The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
STAGE DELIVERY
As a Dundee postman breathes new life into a celebrated play about the 1984 miners’ strike, Michael Alexander finds out more
Kevin Parr was always good at “mimicking” teachers when he grew up in the Douglas area of Dundee – he had a knack for making people laugh. But never in a million years did the former pupil of Powrie Primary, Balerno Primary and Craigie High think about becoming an actor. That all changed when Kevin, now 54, was in his early 40s and someone asked if he’d step in to cover a sickness absence for a community drama group at Dundee Rep.
Persuaded to “gie it a go!”, the Dundee postie laughs that he was “caught like a rabbit in the headlights” during that first performance, playing a character called Glen.
However, he was bitten by the acting bug and he hasn’t looked back since.
Still delivering letters by day, his CV includes plays at the Rep. the Edinburgh Fringe and voiceover work for cartoons, video games and documentaries.
Now, as he appears in a touring play called The Collie’s Shed, he’s looking forward to his first appearance at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews on May 11.
So what’s it about? “The Collie’s Shed is about the miners’ strike in 1984,” he said, adding that it was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 and 2023 to critical acclaim.
“It’s written by an East Lothian lass called Shelley Middler. It follows four retired miners – Billy, Tommy, Charlie and Glen – and how their lives are still affected by the strikes that took place 40 years ago this year.
“I play one of the retired miners, Billy. It also features four younger actors who play the retired miners in their youth.”
Kevin explained that the play starts off with the four retired miners at a Men’s Shed in East Lothian.
There, the former Bilston Glen Colliery workers make things like walking sticks and bird boxes to keep them occupied.
One of them had moved away. But he comes back, and this causes friction because, during the strike, he broke the picket lines and went to work to feed his family.
The frictions from the past “bubble back up” when the Scottish Government carries out a review into the policing of the strike.
The play cuts back to the characters as younger men in 1984.
“It explores the dilemmas faced by people who were skint, had no money, had no food,” said Kevin.
“It’s just a balancing act between how these guys deal with that within themselves and their friendships. It’s very powerful. A very well-written play.”
Growing up in Dundee as the youngest of a family of six, politics was rarely discussed in his house.
He laughs that it was “more about who’s getting the most tatties and mince”.
However, he vividly remembers watching the miners’ strike on the news as a child, and it impacting places like Fife.
“I remember it specifically because it was kind of jaw-dropping, eye-opening, kind of: ‘What’s going on here?’” he said.
“Seeing these lines of police and these guys clashing with them and they are clashing with them back and the horses. I do remember it well.
“I didn’t realise how much of an impact it was having at the time because you were a young boy – you kind of think: ‘It’s people going on strike, I don’t really understand what that’s all about.’
“All you are thinking about is your mates and your fitba’.
“I think about the impact it had on people even more now seeing the documentaries on TV after 40 years.”
Kevin explained how writer and director Shelley Middler, who’s also an actress, remembered hearing stories from her miner grandfather and evolved these into the play.
As well as watching documentaries, he researched the strike by joining an ex-Scottish miners Facebook group.
When the play was at the Fringe in 2022 and 2023, audience members often came up to them at the end in tears, saying how powerful it had been. He added: “People would say: ‘I grew up in a village and still stay there and there’s people even now, 40 years who to this day still don’t speak to the bloke across the road because he went to work.’
“It’s still going on to this day. It’s a shame, really. But people obviously have a lot of passion and hard feelings.”
During his interview with The Courier, Kevin’s broad Dundonian accent is apparent throughout.
This came into its own when he starred in Dundee street poet Gary Robertson’s The Scaffies.
He laughs that because Gary writes in phonetic Dundonian, you’d get the script and say: “What the hell is this?”
But he’s no stranger to adapting his accent for the role. For The Collie’s Shed, he puts on an East Lothian/Edinburgh accent and, for voiceovers, he’s even done American.
