Tuesday, 5 June 2018

Articles Where Are They Now? Combat Cast by DJ Forrest



Combat written by Noel Clarke, told of men fighting men and going head to head with a Weevil in a cage, and mostly coming out of it in a body bag. Mark Lynch was addicted to the fighting world. A way of releasing his aggression against another with no repercussions. He had a captive Weevil in his basement and regularly beat it – of course, if it weren’t tethered to the wall by its wrists, it would be no contest who would be the victor.

Owen Harper, still recovering from being ‘dumped’ by Diane, goes undercover, and discovers the money behind the fight clubs, and feeling the way that he does, puts himself in the ring with a snarling Weevil not caring if he lives or dies.


Cast

Alex Hassell


‘Mark Lynch’

‘Something's coming. Out there, in the darkness, something is coming.’


Mark Lynch had everything he ever wanted, and he probably had worked hard to achieve it all, but there was a hard-edged primal streak that brought him back to his roots and the street brawls, laying into someone long after they’d fallen to the ground. His thirst for beating someone defenceless brought him to the Weevils roaming the streets of Cardiff, convinced in some messed up imaginings that these were really humans in a thousand years’ time. When Owen uncovers a Weevil strung up by its wrists in a locked junk room, he’s horrified further to discover that Lynch keeps it there purely for his own entertainment – as a punch bag.


It seems that Alex Hassell has been extremely busy since Torchwood. He’s played Felix Nash in Bonkers, Jake Randall in Love Soup, Marcus Kendall in The Bill, Eryn in Legend of the Seeker, Viscount Manley in Hustle, Colin Nash in Life of Crime, Simon Turner in Silent Witness along with Prince Hal in Royal Shakespeare Company: Henry IV Part 1 and 2 and played various characters in Shakespeare Live! From the RSC. Has just finished The Isle, playing Oliver Gosling and Max Rose in The Red Sea Diving Resort currently in post-production.


Paul Kasey


‘Weevil’

It’s difficult to isolate which Weevils were played by Paul Kasey, given some of the people we’ve interviewed who have also played Weevils in the series. Paul has also played a Blowfish character too. If we look through his Doctor Who career, Paul has played a multitude of Cybermen and other monster creatures including a Whisper Man, Footman, Zygon, Ood Sigma, and a Time Zombie, plus many more throughout his tenure with the series, along with appearing at the BBC Proms as some of the monster creations, including playing Shansheeth and Red Robot in Sarah Jane Adventures. He was the Werewolf in Being Human between 2009 – 2012, and he regularly appeared as the Foxy Bingo Fox before the Jeremy Kyle programme on ITV.


But its discovering that he was also in the Star Wars saga that makes me tingle with excitement. This is what Paul had to say about his time on set of The Force Awakens and Rogue One.

‘I played Admiral Raddus plus Edrio Two Tubes on Rogue One. Also I played Ello Asty on the Force Awakens and I'm also the CFX movement choreographer for both films.

Not only do I get to play characters in the films I get to work with the other Creature Effects performers and puppeteers on the movement of characters and get to choreograph how they move. This happens in a rehearsal period or on set.’

When asked what it felt like to be on set of something as big as Star Wars, Paul replied. ‘Every day I have to pinch myself.’

Since then, Paul has also played C’ai Threnalli in The Last Jedi.

Check out our interview with Paul from a few years ago


Alexandra Dunn

‘Barmaid’

‘Are you going to answer that? The ninth missed call. Work. Do you enjoy your job then?’

Owen Harper is out drowning his sorrows in a loud bar, when the barmaid notices that he’s ignored his 9th phone call. She makes small talk until her jealous boyfriend Tommy turns up. Owen soon sorts him out.



There are several gaps in Alexandra’s acting credits which could mean anything from starting a family to working in theatre. Since her role in Torchwood, Alexandra doesn’t appear in anything else till 2015 when she plays a Beautician in Stella in Episode 9 of Series 4.



