Meanwhile, in real life, Thaw was not only battling alcoholism, but the early stages of cancer. CLIP: Jace: So those little those little butterfly bandages are not just for show then maybe? It's his first grandchild and the instinctive love that he feels for Ivy has shocked him. He first decided to leave the Lewis character in 1997 when he was the junior partner to Inspector Morse, played by John Thaw, and he was offered the lead role in a new show called The Brokers Man. ', Irreplaceable: Kevin in his best known role as Lewis alongside John Thaw, who played Inspector Morse. In Lewis. Oscar Cainer tells all, How to dress like a grown up: Trust me, loose fit can be flattering, says Shane Watson, Anti-agers no one but you needs to know about,Inge Van Lotringen tells all. Over the last 30 years hes rarely been off our screens, starring in the likes of Peak Practice, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Joe Maddisons War, which was written specifically for him. I wake up fresh and stay fresh till the end of the day. "I would never have taken the series if she had not supported it," he says. Met Sheila Hancock in 1969 when in the play 'What About Love'. Despite reservations Kevin has returned for another series, here he is pictured with Laurence Fox Try as he might, Kevin Whately can't escape from Inspector Robert Lewis. I decided boozing wasn't good for me and particularly some mornings if you had too much the night before. Lived in Stowell Street Manchester when a youngster. What are the challenges of playing Robbie for 3 decades, and is there any trepidation about having that sort of longevity in a role? Ive had a charmed life acting wise, he said. To be honest we we didnt know, when we got that last script and a bomb goes off at one point in the story, we didnt know if one of us was going to be killed (laughs). At my stage in the game, there are lots of parts you can't play because you're just too old, so you accept that. We were back on the moving train.. I get to work with some of the finest actors around. 'How much can business take?' The former Morse star admits to being 'very fortunate', having been with actress wife Madelaine Newton for 29 years. Acting was more fun in the old days, he says. A fan of West African music, he is looking forward to hearing some live drumming and singing. 'His death has left television with a major problem - they simply haven't found anybody to take his place.'. Kevin has never discussed the allegation and neither has Amanda, who divorced director Sven Arnstein - her husband at the time - in 2004. He did not see her again for 12 years when she showed up briefly back stage in a production of "The Fire Raisers." I thought I ought to so youve asked the right question. A 16-year-old has been "seriously injured" - police say. Kevin: No, no (laughs). [1][2] Since 1984 she has been married to actor Kevin Whately, known for his role as Robert "Robbie" Lewis in both Inspector Morse and its spin-off Lewis. I didnt have any big plans I just wanted a year off to play golf and be with my children and granddaughter, adds the father-of-two his daughter Kitty, 31, is an opera singer and mother of his adored seven-year-old granddaughter Evie, while his son Kieran, 29, works in a bakery near their Woburn home. "We were so ill-disciplined, and TV is all about discipline now," he says. And when I got the the pilot script I had to phone her up and say, Maureen, there aint a job for you here. And it took a bit of adapting too, because he was very much in mourning throughout the first 6 or 7 films, and its very difficult to energize anything when youre being down beat and slightly depressed it makes the job more difficult. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Browse more videos. These days, the caring Kevin and Madelaine love to look after their first grandchild, Ivy, who was born in December 2006 to their daughter Kitty, 25, and her partner Ben. But some had reservations, including Kevin Whately himself. Wont they? And and asked if they could get together, and so I was glad when they did, and then youre exploring a slightly different relationship. Ive done 3 long running series now, and I always think youre cheating a bit to suddenly bring some very different characteristic in. Kevin's character is involved in disputes with his ex-wife Anne, played by Lesley Sharp - as well as sad and awkward attempts to build friendships with the stepdaughter of his screen partner. So in that sense we are not always together. With me he puts on a pathetic Geordie accent that sounds like a cross between Welsh and Pakistani. Kevin Whately in Lewis and his current co-star Laurence Fox. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. It's the kind you hope and pray no parent has to witness. Im very proud of what we did, but the reality is that in this country were meant to retire at 55 the police are and Im 10 years (laughs) beyond that age, and so I didnt want to be a 70 year old TV cop really thats the basis of it. Jace: What has it been like filming in Oxford over the last 30 years? And John? Kathy Tu is our editor. John Thaw was a quiet, private man. It does resolve itself at the end of the films. 'I suppose the most shocking - because we actually saw it happening in front of us - occurred in Whitley Bay near Newcastle,' says Kevin. The great betrayal: How journalist Isabel Oakeshott leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApps after they worked Don't just stick to the Malbec! Theres nothing you can do about that. Theater of popular music. But, by the end he was back more like his old self. His first stage role was at Green End Junior School in Manchester, England as Uncle Joseph, the leading part in "Where the Rainbow Ends" (1953). Lewis: Vals slipping away. Laurence and I see each other regularly now and talk on the phone, and its never goodbye, so in that way its not a sad occasion at all, I dont think. Its good because we wanted some arguments; less tweeness., Kevin says its a joy to be back with Laurence. However, you have to make such scenes look convincing. She was always great fun on set as well, and made a real character out of Laura and a believable one. Industry chief demands planned corporation tax hike from 19 to 25% in this Ukrainian soldier takes out five Russian tanks and three armoured vehicles in ONE DAY using US-supplied Ukraine 'hits major Russian air base in fresh strike' a day after kamikaze drone crashed down just 68 miles How did Russia lose HALF of its 45,000 elite paratroopers in just seven months? Being a grandparent is whole new phase in your life.". His mother Dorothy (Dolly) walked out on the family when he was 7 years old. Something went wrong, please try again later. Why? He was accepted by RADA in 1958 when he was two years underage. Housman, but I can't do crosswords. It