Manchester Magic

At this time last week I sat here looking at my diary finding it rather empty for the coming week. It prompted a retrospective look at the diaries I've kept in the past.

The greatest thing about being a freelancer is that you never know what a week may bring. On any given day the phone may ring with job offers or interviews - how the anticipation has changed since the days when one had to pick up the phone to find out who was calling. Now the smart phone flashes the name of the caller, so my agent is  trumpeted in advance. The initials AHA guarantee I take the call. 

Monday brought a call asking me to go up to Manchester on Wednesday for a meeting for our premiere Northern soap opera. I've been up for it before. I had a small role back in 2005 - who can forget Mal Quillan and his chain of wine bars and night-clubs in Wetherfield? In 2007 I got very close to being a new regular character and last year I went up there for a role for a six month stint. None of these proved successful, so I'm always a little dubious when I am asked to go up to Manchester.

Not that I have a problem with Manchester. Since I trained there in the late 1970's the city has gone from strength to strength. As a recent Mancunian we met on holiday said to us "In a bizarre way, the best thing that happened to us was the bomb" and indeed as one walks around the revitalised and dynamic city centre one cannot help but agree while acknowledging that at the time it was a terrible tragedy.

New shops, new shopping malls and lots of city centre residential development. The whole area south of Deansgate leading down to Granada Television is like a foreign country to those of us who were familiar with the city in the late seventies. Then St Annes Square and King street were the only chi chi parts of what was most defiantly a Northern industrial city.

New Manchester oozes chic street cred. The hotels are brilliant. Within seconds of the station you pass the Malmaison. Decked out like a victorian bordello, it is however a gorgeous place to meet the lovely Guy Hargreaves for afternoon tea after my interview. Let's face it, anywhere would be a delicious place to meet Guy. He is one of the most genuine honest and uplifting people I know. Not bland, not politically correct, he's just a good old grounded ball of Northern energy and I feel better on every occasion I have spent time with him. We've worked together — alas too few times, but finding he was free for an hour after his rehearsal for a new play he's doing in Manchester was a joy. (Catch him in his new play I Know Where The Dead Are Buried running from the 21st to the 28th of July at Sachas Hotel, Manchester)

Rich will also be heading to Manchester as it's the opening venue for the fantastic "Batman Live" which he has been working on and which will be coming to the O2. Glimpses of it on Facebook and twitter do make it look amazing, and as someone who used to quite fancy Adam West running round in his tights as Batman in the 60's I'll certainly be looking forward to it.

There's a real sense of energy to the place as soon as you get off the train, and it takes moments to walk right into the centre. I lived out in Didsbury, a rather prim suburb that housed the then Manchester Polytechnic school of theatre. Now evidently it's the home of the media set and a rather cool place to be. Ahead of my time, I hear you say!

As the meeting was successful it looks like there will be more trips to Manchester in the future. In true soap style my lips are sealed, but it may be worth casting your eyes towards the ITV channels in September as those familiar Northern brass tones start up.