Читать книгу Martin Shaw - The Biography - Stafford Hildred - Страница 9

‘He has a presence and a stillness that you can’t teach. He had a silly little part really but he worked hard and made the most of it. We knew he would be a star if he stuck at it’

Coronation Street star Peter Adamson

As a young man, Martin Shaw had enormous sympathy for the hippy movement. Their enthusiasm for free expression and rebellious challenge of authority struck a real chord with him. The ideals of anti-consumerism and resistance to corporate control were close to his heart. So in 1967 when he was invited to play a hippy in Coronation Street he was intrigued to say the least.

‘I had been working up at Granada on all sorts of drama for a while so I was delighted to get the chance to be in the Street,’ said Martin. ‘But I was a bit surprised to be told the role was as a hippy – I wasn’t aware there were any in Weatherfield!’

But it was an offer he had no intention of refusing and towards the end of 1967 he walked down the famous cobbles playing the posturing and rather over-confident Robert Croft who arrived with his friends at a New Year’s Eve party at Number 11 and flatly refused to leave. Croft announced that he and his ‘commune’ were taking over the house which alarmed occupant Dennis Tanner, who had been persuaded by early Street wild-child Lucille Hewitt to hold the party. Lucille was very taken with the young revolutionary and a brief affair began. Headstrong Lucille moved in with the group, much to the horror of her guardian Annie Walker.

The legendary pub landlady took immediate action and told property landlord Edward Wormold that her ward had been kidnapped by Devil worshippers. Ruthless Wormold was quick to take action. Dennis was behind with his rent so he quickly received a notice to quit. In a scene which brought many outraged letters of protest from traditional Street fans, the popular Dennis called Annie ‘an interfering old cow’ and said he would move on with the hippies as Croft and his group prepared to leave, although it was a threat he failed to carry out.

‘I was amazed by the professionalism and the team spirit,’ said Martin. He was just one of a promising group of young actors that included Kenneth Cranham and John Thaw, who were given a great deal of challenging work in drama productions by Granada. ‘We were their young lions,’ he recalled fondly later on. ‘But part of the price was that you were expected to pay your dues by making an appearance in Coronation Street. It was a great deal more enjoyable than I had expected. But I have always been surprised that it is so well remembered by so many people. I was only there for a few weeks but it was a memorable experience and I made some great friends.’ He enjoyed several drinking sessions with a number of the cast and most notably recalled time spent with Peter Adamson, who played Len Fairclough. ‘He was a real television star and a very nice bloke,’ said Martin. ‘He showed me that some moments in soap can be just as dramatic and well-acted and directed as in one-off plays or films.’

Adamson later insisted he knew that Martin was destined for greatness as an actor. ‘He has all the technical skills you could ever imagine,’ he told one of the authors. ‘But he has so much more as well. He has a presence and a stillness that you can’t teach. He had a silly little part really but he worked hard and made the most of it. We knew he would be a star if he stuck at it.’

But it was after work that the two men really bonded. ‘His ability as a drinker was even more impressive than his acting,’ smiled Peter. ‘I was drinking very heavily then but I always used to feel terrible the next day. Martin would breeze in full of the joys of spring after even the heaviest night. It must have been his youth!’

Martin’s short stint had only just ended when a young Liverpudlian actor called Bill Kenwright made his debut in the Street. Bill came in to play Gordon Clegg, who became the show’s first pin-up. Martin and Bill became friends and years later their careers would coincide again in even more glittering circumstances.