Interviews - The Cast of Radio Active

After reviewing their reactivated theatre show, Barnaby Eaton-Jones asked some questions to the cast of Radio Active: Helen Atkinson Wood, Angus Deayton, Michael Fenton Stevens and Philip Pope...



Read Barnaby's review of Radio Active's recent theatre production here.





1. HELEN ATKINSON WOOD



Barnaby Eaton-Jones (BEJ): Helen, hello! I was talking to Jo Kendall a while back, who was the only female performer in 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again' (another classic BBC Radio comedy series), and she was saying how she had to often fight to be heard or get her material recognised, etc. That was in the 1960s. By the 1980s, was it easier to stand on a level footing in the industry?



Helen Atkinson Wood (HAW): As the only female in the cast of “Radio Active” I’ve never had to “fight to be heard”. Ours is a very liberal company where the writers - Angus Deayton and the late Geoffrey Perkins - consider the strengths of the cast.



The very first live TV show I took part in and fronted with Chris Tarrant, alongside Alexei Sayle and Lenny Henry, “OTT” (Over The Top), was a different story; where I was voicing my feminist principles loud and clear. This was the show that featured naked women wrestling in mud, if you remember?



The Industry has evolved into a much more level playing field, if only to reflect the way women in the Western world are now listened to.



BEJ: How did you get involved in the original Oxford Revue that you took to Edinburgh? Had you always had the desire to perform or was it something you felt was a bit of fun until you realised you could make a career out of it?



HAW: In my first term at Oxford, where I was studying Fine Art, I was funnily enough taking part in a feminist play “The Female Persons Play” by Marcia Kahan (which also went to Edinburgh with the Oxford Theatre Group). Richard Curtis saw me in the play and asked if I’d like to do a Revue (again as the only woman) alongside musical maestro Howard Goodall and Rowan Atkinson.



I chose Oxford in the hope of making my career as an actress. Now I pinch myself, to have made a profession out of having such fun.



BEJ: Inevitably, people also know you as Mrs. Miggins (the owner of the Pie Shop) in 'Blackadder II'. As Richard Curtis wrote for the original Radio Active show, did he suggest you for the role or was it something you auditioned for? Did she come off the page as a fully-formed character or did you work at developing the role? I was always impressed at how you stole every scene you were in because it was such a beautifully grotesque comedy character.



HAW: I have Richard Curtis to thank again for creating the character which I am probably best known for, Mrs Miggins. Along with Ben Elton (who I met in a cupboard in Edinburgh during a game of Sardines!). They both knew about my non-nonsense Northern roots and love of cakes and pies; so Mrs Miggins was created very much with me in mind.



BEJ: Helen, thank you very much for your time.

2. ANGUS DEAYTON



Barnaby Eaton-Jones (BEJ): Angus, hello! Having recently adapted a classic BBC Radio show for stage myself, how difficult did you find it to get a structure that worked for ‘Radio Active’ and keep as many gags as possible? Were there any great sketches that you wanted to use but just couldn't squeeze in?



Angus Deayton (AD): Given Geoffrey and I wrote some 53 scripts for ‘Radio Active’ and 18 for KYTV (same jokes, different order), it was more a question of what to leave out. For our first revival stage tour 3 years ago, I opted for one specific show, the live dramatisation of a Dickensian novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, and one generic “mop up” show, Did You Catch It?, of the sort we’d write at the end of each radio series to crowbar in anything we hadn’t used yet. For this next stage show, it’s the amalgamation of two specific shows: our Bye Election Special and our parody of an old Radio 4 show Down Your Way, entitled Round Your Parts. Plus selected jingles, links and adverts from the other 67 programmes!



BEJ: You've said in interviews that Mike Channel is really the persona you've adopted for later presenting roles as yourself, which is brilliantly post-modern! Did you find yourself pigeon-holed as being the dependable 'anchor' for shows (even with Radio Active) and was it a relief when you could do something like 'One Foot In The Grave' where the onus of focus isn't all on you?



