Part Two: Memories are made of this…

Nigel (talking about being on set as a boy): My mum chaperoned me and had loads of run ins with Dean because he was a real lad. He loved Bristol Rovers and dragging waitresses up to his room. My mum had to throw enough of them out of his room. I knew him before the TP.

Nigel (looking at the recent newspaper articles about the Dinner): Brilliant.

RL: Of course, with the DVDs coming out now, no doubt they'll want you to narrate them.

Nigel: Yeah, no problem. I think I've got Jason's phone no.

RL: Do you remember it well?

Nigel: I do… I do. I remember very well. The moment you mentioned Misako… We had a scene where she had to say 'Magic' and she kept saying 'Marjeeeek'. Vic Hughes was going really really red. He's going 'No, can you say mag?' and she goes 'Maaazzz'. Chinese/Japanese people can't say J very well. I don't know why. In the end Vic goes 'Whatever, whatever!'

RL: When the TV do things they have different scripts. The others talked about looking through the camera script. Was it like that in your day?

Nigel: Yeah. There was a lot of stuff going on. Vic Hughes was a very stressed man. The actual regime of filming was quite mad. It was always on the edge. We used to have some weird script things going on. Rehearsals were always a laugh down in Teddington. We always used to end up at the pub at lunchtime.


JC: (While she is setting the table for dinner) You just talk about anecdotes and keep the tape running.

Nigel: Anecdotes! Struth yeah… I think Mr. Gilbert has got to be the one to have anecdotes about. He's the maddest man in the whole world. He really is the most lunatic man in the world and I love him dearly. He is crazy and every scene we used to do, inevitably he would make me laugh. He was just that sort of person. He used to do a little facial movement and I'd be off. They'd say 'Action!' and I couldn't even look at him.

RL: What about Nick?

Nigel: Nick was always so suave. He'd turn up to rehearsal in his Roller with the personalised plate and he was just as I saw him the other night. That's how he's always been. His wit is so dry it's unbelievable. He has a great sense of humour. It just slides along the floor and creeps up on you.


RL: If you do the DVDs then you'll see that Nick and PVC do a double act that's really funny. You should try to get into that.

Nigel: Yeah definitely. The moment I see the stuff I'll remember loads of it, 'cos, I haven't seen it for so long… We lost the Loch Ness monster. They must have told you about this.

RL: No, I'm missing so much of the later days…

Nigel: We lost the monster. When they were about to find me I was bringing the Loch Ness monster up by visualising it. They had this massive fibreglass Loch Ness monster… it arrived from the Thames TV props department. It was a big thing. They had two divers who were going to take it out but they hadn't put any weights on it to keep it balanced. So they took it out and got one shot of it and this thing takes in the air and sinks… That was it, it was gone. It was so silty and murky that they couldn't get to it. So it was X hundred pounds for this monster… it just sunk. They got about a minute of film and I had to go back in me caravan with me kilt on. (Laughs)

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