Home > We've Met Phil! > Admin Report: Chichester University Talk (April 2010)
Admin Report: Chichester University Talk (April 2010)
On Monday 19th April 2010 the University of Chichester welcomed Philip Glenister as the latest speaker in a series of events organised by its media department. Here we have an account of the evening.
The event opened with the Deputy Dean welcoming everyone to the packed lecture theatre. He commented that they could have have sold three times the number of tickets to the venue (which seated 250) for this particular event, because the demand to see Philip was so high..
The Head of Faculty for the media department then gave a rundown of Philip’s career. He was interrupted by the man himself at one point – Phil stuck his head round the door and, in Gene Hunt fashion, told the Professor that if he didn’t get a shift on he would be going home again! Finally we got to the main event where Phil was in conversation with Dr Adam Locks, senior lecturer in Media and Film at the University.
Adam kicked off the conversation by telling Phil that, as a doctor, he would first like to talk to him about his childhood – which resulted in Phil pulling a face of pure horror and running from the theatre – luckily for everyone he soon came back.
Phil started off by talking about what he wanted to be when he grew up ("a milkman") and then moved on to reminiscences of visiting BBC TV Centre with his Dad. He also talked about his experiences at school (and about not going to the local grammar with his brother) and his first forays into school theatre. He avoided the drama group like the plague because he wasn’t really into Gilbert & Sullivan, but did work behind the scenes on ‘She Stoops to Conquer’. This back stage role did however involve him going to the front of stage at the end of the performance (“dressed as a Restoration fop”) to reveal a large scroll to the audience. On one memorable evening, he dropped the scroll twice, which gained him the biggest laugh of the night, and he thought – "I actually do quite like this!"
He then talked a little about working for Robert Stigwood and Richard E Grant’s advice to him on hearing that he had been accepted at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which quite frankly is unrepeatable in the public domain!
Then the time came for the first of five short film clips, projected onto a big screen. First up was 'Life On Mars' and Phil spoke about the choreography in the pivotal, "It's 1973, amost dinnertime, I'm 'avin’ ‘oops" scene – with the shirt tug during the final line showing that Gene Hunt not only had potential for comedy, but that he had the potential to be far more than the hard faced bastard that the writers had originally envisaged. He also spoke about the effort they had to go to to get Paul McCartney to let them use “Live and Let Die” in S1 Ep2, homages to Jack Regan, and that it was a good job they got the rights to Bowie's Life On Mars or it could have been Bucks Fizz’s “Land of Make Believe” with Phil playing Mike Nolan (accompanied with lots of hair flicks) and John being Cheryl Baker…
He talked about the perils of fame (not being allowed to step anywhere near the Cortina in the second series after doing lots of driving in the first) and about an incident last year when he was stalked all weekend by a journalist. When said journalist asked, slightly incredulously, how he knew he was following him, Phil replied simply, “because I play a ****ing detective you ****!”
Philip also spoke about the decision to not make a 3rd series of LOM stating that John and he would have done a two-parter but the BBC wanted a full series, and the now infamous telephone call from Harvey Keitel when he was holidaying in the Channel Islands last year. The ending of US LOM was discussed (everyone agreed it was still awful) and Phil had a very good go at doing the Spanish Gene Hunt – which, as we're sure you can imagine, was all very funny.
The Life on Mars section over, it was on to Clocking Off. It was kicked off with the scene where Mack hits his solicitor, who later dies. Phil talked about the show – and about his penchant for playing Northerners (“I’m quite surprised I’m not northern sometimes”) and a little bit about Demons (that the timing was all wrong, the production values were not high enough, and how it was trying to be Dr Who when it could never be).
The next clip we saw was from State of Play. Phil talked about the quality of TV drama generally – both here and in the US - and suggested that UK drama is suffering not only from a lack of investment, but also from a fear by commissioners to potentially upset various segments of the audience. “We shouldn’t condition writers” Phil said, and went on to say that if the context is addressed properly then, within reason, there shouldn’t be any boundaries to the types of storylines being commissioned.
We then moved on to Cranford. Phil revealed that he first read about the adaptation being made on a Ceefax page – with Dame Judy saying it would be “a jolly summer of fun”. Phil thought that he'd like a bit of that - and luckily the BBC Drama team concurred, as they had already contacted his agent and ascertained his availability.
The final clip of the evening was from Ashes to Ashes; the scene in S1, Ep 1 where Alex sees Gene for he first time. At this point Phil was quite keen to point out that the very first shot of Gene (his boot hitting the ground) was his idea. Phil also said that he loved the music playing throughout that scene ("Mary Goes to Jesus" from The Passion Of The Christ). He talked a little about that first series, how he felt quite nervous, a little insecure returning to the character of Gene Hunt and how he was very possessive of the character). He also vigorously reiterated how appalled he was by the “disgraceful” treatment that his co-star Keeley Hawes had been subjected too by certain areas of the press. He mused as to whether this was due in some part to some of the press/audience having viewed Life On Mars as a “bloke’s show” and there being a degree of misogyny resulting from this.