He can also put “BAFTA winner” on his CV because a few years ago, he provided the voices for all the male characters in an entry to Abertay University’s Dare to be Digital competition.
“I don’t think they won the Dare to be Digital competition,” he said. “But they got put forward for a Scottish Games BAFTA and they actually won it.
“It was called Mr Montgomery’s Debonair Facial Hair. There were different voices – a king, a farmer, a sailor and a typical rough Scotsman and stuff like that.
“I was part of the team and thought: ‘I’m claiming that!’”
The Collie’s Shed, Byre Theatre, St Andrews, May 11, and King’s Theatre Kirkcaldy, May 16.
Are you ready for an adventure? How about one that traverses all of time and space, hand-inhand with an impeccablydressed Time Lord and his fiery, fun and hilarious human companion? Doctor Who is back and it promises to bring sci-fi thrills like you’ve never experienced. A new era of the BBC fan favourite was ushered in at the end of last year, with Years And Years and It’s A Sin writer Russell T Davies, who was the original showrunner and head writer of the 2005 revival of the series, back at the helm.
Whovians were treated to special episodes featuring previous stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate before meeting the Fifteenth Doctor, played by Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa, and his companion Ruby Sunday, played by Coronation Street’s Millie Gibson.
Now, it’s time for the main event – a new series with eight episodes of Time Lord fun, the first since the BBC struck a deal with Disney+.
Fans got a glimpse of what Gatwa’s Doctor will be like over the festive period, but now they have the opportunity to really get to know the new Doctor.
Gatwa says his portrayal honours the legacy of those that have come before, sitting “on the shoulders of many an amazing actor that’s brought cheekiness, eccentricity, compassion, curiosity as well”, while having a fresh edge.
“Those are like the traits that I say my Doctor has, but then each of the Doctors has that,” says the 31-year-old Rwandan-Scottish actor.
“You bring pizzazz!”
Gibson, 19, grins.
“He’s a bit flirty,” adds Gatwa. “He’s a flirty guy. Cheeky.”
Gatwa has built a reputation for his fashion sense, appearing on many a red carpet dressed to the nines – a trait he’s also bringing to his incarnation of the Doctor. Over the decades, each Doctor has had their own distinct look, but Fifteen has a fantastic new outfit for each episode.
“Look out for a banging duffel coat and a Bobby hat in Episode Four,” Gatwa teases of his favourite looks in the series.
“But yeah, fashion – the Doctor, he loves his co-star
Millie his fashion. We tried to explore a lot of subcultures of British fashion through this iconic institutional character, we thought: ‘What a good opportunity to do so.’ He’s got a lot of clothes.”
On Christmas Day, in an episode titled The Church On Ruby Road, fans were introduced to the Doctor’s new companion Ruby – an orphan who was abandoned at a church on Ruby Road, hence her name.
With Ruby now officially on board the Tardis, Gibson says she’s excited for fans to get to know her better.
The actress says she loves Ruby’s “fieriness, and just her will of throwing her personality headfirst into the Doctor’s world... and her relationship with the Doctor as well”.
“I think it’s not really been explored as platonic before,” she notes. “Our kind of relationship is very special.”
While Doctor Who has always been a family sci-fi programme with varying degrees of darkness and light, Davies says that this new era leans more into levity and fun.
“You kind of look at the world and think: ‘What do we need now? What do I want to watch of a night, of a morning, what do I want to sit down with?’” says the showrunner.
“It’s a tough world and I wanted something lighter and funner. Doctor Who has always had a great sense of joy and humour about it, but I kind of pushed it a little bit this time.
“I just thought, especially for children – I think you keep hearing stories about children’s mental health – and I thought: ‘I want somewhere where they can go and be safe and happy and fun, simply to have fun.’
“So there are moments of peril and danger and horror, even, but it’s properly a show that puts a smile on the face. And it always was.”
Davies adds this new incarnation of Doctor Who will be visually bigger and better than ever, thanks to a budget increase following the Disney+ deal.
