{"id":384,"date":"2014-09-24T17:38:42","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T17:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelfrenchnet.fansitehost.com\/?page_id=384"},"modified":"2014-11-17T19:16:36","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T19:16:36","slug":"from-born-and-bred-press-pack","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/?page_id=384","title":{"rendered":"From Born and Bred press pack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael French is Dr Tom Gilder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you know..?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7 Michael starred as Marc in the West End stage
\nproduction of Art, alongside Stephen Tompkinson
\nand James Fleet.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7 Michael\u2019s dad is a greengrocer and Michael used to
\nwork in his shop before he took up acting.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Born: East London
\nTrained: Mount View Theatre School
\nAppeared in: EastEnders, Crime Traveller, Holby
\nCity, Gentleman Thief, The Fabulous Bagel Boys.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those healing hands are back in demand again
\n\u2013 but warm, caring family man Dr Tom Gilder
\ncould hardly be more different from Michael
\nFrench\u2019s previous outing as a medic, when he
\nplayed surgeon Nick Jordan in the hit BBC
\ndrama, Holby City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do like playing doctors, it brings out the more
\ncompassionate side of my own nature,\u201d Michael
\ngrins. \u201cI like to listen and I like to understand
\nand help people. It\u2019s also great to be able to play
\na happily married man and a father in an era
\nwhen there were such strong family values.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so refreshing to be in something that
\ndoesn\u2019t really deal with the harsher realities of
\nlife. I think that the time is ripe for something
\nwith humour and nostalgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working in a picturesque village in Lancashire
\nhas been an eye-opener for the London-born
\nex-EastEnder. \u201cI\u2019d never really experienced the
\nnorth-south divide over a long period before,\u201d
\nhe admits. \u201cThe people in Lancashire are so
\nfriendly, there are great pubs and the
\ncountryside is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael has certainly done his research for Born
\nAnd Bred, boning up on those early years of the
\nNHS which so inspire Tom Gilder. \u201cI read about
\nthe setting up of cottage hospitals, which is what
\nTom and his father are trying to do,\u201d he
\nexplains. \u201cTom is painted as a fully paid-up
\nsocialist, who believes in equality for all and that
\nit is every man\u2019s duty to make the world a better
\nplace. But he is a doer, not a dreamer \u2013 he feels
\nthat he can make a difference in the village and
\nit is through the NHS that he can really help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael is also something of a doer. Since
\nshaking off the role of David Wicks, he has
\nproved himself as one of the country\u2019s most indemand
\nTV actors, with recent roles in BBC
\ndramas Gentleman Thief and The Fabulous Bagel Boys.<\/p>\n

Not only has the 38-year-old actor starred in
\nArt in the West End, he has appeared at the
\nRoyal Court in the play Sacred Heart and was
\nchosen by Sir Richard Eyre to play Figaro in a
\nRoyal National Theatre workshop production
\nof The Marriage Of Figaro.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a wonderful experience,\u201d he says. \u201cThat
\nis what I love about this business, I have been
\ngiven some great opportunities and worked with
\npeople whom I can really learn from on Born
\nAnd Bred.\u201d<\/p>\n

The all-important relationship between father
\nand son is one that Michael can relate to.
\n\u201cThere are parallels in my own life with what is
\nhappening between Tom and Arthur,\u201d he says.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve gone into partnership with my own dad in
\na business and it is working out very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of partnership can change a
\nrelationship and I think Tom had always felt
\nthat maybe his father wasn\u2019t always there for
\nhim when he was growing up; that he spent
\nmore time looking after his patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Away from work, Michael\u2019s own time is spent
\nas far away from the glittery showbiz scene as
\npossible. \u201cI\u2019m not a great one for parties,\u201d he
\nsays with a grin. \u201cIt just doesn\u2019t suit me \u2013 I like
\nto keep work and home totally separate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve bought a house near the Essex village I
\nwas brought up in,\u201d he reveals. \u201cIt suits me very
\nwell because I\u2019ve got family nearby and people I
\nused to go to school with \u2013 it really feels like
\ncoming home when I\u2019m back there. That\u2019s why I
\ncan identify with Tom so much \u2013 coming back
\nto his roots.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael French is Dr Tom Gilder Did you know..? \u00b7 Michael starred as Marc in the West End stage production of Art, alongside Stephen Tompkinson and James Fleet.   \u00b7 Michael\u2019s dad is a greengrocer and Michael used to work in his shop before he took up acting.   Born: East London Trained: Mount View … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":257,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-384","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/384","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=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/michael-french.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/384\/revisions\/688"}],"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=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}