Matthew Raymond


‘Tommy’

‘You're never happier than when you're flashing your tits at a passing dickhead, are you.’



Tommy clearly has issues regarding his girlfriend working in a busy bar where any man is a threat and so stalks his girlfriend and bad mouths to customers. One of these days he’ll get her the sack, or if she’s any sense, she’ll dump him!

Owen puts him out of his misery at least twice during the episode, the second time with the help of Mark Lynch.

Since Torchwood, Matthew’s credits take a leap of six years to 2012, but again that could be due to his performances in theatre, which are never normally listed on a popular website of acting credits. Matthew has appeared in several television series – Dead or Alive, Obsession: Dark Desires, War & Peace, Stella, Doctors, Henry IX. Recently he played an Engaged Man in Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams television series and played a prosecutor in Keeping Faith. He was the voice of a character in Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia video game.

In 2016 produced and played the title role in a short film called Stu (Stuart) & Ollie, which was  nominated for Best Comedy at the London Short Film Festival 2016.



David Gyasi



‘Hospital Patient’

‘I was mugged. There was three of them. They had knives.’

The Hospital patient was an unfortunate victim of an attack by a Weevil – but then, if you go putting yourself into a cage with a raging alien creature, what do you expect?

Since Torchwood, David Gyasi has been extremely busy since 2007 with roles in New Street Law, Silent Witness, Doctors, Waking the Dead, Apparitions, Demons, Law & Order, Murderland, Red Tails, Chuggington: Badge Quest and White Heat.
In 2012 he played Harvey in Doctor Who episode Asylum of the Daleks and played a Skinny Prisoner in The Dark Knight Rises (loved that film).


More recently he’s played Alex ‘Lex’ Carnahan in Containment, Steve in Man in an Orange Shirt, Achilles in Troy: Fall of a City and Agreus in Carnival Row which is currently in pre-production, due out in 2019.


Cara Bamford

‘Dancing Girl’

Cara’s role was uncredited in the episode and so there’s no quote I can give. I’m also struggling to work out where she was in the episode itself.

Since Torchwood much of Cara’s roles were uncredited until she played DS Claire Moretti in Feather-Light and Paper-Thin in 2014, a television mini series, and played a Waitress in Kosmos another mini series for television.

There are two film productions currently in post and filming with no dates on release, called The Real Thing and Mermaid Down, where she plays Lauren and Susan. As well as an actress, Cara is also a producer.


Martin Fox

‘Fight Club Doorman’


Again another uncredited role, but an interesting one nevertheless as Martin has appeared several times in Torchwood including Security Guard in Reset and Custody Officer in Children of Earth: Day 5. In Doctor Who he played a UNIT Soldier for The Sound of Drums. As well as an actor, he is a stunt performer, action performer and assistant stunt coordinator. He was also a Police Advisor and police technical advisor.

From Torchwood and Doctor Who, Martin has played Prison Officer to Detectives to Martial Arts Instructors. After 2015 Martin’s roles seemed to be mostly geared around stunt performing, in My Bloody Banjo in 2015 to By Any Name and Knights of the Damned in 2017. Carnival of Sorrows is in Post Production and Chosen is currently still being filmed.


Alexander Hathaway

‘Fight Club Punter’

Again uncredited but you might remember Alexander from Greeks Bearing Gifts as he strode past Toshiko quoting a line from James Bond.

In about 97% of Hathaway’s roles are uncredited but what amazing films to have been a part of since Torchwood, especially given the quote in Torchwood GBG. Alexander played a Passenger in 1st Class in Quantum of Solace, as well as playing a character in Casino Royale, a Comic Book Store Manager in Kick-Ass, a CIA agent in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Italian Police in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and a Colombian Gangster in The Infiltrator. His credited roles are as James Robinson in Casualty, DC Ken Davis in Carmen’s Kiss, Peter in Darkness Into Light, James in Nearly a Mystery, and currently in pre-production, Donny in Sunny Side Up.

Not only an actor but also a director, Alexander is also patron of the Kent Youth Theatre.


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