It wasn’t until the late 90’s that I got to have a taste of what it was like in front of the camera. I was working as a 'Marketing Executive' in Sheffield (it sounds fancy but in fact it was a very poorly paid job but a lot of fun!). It was there that I met a colleague whose father worked for the BBC. They were due to start shooting a new film in Sheffield in a few weeks and I got to learn that they needed ‘extras’. So, I made inquiries and got involved. It was a film called ‘Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?’. It starred (Sir) Tom Courtenay, Stephen Fry, a new boy on the circuit called Charlie Hunnam, and Lulu. I played a punk as the film was set in the 1970’s. The days were long and there was a lot of sitting around but it meant that I had my first taste of the ‘biz’ and I have a lot of very happy memories of that film. It seems to have disappeared into obscurity over the years and I have never found it on DVD. It was also there that I got chatting to a certain Charlie Hunnam (see left; I look like an alien as I had just come out of wardrobe at the end of the day and had just been relieved of the wig, costume and makeup!) who in fact suggested that I should get an agent and try out acting myself. He had been ‘discovered’ working in a shoe shop in Newcastle and was not from an acting background. He had just broken huge barriers and had become a well-known name by starring as ‘Nathan’ in the Channel 4 ground-breaking show ‘Queer As Folk’. He was a great guy and very down to earth and humble. I took his advice and managed to get an agent in Manchester (the same agent as Charlie incidentally!). It was a whole new world to me and from there I went onto have small parts (mainly as an extra or with one or two lines) in shows such as Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and I also did a TV commercial for Yorkshire Electricity. As you can see we are talking MAJOR roles here…

I did this on and off for about 4 years and loved every minute of it. The pay was good but the hours very long. It really is true when they say that showbusiness is not as glamorous as you think. I can certainly vouch for that! But it was an experience that I treasure. Back then there was no ‘reality’ TV and no real option for you to get your ‘15 minutes of fame’ without actually having to work for it.  Happy days.