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Questions 1-11
' In The Beginning…'
1. JC: What do you do now? Do you still act,
or something different?
EA: No. I don't act at all now. After I'd left Tomorrow People
I did some radio, I did a balance of the two. I came into this job,
which is youth work, I'm now managing the youth service. I started off
doing drama workshops at my local youth club and obviously as a result
of Tomorrow People…The whole team came down one day for a fun day and
spent time signing autographs. As I used drama with young people who
had other issues I suddenly realised that I didn't have the skills to
deal with some of the issues that were coming up from people and I better
train… I'm now head of the youth and voluntary sector. I just worked
up through the ranks.
2. JC: Did you always want to act?
EA: No. I wanted to be a teacher. Quite a few members of my family
are teachers. I've got two sisters, my father and mother both started
off as teachers.
3. JC: Are you married with a family?
EA: Yes I've got one daughter. She's 23 now. It's a long time ago.
She actually came on set a couple of times. I was pregnant with her
during the last part. They shot everything from here up… with just the
top half showing.
JC: She was used to having a show-biz mum?
EA: She dances now so yes I suppose so. I think she got to see
that side of the arts yes.
4. JC: What did you think when you first heard
about the premise for the show?
EA: I thought it was a very good idea. At the time there wasn't
any… the children's programmes didn't really talk to young people. I
thought what Roger did, the way he wrote, and also the fact that he
had young people in. Actually gave young people the authority. That's
what was unique about it. He also did a news program that he wrote which
was presented by young people and was unique at that time. Roger had
a way of empowering young people and drawing the best out of them. He
didn't necessarily use stage school trained actors because of his belief
in encouraging people on. I think some of that stayed with me in the
work that I do now. Youth work is about starting where young people
are and then helping them from there.
5. JC: Is it true that you wore short socks
and a wig to your audition?
EA: Yes. It is true. They had been looking for ages and my agent
said 'they can't find a young person who's black'. They had been to
some of the stage schools too. They said young… So the option was going
there and finding a ladies to change on route or to go dressed young.
So I decided that would have more of an impact. I wore my wig with bunches.
6. JC: And got stuck with the wig! (both
laugh)
EA: Yes I did. Because, of course, once you'd started, and that
was what the first impression was… the look that they saw first. It
was difficult later for them to think that I looked young without it.
It was the bunches, the hair style that they liked.
7. JC: What influenced your decision to join
the cast?
EA: It was probably… I think I was a little bit worried about joining
because it wasn't at the beginning and I was worried about being the
new person going into where they were obviously settled. What I liked
was Roger, who played an important part in making it seem like fun to
work with. The technical side, he again would involve the actors quite
often. Where I had worked before directors didn't necessarily involve
the cast in the technical side but Roger just loved everyone being involved,
getting their ideas. "What do you think we can do?" And going up to
the box to see what he was seeing. There was a learning process about
the whole thing. We weren't just front of camera. We were all involved
behind the scenes.
JC: One of the big enigma's at the moment
is where is Roger Price? Everybody is trying to find him. Just what
sort of a man was he?
EA: He was very bubbly. He had the 'Spirit of the child' still.
If I can put it like that. That's what it was. The spirit of vulnerability
and joy and optimism… that's him. The way he laughed.
8. JC: Were you aware of your significance
as a female black role model? Did this affect how you approached the
role?
AE: Very much, apart from the role itself I was involved in the
campaign for equal opportunities in the arts. Which was about integrated
casting, young black actors who had been trained being given opportunities
when they came out. They had played the roles at drama school, although
sometimes they weren't even allowed to play the parts in the final term.
I was already campaigning so I knew that it was more than just a role.
I was representing… I had to do good because it would affect other people
getting the same chances. There was quite a lot of responsibility for
black actors at that time, who were given roles because the directors
and producers wouldn't try again if one individual failed. Others could
fail and it was ok, you made a mistake, we'll move on. It doesn't affect
any other actor coming doing the part. The responsibility was quite
considerable. People still recognise me even now. What they often say
to me is… 'You were the only black person that I was able to, as a role
model, identify with and it could have been me!' A lot of people went
into the arts as a result of people like me… seeing people like me on
programmes. It gave them inspiration.
9. JC: Do you think that there should have
been more female Tomorrow People?
EA: I remember thinking that what we didn't see of all the Tomorrow
People was their family. I think there should have been more about that.
Scenes about family etc. We had Hsui Tai towards the end but as an actor
it would have been nice to have more female company and to have scenes
with another female to get another dimension. But I got used to it.
10. JC: Did you ever imagine that all these
years later people would still be interested in the show?
EA: As I already said people where I live remember… Here in Brent,
where I work, the lawyer said to me that she used to watch the show
and for some reason she was inspired to go into law because of the show.
Yes. It suprises me that they still recognise my face. People say they
can still see me now as I was then even without the wig.
We felt at the time that it was making an impact. I don't think
that Thames TV thought so. Partly because there were always young people
around and their sedate dining rooms were full of a group of youngsters.
They weren't really happy with that. But at the time we knew that people
loved it.
11. JC: Did
you have any idea that it would run for as long as it did?
EA: No. And I think perhaps towards the end Roger lost the stories
a little bit. They weren't as exciting. And of course other things came
along in terms of children's television. I think towards the end we
ran out of storylines… before the silly ones.
JC: Did you see the Top Ten program on TV
the other night? They showed the puppets used at the end.
EA: Yes… there were silly ones like the cow-boy one.
End of part one...
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