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THE GRASS IS BROWN ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE

HOMICIDE
part 1

I had landed the role of Detective Philip (Flip) Redford. The name Redford I was told by Henry Crawford, the show’s producer, was due to the popularity of the Robert one at this time. The nickname Flip faded away rapidly, thankfully. Having auditioned three months prior, I had given up on getting the role, believing that they would have let me know the outcome a lot earlier.
Loretta Crawford, Henry’s wife, said to me early on that she didn’t think I realised what a big deal it was to land such a part. She was right about that. My world had just swung on its axis in what would prove from Day One to be a bumpy ride.

MY VERY FIRST SCENE IN HOMICIDE.

I’m sitting in the driver’s seat of a Squad car that is stationed outside a suburban house. I’m waiting for the three other Homicide regulars, Alwyn Kurts (1915-2000), Leonard Teale (1922-1994) and George Mallaby (1939-2004). to run out of the house and jump into the car. There was only one line in the scene and it was Len’s.

Take One. Three Detectives rush from a house and jump into the Squad car. Now it’s over to me – so I push the clutch slowly in and put the car into gear. Then – as my driving instructor has repeatedly told me – I ease the clutch out at the same speed as I press on the accelerator. You see, my driver’s licence is only three days old, and for me to complete this procedure will, to Alwyn, George and Len, seem like a month.

Also, it’s my first day and first ever scene and I’m nervous, so the car starts to kangaroo hop. That in turn affects Len’s delivery.
‘Air …..port…Phil…….. Fast as ……you can …..Oh shit.’
The car stalls and the Director calls CUT.

Take Two. Exactly the same as take one. Alwyn and George seem amused – it’s Len who’s not looking very happy.

Take three. Three Detectives – of which I’m now one – run from the house and leap into the car. Its wheels are already smoking in anticipation of the impending take off. On Len’s line ‘Airport Peter, fast as you can’ George drops the clutch and the car spins out into the middle of the road and screams away until it disappears around a corner. Cut and Print.

Give me a break. George Mallaby had had a lot more practice at doing car wheelies than me. I would learn how to do them too. Eventually.

While George and Alwyn could see the funny side of me stuffing up, Len couldn’t. I had removed the reality from a role that he took very seriously and he didn’t like that. Not a good start.
There were other issues too. My character was far removed from the actor’s that I was replacing. They had written me into the show as being anti-violence. A stance brought about by my character’s experiences in Vietnam. This meant that Redford’s character was the absolute reverse of Mike Preston’s, who I had replaced.

They say that you could always tell what Crawford’s thought of you by the way you made your exit from a series. Mike Preston, my predecessor, had been blown to smithereens by a bomb.

My first episode was called Initiation. Synopsis: a green young Detective joins the Homicide squad to find himself out of his depth. Fine, all well and good, I was green when it came to working on film, but that in some ways had worked for me as the scriptwriter had cleverly worked my nervousness into the character’s. But the next six scripts that I had to do were leftovers from the Mike Preston period. Having fallen out with Crawford’s, he had wanted his departure from the show to be brought forward. They obliged and as I said, he went out with a bang.

But that meant his final six scripts were now to be played by me. Even the character name on these remaining episodes had not been changed. Fine, that bit was easy, I simply scribbled out the name of Preston’s character and wrote mine instead. But I needed more help than that to justify the vast differences between his character and mine. So, for my second episode I have been transformed from an anti-violent and sensitive character, to an undercover cop posing as a hit man. who is scaring the hell out of the criminal underworld. A turn around in character so vast that it would be like Christopher Robin waking up to find that he was now an axe murderer.

Homicide had a six-day turn around. Episodes shot that quickly made time the enemy. So, for an actor to hold things up with questions about why he was doing what he was doing, could be the spanner that could jam up the works. This meant that there was no consideration given to my problem, because the rotating directors understandably just wanted their designated episode to go smoothly. So, when I started to baulk at some of the nonsensical direction forced on me, I was seen as a potential problem. I was also very green back then, and didn’t have the nous that could have found ways to help blend these two diverse characters together. Like for instance, ‘Just say the words and don’t bump into the furniture.’

This problem came to a head when my naivety and a director’s impatience clashed and he chastised me in front of the crew and cast. I was surprised and speechless, and didn’t think that I deserved a dressing down. Alwyn Kurts who played my superior Inspector Fox, came up to me afterwards. A lovely man was Alwyn and he was aware of how much the bollocking I had received had wounded me. But when he said kindly ‘look that had to happen and I’m glad it did’, I realised that the general consensus was that it had been warranted. In hindsight, I should have taken my problems of the contradictions within my characters to the producer’s desk. But I didn’t, and because of that I was off to a bad start that was about to whiplash me all over the place. My paranoia was going to affect my work and attitude.

It had to have been around this time, that I started to adapt to what it was that I thought the powers that be wanted me to be. Having done this to a lesser degree to cover insecurities brought on by situations in the past, it was, I suppose under the circumstances, a natural thing to do. But this time the veneer that I would try hide behind would prove to be inadequate. This time the canvas that my masquerade would be played out on was larger and far more insidious. This time I would be dealing with the scrutiny that comes with being in the Public Eye. A dangerous arena to be in.

Leonard Teale who had been playing his Detective role for so long the two had become inseparable, would often offer to drive me home. This was before my episodes had gone to air and on these journeys, he would always call in at someone’s place. The intent of these drop-in visits seemed to be to put me under the scrutiny of selected persons. I came to realise that what Len was doing, was giving others a ‘sneak preview’ of the mistake that he thought Crawford’s had made in casting me.

I may have been green at this time, but I was astute enough to know that Len should have been looking at his own performance, rather than mine.

George Mallaby was fine to me and was available should I have any questions about anything, from the intricacies of dealing with the pressures of being a public identity to helping me buy a car. His.

George, I found out from Alwyn, had had a breakdown due to pressures that came with the show, and because of that he was on the lookout should I start to show any of these symptoms. They were certainly on the bubble, but didn’t really surface until after George had left the series.

The truth is if you do a TV show long enough it can affect you. It was common knowledge that Len, having come across a road accident on his way to location, had taken down everybody’s name and had a statement ready for the arrival of the Police.
A definite symptom I would think. Who was it that said, ‘The problem with Kirk Douglas is, he thinks he’s Kirk Douglas.’

 

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