'The Nick Young Interview'

19th April 2001

JC is Jackie Clark; RL is Richard Landsburg and NY is (of course) Nicholas Young.

Questions 10-16 ' All about John…'

RL: Something that you mentioned before is that at the end Vic Hughes wanted two days in the studio but was only given one. I've always wondered what you meant by this?

NY: We used to make them back to back. We'd do two episodes together. Work for eight days rehearsing two episodes then we'd spend two days filming. Vic Hughes always complained that he didn't have enough time to make them properly. And I think that was probably true, we very often over ran. A lot was to do with the 70's disease which was strikes.

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?

NY: The last series was only six episodes and it should have been thirteen. I never saw any more stories. I don't think there are any more.

JC: There is a rumour that John was to marry Liz in the show, is this true?

NY: No. Extraordinary, bizarre idea! She was living on the Galactric Trig, wasn't even on earth. She was truly out of this world at the time. She was genuinely pregnant, so the final episodes… the reason she was on the trig was so that they could shoot her on a frame. There wasn't any romance, as far as I know, between Liz and John. I would suggest that he was asexual. He was more interested in his computer than 'crumpet'.

10. JC: John's a pretty mysterious guy in many respects. Were you given any background on the character prior to the start of the series or did you come up with any background yourself?

NY: I wasn't given any background. I don't think any of us was. We were, I think, very much playing ourselves. I think John was what I made him. He was very like the characters I had already played. I enjoyed those sort of parts… slightly supercilious, slightly staid; quite a fun image really. It seemed to work fairly well.

There were times when I would have liked to have played it completely different. But you're a bit stuck when in a series. The programme did need…. Tim was the sage. Much older, wiser. How old is a computer? I don't know. But apparently older.

I think John's role was to be a bridge between the adult world, the more serious side of the programme and the instinctive acting of PVC or what ever… That was the clever thing about the programme accidentally or otherwise, it catered for every background and every race. Which made it internationally successful.

11. JC: The question on everyone's mind: What is John's LAST NAME?!!

NY: It might have been Dixon I suppose… After PC George Dixon from 'Dixon of Dock Green.' You're not old enough to remember it are you?

Hmmm. No I don't think it's ever been stated.

12. JC: If you could have chosen a last name for John what would it be?

NY: I've never thought about that. In truth, as the series developed, people started to use their own names. What was confusing in the first series was that you had Stephen Salmon playing one role. And Peter Vaughan-Clarke playing Stephen. I think that people were cast with their own name to keep it simple. I suppose logically it would have been something like… as he was a policeman's son… probably something like John Dixon. I can't think that it would have been Fortesque-Smyth.

13. JC: As leader of the Tomorrow People, John was the backbone of the series. Always guiding with a logical and scientific view. Was there more to him then the show allowed us to see?

NY: No. Bearing in mind my interest in Rock n Roll guitar it would have been fun to surprise everybody and suddenly appear in Mike Holoways band. But it would have been so totally against character that it wouldn't have been allowed.

They allowed me my passion for cars to a certain extent. They used my MG in the story with the Prime Minister, and others. If you can get about by jaunting then you don't need to be driving a modern car so that's just for pleasure.

14. JC: Are there any story lines he would have liked to see John in that would have showed a different side of him?

NY: I suppose if you were going to do some more Tomorrow People it would be interesting to see where they all came form originally. Do a flashback. It would be interesting. I never gave it a moments thought.

15. JC: Did he want to give John a past or just leave in the mystery?

He was the one TP you didn't see breaking out. Who did we see break out? Stephen Salmon had already broken out as he's seen in a scene sitting on Tower Bridge. It was Peter Vaughan- Clarke who broke out. And I don't think we saw Carol either. John is an enigma… Yes.

16. JC: How did you view John's relationship with the other TP's? Was he a father figure, an older brother, a commanding officer, or none of the above?

NY: Older brother is the closest out of all of them. I don't think he was a father figure. The father figure, if any, was TIM. The interesting thing about TIM is how old is a computer. He is in fact visualised as Timus and Tikno. So therefore we do see him as an older person. But until we see him as a character, why give him any age? I don't think Roger wanted any adults in a position of authority at all. But he realised that you needed to have some sort of a leader to pull it all together.

I suppose later on, when he saw it all working rather well, he suddenly thought of personifying TIM. John does sort of give orders and tell the others what to do but in a brotherly way…

End of part two….

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