View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. We worked on it ten years and think thats enough, he said. But here we are discussing yup, youve guessed it, the return of Lewis for an eighth series. Jace: And what is your fondest memory of John Thaw? Jace: Why do you think the popularity of Lewis, Morse and Endeavour continues to endure? Me, not so much. Jace: It does beg the question, because he is so infamous for his running gags, what was his gag with you? The profits from the sale of her home have paid for the 1,000 weekly costs of the current home, he says, while expressing sympathy for families who do not have that option. Download and subscribe on: iTunes | Stitcher| RadioPublic. My agent had sent me to a library to to read one of Colin Dexters books, and the Lewis character was this 60 year old detective who ate egg and chips. If I can remember back that far, we that was the only film, The Dead of Jericho where we we actually used a studio, which was unusual for me. 'I'd go as far as to say Madelaine and I love a good row, a vigorous difference of opinion - it helps clear the air!'. The former Morse star admits to being 'very fortunate', having been with actress wife Madelaine Newton for 29 years. He bumped into an American tourist down in Mexico about 3 years ago, who said, Oh, what a fine actor that Donald Whately is, and this tickled Laurence, so from then on I was Donald, and (laughs) he was delighted with that. Ive just been dead lucky. I know you should never say never, but I dont think Ill be appearing as Lewis again, he said at the time. "This is about my mum, not about me; it is her that has suffered. It established him as British television's most bankable actor, and during the 1990s he had many other starring vehicles. At 70 years old, Kevin Whately height is 180 cm . How? Six years after the Inspector's fictional end and four since the tragic death of John Thaw from cancer, Sergeant Lewis has been promoted to Detective Inspector - and Kevin Whately promoted to his own series, Lewis. We were back on the moving train.. 'He ran between two cars that were parked on the side of the road. Laurence and I see each other regularly now and talk on the phone, and its never goodbye, so in that way its not a sad occasion at all, I dont think. Awards include C.B.E., a B.A.F.T.A Fellowship and in 1998 a Special Recognition Award. Kevin: I think that was exactly it. Well, actually Ive been a lot of a fool. I suppose it might have ended if Laurence had got a job in America but he didnt go in the end because his wife Billie Piper won a role at the National Theatre so they all stayed at home.. I'm getting to the point where I have done it now. But the reservations I had about spinning the the Lewis character off were just that he was very much just a counterpoint to Morse, and I didnt think it would work as a character on its own, or as a leading character. Kevin: Yikes. Kathy Tu is our editor. Kevin: Yeah. "We'll have to get her in a Lewis episode as some academic or other.". I was always very shy and felt completely at home on stage. But, by the end he was back more like his old self. Jace: How much of a formative moment was the hit and run death of his wife, Valerie? Jace: Now, looking back at the pilot, what was it like to film the first episode of Lewis, which was filled with so many winks at Morse? Try as he might, Kevin Whately cant escape from Inspector Robert Lewis. Oscar Cainer tells all, How to dress like a grown up: Trust me, loose fit can be flattering, says Shane Watson, Anti-agers no one but you needs to know about,Inge Van Lotringen tells all. He smiles. Now, she is settled and calm, although she understands little of what goes on around her. I was about seventeen or eighteen and I thought I'd have to survive for twenty years before I started making a living. Actor Kevin Whately has spoken about his decision to take a break from the popular ITV series Lewis, Sign up for free to get the latest Northumberland news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. 'The writer, Lucy Gannon, has the knack of writing about subjects that people are talking about, in this case the pain inflicted on children when parents break up. We really have finished. An executive on Morsetook me out to lunch, said if you do one and its a failure, we will leave you alone. Remains of baby found in search for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's newborn child, Met Police say, A police detective announced the news on Wednesday evening and assured the public 'we will do everything we possibly can to establish what has happened. Oscar Cainer tells all. I still remember going to a smart restaurant in Los Angeles and the maitre d knew my name and showed me straight to a table even though we hadnt booked. New kid on the block: Lewis and his new sidekick James Hathaway, played by Laurence Fox. But the new series focuses more on Lewis and his sidekick Hathaway, but inevitably refers to one of Britain's most cherished characters. - IMDb Mini Biography By: All the stories, all the various locations and the different actors and it all ends with a dead human being in the morgue. Maureen who played my wife originally had been at drama school with me, so we were old friends. Inspector Morse was John Thaws show and Kevin talked fondly of the actor, who died from throat cancer in 2002. Whately had worked with him since 1987, making 32 episodes across 14 years. "I keep thinking 'Bloody hell, how did John do it'," Whately says. The Lewis actor believes a lack of. He said: He insisted we share a dressing room. Theres a kind of gentle ending of sorts. Kevin Whately: (Laughs) They do, and I dont. It took off like a moving train and I didnt have a leg to stand on.. Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking and Raymond James, with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The Masterpiece Trust, created to help ensure the series' future. And luckily it worked out. In another episode from 2012, the Starsky And Hutch star appeared as Paul Yelland, a visiting academic found hanged after giving a controversial talk at the university. O design da Getty Images uma marca comercial da Getty Images. I like classical music and the poetry of A.E. Kevin: I would always miss it, but I live quite near it 30 miles away so I get to go over there quite regularly. You had a drink, someone might drop by and offer you a voiceover. Couple find note in chimney that reveals their 290,000 house was 100 times cheaper 50 years ago. In 1980 he met his wife when they were performing in a production of 'A Nightingale in Berkley Square'. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Kevin: I think he was afraid of being put on the scrap heap, that if he went he would never get back into the job; they would never use him as a consultant again, which they probably wouldnt actually, but he obviously came to realize that the relationship with Laura was much more important. So thats my main memory of that, because it wasnt the last scene we shot obviously; it was in the middle of the shoot so after that we sort of celebrated and and sent it up a bit. Now married to Lord Freddie Windsor and best known as Peep Shows Big Suze, Sophie starred in the 2006 pilot of Lewis as Regan Peverill, an American maths student found shot dead while participating in a sleep study. But away from the hit ITV series, it looks like the pair are really the best of pals. And actors tend to be very gung-ho and foolish, so when they were setting that up, were very aware as well that special effects boys, we call them special defects, tend to overpower these explosions, make them much bigger than theyre meant to be, and thats what happened (laughs) in that shot. She died of stomach cancer in 1974. But less important than is used to be. Some 35 years after her supposed suicide, Joanna Lumleys character, 60s rock chick Esme Ford, returns to Oxford to try and reunite her band. I was just very attracted to her. Probably time to go and do something else.. Supposing he had just retired and gone to live in Lyme Regis. Why? But when I got to the the audition John was there with his amazing blue, gimlet eyes staring across the room at me, watching me, and not saying much. Kevin: I think hes pretty much the same character. He does end up with a new wife, with a new chapter to his life, and I thought that was a fitting way to distinguish the ending as being different from that of Morse. Emily, the stepdaughter of Kevin's headteacher character, Cameron Miller, is found dead with a head injury in the garden of the family home, and much of Lucy Gannon's drama concerns who might have killed the little girl, and why. Jace: And even though Kevin Whately promises the eighth season is Lewis last, we cant help but wonder: is this ACTUALLY the end of Robbie Lewis? Whately urges ministers to "bite the bullet" and increase the funds for Alzheimer's care and scientific studies, which attracts just 3 per cent of the Government funding given to cancer research. John Thaw was a quiet, private man. Jace: Its a brilliant call back to the pilot episode that Hathaway turns up to drive Robbie and Laura to the airport, complete with his Lewis sign and . The actor has - on and. Chris Pleasance explains how Do not sell or share my personal information. Mariella Frostrup: I was widely mocked for putting sex with my husband in the diary. "Actors were huge boozers, John included. "I would never have taken the series if she had not supported it," he says. Ever modest, he denied the quality of his acting might also be responsible for the series popularity. However, you have to make such scenes look convincing. I think Anthony Minghella and the powers that be on the first few films Anthony wrote The Bible for it and he realized, John Thaw always looked much older than his age. What else do you want to do? As a joke I said Id like to be a business tycoon and within two days I was training to be an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers., He worked at the accountancy firm for nearly four years while spending his nights with the amateur Peoples Theatre in Newcastle. 'I console myself with the thought that she realised acting was a silly way to earn a living a long time ago and probably wouldn't have wanted to do a great deal more than she has done! [3], She has appeared alongside her husband several times: in the Inspector Morse episode "Masonic Mysteries" as Beryl Newsome - the love-interest of Morse - whom Morse was wrongly suspected of murdering;[4] as his on-screen wife in the 1988 Look and Read children's serial, Geordie Racer;[5] in the Alan Plater drama Joe Maddison's War, playing Jenny Barlow; and the love interest of Dennis Patterson (Tim Healy) in the second series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.