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We also talk to those in other creative industries to discuss their careers, the potential cross over with film production and practical tips for a successful and fulfilling career.
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The Honest Filmmaker
How to have a career in Television and Theatre - The actors dream with Tom Butcher
#acting #stageperformance #filmmakingpodcast
This week on the podcast I’m chatting to television and theatre actor Tom Butcher. Tom is best known for his leading roles in popular TV dramas “The Bill" and "Doctors". Butcher's dedication to his craft and his ability to bring depth to his characters have earned him acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
Tom also appears in my latest feature film 'The Apocalypse Box' so I thought this was a great opportunity to sit down with Tom and talk about all those years working on The Bill then BBC’s Doctors and his theatre work then have a general chat about what it was like working on big shows with fast turnarounds. We also talked about The Apocalypse Box where Tom plays the evil villainous MP Piers Stonesmith and very much revels in playing this character. Enjoy!
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HONEST, OPEN ADVICE ABOUT YOUR FILMMAKING CAREER
Are you about to leave Uni with a filmmaking degree? Or want to change careers and work in a creative industry? We want to give you the tools you need to enter the real world of production or freelancing. Honest and open career advice from people in the business.
We also talk to those in other creative industries to discuss their careers, the potential cross over with film production and practical tips for a successful and fulfilling career.
Join the community: http://www.thehonestfilmmaker.co.uk
[Music] hi Jim here and you're listening to the honest filmmaker podcast career advice from people in the business this week I'm speaking to television actor Tom butcher Tom's best known for his leading roles in popular TV dramas the bill and doctors butcher's dedication to his craft and his ability to bring depth to his characters have earned him a claim from audiences and critics alike Tom also appears in my latest feature film The Apocalypse box so I thought this was a great opportunity to sit down with Tom talk about all those years working on Bill working on doctors then moving into theater and have a general chat about what it was like working in the industry and working on big shows that have fast turnarounds of the some of which are on every single day of the week uh we also obviously talked about the apocalypse box where he plays the evil politician Pierce stonith and definitely Revels in playing such a villainous character enjoy why become an actor what made you do that oh my Lord um how far back do you want to go uh I think it started at school really to be honest uh I think there was an English teacher called Mike rice who realized that I was a little bit of a wayward energy and he decided that uh I would might might work it might work if he put me in a school play and uh and it worked and that's where it all started and I realized um quite early on there was a time when I was walking to school for rehearsals after school and I thought wow this is the only time that I can imagine I would actually enjoy going back to school after everyone have finished and and not thinking what the hell are you doing um yeah so and that was that and then I did another school play as a Teenage school boy I did Spring Awakening by I think it was vadin which is a very very complicated piece and I think it was Way Beyond on M again at the time but we did it and uh I enjoyed it and then I I failed all a levels and then went to retake them at a tech college and I did more plays there and I remember I was going to do anthropology and law and French at University that was the idea but that didn't kind of really do it for me and I remember walking back from the tech college one
day 6:00 in the evening it was Winter because it was dark and under a Street Lamp I had a thought if I could do acting for a living why not do that because it was the only thing I really really enjoyed consistently over the years while I was at school I remember being under a Street Lamp at the time because it struck me that this was like a light bulb moment but I had a really big light bulb in in the form of a Street Lamp under which I had this moment so uh yeah that was um where it all ready did you go did you then change your what you studied did you do drama school or did you just quit that and start trying to find an agent what was your next step I got an audition for Manchester poly School of theater and they accepted me stayed in Manchester for a couple of years and I got the bill in 91 no I left in 86 and stayed in Manchester for a couple of years came down to London found my feet and I got the bill in 91 I was working at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and uh there was a guy George Sweeney there who said why don't I write to Julian olfield at the bill he was always looking for new people to uh come and join the show so I wrote to Julian olfield and I said that I was looking for a job in television and I'd be just right for a policeman and he got me in and uh yeah they uh they took me on and I've looked at obviously I've done the cyber stalking looked at you on IMDb Wikipedia all that and it's got 475 episodes of the bill and 452 episodes of doctors which is insane having spoken to Corin about how often doctors was on was the bill three times a week I'm trying to remember from my childhood I think when I started it was they did a repeat of an episode in the week because I remember when I arrived there was a little bit of a hooa uh about negotiation for pay because people had negotiated their new contracts and hadn't included the fact that we were losing a repeat fee because they'd stopped repeating right in the week so uh I think there were there were the broadcasts were cut and they did film it a lot more slowly than doctors so uh in in one week you could probably film about three episodes