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JC: In all the latest TV interviews,
when the researchers originally came to me, they all asked about the
ideas for the show and they all wanted to know about the Hitler episodes.
They were fascinated by it! I kept saying 'It wasn't one of the best.
The Blue and the Green was the best Sci-fi one. Secret weapon also
had dark undercurrents etc.'
PG: The Blue and the Green were excellent. That
was Elizabeth's first show. I remember her… How nervous she was. She
didn't know how it was going to be for a coloured girl to be in the
show. Although we never even thought about such a thing. We all totally
accepted her. She was a lovely girl and a lovely actress and we became
very close.
JC: Did you ever feel restricted
by the fact that TIM had to remain in the lab?
PG: No. Not really. I don't think there could have
been any other way, unless it was a completely different idea, where
he could have perhaps manifested himself in various places.
JC: There was 'Into the Unknown'
where they made a little box and said 'It's a mini TIM'. It was where
they all went through the Black Hole.
PG: I can't remember that. Was the little box me?
Did it have my voice?
JC: Yes. It had pink Crystals
in the top and they took it with them because they were being sucked
into the black hole. It was not the fans favourite. It wasn't written
by Roger.
PG: I don't remember the mini TIM. I found it fascinating
to just use my voice and not be seen, to be able to get all the effects
with just the voice. In the beginning it was very complex. I had to
sit there with cans on and I could hear everything that was going
on around me, everywhere else. I just screamed 'I'll never be able
to open my mouth please be quiet!' That was sorted. I had my own little
place and my own microphones and cans…
JC: Was there any aspect of
the show that you didn't like, be it an episode, a cast member, or
something else?
PG: Not really. I liked everybody that was in it
and enjoyed every moment. But sometimes one was aware they weren't
as good as they should have been and that was sometimes a little bit
annoying.
JC: There is a rumour that
there was to be a one more story after (what turned out to be the
final TP story) 'War of the Empires'. Can you confirm the existence
of such a story, and what the plot was to be?
PG: Now 'War of the Empires' I didn't like at all.
We were promised that we were going to do another series. Did we finish
'War of the empires?'
JC: Yes, in fact, you had the
last line ever of the original Tomorrow People show but it felt like
the Galactic Federation's turn around was too abrupt and there was
a scene missing.
PG: We were very confused in 'War of the Empires'.
All those funny little animals were mostly hilarious. That was one
of the ones when I had to keep my giggling under control. As I did
the first time I appeared as Timus. The kids just thought it was so
funny with the big hat and everything. They would not stop trying
to make me break up on the take. But the last one I was in the same
situation with them trying to corpse me. And we knew that there were
six scripts that had been written and the producer at the time…Vic
Hughes, he also did the one with Keith Chegwin… Vic phoned me and
said they won't give us the two days so I'm pulling it!
It was usual that we would be phoned up every couple
of weeks to tell us that they were going to go ahead. What happened
was the Thames strike. It closed everything down for quite some time.
When the strike was over they had to pay all the technical staff a
great deal more and would only give Vic one day in the studio to film.
One day to record was all they could afford. That, Vic said, was absolutely
impossible. We had to have two days…
So that was the row, which was going on for quite
some time. When we went to the studio on other occasions, perhaps
PR but not filming, during the days that we were told it was going
to happen everybody was so happy and when the day came when it looked
as if we were going to be cut people's attitude changed. Doors that
were always open were suddenly shut.
They didn't repeat 'The War of the empires' or make
the last series. I know that there were only six and they were all
ready to go. We felt very very bitter. Some of the younger people
particularly. And we were never thanked. It was sold all over the
world in 32 countries but nobody ever said 'Thank you.' Once it was
done the doors were shut.
They told us for years that all the tapes were destroyed
and there was no copy of the show. It was shown on the sci-fi channel
so they did have them all.
JC: Would you say that it was
Vic Hughes who said 'no more' or Roger Price?
PG: It wasn't Roger. By that time Roger had lost
his definitive attitude towards it. I think he was getting… he knew
he probably couldn't keep on with the stories… but it was Thames.
