I was saddened to hear recently of the death of actor and voiceover artist Stephen Hope-Wynne at the far too young age of 63.
Stephen's career took in many highlights, but it was of course his role as part of the cast of Parallel 9 that led me to speak to him for my series of retrospective pieces about the programme in 2022. Everyone I interviewed was very generous with their time and dredging memories of a long-forgotten gig from decades prevously, but I was struck by just how enthusiastic and helpful Stephen was to my mad endeavour to write a history of the programme. His involvement in series 2 also provided the impetus for me to carry on beyond my initial aim of writing about the first year of the programme.
Stephen played the character of The Tope, a crystalline life support computer for the prison planet that sat strikingly in the middle of the planet set surrounded by a pool of water. Not a part of the cast at the outset, Hope-Wynne joined the programme in week 4 when as part of changes to the format it was decided to give the Tope a voice. Initially these announcements were fairly perfunctory but within weeks Hope-Wynne was given much more involvement in the storylines, and indeed injected great personality into what could have been played as a very straight role. The Tope's slightly neurotic, jealous persona provided many laugh out loud moments, as well as picking up the pace of the programme by acting as a continuity announcer between items.
The Tope was the only character carried over to the vastly revamped series 2, and Hope-Wynne took the opportunity to move in front of the camera too playing a number of one-off guest roles that the new format allowed for. Hope-Wynne did not return for the third series as he decided to pursue other opportunities - a decision he told me he later regretted.
Over the course of our email exchange his memories extended way beyond his time on the programme and were impossible to accomodate in what had already become a very lengthy piece. By way of tribute I'd like to present some of Stephen's previously unpublished very thoughtful writing about his earlier life and fascination with TV.
I wonder and realise it is strangely important to understand how watching TV and listening to broadcast material as a child affects one so deeply. A potent influence of watching black and white TV programmes that painted-in definition while staying in a modest single bedroom bungalow of my elderly, Scottish 'nan' kept my one day at a time hopes up by forming a unknown aspiration that I imagined, for many of the TV generation, might later crystallise as a good thing.
It all merges a bit now into tuxedo clad Royal Variety performances from the Palladium featuring Jimmy Tarbuck, Bruce Forsyth, Fanny Craddock cookery, Bill and Ben the flowerpot men, The Sky At Night (as a special treat), Andy Pandy, even the Black and White Minstrel Show. At about age 10 I discovered Monty Python's Flying Circus, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Q. The Goodies passed me by as MASH took over.
All the 'entertainment' lavished upon our generation derived from a post-war means, important to maintain nationhood and morale, 'The Gang Show', 'DIck Emery', 'Erick Sykes' , 'The Two Ronnies', 'Blue Peter' had evolved to become 'our' culture. In the mid to late 80's the TV Personalities, establishers of British Entertainment, faced an unexpected and aggressive challenge - new wave comedy. 'Tiswas' led the charge with the phalanx of 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' and eventually 'Fry & Laurie' , ''The Young Ones' & 'Blackadder'.
Time, punctuated by events that cause us anxiety, seems to weave in the messages that we receive as a children and thereafter myself as a teenager and struggling would-be adult: A phenomenon called Spitting Image influenced how I listened and absorbed British culture.
1990 to 1991: A recession had impacted. On 16th September 1992 Black Wednesday struck the UK hard. Overnight a 16% interest rate hike onto all UK mortgages which lasted at least a year compounding an era of exhausted British-wide morale thinly coated after the Falklands war to late 80's buy-your-council-property boom era. Sterling had been overvalued hence came short shrift.
Although many did not understand it from an economic and academic perspective there was an immense feeling as depression of having been let down by our colleagues in Germany. UK was referred to as a 'floating rust-bucket'. I received stilted welcomes on Amsterdam and Hamburg commercials sets as 'here comes the Funny-Brit actor'. "We are you British so funny" sensing sleeve-sniggers from the commissioning clients much to the embarrassment of the production and ad-agency creatives who would translate the comments into a feigned, diplomatic respect for British actors, writers and the entire British culture. Thankfully, we enjoyed their welcoming company and did the job well.
Early career struggling actors, my wife and I had just married and bought our first flat in Brighton and it had problems. Luckily, I was breaking into TV commercials and voice-over with impersonations and crazy characters and thank's to help getting into the agent books of Noel Gay Artists. Through the back door I was privileged to pick crumbs as I sat on a low stool at a table of great talents including Chris Barrie, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Harry Enfield, Sophie Thompson and Rowan Atkinson.
You can still read the full story of how Stephen became involved in Parallel 9 elsewhere on this blog, and in particular I'm very grateful for his detailed memories on how the programme would come together. In tribute though like to highlight though a few of his finest moments on the programme.
I was a bit green with that kind of TV style but soon leapt at it with vigour yet learned to keep my head down naturally as I was not a lead character.
Finally he mused on what some of the reactions to the show may have been:
Now I have children of my own who have grown up and I wonder if they might have liked P9. It sort of jumped their generation sadly....I was told that clubbers would stay up to watch P9 after clubbing only to be superseded thereafter by Teletubbies.
I also mentioned to Stephen how at age 8 I'd been fascinated by his character, and my sister and I had even tried to recreate the title sequence using some furniture pushed together as a rudimentary Tope and the theme tune playing from cassette, which he described as "feeling really touched and chuffed about". Finally he mentioned another element of his life:
Times have changed: 911, Iraq 2 and Afghanistan. I have retired from a 19 year military career which ran concurrent with my acting and voice-over career which I still do when the economy allows.
I hope we all meet at some point.
0 comments:
Post a Comment