of doctors where mind you they did three episodes uh a week of the bill there were three units doing three separate Epis episodes every week it was a yeah so yeah I don't understand how many why I were the my do no cor did more episodes do than I she started earlier and and at the time obviously back then with both those TV shows there was less less TV shows less stuff out there so a lot more people had eyes on it few TV shows do you what was it like being in some a prime time show and did you speak to many police people did police love it did they hate it how did they get on with it um well having had nothing to compare it to it was I mean it was a great education it was it was like arriving somewhere very special and um it was a a kind of excitement being Small Time famous really but I I kind of knew that I wasn't really famous because there were people receiving Oscars and stuff who were obviously a lot more famous that I was um but yeah it was very exciting very exciting to be uh earning money being a policeman enjoying the you know the the glamour of TV I I didn't know any different I didn't I had no experience so I had nothing to compare it to um I was being paid to do what I love to do which is fantastic and uh yes we did go out with the police I went out with the police and cars I think they looked on us not with disdain or contempt but it was sort of in that direction I don't think they really admired Us in particularly um they I remember uh being told that the bill was used in police training is to show examples of how to do things and um to explain to the police how the general public completely misperceived what the was all about and this is why you know run tap um uh I don't know yeah they they I suppose we were good for the police because we we put them in a in a good light we we got the general public in in some ways maybe to look at them with a sympathetic eye which can't be bad if you're a police officer yeah I suppose um and I actually got to swear at a policeman and get away with it because I was on the bill the queen was coming to Brixton where I was living at the time and the police had moved my car they put it on rollers and moved it around the corner and and I went around to go to work in the morning and the car wasn't there and the police officer told me that they moved it around the corner I said off and uh I thought well I wouldn't have got away with that possibly in the way that I did had I not being a police man yeah on telling you go hidden hidden benefits um and then having done all those episodes have you got a favorite episode you got favorite story line you're involved in um the one that comes to mind was uh the chase there was a Chase where I did a lot of driving and I was uh very flattered to be allowed to do a lot of my own driving I remember I was allowed to drive a car at speed towards the I had to drive towards a corner and then off and I was uh there was a whole camera crew and the camera and the director and the lighting people I was driving at them they were on the corner and I thought that wouldn't just wouldn't be allowed now I wouldn't be allowed to do half the things at it we actually did what were called up and pasts where the camera was set off down the street and we were in the police car with a blue light we weren't allowed a siren but we would go into real traffic with a blue light on and if it moved we would find the Gap and go through it um that wouldn't allow now but I think the driving yeah that was that was my favorite part being allow to drive I was actually stopped by a police car once and asked me what the hell I was doing because the camera was so far away he didn't know what was going on he was very crossed that this police car had been driving erratically that hadn't had no markings that he recognized um so I had to explain that I I wasn't real um yes I can imagine I watched a clip of an episode today where you hang on I this right you didn't push someone out of a building they fell out of a building and the drama was you worrying about them thinking you'd done it do you even remember that episode or do they all just lure for you now that I I think I remember that episode because there is a photograph I have of that it was a green barn door on the first floor of somewhere a fight scene as well yeah I remember the fight scene the the the I remember a comment from the stunt arranger on that fight scene because I was I got a bit of a crick in my neck and he said yeah well you know you have to be wary because the adrenaline goes and uh I thought yeah but you're a stunt arranger you're you're paid to handle adrenaline so don't cck me neck when we do that I thought I don't think I said it out loud but I just I just remember thinking that thought but um yes I remember there was a lot of a lot of uh roughy tufty in that um in that show and a lot of the time we had to do it over and over again because you do it for that angle and then you have to do it again for that angle because a lot of the time we went out with one camera so if they wanted several angles we' all have to do the action all over again several times and uh at the end of a particularly rough sequence we would more often than not all be oh you're all right there I didn't I didn't hit you did I I didn't make contact sorry if I did and it just it just seemed very ludicrous that we were being these rough police officers beating each other up and they say well you were right there at the end of it but hey that's how it works behind the scenes so uh I asked Ken about this earlier obviously you've you've worked on a ton of episodes of Television um remembering your lines do you do anything different to her have you got a special technique to get them down well thankfully with television the stress of having to absolutely get it right all the time is mitigated by the fact that there's an edit but having said that the bill liked to do quite long takes so there was pressure but fortunately the writing was good and good writing is easier to remember because it makes sense to a brain a lot of the time but repetition and just yeah repetition mainly repetition