Interview-Graeme Hawley
Released Monday is the DVD of ITV’s new comedy drama Love and Marriage in which you play Martin can you tell us a bit about him?
He’s the youngest son in the paradise family, he is married with five children so doesn’t get a lot of sleep, he’s a teacher at the beginning of the series as it goes on through the series kind of him and his wife half way through the series decide she is going to go back to work and he is to become a stay at home dad. So the latter half of the series is very much how he is going to cope with this life changing choice of looking after five kids at home.
That sounds fun both in real life and acting
Yeah (laughs) it’s very much, in terms of filming it felt like real life in that sense even being a pretend dad to five kids twelve hours a day is tiring, I don’t know how anybody does it twenty fours a day.
Being a stay at home dad is a big decision for Martin, is it something you could do yourself?
Well I kind of have a fairly untypical relationship with my kids in that sense, as I do have periods away from home filming. But I also for example when we were filming Love and Marriage at the beginning of the year, I was away for a few months but since we wrapped in may, I have had this three months at home with them and my wife has been away working. So I have been home with the kids. I’m kind of lucky in that respect .I do get to spend that time with them as they both fairly young. Without being corny about it – it is an amazing period of time with your kids and it’s all over too quickly and I feel very lucky I have been able to spend that extra time with them and see them growing up in that way. Though I don’t always feel like that especially at six am then they want to get up.
Most people know you as John Stape from Coronation Street, who was not a very nice character. After leaving did you actively look for a part like this, to separate yourself from that villain persona?
I suppose, but not necessarily to get away from having played a villain cause john state in corrie was such a strange character, if there such a thing as a comedy serial killer but he was kind of it. I have very much wanted to get across into comedy not necessarily sitcom, not gag based but I’m very interested in comedy drama. In regards to TV and movies it’s an area I feel I’m good at, and it’s an area that really interests me. In that sense I had a lot of conversations when I left coronation street about what I was looking for and what they were pushing for. As much as you don’t plan as an actor there was a plan in that sense. It’s very difficult for an actor to plan a career path in that sense the aim of the game is to keep working at the end of the day and I’m not the type of person to turn work down especially in this day and age. Then this came along and was exactly the type of thing i was looking for after Coronation Street. So partly from design, partly through luck it all worked out.
So you enjoyed the chance to venture out and try new things, and Love and Marriage has such a fantastic cast
Yeah the cast is just fantastic, a dream come true to be honest. One of the best casts if not the best cast I have ever worked with in that sense. Really was terrific and from all different areas of TV that what I thinks was great that mix literally from all different spheres and genres. A really good mix.
Do you see this as a one off series or do you see further outings for the Paradise family?
I think its potential a one off, which is a shame as i do think it has that potential to do more but there is that always that argument that we’ve made a good show that we all very proud of and that people really loved and sometimes it’s best to leave it like that and not over egg the pudding.
I guess after being in a soap for many years it must be refreshing to not be tied to a role again so soon, that you can finish and move on
It is, it’s a very different type of experience, both are brilliant I really enjoyed that time on Coronation Street, a character that you played every day for a long long length of time. It gives you such freedom of what you can do with it, when you know the character and you know the story is going to develop into sixty or seventy episodes rather then get from one point to another within an hour.
It’s great to have that side of it. But it was a nice refreshing change to have that story that encapsulated with in just the six hours. A beginning middle and an end all planned out.
It must be nice to have a final piece that you can sit down and watch as a finished product, with corrie it probably won’t be as easy.
Yeah with the release of the DVD its really nice as we have this product that nobody can take away from us. We made this here it is, a six hour DVD and I’m quiet excited to be honest as I’ve not done much TV or film where you end up with this product. Not a lot of television ends up on DVD or not as soon as this has been released, its lovely to have that experience of hey here it is here we go this is what I did this year.
So this year everyone can expect a copy for Christmas this year?
(Laughing) Yeah that’s it, everyone’s getting Love and Marriage DVDs this year.
Forget awards on the mantle from now on it’s your DVD releases on display
Yeah (laughing)
What would be your ideal role?
yeah I would love to go work on a film, an interesting character in a film, again to take it to the next level where a story evolves over a ninety minutes that would be a different experience I’ve not done a lot of and I’m quiet excited by the possibility of doing that. I also really like to do some more comedy drama; there is also a lot of detective series out now you know i may have to brush up on my detective badge flashing. I need like aBroadchurch next well from a professional point of view my agent would love (laughs)
Talking of shows like Broadchurch, British television has in recent years has begun to expand and incorporate more elements from American television. Do you see this as a step forward in production?
There was a time when i was growing up that no one gave a second thought to American television but these days and fair do to them they do make amazing television. I think is right that we try to emulate that, and i don’t know about you but the last couple of years the Scandinavian stuff The Bridge is one of the best things I’ve seen in years. I think what really good is that British television isn’t so up itself, that it can take those influences. It wants to evolve. It’s an exciting time to be in television. I think there was a time not too long ago where British TV was stale. We didn’t watch it there was just so little on we just watched films or American shows. And now there is so much to watch- Southcliffe for one is fantastic- absolutely my type of telly, my kind of show my kind of cast brilliant script and really well shot, not art for art sake the style of it has a purpose like a lot of the influences of the European and Scandinavian shows. Not art for art sake it different with a real purpose behind it.
There has been a switch over the last few years where the main focus of shows are the older generations as an actor does that give you hope for the future that you’re not aged out of the industry?
There does seem to be a greater recognition, contrary to what’s believed young people don’t watch television there at the bars. It’s the older people watching now.
