Alan Davies as Jonathan Creek. Photo copyright of the BBC.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, British actor/comedian/writer Alan Davies unveils some of the mystery behind his TV character of Jonathan Creek.
Throughout history human beings have always been fascinated with puzzles. Everything from solving a mathematical equation to figuring out card tricks is fair game for inquiring minds who want to know. It is not surprising, then, that the off-beat BBC mystery series Jonathan Creek has become such a hit. Its writer David Renwick, the creative force who is also responsible for the popular BBC comedy show One Foot in the Grave, has woven the brain-teasing genres of mystery and magic together into complex tales that dare television viewers to figure out whodunit.
The series stars Alan Davies as Jonathan Creek, a soft-spoken, curly-haired genius who makes a comfortable living inventing the illusions performed by flamboyant and egotistical magician Adam Klaus. Co-star Caroline Quentin plays Maddy Magellan, a criminal journalist with a knack for uncovering stories and for dragging poor Jonathan along to help separate fact from fiction. Davies has made a successful career for himself as a stand-up comedian in Britain, but Jonathan Creek is his first big television role and one that, according to him, he welcomed with open arms.
“It was the end of 1995 and I was at the BBC doing a rehearsal reading of a sitcom with some other actors,” he recalls. “They had a few producers come in to act as an audience and to see how things went. One of the people who came to watch was Susie Belbin, who is David Renwick’s producer for One Foot in the Grave. Susie introduced me to David at the British Comedy Awards a couple of weeks later. I had been nominated as best stand-up comedian and he was there because his series, as usual, was nominated in just about every single category imaginable,” laughs Davies.
“Caroline had already been cast and a couple of actors were up for the part of Jonathan, but for one reason or another they pulled out or something else came up. They had auditioned, I believe, thirty people, so I came in pretty late in the day. I went in for an interview with David and after that I met Caroline, whom I already knew. We have a lot of mutual friends from the comedy circuit and The Comedy Store in London, where Caroline is part of the Comedy Store Players, the club’s improvisation group. So it was good to see her again.
“We sat down and did some readings in front of a video camera and then we had a full day with a small film crew doing a screen-test,” recalls Davies. “I then spent part of another day with Caroline and David in his London flat where we took four or five hours and went over the first script. By this time I really felt as if I was inches away from getting the part. Film acting is something that I’ve wanted to do ever since studying theater at university. I always thought I could do some acting at some point but it’s very hard to get anywhere if you’re a stand-up comic because that’s what you’re known for, you know?
“Thankfully it all worked out and it was really down to Susie and David that I got the role. I was pretty nervous during the audition but the scripts were so good that there was no hesitation on my part. I’ve been asked, ‘Why did you choose to take this job?’ and I think, ‘Choose?’ This is a gift,” says the actor.
Jonathan and Maddy meet when he accidentally spears her thumb with a toothpick after mistaking it for a cocktail sausage in the show’s pilot episode The Wrestler’s Tomb.Posing as a therapist Maddy follows model Francesca Boulton (Saskia Mulder) to one of Adam Klaus’s (Anthony Head) performances. Maddy persuades Francesca to meet with her the following day at her flat to discuss the murder of Francesca’s lover, painter Hedley Shale (Colin Baker). Klaus takes a liking to Francesca and has Jonathan deliver a present to her. Maddy recognizes Jonathan from the previous evening and seeks his help to expose Shale’s killer. Filming this story turned out to be a real eye-opener for Davies.
“I didn’t have a clue as to what I was getting into,” he admits. “I mean, I knew about film sets and I knew a little about film acting, but the technique and the precision of it still took me by surprise. I was amazed at how many takes we did and the different angles they used. I had no idea about eyelines or camera positions or lighting. I didn’t even know what a gaffer or the best boy were. The producer, Susie, was very helpful to me, but the first day I was on the set for ten hours and we didn’t get to the scene that I was suppose to be in. So I just sat in a chair eating cakes and drinking tea. The gaffer thought I was a very lazy prop boy because Creek is just dressed in old jeans and a checkered shirt,” chuckles Davies.
“The first series took five months to film and it was a very, very tiring schedule,” he continues. “I keep reading about shows like The X-Files where they work for ten months of the year and I really don’t know how they manage it. But, again, if you’re working on something that’s good then it makes a difference. I’m sure there are movies being made right now where people are on day two of the job thinking, ‘This is going to be terrible.’ I can sympathize with that because as an actor you’re often at the mercy of everyone and everything else. When I started working as a stand-up comedian I wrote my own material, drove my own car and used my telephone to book the gigs, so it was a case of live or die by your own wit. To go from being completely self-sufficient like that to working in television with dozens of people is a big step, but I love it.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of the BBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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