“It is lovely... When we say: ‘Oh my God, there’s an alien army on the horizon,’ now we can show the alien army on the horizon, before we just had to point,” he says.
“But, of course, that’s never what Doctor Who was about... we’re more about the Doctor, and a great one-liner, and a smile, and the companion and her mum and having fun and being at home with it.”
Doctor Who is on BBC One tonight at 6.20pm.
The Responder (BBC1, BBC iPlayer) continues to be a really good show, although it has no right to be – mainly down to the continual sight of Martin Freeman in the starring role of wannabe “good bobby” Chris Carson. Despite all those Marvel and Hobbit films which have made him an international star, it’s rarely possible to not see him as goldfish-gobbed nice bloke Tim from The Office.
Except in The Responder, possibly for the first time in Freeman’s career, Tim is thoroughly exorcised by his exceptional, gritty, desperate performance.
Created by former Merseyside copper turned screenwriter Tony Schumacher, Chris is a John Rebus-esque study in all the best features of a conflicted lead character in a cop drama.
His personal life is in bits. In last week’s first episode of the second series, we saw he’s separated from his wife Kate (MyAnna Buring), but still trying to be the best dad for his daughter Tilly.
He takes her out to buy a communion dress, but has to split the payment between credit cards and unsuccessfully tries to beg the woman in the shop to give him time to pay.
It’s a jarringly realistic example of the tough times even people in responsible, supposedly “good” jobs face, but Chris at his worst is a moral vacuum. He takes the money from a jar in his infirm and estranged dad Tom’s (the quietly classy Bernard Hill, who died last week) kitchen.
Kate, meanwhile, is planning on taking a new job in London, and only Chris normalising his life with a day job might convince her to stay. He hands in a hopeful application, only to be told he has no chance because he’s a known “knob’ead”.
Even for such an intentionally dislikeable character, viewers’ sympathy for Chris flows.
Except then he takes to the street, and he’s in his element. Back in a car on his own, ever since his series one partner Rachel (Adelayo Adedayo) asked not to be partnered with him, he speaks the language of every late-night drunk and desperado he’s called out to on the streets of Liverpool as a 999 police responder.
In one of the most bitterly amusing scenes of a very darkly humorous show, one troublemaker with obviously deep personal issues threatens the cops with a handful of dog poo. Chris has almost talked him down when Rachel just pepper-sprays him. A survivor of domestic abuse in the first series, her experiences and her ex clearly still haunt her.
Chris, meanwhile, does a favour for a mate, his boss Deb (Amaka Okafor), when she tells him to stop a felon she’s spotted, because she’s off-duty and is tailing him while over the drink-drive limit.
In a masterful escalation, it begins to appear Deb is setting Chris up, and possibly being set up herself, as she blackmails him with the day job he wants so he does her bidding.
Likeable small-time crooks Casey (Emily Fairn) and Marco (Josh Finan) are also back, clearly with a deeper “in” to the organised crime backdrop to all this than Chris has managed. Yet despite the great ensemble, this show belongs to the impressive Freeman, and it’s every bit as gripping as the first time round.
Saturday, BBC1, 8pm
Winning the Eurovision Song Contest is always a cause for celebration, but Sweden must have been especially thrilled when Loreen finished first in 2023 with Tattoo. Not only did it bring their winning total to seven, meaning they now tie with Ireland as the most successful country in the contest’s history, it also allowed them to host this year – the 50th anniversary of Abba giving them their iconic first win with Waterloo. The show comes from Malmo Arena, hosted by singer and twice Eurovision presenter Petra Mede alongside Swedishborn Hollywood star Malin Akerman. Graham Norton provides the commentary, and the UK’s hopes rest on Olly Alexander’s song Dizzy.