Vic was one of their producers and was adamant that he wanted two
days to do the very complicated technical things… That was one of
the reasons… it was too expensive after the strike Thames just couldn't
afford it.
JC: What was being filmed
in this one or two days that he wanted?
PG: The new show… Each story needed two days but
they only gave us one for filming and they couldn't afford it…
JC: Did you or the other cast
members become involved in the underlying concept and ideas of the
TP or was it "just another job?"
PG: We all did understand. Of course the Midwich
Cuckoos that was a fascinating film long before the Tomorrow People.
They were evil of course, where as the Tomorrow People were good and
not capable of doing any harm. It certainly wasn't just another job.
JC: Is it true that Roger
Price met David Bowie and it was him who provided inspiration for
the TP?
PG: People have asked me this before. I know that
he did meet him. It was during David Bowie's transvestite period.
He wore women's clothes. He was very glamorous. Roger met David and
he was always a little bit if a weirdo (Bowie that is). I admire him
as an artist but he's had so many different manifestations…it's almost
like the Tomorrow People in a way and I think Roger was very intrigued
by him. Roger told me he wore a dress at the meeting. That was long
before it was acceptable. There was something about him; he could
have been a Tomorrow Person.
JC: How do you feel about
the way that Roger Price's "humour" crept in to the latter part of
the run? What, especially, does he feel about "A Man for Emily"?
PG: Sandra Dickinson and Peter Davidson were in it
and the older woman Burton… Sandra and Peter did well but she overplayed
it grossly. I think it was an experiment on Roger's part to see whether
he could get that kind of comedy. But Burton, although she was a super
person, and made a wonderful pantomime principle boy, she wasn't right
for that part. It wasn't properly handled. Her accent was bad… It
could have been excellent if they had had more control but they allowed
Burton to do exactly what she wanted and the whole thing didn't work.
The funny thing is that neither Sandra nor Peter
acknowledges the fact that they were in the Tomorrow People. I spotted
Sandra and knew she was going to be a star… She was in 'The Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy' etc. Neither includes it on their CV's today.
As for the humour, Roger was a very funny man and
it didn't take much… we would often give him little ideas that he
would elaborate upon and make into something quite funny.
Did you ever meet him? He came here a few years
ago when they were about to do the new Tomorrow People. He asked me
if I would do TIM and I said certainly. They should never have done
the new series without bringing in the original in some way or other.
But the company didn't want to do that. I think Roger gave up his
rights to the show.
JC: I believe so, to Nickelodeon
TV. They wanted it to appeal to the American market. They didn't have
TIM! They had a space ship that moaned and groaned but you couldn't
understand.
PG: I remember that that was what Roger asked me
to do. He told me that TIM would be in some kind of a space ship at
the bottom of the sea and the voice would reverberate around the space
ship. That would have been a very good idea and tied it up. Then we
could have talked about the old Tomorrow People but they didn't want
it!
When Roger came here, a few years ago, it was obvious
that he still cares a lot about it. But I think he's given up all
rights to it. Everybody has been trying to find him but no one can.
Roger was very secretive in many ways. He obviously wanted me to do
something in the new series and gave me a script or two to read which
never appeared in the show. I thought they were wonderful stories…
in the early days there was the one about fair grounds with two boys
who were not Tomorrow People.
JC: 'Vanishing Earth' with
Ginge and Lefty?
PG: Yes. It was similar to that.
JC: Who's idea was it for
you to play all the different characters i.e. Timus and Tikno. Were
you chosen because it would cost too much money to hire another actor,
or was there another reason?
PG: Ruth Boswell thought it would be a good idea.
Because Timus was from the Galactic Trig and had given his voice to
TIM and he was a clone, it opened up an enormous amount of parts…
It has been used in the recent CD's.
JC: What is your favourite
memory from the show in general?
PG: The kids and other actors. It was very nice
when we were stars at Thames Television we were invited everywhere.
Although some people would say 'we don't want those dreadful Tomorrow
People' (laughs). It was very nice like a family. Everyone who does
television series says that… we were invited to everything from the
House of Lords to big theatrical garden parties and would be in a
tent. There used to be queues of children lining up to get our autographs.
End part two
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