Theatre and Dance Previews

Les Dennis

Les NOT miserables!

Les Dennis is a legend of light entertainment.

From his early days in a double act with the late Dustin Gee, through the Russ Abbott Madhouse and a mammoth 16 years presenting the hugely popular Family Fortunes, Les is acknowledged as one of Britain’s top entertainers, and holds a special place in the affections of the nation.

But more recently it was his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother and then his private life that hit the headlines.

For reasons best known to themselves, the tabloid press hounded him before, during and after what then became a much-publicised split from his wife Amanda Holden.

Yet through all this, Les has quietly been making a name for himself as an actor both on TV and on the stage and has proved that there is far more to him than finding out what ‘Our survey said!’

He has had roles in Brookside, Merseybeat and Casualty and starred in blockbuster West End musicals such as Chicago and Me and My Girl. And as well as appearing in rep at both ends of the country, last year he completed a tour of the highly successful show ‘Art’ with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine.

His latest foray into theatre is in a national tour of Kiss Me Kate, where along with ex-EastEnder Michael Greco, he plays one of the gangsters.

Great role

No stranger to musical theatre, he was attracted to this particular role by a number of things.

“The genius of Cole Porter, the fantastic show that it is, the idea of being involved in something that's a play within a play and the chance to play this great role” he reveals.

Les with Michael Greco in Kiss Me Kate

“It's a cameo role really” he adds. “As the two gangsters, Michael [Greco] and I come and go throughout the show and we also get to do this brilliant number ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ which should be a showstopper. We're having great fun doing it - it's a ball!”

And while this part allows him to return to his comedy roots, he is definitely not playing himself, and it’s this, which he says is the biggest task.

“The challenge is just to make people believe that it's not Michael Greco and Les Dennis up there” he says.

“Obviously they know it's us, but they have to get sucked into the characters and believe that we are these two gangsters. Even though it's kind of broad comedy, it's still important for people to believe the story.”

Double act

This particular role also puts Les back in a double act, something that first brought him to public attention in the 80s, when he formed a partnership with fellow comedy impressionist Dustin Gee, whom he first met while working on Who Do You Do.

Les Dennis and Dustin Gee

Together they starred in three series of The Laughter Show, but sadly this act came to a premature end in January 1986 when the 43-year-old Gee suffered a fatal heart attack.

Les has worked solo ever since but admits that it has been good being back in a double-act.

“It is fun yes! It's a double act that we’ve experimented with in rehearsal and had fun with” he says. “The producers and director gave us free reign to bring any business in, as long as it didn’t pull focus from the rest of the show” he adds.

“As long as it's integral and there's a reason for it then that's OK. Otherwise if you start adding bits then the show becomes 20 minutes longer than it should be. So we've been very disciplined!”

He also explains why Kiss Me Kate is a good show for people to come and see at the moment, because quite frankly, we all need cheering up a bit!

“We do live in quite dark times and there's a lot of depressing news around” he says.

Les with the Kiss Me Kate poster

“I think that it's a time when this show is appropriate to come and see because it really does lift your spirits. It's a wonderful, wonderful toe-tapping evening!”

Comedy

Of course, when people think of Les Dennis, they don’t immediately think of him as an actor. Comedy revue and the cult game show Family Fortunes spring to mind easily, but what some people might have missed is that he’s NOT been playing Les Dennis both on stage and screen for quite some time now.

Les admits that he’s not been making a big thing of this, whilst he gained more experience.

“It's something that I 've done over a period of time for quite a long time now” he says.

“It's just that I've tended to do it in reps. I did ‘Misery’ in Oldham and went to the Watermill in Newbury with ‘Skylight’, an amazing play by David Hare.

“It's something that I wanted to do a bit secretly, so that I learnt my craft” he continues, “and now I'm doing more of it.

Les Dennis

“Then last year I did a tour of ‘Art’ and having done all those reps it was great experience to then go into a play with two great actors like Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine and hold my own with them.”

But while Les is gradually breaking out of the mould, it’s definitely not his intention to stop doing light entertainment.

“Certainly not” he says. “I still love doing stand-up but there isn't as much chance to do it any more. On television there just isn't the opportunity - it's largely soaps and reality right now.”

Realistic

Both of which, ironically, Les has now been involved with, although he is extremely pragmatic about it.

“Yes - if you can't beat them join them” he laughs. “I did Brookside, I guested on the TV dramas Merseybeat and Casualty and I did Celebrity Big Brother!”

Of course, Big Brother. The celebrity version of the popular reality TV show was quite an event for Les which brought with it a lot of press attention. But once again, he is very honest about his reasons for doing it.

“A lot of people who do these things say they’re doing it for charity and yes, you do do it for that” he explains.

“But if you're really honest you're also doing it because you want to bring a different focus on you and a get a different view of you from the public.

“I saw the first celebrity one with Jack Dee and Claire Sweeney and I just thought it would be fun. And I did have fun!

