April
2004
Ralf: My kiss-and-tell hell! |
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| Ralf
Little |
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Ralf
Little - aka The Royle Family's Anthony - talks to BBC Radio Derby's
Shane O'Connor about lap dancers, stage fright and his obsession with
The Office. |
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First
things first: Have you had your dinner Anthony?
Ha
ha ha! No, not yet. I've only had some biscuits and tea. I'm starving!
What impact has the massive success of The Royle Family had on
your life?
Yeah. It was a crazy one at 17. Nobody
started clocking me till about two years after we'd finished the first
series. About five million people watched that first series on BBC
Two but only about five people ever recognised me! It was only after
the second series that people started recognising me.
Was it your first acting job?
No. I got my first job when I was 13. It was a BBC kids programme
called Sloggers, all about an Under-14 cricket team. It was so bad!
It was good for what it was but now it's quite embarassing. It was
with Jane Danson - Coronation Street's Leanne Battersby.
Did it feel weird when you first started getting recognised?
It was a bit crazy but I was very lucky because I'd done something
people liked and if anyone didn't like it, they didn't watch it -
so they didn't know who I was! The only time anyone ever saw me was
for positive feedback.
People moan about 'oh my privacy's been invaded' but so far no-one's
parked outside my doorstep and apart from the odd story getting sold
on me, I've had no problems.
Which story was that then?
It was a lapdancer! The thing is, it was true! Absolutely! In
fairness to me, I didn't know she was a lapdancer, I hadn't been to
a lapdance club or anything like that. She lied to me.
How can I put this delicately? Whilst I was 'busy' with her, I
found on the floor next to my knees, a business card for a reporter
at the Sunday People.
So I find this card while I'm literally still 'doing the business'
so I thought 'Oh, so this girl's obviously a story seller.'
And I'm so proud of myself because from that moment on, my thought
process went: 'well whatever happens now, I've done it'. So I flung
the business card over my shoulder and thought 'right, I'm going to
give her the night of her life!
I was like a marathon runner! I was tired but I pushed through the
pain barrier, climbing the walls!
Afterwards I said 'what's this about?' and she said 'I'm a lap dancer
and in the past I've sold stories after going to bed with stars.'
Turns out she'd sold stories on Robbie Williams and Declan Donnelly!
Well my first thought was 'well you've gone downmarket now - it'll
probably be someone off Big Brother next! She said 'I'm not going
to sell a story on you because I like you' but I thought 'I'm not
holding my breath!'
And sure enough, a short while later the story did come out and the
headline was: MY LITTLE RALF IS A BIG BOY IN BED! Let's just say I
got a rave review - and she looked good in the photo so I thought
'I've had a bit of a result here!'
Now you've been in a couple, do you find you watch sitcoms in a
different way?
The Royle Family's a tricky one because I didn't watch it for years
and only watched it again recently.
Now that a bit of time has passed, before I was always a bit modest
about its success but now I think 'well I didn't write or direct it'
so I don't think it's being bigheaded to look back with some objectivity
and say it was absolutely unbelievable.
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| Baby
David's christening |
I look
at the way it was constructed and can't believe I was involved - it
was phenomenal. It was as good as The Office but different. It was
the pre-cursor to it and Ricky Gervais himself has said that without
the Royle Family, there wouldn't have been The Office.
When I do watch a programme like The Office, from episode one rather
than thinking 'oh this is interesting' like a normal viewer would,
I'm looking at the way it's constructed like a writer. I understand
the way things are written and I just love the way it's put together
Actually, when The Office first came out, I got a pre-video because
I know the producer, Ash Attalla. I watched it thinking 'this is special'
and I became an Office freak!
If I had half an hour before I was going out, I would think 'ooh I've
not watched Episode 4 for a while' and stick it on. I knew all the
lines, it was embarassing!
Martin Freeman's my favourite actor in it. Ricky is great but without
Martin, it wouldn't be the show it is. He's the audience. I got frustrated
during the first series because Ricky and McKenzie were getting all
the praise and when I met him I completely embarassed myself by coming
over all 'oh mate, I think you're brilliant!'
The Royle Family had a brilliant cast. Would you say that's the
most important thing about a programme?
Yeah, I would say that 90 per cent of good direction is good casting.
If you get the cast right then you can let them get on with a lot
of stuff.
Being cast for the Royle Family was an odd one. Most times when you're
a young actor, a part comes up - like the one I played in Children's
Ward - and it's like Pop Idol, only not on TV.
Hundreds of actors go for one part and you go through six or seven
auditions before you get whittled down until there's only two of you
left - and one of you gets it while the other goes home in tears.
It's really harsh!
The Royle Family was the first time that didn't happen to me. I got
requested by the casting director at Granada and I thought 'that's
weird, why do they want me?'
I turned up - and Andy (Whyment, Darren in the Royle Family) said
the same thing happened to him - there were three or four other lads
there. I walked in, read for five minutes, thought I was rubbish,
and by the time I got home they'd called and said they wanted me.
That's Caroline and Craig saying 'no messing'. They saw what they
wanted instinctively and went for it. There were no call-backs, screen
tests, meetings with TV bosses, that was it. I love that instinctiveness.
So what else do you have in the pipeline?
There's another series of Two Pints which we're filming
before the end of the year and before that I've got a big theatre
job playing Billy Liar in the West End.
There's a short tour round the south and assuming that's not a disaster
and people come to see it, it's almost a guaranteed West End transfer.
I'm playing the title role - you'll see my poster on the tube and
everything. I make no bones about it, it'll be the biggest job of
my career by a long stretch. Let's just say I'm bordering on nervous.
Any chance of it coming to the midlands?
No. I think it comes up as far as Milton Keynes and that's about
it.
Ralf Little hosts the 'Sex and the Sitcom' weekend on UKTV Gold
on May 8/9 and will be back on our screens in a new series of Two
Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps later in the year.
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