It has benefits all the way along, the stories tend to be written by the older people with life experiences and the stories tend to be richer for it.
He’s the youngest son in the paradise family, he is married with five children so doesn’t get a lot of sleep, he’s a teacher at the beginning of the series as it goes on through the series kind of him and his wife half way through the series decide she is going to go back to work and he is to become a stay at home dad. So the latter half of the series is very much how he is going to cope with this life changing choice of looking after five kids at home.
That sounds fun both in real life and acting
Yeah (laughs) it’s very much, in terms of filming it felt like real life in that sense even being a pretend dad to five kids twelve hours a day is tiring, I don’t know how anybody does it twenty fours a day.
Being a stay at home dad is a big decision for Martin, is it something you could do yourself?
Well I kind of have a fairly untypical relationship with my kids in that sense, as I do have periods away from home filming. But I also for example when we were filming Love and Marriage at the beginning of the year, I was away for a few months but since we wrapped in may, I have had this three months at home with them and my wife has been away working. So I have been home with the kids. I’m kind of lucky in that respect .I do get to spend that time with them as they both fairly young. Without being corny about it – it is an amazing period of time with your kids and it’s all over too quickly and I feel very lucky I have been able to spend that extra time with them and see them growing up in that way. Though I don’t always feel like that especially at six am then they want to get up.
Most people know you as John Stape from Coronation Street, who was not a very nice character. After leaving did you actively look for a part like this, to separate yourself from that villain persona?
I suppose, but not necessarily to get away from having played a villain cause john state in corrie was such a strange character, if there such a thing as a comedy serial killer but he was kind of it. I have very much wanted to get across into comedy not necessarily sitcom, not gag based but I’m very interested in comedy drama. In regards to TV and movies it’s an area I feel I’m good at, and it’s an area that really interests me. In that sense I had a lot of conversations when I left coronation street about what I was looking for and what they were pushing for. As much as you don’t plan as an actor there was a plan in that sense. It’s very difficult for an actor to plan a career path in that sense the aim of the game is to keep working at the end of the day and I’m not the type of person to turn work down especially in this day and age. Then this came along and was exactly the type of thing i was looking for after Coronation Street. So partly from design, partly through luck it all worked out.
So you enjoyed the chance to venture out and try new things, and Love and Marriage has such a fantastic cast
Yeah the cast is just fantastic, a dream come true to be honest. One of the best casts if not the best cast I have ever worked with in that sense. Really was terrific and from all different areas of TV that what I thinks was great that mix literally from all different spheres and genres. A really good mix.
Do you see this as a one off series or do you see further outings for the Paradise family?
I think its potential a one off, which is a shame as i do think it has that potential to do more but there is that always that argument that we’ve made a good show that we all very proud of and that people really loved and sometimes it’s best to leave it like that and not over egg the pudding.
I guess after being in a soap for many years it must be refreshing to not be tied to a role again so soon, that you can finish and move on
It is, it’s a very different type of experience, both are brilliant I really enjoyed that time on Coronation Street, a character that you played every day for a long long length of time. It gives you such freedom of what you can do with it, when you know the character and you know the story is going to develop into sixty or seventy episodes rather then get from one point to another within an hour.
It’s great to have that side of it. But it was a nice refreshing change to have that story that encapsulated with in just the six hours. A beginning middle and an end all planned out.
It must be nice to have a final piece that you can sit down and watch as a finished product, with corrie it probably won’t be as easy.
Yeah with the release of the DVD its really nice as we have this product that nobody can take away from us. We made this here it is, a six hour DVD and I’m quiet excited to be honest as I’ve not done much TV or film where you end up with this product. Not a lot of television ends up on DVD or not as soon as this has been released, its lovely to have that experience of hey here it is here we go this is what I did this year.
So this year everyone can expect a copy for Christmas this year?
(Laughing) Yeah that’s it, everyone’s getting Love and Marriage DVDs this year.
Forget awards on the mantle from now on it’s your DVD releases on display
Yeah (laughing)
What would be your ideal role?
yeah I would love to go work on a film, an interesting character in a film, again to take it to the next level where a story evolves over a ninety minutes that would be a different experience I’ve not done a lot of and I’m quiet excited by the possibility of doing that. I also really like to do some more comedy drama; there is also a lot of detective series out now you know i may have to brush up on my detective badge flashing. I need like aBroadchurch next well from a professional point of view my agent would love (laughs)
Talking of shows like Broadchurch, British television has in recent years has begun to expand and incorporate more elements from American television. Do you see this as a step forward in production?
There was a time when i was growing up that no one gave a second thought to American television but these days and fair do to them they do make amazing television. I think is right that we try to emulate that, and i don’t know about you but the last couple of years the Scandinavian stuff The Bridge is one of the best things I’ve seen in years. I think what really good is that British television isn’t so up itself, that it can take those influences. It wants to evolve. It’s an exciting time to be in television. I think there was a time not too long ago where British TV was stale. We didn’t watch it there was just so little on we just watched films or American shows. And now there is so much to watch- Southcliffe for one is fantastic- absolutely my type of telly, my kind of show my kind of cast brilliant script and really well shot, not art for art sake the style of it has a purpose like a lot of the influences of the European and Scandinavian shows. Not art for art sake it different with a real purpose behind it.
There has been a switch over the last few years where the main focus of shows are the older generations as an actor does that give you hope for the future that you’re not aged out of the industry?
There does seem to be a greater recognition, contrary to what’s believed young people don’t watch television there at the bars. It’s the older people watching now.
It has benefits all the way along, the stories tend to be written by the older people with life experiences and the stories tend to be richer for it.