AD: It’s difficult say whether Mike Channel was basically an invented character with elements of me, or basically me with elements of an invented character. Certainly when hosting shows as myself, it helped to fall back on an attitude or voice that I knew had worked in sketch-land. And yes, it was a relief working on One Foot as it was the first show where if something was working, it wasn’t my or Geoffrey’s job to fix it. Certainly as a result I remember regarding it at the time as play rather than work.



BEJ: You have become known for such a quick wit and specifically pointed delivery that I think - with work like the Hee Bee Gee Bees - your wider talent is often overlooked. Would you have loved to have carried on with the musical parodies and is there any role you've wanted to do that you'd think would surprise the public's perception of you?



AD: That’s kind, but I’m not sure my music talent warranted any greater exposure ! In the Hee Bee Gee Bees I was only ever really responsible for BV’s and left the proper singing to Philip and Mike. Looking back, I think I’ve done a pretty wide variety of comedy acting – sketch shows, sitcoms, comedy dramas, the odd film – and even the most serious show, Waterloo Road, I remember rewriting scenes to funny them up, so I’m not sure I’ve ever really had that desire to be a serious thesp.



BEJ: Angus, thank you so much.

3. MICHAEL FENTON STEVENS



Barnaby Eaton-Jones (BEJ): Mike, hello! Sometimes, when creating characters, actors hit upon something that strikes a chord with the audience - in your case, that has to be Martin Brown. Was he based on anyone you knew or just grew out of the script?



Michael Fenton Stevens (MFS): Martin came from someone that Geoffrey Perkins heard on late night radio in Birmingham who was so nervous that he was unable to cut off a caller talking about his veg patch, even when they were ten minutes late for the on the hour news. Geoffrey wanted to play the part but the producer suggested I play him and he was only intended to be a character for one episode. The show went so well that Geoffrey and Angus decided to keep him on as a very cheap employee of the station. The character developed over time and morphed a bit more in to me, but was always very popular.



BEJ: It's clear you have a whale of a time with Angus and Philip, singing as the Hee Bee Gee Bees. Have you had a particular 'rock star' moment that you suddenly felt a little less comedy performer and a little more singing sensation?!



MFS: In Australia we had quite a number! We were always turning up at huge gigs and being treated like Rock stars but we always knew it was a joke. We sang at a huge stadium in Melbourne for Live Aid and, because we were an overseas band, they put us almost at the top of the bill, ahead of bands like INXS, Crowded House and Men at Work. It was ridiculous.



The time I remember the absurdity really coming home to me was when we turned up at a concert in a limo and a huge crowd of screaming teenagers ran towards the car. When we got out they just looked disappointed and turned away.



We were once given a full fashion parade at a night club in Brisbane but I’m sure they thought we actually were the Bee Gees!



My best moment though was when we all got to sing “Feed the World” with Bob Geldof and Midge Ure at the first Comic Relief live show. I entered behind Kate Bush and as we were waiting to go on for the chorus she turned to me and said “Isn’t it exciting?”. I thought that was lovely; that she was still excited by such things after everything she had done.



BEJ: The thing that always comes across with your good self, is the sheer enjoyment you have when performing. Was that always the case or did you start of as a bit of a nervous Martin Brown?



MFS: Underneath I am usually nervous but I cover it with exuberance. I always enjoy it when I’m actually on and I’m relaxed once I get in front of an audience. I enjoy the unpredictability of stage work most, actually. But I think a review I got for a play I did in my very young days sums it up. “What Michael Fenton Stevens lacks in ability he makes up for with effort and energy” it said. And I think that is probably very accurate.



BEJ: Thank you so much for that, Mike.

4. PHILIP POPE



Barnaby Eaton-Jones (BEJ): Philip, helloooo! When the Hee Bee Gee Bees struck big in the 1980s, and the album consisted of so many perfect parodies of big bands of the time, did you ever get any feedback or comments from some of those you were sending up?



