There were no big challenges ... other than staying out of the pub and keeping up with the gym
Touching drama Come Home sees Salford-born actor Christopher Eccleston, 54, as a father left with bringing up three children by himself after his wife of 19 years suddenly walks out on the family. MARION McMULLEN finds out more about the last taboo of pa
How would you describe your character, Greg, in the new three-part drama Come Home?
GREG is a normal working man.
He runs a small business in a garage and loves his family, his children and his wife... but doesn’t know her.
He has failed to recognise the distress in Marie (played by The Hunger Games and Ray Donovan actress Paula Malcomson) until it’s too late.
Fundamentally he’s a decent man but very flawed and controlling.
He’s broken-hearted about the loss of his family unit.
He learns an enormous lesson about generosity and forgiveness throughout the story.
Your character in the Belfastfilmed drama is Northern Irish. How did you perfect your accent for the role?
I WORKED with a magician! A brilliant dialect coach called Brendan Gunn. I also spent a lot of time in pubs listening to locals.
Belfast is my favourite city in the world. I love New Orleans and Glasgow but Belfast beats them all! It’s such a great city to make television.
I tried my accent out with the locals. They were supportive and critical when they needed to be but it helped and I stayed in character when I was in between scenes.
What were the biggest challenges you faced during the shoot?
I’M AN actor, my job is easy. I turn up at work, learn my lines, don’t bump into the furniture and get on with the people I’m working with.
I’m a very lucky man to be able to collaborate artistically with people and get paid for it.
There were no big challenges other than staying out of the pub and keeping up with the gym but I managed to do both!
What was it like working with award-winning screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst and executive producer Nicola Shindler?
I’VE worked with Nicola on Cracker, Our Friends In The North and Hillsborough and they’re all projects I’m very proud of, particularly, Hillsborough. They were works of great importance to me and Nicola.
It’s the first time I’ve worked with Danny.
I’d seen his stuff and I know he had worked on Clocking Off, and The Driver and admired it and wondered why I didn’t get an audition!
What attracted you to the role?
THE range of Danny’s writing.
There’s a great Thomas Hardy quote about Gabriel Oak in Far From The Madding Crowd. He says: ‘On a good day, he’s a good man and on a bad day, he’s a bad man.’
In short, a man of salt and pepper mixture and that’s definitely true of Greg.
I think the main attraction was the arc of Greg’s journey. He’s a very different man by the end of episode three. He knows himself better at the end of this sad, redemptive tale.
What did you get up to in your spare time when you were not filming?
I RAN a lot. I ran to the great Van Morrison’s house, took a photo and ran back. I then ran to great George Best’s house, took a photo and then to the great Alex Higgins house and took another photo! The Belfast geniuses who were all in East Belfast. They were massive figures in my youth. I went to Molly’s Yard (a Belfast restaurant), ate and drank a lot and listened to a lot of live music. I love the place. We were very lucky to have made Come Home there.
What else have you enjoyed about filming the drama?
IT’S been a pleasure working with Danny. He has written a great script and I think he’s a very strong writer.
It’s very unusual for a drama to be led by a woman who challenges the audience about the perceptions of femininity and why she leaves her children.
Greg, Marie and working mother Brenna (played by Kerri Quinn) are three dimensional characters neither good nor bad, and that’s down to Danny and, of course, to our brilliant director, Andrea Harkin.
What’s going to surprise people about this series?
THE extreme places and situations the characters find themselves in.
It’ll be interesting to see the story from everyone’s point of view rather than it being the typical male-led drama. There are six very strong characters in this and we see it from their point of view.