He talked at length about filming the snooker hall scene in Ep 2 of the first series - one of the naked line up having to be removed as he was getting ‘over excited’, shall we say, causing hysterical and unstoppable giggles from Keeley and Dean (who he said were “the worst gigglers on set”); and how he loved filming the scenes with Lee Ross (DCI Derek Litton for Ep 5 of Series 3.
He also said that he prefers to avoid watching the rushes if he can, that he nit-picks terribly when he sees the final cut and that this nit-picking gets worse as he gets older. He also mused about what he will do now that Ashes is over – with the option of playing the Gene Genie in pantomime with someone like Michael Barrymore being one, pretty much everlasting, option!
Adam then opened up the discussion to the audience.
Would he ever consider directing?
Yes – with Phil saying that he would have liked to have directed an episode of Ashes to Ashes, but that the workload would have been unsustainable. He would, however, if the script was good enough, definitely be keen on this at some point in his career.
What does he do to relax after a long day’s filming?
Red wine, and lots of it
What did he think about the Quattro election campaign poster?
“Hilarious!” He said his publicist contacted him and told him that he was to say ‘no comment’ when the press got in touch – which he did – but he really wanted to say a hell of a lot more…
Does he regret turning down any particular role?
Phil joked about turning down James Bond, before admitting that no, not really.
Did he have any influence over the Ashes to Ashes script?
He said that he did have one or two disagreements with the writers – and that he did have his hands slapped by Ashley in one series for getting Montserrat to say one of the lines penned for him.
What was his most humiliating moment on set?
Phil recalled his inability to remember his lines in the ‘ironing board’ scene from the end of S1 Ep 6 of Clocking Off where Mack has to speak to his solicitor on the phone about a complicated list of demands, at the same time as ironing a shirt. He just could not get the lines to stick despite take after take after take. In the end, after a walk around the garden, the rather prosaic solution was a copy of the script taped to the ironing board…
What would he look for in a computer game script?
Phil's lightening quick retort of “a couple of noughts” brought MUCH amusement to the assembled guests.
Does he worry when accepting a part if it will flop?
The answer was a definitive no. You have to take risks. You have to do what you feel is right, not what the fans want, not what the press or indeed anyone else wants. It’s gut instinct, and he's never felt it more so than on reading that first ever script for Life On Mars.
Afterwards, Phil spent ages meeting the audience, signing autographs and posing for photos. One of the faculty heads later commented, saying they were absolutely delighted with Phil and the evening as a whole and that he was, absolutely genuinely, one of, if not the, best guest they’d had the pleasure of welcoming to the University.
Phil’s special brand of comedy, humour and self-deprecation, combined with sincerity, passion and, above all, honesty, provided one hell of an appealing and highly engaging mix.
The event opened with the Deputy Dean welcoming everyone to the packed lecture theatre. He commented that they could have have sold three times the number of tickets to the venue (which seated 250) for this particular event, because the demand to see Philip was so high..
The Head of Faculty for the media department then gave a rundown of Philip’s career. He was interrupted by the man himself at one point – Phil stuck his head round the door and, in Gene Hunt fashion, told the Professor that if he didn’t get a shift on he would be going home again! Finally we got to the main event where Phil was in conversation with Dr Adam Locks, senior lecturer in Media and Film at the University.
Adam kicked off the conversation by telling Phil that, as a doctor, he would first like to talk to him about his childhood – which resulted in Phil pulling a face of pure horror and running from the theatre – luckily for everyone he soon came back.
Phil started off by talking about what he wanted to be when he grew up ("a milkman") and then moved on to reminiscences of visiting BBC TV Centre with his Dad. He also talked about his experiences at school (and about not going to the local grammar with his brother) and his first forays into school theatre. He avoided the drama group like the plague because he wasn’t really into Gilbert & Sullivan, but did work behind the scenes on ‘She Stoops to Conquer’. This back stage role did however involve him going to the front of stage at the end of the performance (“dressed as a Restoration fop”) to reveal a large scroll to the audience. On one memorable evening, he dropped the scroll twice, which gained him the biggest laugh of the night, and he thought – "I actually do quite like this!"
He then talked a little about working for Robert Stigwood and Richard E Grant’s advice to him on hearing that he had been accepted at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which quite frankly is unrepeatable in the public domain!
Then the time came for the first of five short film clips, projected onto a big screen. First up was 'Life On Mars' and Phil spoke about the choreography in the pivotal, "It's 1973, amost dinnertime, I'm 'avin’ ‘oops" scene – with the shirt tug during the final line showing that Gene Hunt not only had potential for comedy, but that he had the potential to be far more than the hard faced bastard that the writers had originally envisaged. He also spoke about the effort they had to go to to get Paul McCartney to let them use “Live and Let Die” in S1 Ep2, homages to Jack Regan, and that it was a good job they got the rights to Bowie's Life On Mars or it could have been Bucks Fizz’s “Land of Make Believe” with Phil playing Mike Nolan (accompanied with lots of hair flicks) and John being Cheryl Baker…
He talked about the perils of fame (not being allowed to step anywhere near the Cortina in the second series after doing lots of driving in the first) and about an incident last year when he was stalked all weekend by a journalist. When said journalist asked, slightly incredulously, how he knew he was following him, Phil replied simply, “because I play a ****ing detective you ****!”
