Double acts

YOU could say “like father, like daughter” when it comes to Dennis and Hannah Waterman. Both are well-known actors – although only the younger branch of the family would contemplate acting in a TV soap – but the similarities between the two only became clear to Hannah when she starred alongside her father in the popular BBC1 series New Tricks.

The two, playing father and daughter for the third time in the series, will be seen in the autumn as New Tricks returns with Sunderland-born James Bolam, County Durham’s Alun Armstrong and Amanda Redman.

But first, Hannah has the doubly-challenging task of launching Ian Dickens Production’s summer rep season by starring in the first two of the four plays.

Rattle Of A Simple Man is a Sixties classic while the second drama, Killing Time, links her back to dad. “I saw him star with Glynis Barber in this in 1997 in Windsor before they toured it for about 16 weeks. So it’s quite strange with both of us having done the same play. Like father, like daughter does seem to have followed me around in our careers,” she says.

Hannah agreed to take on two starring roles after reading the script for Rattle Of A Simple Man and realising both roles featured women with secrets to hide.

“Then, the added bonus was that Huw Higginson (from ITV1’s The Bill) was also on board and I’d worked with him before on EastEnders about eight years ago for 13 episodes. I thought he was great and we’d have a laugh on the road together.

“The two female characters I play are completely different and that’s a real advantage for me. I also like the fact that both of them say things that they don’t mean... in other words they both lie, which is like being an actor,”

she jokes.

Hannah has never played Darlington Civic Theatre before, and finds that surprising having featured in the long-touring Vagina Monologues many times.

“They used to say you’re not a bone fide actor until you’ve been in The Bill, and I think it’s possible you’re not a bone fide actress until you’ve been in the Vagina Monologues. Pretty much everyone and her dog has done it,” she says.

On the subject of new tricks she agrees that a lot of success is down to a certain older actor she knows quite well, but Hannah adds: “There are a few other slightly older actors in there, bless ‘em. I think their combined ages is about 786, but they’re all great. We’ve just finished off the new series, although when it will be shown has not been confirmed yet. They’ve crowbarred me into another couple of episodes which is always nice. There’s a sort of continuity to my character and it’s very much like old-school drama that the TV doesn’t make much of these days.

“When I started out you used to be able to earn a living guesting on shows like that.

Every time they ask me back I jump at the chance.”

She expresses pride in the fact that her father has been part of three of the UK’s most loved TV series, The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks.

“These massive series don’t come along every day, but the fact he’s done three iconic TV shows is amazing. Initially appearing as a daughter playing his screen daughter was pretty frightening. He was terrified that people would think I wasn’t up to it, but when it worked out and they continued to write me in he was delighted. I’ve done five or six episodes and when we act together now we both notice how similarly we work which, initially, we didn’t take on board.

Now we’re more relaxed it’s been nice to see we do approach the job in a similar fashion and a lot of the funny stuff does comes out of the cast taking the mickey out of each other and improvising,” explains Hannah.

“They’re so generous to me that when I only had three lines Amanda Redman would give me some of hers. They totally indulge me and look after me and I love them. Alun Armstrong is the naughtiest person I’ve ever been on set with in my life,” she laughs.

One disagreement between father and daughter was her decision to join EastEnders. “His dislike of soaps is welldocumented, he’s a dyed-in-thewool snob, but one of the plus points is that I met my husband on the set,” says the actress who married Ricky Groves in 2006.

She was killed off as Ian Beale’s wife, Laura, in 2004. Groves is shooting his last scenes as hopeless mechanic Garry Hobbs on June 17.

“I’ll be on the road for the whole of this month and he’ll be at home with our dogs. I don’t think he’ll be at home for long because there are lots of things bubbling along the pipeline. He’d been in EastEnders an awfully long time (since 2000) and he thought it was time for a change because he’d been there virtually since he left drama school. He’s not a onedimensional actor so I think it’s going to be an interesting experience for him.”

■ The tenth Anniversary Summer Rep Season at Darlington Civic Theatre opens with Rattle Of A Simple Man, June 9-13, and then runs Killing Time, June 16-20. Both star Hannah Waterman and Huw Higginson. Box Office: 01325-486-555