claytoncast

It is never easy sitting down to write this, the last blog of the year.  I suppose, traditionally, it should contain a review of what has gone on in the past 12 months, and indeed as preparation, I've just spent half an hour flicking back  through the blog entries I've made during that time. Action packed, rewarding, and busy. Four holidays, three television series, two personal goals,  not to mention of course the partridge that has taken up residence in the newly planted pear tree in our back garden!  If you want to see just exactly what those things were, then you too will have to flip back through the entries of 2013. I would hope that it's a good read. It's not just intended to be a diary,  but a place where I can share my somewhat biased opinions, and thoughts. Something I intend to continue doing through 2014. Now that sounds like a New Year's resolution, and as a rule I just don't make them because I just break them. But perhaps there ar...

I think weddings have been a little bit of a theme this year. Prior to 2013, I  hadn't been to a wedding for absolutely ages.  Possibly the last one I went to was that of Richard's sister Annabel, a winter themed event in a Cambridgeshire hotel in mid-February some  eight to ten years ago. Obviously all my contemporaries got married many years ago, and now I seem to be turning up at the wedding of some of their children. Not brilliant for the self-image.  This year I've been to three, or four if you count the highly successful one that we filmed for "Him and Her" series 4 which has just finished its run on BBC 3.Great to watch, but hard work to make. In fact after the five weeks filming of those nuptials I've vowed that if I ever had to attend a wedding again it would be too soon. Of course when I said that I hadn't figured about the possibility of attending a wedding in Thailand, which was what we have just spent the last ten days doing. Not ...

Straight or Bent ? - The Real Me In the sort of coincidence that can sometimes render one slightly frustrated, most of the television work that I've done this year, is now being shown on television simultaneously. Hence if you’re particularly devoted to a little touch of Clayton in your night,  you have been able to catch me early evening on Thursday in the Channel 4 soap “Hollyoaks” or later on BBC 3 in the remarkably good “HIm and Her”, the channel's highest rating sitcom. Graham watches Paul sign the register at the wedding from Hell - Him and Her There may be some avid devotees, having watched both, who think this has proved an admirable opportunity for me to show my range. In  “Him and Her” I play Graham, a sensitive and softly spoken counsellor who's been having an affair with Paul, the aggressive and slightly simple boyfriend of Laura. Through Paul’s relationship with Graham we manage to see a new side of him. In Uniform - Hollyoaks In my ...

Where you bleeding from?  I think as one gets older one should always try and have new experiences. New sensations and new adventures to help invigorate one and keep one alive and the adrenaline pumping. Having said this, last Sunday morning I had a new experience I could happily have done without. At the age of 56 years of age I had my first nosebleed. It’s a long time since I’ve seen so much of my own blood, and fresh and glistening on the bathroom floor it looked very very red. A second nosebleed on the Monday, plus an overnight emission (Careful!), that did our 300 thread count Egyptian cotton frette pillows absolutely no good at all, meant that it was time to pop along to the GP. Easier said than done. I don't know whether it’s the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who that has taken me back in time, but I have happy memories of walking up to the doctor's surgery with my mother at surgery time and sitting in the waiting room, to be seen in order of arrival. An or...

Dear Reader, Dear Reader, We have just spent the weekend in Devon. Richard's parents are downsizing from the large family house they retired to fifteen years ago to his late grandma's rather bijou two bedroom flat down by the seaside. It's a good move, but it's cruel as it entails throwing away lots of possessions and boxes of stuff that they have accumulated over the years. Several boxes of Richard's stuff were moved with his parents and have spent fifteen years in the loft. His life has not been the poorer without them, and yet, it was important that he had the chance to look through them before they were consigned to a tip. I know how difficult this process is from emptying my mums house last year when we sold it, and so just as he was there to support me, here am I to say the words " Bin it" quietly, but firmly in his ear. What I wasn't expecting was to be touched by anything that he found myself. Yes, it was great to see p...

In the corporate work that I do, I suppose there’s a lot teaching involved. Bringing people into contact with techniques and principles that hitherto they’ve not thought about, and enabling them to use them to make their own skills more effective. I don't ever think of myself as a teacher. My vision of teachers is somewhat impaired by a collection of rather uninspiring tweedy sports jackets, dubious beards, and in several cases an affliction to the state of bachelor that made us all wonder just what closet door they were trying to beat down. In many cases I’m sure that I do teach. Yesterday I spent the day at The Actors Centre showing the skills involved in doing corporate role-play with a group of enthusiastic members of all ages. Indeed I would hope that my book “teaches” in some respects, but I would hope that its wisdom is imparted through experience and anecdote, rather than some dull learning by rote system.  I know that’s how I learnt whatever minimal technique I ha...

Never go back. We've just had the joy of a little three night break out in Portugal. I'd been out there directing the McDonald's uk AGM and then Rich flew out on the Wednesday to spend the rest of the week with me. We moved to a hotel in Faro which had a rooftop pool and that was all we needed. Sun loungers, kindles, good books, and the sun. Faro is not the most exciting place being the town near the airport from where everyone scurries off to the resorts on the Algarve. Indeed from our hotel, a mere ten minutes drive from the airport, we could see the end of the runway. No problem. We chilled. One thing we do love on holiday is an nice evening meal. Preferably outdoors so I can smoke, and good food. We weren't given that many options in Faro. The first evening was my mistake. A little restaurant in a square in the dark. Richard's meat kebab ( he's not a pescatarian) arrived garnished with prawns. For a boy who can't be in the same room as a can of t...