Michael French is Dr Tom Gilder

Did you know..?

· Michael starred as Marc in the West End stage
production of Art, alongside Stephen Tompkinson
and James Fleet.

 

· Michael’s dad is a greengrocer and Michael used to
work in his shop before he took up acting.

 

Born: East London
Trained: Mount View Theatre School
Appeared in: EastEnders, Crime Traveller, Holby
City, Gentleman Thief, The Fabulous Bagel Boys.

 

Those healing hands are back in demand again
– but warm, caring family man Dr Tom Gilder
could hardly be more different from Michael
French’s previous outing as a medic, when he
played surgeon Nick Jordan in the hit BBC
drama, Holby City.

“I do like playing doctors, it brings out the more
compassionate side of my own nature,” Michael
grins. “I like to listen and I like to understand
and help people. It’s also great to be able to play
a happily married man and a father in an era
when there were such strong family values.

“It is so refreshing to be in something that
doesn’t really deal with the harsher realities of
life. I think that the time is ripe for something
with humour and nostalgia.”

Working in a picturesque village in Lancashire
has been an eye-opener for the London-born
ex-EastEnder. “I’d never really experienced the
north-south divide over a long period before,”
he admits. “The people in Lancashire are so
friendly, there are great pubs and the
countryside is beautiful.”

Michael has certainly done his research for Born
And Bred, boning up on those early years of the
NHS which so inspire Tom Gilder. “I read about
the setting up of cottage hospitals, which is what
Tom and his father are trying to do,” he
explains. “Tom is painted as a fully paid-up
socialist, who believes in equality for all and that
it is every man’s duty to make the world a better
place. But he is a doer, not a dreamer – he feels
that he can make a difference in the village and
it is through the NHS that he can really help.”

Michael is also something of a doer. Since
shaking off the role of David Wicks, he has
proved himself as one of the country’s most indemand
TV actors, with recent roles in BBC
dramas Gentleman Thief and The Fabulous Bagel Boys.

Not only has the 38-year-old actor starred in
Art in the West End, he has appeared at the
Royal Court in the play Sacred Heart and was
chosen by Sir Richard Eyre to play Figaro in a
Royal National Theatre workshop production
of The Marriage Of Figaro.

“It was a wonderful experience,” he says. “That
is what I love about this business, I have been
given some great opportunities and worked with
people whom I can really learn from on Born
And Bred.”

The all-important relationship between father
and son is one that Michael can relate to.
“There are parallels in my own life with what is
happening between Tom and Arthur,” he says.
“I’ve gone into partnership with my own dad in
a business and it is working out very well.

“That kind of partnership can change a
relationship and I think Tom had always felt
that maybe his father wasn’t always there for
him when he was growing up; that he spent
more time looking after his patients.”

Away from work, Michael’s own time is spent
as far away from the glittery showbiz scene as
possible. “I’m not a great one for parties,” he
says with a grin. “It just doesn’t suit me – I like
to keep work and home totally separate.

“I’ve bought a house near the Essex village I
was brought up in,” he reveals. “It suits me very
well because I’ve got family nearby and people I
used to go to school with – it really feels like
coming home when I’m back there. That’s why I
can identify with Tom so much – coming back
to his roots.”