Philip Pope (PP): With the release of the first single we understood from our publisher that the Bee Gees or possibly their management (Robert Stigwood - a big cheese at the time!) had employed a musicologist to look into whether there was any copyright infringement of their songs. I suppose that was a sort of artist feedback. Thankfully the expert found nothing actionable!



We appeared on a few popular television shows at the time, such as ‘Tiswas’, and came across one or two of the bands we were sending up. The Police seemed to take it in good heart, and later we performed in a show called ‘Rebellious Jukebox’, written by Angus (Deayton) & Geoffrey (Perkins) and directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme from 10cc who shared the same management, so we met Sting. He was very complimentary and said he always knew we would make it.



We heard that Paul McCartney had responded to our 'tribute' by saying “I am just an ordinary guy with a farm for each foot” or words to that effect. We later learnt that it was made up by our management. It's not always the artists you see - the management have a lot to answer for!



When we played the Pink Galah club in Perth, Australia, our road manager introduced me to Joe Walsh. I had been a big fan of his even before he joined The Eagles. We did an Eagles 'parody' in our show so I was a bit nervous as to what his reaction would be. "I dig your shit", he said. I didn't quite know how to answer - I think I replied, "Oh I dig yours too!"



BEJ: The jingles for ‘Radio Active’ are inspired. Did you have to listen to far too many local radio stations to get the style and flavour of them, as well as knowing how to skewer them whilst sounding realistic? Was there any song idea you couldn't use for Radio Active that you really wanted to?



PP: The jingles for ‘Radio Active’ and ‘KYTV’ were generally a team effort with Angus and/or Geoffrey initiating the ideas and lyrics and I would arrange them, with Mike and I doing most of the singing, but we all took part. We were listening to a lot of local radio, Capital Radio was fairly new so it was in our consciousness - like the bands and songs it all went in... I can't think of anything specific that we couldn't do. If it was funny, and the band was known, it went in. We had really wanted to do a Pink Floyd song and got some way into writing one but it never quite happened. It wasn't anything litigious, it was probably that their music was quite epic and slow, so it would have taken too long to get to a joke. Or maybe we just held them in too much respect!



BEJ: I think many people would be genuinely amazed at how many tunes of yours they know (theme tunes, novelty records, etc). Your output is amazingly prolific and I wonder whether it was something that came naturally when you were younger or you had to work out finding the hooks into the songs you write? The ability to write a catchy song is a rare one and I'm always impressed with your ability to seemingly pluck them out of thin air!



PP: Thank you! Writing tunes has always come naturally to me even from a young age. I guess you could call it a gift - or a curse! When it came to writing 'parody' songs I preferred not to take an existing tune and change the words (although the Barron Knights were probably one of my earliest memories of 'comedy' records - along with Peter Sellers and co.!) but to come up with a song that the artist could have written. So it meant trying to get a flavour of the most popular songs in their repertoire and blending those elements. Sometimes this would just come freely, other times it required more work, although I never sat down and analysed other people's songs. I just hope I'll be able to write a good tune. I met Chris Moyles (former BBC Radio 1 DJ and now Radio X anchor) not so long ago, and he said that my theme for Ben Elton’s ‘The Man From Auntie’ was his favourite signature tune ever - still, after all this time, so I was quite chuffed!



BEJ: Ahhh, mine is ‘Whose Line Is It, Anyway?’ – from the Channel 4 improvisation show. Philip, thank you so much for your time!





You can tune in to Radio Active again at the upcoming Edinburgh Festival, where they’ll be taking over the airwaves of the Gilded Balloon venue with a COMPLETELY NEW SHOW from August 7th to August 24th. I urge you to see them, for fear they’ll shut the station down after this – their second – tour. It’s the 40th anniversary of them performing it on stage in Edinburgh with the Oxford Revue, so they have reason to celebrate and you can laugh with them at the passing of time.



Tickets: https://gildedballoon.co.uk/programme/radio-active-the-40th-anniversary-show/