Philip also spoke about the decision to not make a 3rd series of LOM stating that John and he would have done a two-parter but the BBC wanted a full series, and the now infamous telephone call from Harvey Keitel when he was holidaying in the Channel Islands last year. The ending of US LOM was discussed (everyone agreed it was still awful) and Phil had a very good go at doing the Spanish Gene Hunt – which, as we're sure you can imagine, was all very funny.
The Life on Mars section over, it was on to Clocking Off. It was kicked off with the scene where Mack hits his solicitor, who later dies. Phil talked about the show – and about his penchant for playing Northerners (“I’m quite surprised I’m not northern sometimes”) and a little bit about Demons (that the timing was all wrong, the production values were not high enough, and how it was trying to be Dr Who when it could never be).
The next clip we saw was from State of Play. Phil talked about the quality of TV drama generally – both here and in the US - and suggested that UK drama is suffering not only from a lack of investment, but also from a fear by commissioners to potentially upset various segments of the audience. “We shouldn’t condition writers” Phil said, and went on to say that if the context is addressed properly then, within reason, there shouldn’t be any boundaries to the types of storylines being commissioned.
We then moved on to Cranford. Phil revealed that he first read about the adaptation being made on a Ceefax page – with Dame Judy saying it would be “a jolly summer of fun”. Phil thought that he'd like a bit of that - and luckily the BBC Drama team concurred, as they had already contacted his agent and ascertained his availability.
The final clip of the evening was from Ashes to Ashes; the scene in S1, Ep 1 where Alex sees Gene for he first time. At this point Phil was quite keen to point out that the very first shot of Gene (his boot hitting the ground) was his idea. Phil also said that he loved the music playing throughout that scene ("Mary Goes to Jesus" from The Passion Of The Christ). He talked a little about that first series, how he felt quite nervous, a little insecure returning to the character of Gene Hunt and how he was very possessive of the character). He also vigorously reiterated how appalled he was by the “disgraceful” treatment that his co-star Keeley Hawes had been subjected too by certain areas of the press. He mused as to whether this was due in some part to some of the press/audience having viewed Life On Mars as a “bloke’s show” and there being a degree of misogyny resulting from this.
He talked at length about filming the snooker hall scene in Ep 2 of the first series - one of the naked line up having to be removed as he was getting ‘over excited’, shall we say, causing hysterical and unstoppable giggles from Keeley and Dean (who he said were “the worst gigglers on set”); and how he loved filming the scenes with Lee Ross (DCI Derek Litton for Ep 5 of Series 3.
He also said that he prefers to avoid watching the rushes if he can, that he nit-picks terribly when he sees the final cut and that this nit-picking gets worse as he gets older. He also mused about what he will do now that Ashes is over – with the option of playing the Gene Genie in pantomime with someone like Michael Barrymore being one, pretty much everlasting, option!
Adam then opened up the discussion to the audience.
Would he ever consider directing?
Yes – with Phil saying that he would have liked to have directed an episode of Ashes to Ashes, but that the workload would have been unsustainable. He would, however, if the script was good enough, definitely be keen on this at some point in his career.
What does he do to relax after a long day’s filming?
Red wine, and lots of it
What did he think about the Quattro election campaign poster?
“Hilarious!” He said his publicist contacted him and told him that he was to say ‘no comment’ when the press got in touch – which he did – but he really wanted to say a hell of a lot more…
Does he regret turning down any particular role?
Phil joked about turning down James Bond, before admitting that no, not really.
Did he have any influence over the Ashes to Ashes script?
He said that he did have one or two disagreements with the writers – and that he did have his hands slapped by Ashley in one series for getting Montserrat to say one of the lines penned for him.
What was his most humiliating moment on set?
Phil recalled his inability to remember his lines in the ‘ironing board’ scene from the end of S1 Ep 6 of Clocking Off where Mack has to speak to his solicitor on the phone about a complicated list of demands, at the same time as ironing a shirt. He just could not get the lines to stick despite take after take after take. In the end, after a walk around the garden, the rather prosaic solution was a copy of the script taped to the ironing board…
What would he look for in a computer game script?
Phil's lightening quick retort of “a couple of noughts” brought MUCH amusement to the assembled guests.
Does he worry when accepting a part if it will flop?
The answer was a definitive no. You have to take risks. You have to do what you feel is right, not what the fans want, not what the press or indeed anyone else wants. It’s gut instinct, and he's never felt it more so than on reading that first ever script for Life On Mars.
Afterwards, Phil spent ages meeting the audience, signing autographs and posing for photos. One of the faculty heads later commented, saying they were absolutely delighted with Phil and the evening as a whole and that he was, absolutely genuinely, one of, if not the, best guest they’d had the pleasure of welcoming to the University.
Phil’s special brand of comedy, humour and self-deprecation, combined with sincerity, passion and, above all, honesty, provided one hell of an appealing and highly engaging mix.
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