Sunday Express – May 20th 2001
Michael French,aka EastEnders’Wicksy, is determined that his other characters have real depth
MICHAEL FRENCH sits in the corner of a bar, conspicuously handsome in villainous black shirt, looking every inch like David Wicks of Albert Square. But his poise is not that of a cocky East End car dealer. It’s more the taut composure of an actor who doesn’t really like doing interviews but who is determined to be polite.
French explains in measured and quite charming tones about his forthcoming TV roles. But when pressed, the 38-year-old actor is clearly anxious about this whole publicity business. “I don’t have the tools to do it,” he confesses in his calm, pensive voice. “I’m too guarded about how I’m represented. I don’t want to give the game away to a stranger.”
On acting, though, he is articulate and impassioned. His next role will be Sergeant Alexander Murchison in the Fabulous Bagel Boys, a unique blend of police-deli drama set in the suburbs of Glasgow. French plays a mysterious, slightly stroppy officer who is seconded to the Southside area to assist Denis Lawson’s DI Morris Rose.
The action, bizarrely, is divided between goings-on at the nick and the local Jewish deli, run by Rose’s brother Lionel (played by Alex Norton). But the two strands weave together well and it seems a shame to truncate the idea into a one-off programme. French agrees: “It would be a pity if it weren’t made into a series. It’s old-fashioned, inoffensive telly — quirky, a bit wry with a dark undercurrent. The whole purpose of Murchison being there is to explore the community. He’s like a catalyst. He’ll only work in the context of a series.”
As borne out in his portrayal of the sexily sinister David Wicks, French prefers extended storylines. “I know my strengths are in longer-running programmes where I have the chance to develop relationships with other characters. I’m a bit of slow burner. I wasn’t happy playing this poncey reincarnated version of Nick Cotton so I shifted David Wicks slightly, made him struggle with his morals. He could have gone down an utter villain but we ended with a more rounded, complex character. Fascinating bloke. I took him very seriously.”
French takes most career matters very seriously. Without any formal training, the young Michael graduated from local amateur singing and dancing in the East End to a place in West Side Story in the West End. “Before that, acting was a hobby. I found that I liked it and I was accepted — I loved the family feel it gave me. It gave me an identity, it became my world. Everything. Then suddenly there I was at Her Majesty’s Theatre at the age of 23. It was amazing.”
“I love communicating through song and dance,” he says. “But when I was 18, going into musicals was still frowned upon. People said: ‘You must be this or you must be that.’ I’ve dodged that sort of thing all my life. It took a lot determination and a lot of guts. “Getting up on stage is not always about wanting to be looked at. For me, it’s a lot deeper than that. It’s about communicating and entertaining. If you’re in a pub on a stag night and you’re the bloke that makes everyone laugh, it’s not being in the limelight, it’s the feeling of giving something.” After West Side Story came other stage hits, notably Les Miserables, in which he was spotted by EastEnders’ casting agent. There followed three years in Albert Square. “I thought,yep, that’s enough,” says Michael. “Leaving was hard, but I had to present myself with a new challenge because I’d have gone round in circles there.”
The challenge was two series playing heart surgeon Nick Jordan in Holby City, which he enjoyed, even though, he reflects, “the umbrella of the show couldn’t deal with the depth of the character as much as I would have liked”. Shortly after, French took a part in the successful West End play, Art, and has spent the past year working on The Fabulous Bagel Boys and a new adaptation of the Raffles story. Called The Gentleman Thief, it stars Nigel Havers as the eponymous scoundrel, with Michael as his rough-diamond sidekick.
French is keen to keep moving. “I’ve never wanted to get stuck somewhere I’m not learning anything,” he says. “I’d like to do more family-oriented dramas, to do with dynasties, where there’s a serial thread which gives you time to explore the human condition. Or work on something really fresh — a big musical. I’m happy to wait. I just want to get better as an actor. It’s a vocation, you see, if you take it seriously. Which I do.” And he certainly does.