Les Dennis in Shooting Stars

“It was only ten days, I came second. I came out and got a lot of attention from the press - which I didn't read - and I didn't watch it back. So as far as I'm concerned I had fun and it was a good experience!”

Les also admits that while the show meant he had a lot of time to think, he didn’t really learn anything about himself that he didn’t know before, and he certainly wouldn’t do another show where you just sit around all day. He’d much rather do something practical.

“I think you have time to reflect in there” reveals Les. “You do sit there and look at things but no, I didn’t really learn anything. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I'd do it again.

“I'd love to do Hell's Kitchen though, because instead of sitting on a sofa talking about yourself, get a chance to learn something which is great! And to be under the auspices of somebody like Gordon Ramsay – well, it must be amazing to come out a better cook.”

Soap

Personally, aving been brought up on Family Fortunes, Channel 4’s Merseryside based soap Brookside was the first time that I saw the Liverpool born and bred Les do straight acting and I remember thinking ‘my goodness, Les Dennis can act’!

More recently I read that a recent survey said that he was the person that most people would like to see back in a soap. As there seems to be a current trend of people best known as comedians following this path, I asked him if this was something he’d consider?

“Absolutely!” he says very definitely.

“I think that Shane Ritchie and Bradley Walsh have proved to be very good. I think it's always a surprise to people when comedians can act but we can! It's just the flipside of the coin really. We can be as dramatic as we can be comic so yes, it's something that I would certainly consider.”

And remembering that in Russ Abbott’s Madhouse Les and Dustin delighted audiences with their impersonations of two Coronation Street characters, Vera Duckworth and Mavis Riley, I suggested that Les could always go into Corrie as the return of the hapless Mavis!.

“I suppose I could always go in as Mavis's long lost brother and just occasionally go 'I don't really know'!” he laughs.

Big money

Overcome by the excitement that Les has just done what is probably his most famous impression for me, I almost lost track of where I was!

But of course, you can’t talk to Les Dennis without discussing Family Fortunes. The show has been on our screens since the 70s, and I was presented by Les for an incredible 16 years until 2002. On it, two families try to guess the answers that 100 members of the general public have given before one goes on to try and win Big Money, where they try and double what they’ve already one, to about 1000!

Of course, on a show where people can win a family fortune of about 263, it can’t be about the cash! Big Money definitely wasn’t - by today’s standards anyway. So what does Les think its appeal was?

“ It was a great show to do. I did it for 16 years and I think its appeal was that it wasn't a greed show: he says.

Les Dennis in 1987

“I'm not saying that today’s shows ARE greed shows but it IS all about money now! It was never about the money with Family Fortunes. It was an entertaining game, you had the ridiculous answers from the public and the end game, which was quite dramatic, and that you could play at home.

“And you wanted to know what the answers to the survey were!” he continues. “I think it had everything. It's one of the best-structured game shows that there has ever been.”

Part of the appeal of watching Family Fortunes, both then and now the limitless re-runs on Challenge TV was to see if the contestants could add to the plethora of staggeringly stupid answers that were given.

The ridiculous responses are all over the Internet and in viral emails, and my particular favourite was where one bloke managed to answer ‘turkey’ to all five questions. But does Les have a favourite?

“I quite liked one in Big Money when one of the questions was ‘Name a popular TV soap’ and this woman said ‘Dove’! I thought that was quite funny” he laughs.

“Then there was one where the question was ‘Name something associated with Dracula’” he continues.

“You would think that the person would say garlic or stake or blood or sleeping at night, wouldn’t you? But this guy just said ‘Bob Monkhouse’! And he was the first to respond so he wasn't struggling for answers! I just loved the off-the-wall ness of that!”

Exciting

Les isn’t allowed to say if he’s got any more of those types of shows coming up although he does reveal that he’s got some really exciting things that will be happening next year.

Life certainly seems good for Les right now. He is proving that he definitely has more than one string to his bow and new roles seem to be coming thick and fast. He is in Kiss Me Kate for the first three stops of the tour, with both he and Michael having the option to come back into it whenever they like, to fit in around their other commitments.

So is there something that he still really wants to do in the future?

“Yes, I'd love to play an out and out baddie” he says immediately. “That would be nice. The character I played in Brookside was a bit of a baddie and the characters I played in Casualty and Merseybeat were against type as well, and it's good to do that.”

It’s hard to think of Les Dennis the man as a baddie, and one can only feel for him with the amount of media attention he has had to endure in the past couple of years, all for the sake of something that had nothing to do with the career that put him in the public eye.

But Les remains good humoured about it all and is happy to recall some of the most ridiculous things he has read about himself.

“The funniest thing was when a friend of mine Jane Wall was staying at my house” he reveals.

“When she left the press ran after her. The next day they said I was being comforted by Diana Ross! That was kind of funny but I don't think it pleased Jane because she's only 30!”

So can he laugh about things like that?

“Yes, absolutely, you have to!” he responds, with feeling.