repetition repetition just going over and over and over and over it I don't know maybe maybe you do develop a skill as an actor that you're not really aware of I'm not not sure I know how to explain it apart from repetition it kind of gets easier and they do strangely sink in after a while I don't necessarily remember lines so much as thoughts trains of thought and if if it's a if it's a scene that's sort of well written you it's easier to remember trains of thought and the words kind of happen as a result of that but um yeah you have to remember them and then forget them which is always a bit tricky because remembering them again can yeah the thing I find funnily enough is problem when I written something obviously I write it and I can hear it being spoken on the page then one of you guys delivers it so say one of pe's big speeches then that's how I hear it forever because obviously I'm editing so I'm seen it over and over again and now it is you know I mean it's in cement if I I could probably remember those lines better than you now I don't know you probably just erase them all but um for me now because I've watched it so many times no I I yes I mean my experience is is different from yours you hear it from the outside and yes I I I I forget constantly I forget I forgotten all the things I've said it's funny the actor's dream happens and the actor's dream is essentially entering the performance space at a performance time not knowing your lines and it's and or or just approaching that moment and then you wake up and you never have to face it but there's that fear of suddenly realizing I don't know what I'm doing which is horrible and I've had that um had that quite a lot recently I don't know what that's meant to mean usually I don't get it when I'm working it's only when you're not working and dreaming about work that you have these these these thoughts but they're quite um yeah they're quite odd the scary version of that I think is probably in a theater play is it when you're suddenly crap I've just lost it has that ever happened to you oh yes that has happened I was doing a production of the ghost train and at the end of the ghost train the person who played the silly fop who is also the detective reveals himself as the detective Ive and he has a long speech where he tells everybody what was actually going on and who was doing what and no one can help him out if he forgets his lines because he's the only one who's meant to know all this stuff and um we had a very short rehearsal period for this particular production and um those words for that speech at the end just didn't stick properly and there were several performances at basing Stoke I seen to remember it was where time stopped and the words weren't there and there was a blank in my head there was a desert there was tumble weed there were people looking at me on stage there were people in the audience looking at me in expectation and nothing was coming um I don't really know how it it it ended obviously the play did end eventually but and something happened and maybe some gibberish came to pass those are ghastly moments absolutely horrible moments but no one's firing bullets at you and you know you're not you're not going to lose a limb as a result of these things so so you can worry too much but at the time if you're trying to do your best and it's not possible it's Gastly and spare a thought for those poor the poor people of basing Stone having come to see you and get the gibberish for that big finale well I I think the poor people of basing Stoke actually quite enjoy when actors screw up cuz they think I was there when that actor screwed up and it and it's kind of it yeah it makes the ticket worth paying for because Perfections all very well but a little bit of a Up's also good to definitely um so do you I know you well from what I hear you do theater a lot of sort of theater plays that kind of stuff do you still have to audition or do you go oh I've done this that and the other and they go oh cool we'll take you or do you get those theater gigs through friends or you know people you work with before um most of my theater work I have got through an audition that uh an early agent got me and they've used me again and again which has been very good that's M Middle Ground theater company and Pat KS at talking Scarlet um strangely I've got a I've got an interview tomorrow for a job to play General Waverly in White Christmas at the Mill at sonning and I have to go for interview for that um yes always interview I don't I've only ever once I think been offered a job without an interview and that was for uh a couple of lines in Belgravia my agent uh wanted to impress somebody I don't know what he was trying to do actually um but he he got me that job without having to see anybody I mean I've got a show real so people people who are employing me for television have have got a a pretty good idea of whether I can hit a mark and deliver a line or not I guess just because there's a whole load of TV stuff out there but no I think people just generally want to know what you're like in the room well I haven't had an in room interview for a thousand years it's all self tapes maybe my career is coming to an end is this just one song this uh what way to go eh um no you're gonna get it you're definitely gonna get it um so to flipping on his head uh and you don't do not include me in this because I don't want to know but tips for directors say I'm making my first I'm I'm coming out of uni I'm making my first feature film what would be your tips to a new director to to work with actors that's a tricky one I don't know that it's really my place to give directors tips I give actors tips what would I tell a director don't do that your relationship with a director as an actor is very situation specific I mean the advice you want to give a director is dependent on what's happening at the time on set and if a director is doing a particular thing you might want to give them some advice about doing that thing in that way in your eyeline in your earshot or something um yes it's very case specific I don't know if there's any general