alongside Phil Daniels in Quadrophenia, the cult youth film that made his career

Quadrophenia actor Mark Wingett shares a snapshot

“THIS picture of me and

Phil Daniels, age 17 and 19, was taken in the café on the beach in Brighton for the cult film Quadrophenia. It came out in August 1979 when I was 18 and three-quarters, to be exact, and yes, it’s the egg-sandwich scene. Jimmy is looking at the sea and Dave (me) interrupts him and takes a big bite out of his sandwich. The yolk goes everywhere. I ended up eating 19 egg sandwiches and went out for a curry afterwards. I’d no idea I didn’t have to eat every sandwich. It’s a good job I had the metabolism to cope with it.

There’s more to Dave than just an egg sandwich. He’s not a pretty guy. We did a table read of the film recently and I was shocked to hear how men talked about women in the 70s. We were sexist and naive. That’s not me these days.

By nature, I’m quite shy. I realised that by playing different characters I could break out, and that I was a good actor. I got into the National youth Theatre at 16 and at 17 I had a lead role in a play called England My Own.

I got the part in Quadrophenia from there. It was a piece of luck, total chance. I busked it, basically. I did very well for a few years before I had to learn what acting is about.

Franc Roddam, the director, gave me a copy of The Who album Quadrophenia at my audition. It’s Pete Townshend’s finest work. The tunes have a soul and a depth to them that not many songwriters get. It tells the story of Jimmy the mod and his mates and captures being a teenager. It’s a soulsearching album, trying to figure out who, what and where you are. It’s an album of mental illness and addiction. Quadrophenia stands alone as a piece of music and as a film. There’s never been a film quite like it.

Quadrophenia has a fantastic, British sense of humour. Jimmy isn’t a superhero, he’s an average boy who loses his job and he doesn’t get the girl. It hits a nerve. The film has soul and I’m very lucky to have been a part of it.

It gave me an extraordinary opportunity and friendships that have lasted a lifetime, even Sting. It was a rite of passage for Jimmy and for all of us. To be part of this film and play that role next to Phil was an extraordinary thing. Within a year I starred in another film, TV and stage plays and worked at the Royal Court Theatre. years later I met a policeman who told me Quadrophenia was his favourite film. A lot of people feel that way.

I suppose I’m best known as DC Jim Carver from The Bill.

I didn’t want to play a policeman, really, but I was able to do a whole story on alcoholism. Kevin Lloyd, who played DC Alfred ‘Tosh’ Lines, died of drink. I don’t drink, but I wanted to do it for him and show how alcoholics suffer, too. It was like a strange tribute.

It’s been a pleasure to take part in the documentary Quadrophenia: Our Generation. It has brought back a lot of memories and rekindled a lot of friendships. Amazingly, we’re all here. We’ve all got our health and sanity.

I’m working with Toyah Willcox on a little horror film called Doll House. I saw Trevor Laird, who played Ferdy, in Small Island at the National Theatre, an extraordinary story of an immigrant family who come to Britain post war. It hits a nerve. To see your mates doing something so transcendental is probably the greatest privilege of being an actor. We came through and we all survived Quadrophenia.”●s

The 40th anniversary celebration of Quadrophenia airs on Saturday on Sky Arts and NOW TV.