was my first summer at home since I did Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in 1982. Kevin: Well as I say, John was very shy and hugely experienced as a film actor, so I learned any technique that Ive got from him very quickly. Thanks to you Chris, I learnt that Kevin Whately started his early working life, as a folk singer. He sighs. Kevin: Yeah Michael Chris, a dresser at at one of the costumiers in London, searched for 3 days to find that same shirt. "And I hate anything with 'celebrity' in the title, where people are playing to the cameras all the time." And actors tend to be very gung-ho and foolish, so when they were setting that up, were very aware as well that special effects boys, we call them special defects, tend to overpower these explosions, make them much bigger than theyre meant to be, and thats what happened (laughs) in that shot. The marriage also survived a reported affair in the Nineties, between Kevin and Amanda Burton, when they filmed the ITV medical drama Peak Practice together in Derbyshire. Proud of all that great energy but you couldn't have Regan now; he wouldn't be entertained at all. Kevin agreed but only because he didnt think it would last. Ive just been dead lucky. Try as he might, Kevin Whately cant escape from Inspector Robert Lewis. I was told, Theres no future in acting, son. "Ivy was born just before Christmas," the 55-year-old actor says. When he died at the age of 60, the BBC website was inundated with tributes from the viewing public. Kevin smiles ruefully. His first great success, though, was as Detective Inspector Regan in The Sweeney (1974). He began at the age of eleven performing in school plays. After a Christmas in London four years ago, when Mrs Whately attempted to walk home, forgetting she was 300 miles from her beloved Northumberland, her deterioration became apparent. Kevin: Clares been great. Lewis: Yeah I know. 'I may be shy - which makes filming a scene like this even more difficult - but Cameron has lots of self-confidence and is clearly a bit of a lad. Marital break-ups are common in modern Britain, so to what does Kevin owe the longevity of his relationship? At various times in my life I've been a heavy drinker, there's no question about that. Sheila sometimes goes to the theatre with friends because I am working, and I go to things that would bore her. The strength of the casting is such that we do not expect that nice Kevin Whately will be the villain. This 2012 episode saw a couple find their babysitter dead in the marital bed. Of course I'd get worried if the scripts stopped coming through the letter box. He has, the actor says, a 'roving eye' and is 'a bit of a lad.'. Being in Oxford can be a bit like being on holiday theres plenty of time spent in the pub., Although hes happy to be back, he admits the old frustrations are still there. Were coming at it from a different angle now; Lewis is retired and Hathaways been promoted to Inspector. Dad gave us all that we needed and he was a great man, a great father. What do you feel viewers should make of that shot? Whately, who is happily now spending time with a new granddaughter, gardening, and working on charity activities for disabled children and Alzheimers disease, said he would start pestering his agent again from Christmas onwards about new work. National World - Other Local Sites. The Kevin Whately article is much more recent, June 2nd 2019 and is from the Sunday Times newspaper magazine. Is it the juxtaposition of Geordies straightforwardness with lofty intellectualism? Inspector Morse was John Thaws show and Kevin talked fondly of the actor, who died from throat cancer in 2002. Jace: How much of a role does Oxford, as a setting, play in that affection do you think? 'Of course, we are different in some ways - Madelaine is more romantic than me, I'm as romantic as a plastic chair. Then, the Monday following the films premiere, actor Sir Michael Gambon who plays powerful Prime Minister Winston Churchill and powerful wizard Albus Dumbledore, sits down with us here onMASTERPIECEStudio. He returned for the final episode in 2000, in which Morse was killed off. Jace: Its a brilliant call back to the pilot episode that Hathaway turns up to drive Robbie and Laura to the airport, complete with his Lewis sign and . "It was a struggle to find somewhere, there aren't many good homes and essentially you are waiting for some poor soul to die," says Whately, candidly. There was fast-moving traffic both ways, and had he run another step he would certainly have been killed. Jace: Do you remember what the final scene was that you shot on Morse with John? I know you should never say never, but I dont think Ill be appearing as Lewis again, he said at the time. "Meanwhile, Laurence is having a ball!". Kevin: Yeah. 29 Comments Comments: Our rules We want our comments to be a lively and valuable . Kevin: Yikes. (2001). This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. - IMDb Mini Biography By: (Photo by Gareth Davies/Getty Images). Kevin Whately: (Laughs) They do, and I dont. Was widely known to be a very private man. I was on my brother-in-laws farm helping with the lambing. Jace: And what is your fondest memory of John Thaw? There are more of them for a start, and far fewer parts to go round. Jace: Now, do people assume that you either love crime dramas or instinctively know whodunit because of your work as Robbie Lewis? The leisurely-paced series, set in beautiful Oxfordshire, was Thaw's most popular and long-running project. Disliked everything associated with fame or stardom, rarely granting interviews. Sponsors forMASTERPIECEon PBS are Viking River Cruises, Audible, and TheMASTERPIECETrust. He said he would like to pick and choose more. Difficult to film in a big public place like that, to try and get some subtlety into the into the scene. It was the start of their careers - Geordies Tim Healy, Jimmy Nail and Kevin Whately joined Timothy Spall, Gary Holton, Pat Roach and Christopher Fairbank to play Dennis, Oz, Neville, Barry, Wayne . Now, on his twice weekly visits to her home, his mother treats her son fondly, even though she can't always remember who he is. And he and Dennis had shared a caravan. When I saw him (Morse) dead I had a mental flashback of the fifteen years that we had been doing it. They have two children. He then moved into television. When do the clocks change in 2023? Six years after the Inspector's fictional end and four since the tragic death of John Thaw from cancer, Sergeant Lewis has been promoted to Detective Inspector - and Kevin Whately promoted to his own series, Lewis. But generally they're pleased. Share. He was still my dad until the day he died last year. But when he left school a careers advisor laughed at his plan to become an actor. 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