{"id":2995,"date":"2016-02-29T19:12:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T19:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelfrenchnet.fansitehost.com\/?page_id=2995"},"modified":"2016-06-18T17:23:10","modified_gmt":"2016-06-18T17:23:10","slug":"the-soap-actor-who-takes-it-all-rather-seriously","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/?page_id=2995","title":{"rendered":"The soap actor who takes it all rather seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday Express – May 20th 2001<\/em><\/p>\n

Michael French,aka EastEnders\u2019Wicksy, is determined that his other characters have real depth <\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s more the taut composure of an actor who doesn\u2019t really like doing interviews but who is determined to be polite.
\nFrench 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. \u201cI don\u2019t have the tools to do it,\u201d he confesses in his calm, pensive voice. \u201cI\u2019m too guarded about how I\u2019m represented. I don\u2019t want to give the game away to a stranger.\u201d
\nOn 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\u2019s DI Morris Rose.
\nThe action, bizarrely, is divided between goings-on at the nick and the local Jewish deli, run by Rose\u2019s 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: \u201cIt would be a pity if it weren\u2019t made into a series. It\u2019s old-fashioned, inoffensive telly \u2014 quirky, a bit wry with a dark undercurrent. The whole purpose of Murchison being there is to explore the community. He\u2019s like a catalyst. He\u2019ll only work in the context of a series.\u201d
\nAs borne out in his portrayal of the sexily sinister David Wicks, French prefers extended storylines. \u201cI know my strengths are in longer-running programmes where I have the chance to develop relationships with other characters. I\u2019m a bit of slow burner. I wasn\u2019t 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.\u201d
\nFrench 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. \u201cBefore that, acting was a hobby. I found that I liked it and I was accepted \u2014 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\u2019s Theatre at the age of 23. It was amazing.\u201d
\n\u201cI love communicating through song and dance,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when I was 18, going into musicals was still frowned upon. People said: \u2018You must be this or you must be that.\u2019 I\u2019ve dodged that sort of thing all my life. It took a lot determination and a lot of guts. \u201cGetting up on stage is not always about wanting to be looked at. For me, it\u2019s a lot deeper than that. It\u2019s about communicating and entertaining. If you\u2019re in a pub on a stag night and you\u2019re the bloke that makes everyone laugh, it\u2019s not being in the limelight, it\u2019s the feeling of giving something.\u201d After West Side Story came other stage hits, notably Les Miserables, in which he was spotted by EastEnders\u2019 casting agent. There followed three years in Albert Square. \u201cI thought,yep, that\u2019s enough,\u201d says Michael. \u201cLeaving was hard, but I had to present myself with a new challenge because I\u2019d have gone round in circles there.\u201d
\nThe challenge was two series playing heart surgeon Nick Jordan in Holby City, which he enjoyed, even though, he reflects, \u201cthe umbrella of the show couldn\u2019t deal with the depth of the character as much as I would have liked\u201d. 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.
\nFrench is keen to keep moving. \u201cI\u2019ve never wanted to get stuck somewhere I\u2019m not learning anything,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d like to do more family-oriented dramas, to do with dynasties, where there\u2019s a serial thread which gives you time to explore the human condition. Or work on something really fresh \u2014 a big musical. I\u2019m happy to wait. I just want to get better as an actor. It\u2019s a vocation, you see, if you take it seriously. Which I do.\u201d And he certainly does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday Express – May 20th 2001 Michael French,aka EastEnders\u2019Wicksy, 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. … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":257,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2995","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2996,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2995\/revisions\/2996"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}