Post by Jen on Jun 6, 2010 14:34:59 GMT -5
**Ian talks about playing Beryl in "Clash of the Santas"**
Ian Puleston Davies teams up with TV favourites Robson Green and Mark Benton in Clash of the Santas on ITV, a comic romp about a Santa Claus competition in Lithuania.
Flint-born Ian plays over-the top Welsh entrant Beryl. “Why he’s called Beryl , heaven knows. It’s a wimpy name, but my Beryl is no wimp. He’s a hot-blooded male, flying the flag for Wales in more ways than one,” laughed Ian.
“It’s really funny, even the cast were giggling at the screening.”
Though a native of Flintshire, Ian struggled with the Welsh accent. “I had to concentrate. I’m Welsh, but without a strong accent. When I ‘do Welsh’ I tend to go more south Walian than north. My natural accent has more of a Scouse twang than anything.”
Ian, 50, has just moved to Hoole, Chester, with partner Sue and their daughter Maggie, two, after several years living in London. “It’s great to be back up here, it’s a much better place to bring up Maggie. Also a lot of my work is in Manchester, so it’s handy.”
Originally from a farming family, Ian went into acting straight from college.
As a teenager he was in the youth theatre at Mold’s Clwyd Theatr Cymru and later went to London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in the same era as Ruthin-born Rhys Ifans and James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
His early work was in theatre, doing rep for 10 years, before he joined Hollyoaks for a year. “TV is very different to stage work. Hollyoaks taught me a lot, it was a real apprenticeship,” he said.
He’s since appeared in Hustle, Life on Mars, Daziel and Pascoe, Silent Witness and this year with Kevin Whately in hard-hitting drama The Children. He also played Tess’ father in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Ubervilles.
While on our screens a lot in 2008, over the past couple of months he’s had no jobs in the pipeline. “Nothing is guaranteed in acting, but this was a bit of a wake up call. I’d no idea what I was going to do next until a week ago, when I got a part for new year.”
He will appear in the new series of Jimmy McGovern’s The Street.
A respected writer – Ian co-wrote award winning drama Dirty Filthy Love, about dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder – he is also working on two scripts, one about recovering alcoholics, the other about a transvestite Welsh farmer.
“I enjoy writing about the fringes of life, people who struggle. But they’re not all grim. it’s important to have laughs, even black times contain a spark of humour.”
Ian Puleston Davies teams up with TV favourites Robson Green and Mark Benton in Clash of the Santas on ITV, a comic romp about a Santa Claus competition in Lithuania.
Flint-born Ian plays over-the top Welsh entrant Beryl. “Why he’s called Beryl , heaven knows. It’s a wimpy name, but my Beryl is no wimp. He’s a hot-blooded male, flying the flag for Wales in more ways than one,” laughed Ian.
“It’s really funny, even the cast were giggling at the screening.”
Though a native of Flintshire, Ian struggled with the Welsh accent. “I had to concentrate. I’m Welsh, but without a strong accent. When I ‘do Welsh’ I tend to go more south Walian than north. My natural accent has more of a Scouse twang than anything.”
Ian, 50, has just moved to Hoole, Chester, with partner Sue and their daughter Maggie, two, after several years living in London. “It’s great to be back up here, it’s a much better place to bring up Maggie. Also a lot of my work is in Manchester, so it’s handy.”
Originally from a farming family, Ian went into acting straight from college.
As a teenager he was in the youth theatre at Mold’s Clwyd Theatr Cymru and later went to London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in the same era as Ruthin-born Rhys Ifans and James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
His early work was in theatre, doing rep for 10 years, before he joined Hollyoaks for a year. “TV is very different to stage work. Hollyoaks taught me a lot, it was a real apprenticeship,” he said.
He’s since appeared in Hustle, Life on Mars, Daziel and Pascoe, Silent Witness and this year with Kevin Whately in hard-hitting drama The Children. He also played Tess’ father in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Ubervilles.
While on our screens a lot in 2008, over the past couple of months he’s had no jobs in the pipeline. “Nothing is guaranteed in acting, but this was a bit of a wake up call. I’d no idea what I was going to do next until a week ago, when I got a part for new year.”
He will appear in the new series of Jimmy McGovern’s The Street.
A respected writer – Ian co-wrote award winning drama Dirty Filthy Love, about dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder – he is also working on two scripts, one about recovering alcoholics, the other about a transvestite Welsh farmer.
“I enjoy writing about the fringes of life, people who struggle. But they’re not all grim. it’s important to have laughs, even black times contain a spark of humour.”
