So Alan put the accent on baseball

▼ Alan had fun playing a ’20s jazz club owner.

Taking on his latest TV role was a step back in time in more ways than one for Alan Davies.

The Jonathan Creek star has a cameo role in the second series of period drama Frankie Drake Mysteries, screening this week on Alibi. It’s about an all-female detective agency in 1920s Toronto and is filmed in the Canadian city.

“I used to go to Canada a lot in my 20s doing fringe comedy festivals and I have lots of friends there,” Alan told in10.

“So it was great to get back, and to see Toronto, which I’d never been to.

“I’m a big baseball fan, so I really wanted to see the Toronto Blue Jays, which I managed twice although I was only there for four days.

“Everyone was super-nice to me, especially Lauren Lee Smith, who plays Frankie.” Alan plays a jazz club boss who falls under investigation and, while he thought he’d need to master an accent, he was assured that none was required as the vast majority of residents at the time were British.

“The building where the jazz club is set was a real club in the 1920s and a lot of care is taken to get the authentic look of the period,” said Alan.

“The story is set around a 24-hour dance marathon and they really used to have things like that, which would be unthinkable now “I like the tone of Frankie Drake, it’s good fun. I did an episode of Marple about

10 years ago and it has a similar feel.

“I very rarely get the chance to do anything like this and it was nice to be on the wrong side of the law for a change.

“I didn’t know much about that period or the music, so I got a book of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories and went to a jazz club in the city.”

Alan was one of the stars of the festive hit adaptation of David Walliams’ The Midnight Gang and he says such guest starring roles are a pleasure to do.

“I like things like that or Frankie Drake which are different from Jonathan Creek in that it’s someone else’s gig and I don’t have to worry too much,” laughed Alan.

“As long as I’m not making a mess of the scenes I’m in, I can just enjoy my work. “Sometimes if you’re in every scene for weeks on end you can feel the strain a bit.” While he reckons it’s unlikely Creek will make a comeback, Alan is as busy as ever with Channel 5’s The Dog Rescuers and with the BBC’S QI.

Frankie Drake Mysteries, Alibi, Tue, 9pm.

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