[6][7]. In the pilot episode, Morse's ghost was everywhere - his car, his old case notes, even references to his secret first name, Endeavour (A Quaker virtue name). During the progression of Alzheimer's disease, plaques of protein start to form around bran cells. Kevin Whately is no exception. His father, John, was a long distance lorry driver. His marriage to actress Sheila Hancock was generally regarded as one of the strongest in showbusiness. Over the last 30 years hes rarely been off our screens, starring in the likes of Peak Practice, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Joe Maddisons War, which was written specifically for him. According to Kevin, Laurence is about as far removed from his former Morse buddy John Thaw - who died from cancer in 2002 aged just 60 - as it's possible to get. Having made his name playing fresh-faced characters - from Geordie bricklayer Neville Hope in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet to Sergeant Robbie Lewis in Inspector Morse - Whately is back on our screens as a lead character with emotional baggage. Thaw was a fan of classical music ever since he was a young man. It was the start of their careers - Geordies Tim Healy, Jimmy Nail and Kevin Whately joined Timothy Spall, Gary Holton, Pat Roach and Christopher Fairbank to play Dennis, Oz, Neville, Barry, Wayne . I realise that I'm one of the lucky ones. "They were working together recently I think," is all Whately will say, tactfully. Michael Gambon: I was terrified at the beginning when I read it, and I met the director because its a, you know, its a famous role, isnt it? So in that sense we are not always together. Thanks to you Chris, I learnt that Kevin Whately started his early working life, as a folk singer. Kevin Whately Birth Name: Kevin George Edward Whately Occupation: TV Actor Born In: Humshaugh, Hexham, Northumberland, England, UK Birthdate: February 6, 1951 Age: 72 years old (as of 2023) Ethnicity: White Nationality: British Sexuality: Straight Kevin Whately was born on the 6th of February, 1951. After. In a couple of years ITV would have said, 'Do one more and we'll set it in Lyme Regis', and trouble is I probably would have been tempted. Sponsors forMASTERPIECEon PBS are Viking River Cruises, Audible, and TheMASTERPIECETrust. 'Geraldine Somerville, who plays Sue, had a tiny baby at the time and the very last thing she wanted to do was a sex scene.'. Sheila and I have had our ups and downs. My career has always been important to me and still is. 'And, in this case, I was working with actresses who had reason to be anxious. Very shy man, but he told stories like an Irish storyteller, and he would have you howling with laughter, and he was just great, great company you know, and a very loyal friend, and great to work with. He then moved into television. Kevin agreed but only because he didnt think it would last. The hardest thing and Laurence and I both feel this is that the guest actors do all the acting, he says. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. When I saw him (Morse) dead I had a mental flashback of the fifteen years that we had been doing it. It's all reality TV, which as an actor I detest. Im pretty sure they wont spin Hathaway off; I hope theyll find something totally different for Laurence to do in his own series, but well see what happens. Jace: But Inspector Lewis did work and the show ended up running for five more seasons before it was rumored that the sixth season would mark Lewiss retirement from the screen. "He looked 40 when he was only 20. Sheila sometimes goes to the theatre with friends because I am working, and I go to things that would bore her. TIRED and a bit crumpled, but glowing with a very particular kind of joy - Kevin Whately has new grandparent written all over him. The executive producer ofMASTERPIECEis Rebecca Eaton. Kevin Whately in Lewis and his current co-star Laurence Fox. And I said to Clare, We should practice the kiss in the caravan, but she wasnt having any of that so. Indeed, we see Cameron cheating on his partner Sue with Polly, one of the teachers at his school. Some like it, NOT! Kevin has never discussed the allegation and neither has Amanda, who divorced director Sven Arnstein - her husband at the time - in 2004. Palm Springs residents sue to remove 25-foot Marilyn Monroe statue depicting her iconic My Daily Horoscope: What does 2nd March hold for MY star sign? They have two children. are kevin whately and laurence fox friendsNitro Acoustic. No. Kevin's wife, Madelaine Newton, has an extensive acting career of her own, starring in Grange Hill, Look and Read, and even Coronation Street. That's one reason why I'm happy to be doing a series. Hobson: No this is a social call, Im having a party. Anonymous, Other Works 'At one point Mum would decide: "Right I'm off home now", even though it might be 4 o'clock in the morning and she lived 300 miles away!'. "I know what John would have to say," Whately laughs. I am proud to have done it. My first wife was nothing to do with the profession and I think it was difficult for her to understand when I came home shattered at the end of a day's filming or rehearsing. who died from throat cancer in 2002. He first decided to leave the Lewis character in 1997 when he was the junior partner to Inspector Morse, played by John Thaw, and he was offered the lead role in a new show called The Brokers Man. He believes the worst period for the Whatelys came three years ago, when a constant state of confusion left Mary angry and bitter. 1984 In the play 'Pygmalion' with Peter O'Tole playing Doolittle. Taking Vitamin D each day could cut your chances of getting dementia, study claims. I was once told I wouldn't come into my own until I was in my forties - and it has been quite true. I had no idea. Lewis is brought back on a short contract because Hathaways not making a fist of it. 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