Acting star Stephen Tompkinson chats to Louise Cummings about fulfilling his acting dreams...
Stephen Tompkinson has arrived.And you know why?
Because fans no longer shout across the street ‘morning Father Peter’ or ‘all right Danny’ in reference to his two most memorable roles in Ballykissangel and Wild at Heart. No, today, they simply holler ‘hi Stephen’, and for that, he couldn’t be happier.
“It’s like I’ve gone through a transition where people have seen me in enough things to actually know my name now, which is nice,” he says, with a twinkle in those green eyes. “The usual comment these days is ‘shouldn’t you be in Africa?’ or ‘you’re a long way from home’, things like that, because they’ve seen me in
Wild at Heart!”
Indeed the down-to-earth actor’s profile couldn’t be much higher at the moment, thanks to his role as vet Danny Trevanion in the popular feel-good Sunday night drama, set in South Africa. Filmed amid lions, giraffes and hippos, with dramatic panoramas and plots where inevitably ‘all’s well that end’s well’ it has become the perfect tonic to beat the Sunday night blues and has seen ITV viewing figures soar.
“It’s been so rewarding, I just love it,” enthuses Stephen, who has clearly fallen in love with South Africa since he started filming the drama in 2006 alongside actress Amanda Holden, who played his wife in the first couple of series. “I get more and more out of it each year, spending time around those animals and learning about them. It’s just such a treat seeing them in the environment they are supposed to be in and a real privilege to share time with them.”
They say as an actor you should never work with children or animals, but that theory doesn’t seem to apply to Stephen, who appears to become more of a
Dr Dolittle each week, as he works his magic with elephants and leopards.
As co-executive producer on the latest series, he’s had more input than ever in the storylines, and as such got his favourite giraffe Hamley a starring role in the latest series.
“I’ve actually spent an awful lot of time with Hamley over the past two years. I’ve got a balcony on the first floor of my dressing room and he comes there every morning and puts his head in my lap and we spend heaps of time together,” he smiles. “The producers came up with a storyline of him protecting me from a wild dog that was stalking me. Before I did the actual scene I spent a lot of time with him letting him know that the blood wasn’t real. While I was lying on the ground dying he just stood over me and he wouldn’t go until the very last second. He’s a very loyal giraffe!”
Stephen’s love affair with Africa continued recently when he spent six weeks in an air balloon making a documentary for ITV.
“I did a balloon trip from east to west Africa and covered 5,000 miles, stopping off doing animal stories as well. We started in Tanzania and went to Rwanda, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.” The trip wasn’t without its hairy moments, including a crash landing near a herd of elephants, when Stephen and the crew had to be rescued by Masai warriors.
His latest role in the new comedy
Sign of the Times also involves heights, although of a different kind. Stephen plays Frank Tollit, who has spent his whole career up ladders erecting neon signs on buildings. The play opens with Frank 60ft up on a ledge above Yorkshire, with a clumsy teenager on work experience. Stephen didn’t have to think twice when offered the part because the play has been written by his old friend Tim Firth – author of Calendar Girls – who he worked with on the award winning series Preston Front.
See Stephen Tompkinson in Sign of the Times at
Cambridge Arts Theatre,
May 4th-9th.
Call the box office on 01223 503333
Full story in Cambridge Style - April 2009.
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