we are not Furniture mind you that's more for firsts yeah than um than directors there was a first on the bill who used to move us around like filing cabinets that got a bit tedious you know if you weren't sitting on our marks that's time pressure I suppose and money and stuff but it's not nice being treated like furniture I don't know I know just don't don't treat me like an idiot treat me as a as a as a person with skills treat me as you would like to be treated but then again that goes for any job do you think the fact that you guys have both done a lot of television has uh I might be imagining this but Harden you a bit to that director relationship in that some actors like a lot of conversation do you guys because you've done the T TV and you've got a kind of keep moving quickly do you think you're able to kind of get on without that or you know some actors get offended if you say do it a bit faster or do it a bit more Angry is that enough for you or do you prefer a bit more uh I think well I I suppose having having worked with as many directors as I have we're not surprised by some of the things that directors say in in the way that someone without that experience might be I know what directors are capable saying but I I think possibly the reason I've spent or survived so long in television might be because well this particular kind of production line television which is quite fast might be because I am happy to throw stuff out and just try it but that's always been my way of doing things even at drama school there were there were people who liked to talk but my favorite directors were director just said no stop talking stand up do it give it a go see what happens and that's how it works when I'm when I'm doing stuff with my hands and tools and woodwork I rather than sort of draw it and design it I I'll sort of make a version of it and see if it works see how it goes together and then I'll make another version see how that goes together and that's sort of how I I approach the work rather than intellectualize it I don't know how I would survive a a seven eight week rehearsal process at the national where you talk things to death I'd just be thinking get up do it do something let's do something let's just do something and that was that was the philosophy of Manchester was get up and do it just do it see how it feels see what works and what doesn't he was talking about it all very well but is doing it that people come to see yeah yeah definitely and is there a piece of advice uh what's the sort of best piece of advice someone's giving you about acting someone's given me about acting yeah do it I think I think it's the getting up and doing it and giving it a go just do it and give it a go try it different ways just just worry it like wor it it like people wor it poems they just just worry them wiggle your tooth it'll come out something like that yeah just do it do it the film we've got coming out in August the apocalypse box um yes tell me about your character in the film uh my character is a horribly narcissistic ambitious egomaniac Who Wants to Rule the World bit like Nigel farage he pretends that he wants to represent clacton but he actually wants to brownnose president Trump um that was I'll rephrase that it reminds me very much of a farage type character who pretends that he wants to represent the people of clacton but he wants to represent himself as an aid to uh the soon Tobe inaugurated president Trump um yeah we won't see him for dust if if Trump gets in yes but that that is Mr stonith he's gly and is it is it uh I mean everyone says it is but is it fun to play that kind of part that sort of villainous the baddy yeah yeah yeah I mean you you get you get to you get to play with the explosives you you get to to kind of I don't know why it should be so fun to be to be bad I suppose we grow up with with the a whole weight on us if we do the things that you do when you play a bad you're not allowed to do it it's like going through a door Mark private no entry stay out of here and you're being you're being uh given the opportunity to go all through all these doors Mark private stay out you know don't go here you're allowed to say the quiet bit out loud you know do all the horrible things that you're not allowed to say because also another part of me I realized as a I was growing up is um a person who in any situation immediately thinks of the most offensive horrible thing I could say and uh I'm not allowed to say it but when you play a baddy that you are allowed to say it and uh sometimes you're even allowed to come up with an idea to say something even more offensive and they get oh yeah that's nasty that's oh that's well horrible yeah we have that the film itself you've seen it what would you say to somebody to uh get them to go and see it or to watch it to download it and watch it I'd say if you really are a fan of mine I'm absolutely brilliant this that's true forget everyone else come and see me you'll love it and I get an hand which was thrilling um but I'd say yeah it's if you like if you're like a thriller with a bit of Gore and suspense and unusualness because it is a slightly unusual film um as are all your I think uh yeah go and see it cool are you going to keep theth the in it I am um and yeah I am well I did I've thought about this a lot actually because obviously without theth you're an a which puts you right at the top of the um alphabet so if someone's searching for you on a platform where it's just Al vetical obviously you've got more chance of hearing straight away but I just feel like it sounds a bit funny to me apocalypse box on its own I like those old 80s 70s Horrors The Omen do you know what I mean it wouldn't if it was Omen it wouldn't have had the same kind of Gravitas it sort of sets it up the apocalypse box the Jaws there you go that one the Jaws too hope you enjoyed that episode if you'd like to hear from more industry professionals how they got into the business and how you can do the same or you just want to listen to some cool stories from movie sets around the world then please do subscribe to the honest filmmaker podcast[Music]
