claytoncast

It's not been the easiest of weeks. On Thursday morning I found out that I am to be killed off in "Coronation Street" without making any further appearances. This is not the place to go on about it, but suffice it to say I'm angry about it. Mainly with myself. There was no guarantee of further appearances but there was hope, and when you take away hope, in any situation, that is when it hits hardest. The rest of the week has been pretty laid back. A couple of nice lunches, and an afternoons training work. A mysterious leaky boiler on Saturday morning caused  disruption to the start of a relaxing weekend, but when Mr Howle created a Heath Robinson like device with a metal funnel and some cable ties to channel the leak into a bucket, it equally mysteriously dried up and has now gone back to functioning properly. Time for a boiler service methinks. A lucky win of £200 at bingo on Thursday afternoon with my friend Andy Spiegel. Andy, or Jewish as I call him for reason...

It seems to me that the best way to keep work fresh when you get to my age is to do new things. Or rather perhaps package the things you do in a new way and do them with new people. This last week I had the chance to do both. A little bit of pod cast directing on Tuesday morning, followed by a visit to see the National youth Theatre in the Old Vic tunnels in “Our Days Of Rage" on Tuesday evening. For the most part excellently staged, it had a cast whose commitment and focus was second to none. The sort of thing that the National Youth Theatre does best of all. I have my doubts about the play itself, but thanks to some brilliant staging and the sheer energy of the performers it was an exciting evening in the theatre. Wednesday saw me up early,  out and at the Cafe De Paris to host “Voice of McDonald's 2011". This is McDonald's own version of “The X factor" and is open to all their crew members all over the world. On Wednesday morning we were having the UK finali...

More years ago than I would care to remember I had the good fortune to do a television programme called "Jigsaw". It had been running for three series when I joined it in late 1982. I was to do the voices of all the puppets and play a huge gallimaufry of characters in the various sketches in each weeks programme. It was my first regular television job and I loved it. It was there I met Janet Ellis.  We've now had a friendship that has lasted nearly thirty years. She is one of my closest friends and one of the most loyal a person could have. A great supporter, a bastion of common sense and no nonsense attitude, she's been there for me through thick and thin and I hope in some small way I've managed to return the favour. Before the days in which she became a national icon for a generation in "Blue Peter" and indeed before "Jigsaw" she trained as an actress. She quickly amassed some classy credits - opposite Tom Courtenay, and some more populist...

One of the first fan letters I ever wrote was to Batman.  As far as I was concerned he lived at the studios of ATV,  the television company whose logo appeared after his adventures each Saturday and Sunday night in the 1960s. In those days you could rely on the Royal mail and a letter addressed to “Batman, ATV television" brought me a signed photograph of the Caped Crusader and his sidekick the Boy Wonder. It was a cherished possession. I'm talking about the 1960s television version of the comic book heroes adventures. I can't remember what “stirrings" the tights clad legs of our hero Bruce Wayne  may or may not have produced but I do remember being terribly worried in the episode when Bruce Wayne turned “bad" and for almost 20 min Batman was working in conjunction with the Penguin and the Joker against the sole efforts of Robin. As there was a cliff hanger from Saturday night to Sunday, one small Yorkshire boy had a disturbed sleep that night. I'm not sur...