Sunday, BBC1, 7pm
It’s time for the annual ceremony honouring the best in British telly. Jack Lowden, whose spy comedydrama Slow Horses and heist drama The Gold are going head-to-head for Best Drama Series, will be torn. Lowden himself is up for Supporting Actor for Slow Horses. Leading Actor is contested by Brian Cox (Succession), Dominic West (The Crown), Kane Robinson (Top Boy), Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project) and Steve Coogan (The Reckoning), while Anjana Hasan (Black Mirror: Demon ’79), Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment), Bella Ramsey (The Last Of Us), Helena Bonham Carter (Nolly), Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) or Sharon Horgan (Best Interests) are up for Leading Actress.
What would you get if you crossed The Traitors and Deal Or No Deal? Probably something resembling ITV1’s new reality game show. Hosted by Stephen Mangan, it sees 10 pairs of contestants checking into a hotel in the Caribbean. On arrival, they are given a briefcase – eight are empty, but one contains a dreaded Early Checkout card, and one holds the jackpot of £250,000. In each episode, the pairs have a chance to work out who has which case through challenges, which culminate in a swap in the Lady Luck bar. Whoever ends up with the Checkout card will be heading home, but can the contestants with the cash manage to throw the others off their scent and keep hold of it until the end of the game?
The production company behind Line Of Duty, Vigil and other edge-of-your-seat thrillers has also backed this new six-part drama, the first original TV project from writer Helen Walsh. It stars small-screen newcomer Eva Morgan as Kelly, who, by day, is a dedicated gymnast with a real prospect of representing Team GB. By night, however, she puts herself at risk as a free-runner. Her life is turned on its head when, during a party on her native Merseyside, she is viciously attacked. It’s suspected her assailant is a member of the free-running group she hangs out with, but as we will see, social media and parents with their own agendas are going to make unearthing the truth difficult.
Saturday, Channel 4, 9pm, premiere
Self-anointed “high-end consultant” Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo) has grubby fingers in numerous pies including the affairs of the recently murdered attorney general of Nevada. On the run from professional hitman Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler) after a car bomb fails to silence his loose lips, Teddy sucker-punches diligent Gun Creek police officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder) during a public fracas to secure a holding cell for the night. The plan backfires when Viddick poses as a drunk-driver and is detained in the opposite cell. A tense stand-off heralds a hail of bullets when rival gunman Anthony Lamb (Toby Huss) arrives at the police station to kill Teddy. Copshop is a testosteronesoaked tale of law and disorder, which relies on wanton violence to divert attention from the occasional clunks of the script.
Quartet – Thursday, BBC4, 9pm
Dustin Hoffman takes a turn behind the camera to direct an impressive British cast in this comedy drama. Run with a gentle yet firm touch by on-staff medic Dr Lucy Cogan (Sheridan Smith), retirement home Beecham House heaves with eccentrics, including luvvie Cedric (Michael Gambon), who masterminds the annual fundraising concert attended by staff and wealthy donors. Three of the residents – Reginald (Tom Courtenay), Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Cissy (Pauline Collins) – once performed together as a celebrated quartet. The unexpected arrival of the group’s fourth member, Reg’s ex-wife Jean (Maggie Smith), sends shockwaves through Beecham House. Once Jean adjusts to the gentle ebb and flow of daily life at the home and rebuilds bridges that were previously burnt to a cinder, she rediscovers her passion for performance.
The Imitation Game – Friday, BBC1, 10.40pm
Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) sits in a police interrogation room with Detective Nock (Rory Kinnear), facing a charge of indecency with a 19-year-old unemployed man. In flashback, Alan arrives at Bletchley Park where a group of the country’s keenest minds try to break the Enigma code. Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode), John Cairncross (Allen Leech) and Peter Hilton (Matthew Beard) work alongside Turing, but he ploughs his own furrow and raises eyebrows by recruiting Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) to the team. The Imitation Game is a handsomely crafted tribute to a prodigy, whose invaluable contribution to the war effort was besmirched by bigotry. Oscar-nominee Cumberbatch is mesmerising, trampling over the egos of fellow code-breakers without any concern for their feelings.