Interviews Gareth Potter by DJ Forrest

I love Skype interviews, because you can relax with the guest and chat, like old pals, talking about other things in between the questions, and that's what I love. I had a bunch of questions but throughout the interview I found more I wanted to ask.

Gareth was relaxed in his kitchen when the interview began. He wore a black, white and grey shirt and sported a light brown beard with flecks of grey and large brown spectacles that reminded me of someone. Gareth had certainly plenty of happy memories of being an actor since and before Torchwood, not to mention his time DJing in Ibiza.

I discovered some surprising things about Gareth that I didn't know before, and never dawned on me when I read his IMDB credit listing, just who his character was in Eastenders, at a time, when the soap opera was worth watching.

Prior to the interview happening this week, Gareth had been presenting a radio show, covering for another DJ and so to break the ice I asked how it went. I'd initially assumed he'd had an interview with a radio show.

Gareth: I was presenting a show on the radio. I took the whole thing over, it was brilliant. I used to have a radio show in the 90s, that came to an end and I didn't badger anyone to give me another radio show, and then I started badgering people again. So, the regular guy that was presenting it was off on holiday and said, 'Take it over, Gav', 'Yeah all right.' and it was brilliant, it was really nice. A real job, Radio DJ, playing cool music.

I tend to listen to Radio 2.

Gareth: There was a time back in the 90s when a few of my mates were getting jobs on Radio 1 and I'm a bit older than them and I'm like 'D'you know what, maybe I can get a job on Radio 2...but that's not really my thing. Mine's a bit for the kids. And then 6 Music happened and then I thought maybe I can do something like that. I'm just on the Welsh Language BBC Service so that's kind of cool.

You're currently doing a film called Tourist Trap, can you tell us anything about that?

Gareth: It's not a film it's a series. It's for the comedy unit. It's a comedy unit set in Scotland, but they come down to Wales to do the Tourist Trap. It's an improvised comedy really and Sally Philips is the main thing in it. They've got loads of people in it. Some well-known comedians and actors and what not. It's quite cool. Nice to do.

How did you get into acting?

Gareth: It's something I always did really. Youth theatre, school. any opportunity really when I was a youngster. Then I got various bits on TV and I went off to train in London, so I did a whole load of stuff when I was young. There was a series in Wales called the District Nurse with Nerys Hughes and I was in that for a couple of series. I was in Eastenders for a while and some dramas for BBC2 and then I really got into the theatre side of it. So, I spent a lot of the 90s working with theatre company's and I ended up doing a one man show in the Edinburgh Festival - did really well. It was something I did really well at and made a living out of it for a heck of a long time. I still think of myself as an actor although you get to a certain age, I think, and you either really made it big or you kind of drop off and find other things to do as well.

I've never had a full-time job which is kind of cool and I'm kind of proud of that. (laughs) There again, and acting jobs come in now and again which is good, and I get to DJ and writing and whatnot and whatever really.

Are you still able to keep a roof over your head and the wolf from the door?

Gareth: Oh blimey, oh yeah, yeah. I do really well. My wife tells me I've got a charmed life. 'What do you actually do, Gaz?' she says - I write different stories for people. It varies (laughs). I'm kind of happy with it. I don't get bored. I make enough money. Have an interesting life. Yeah. I think when I was younger I was quite famous. When I was in Eastenders I think it filled me with dread, I mean most people my age really want to be famous, I had this taste of it and 'oh this is awful'. I mean really, really dreadful. I mean I quite like people but when you go to the launderette or something and people are just hounding you. I didn't know that you could take your clothes to the launderette and they'd do it for you, so I'd be sitting there watching the clothes go around and I'm being mobbed by teenage autograph hunters.

Who did you play in Eastenders?

Gareth: I played a character called Harry Reynolds. It was a band, it was 1986, Ian Beale played Drums in the band.

It was about a year after it had started. It was massive. There were 20 million people watching it. So, you couldn't really escape being hassled until you went to the pub or the launderette. What I mean is I was always going to gigs and stuff and what was nice was that you could make friends with the artists, cos they'd go: Oh, you're on Eastenders and you've come to see us! And you'd go 'Yeah, yeah.'

So, it was kind of cool living in London and going to gigs and I'd have friends who worked in the music press and it was kind of good - that side of it but the whole kind of lack of privacy really did me, so the point of that is, I've never really hungered at being famous. That's not why I wanted to be in showbusiness. I actually enjoy performing and I like being on stage in front of the camera and using those disciplines, and I was able for quite a long time, over 20 years, to really juggle doing television and theatre quite successfully.

When I got married I decided not to do theatre anymore because I didn't want to be away for six months of the year. So, I'd find something else to do.

I fell into DJing by having the best kept record collection out of all my mates. And every time I was an out of work actor, which is an occupational hazard really, and you're going to be out of work for a while, because it's not always that well paid, so I could always gig at a nightclub and I became really good at it and I really liked it. Summer's really good for music festivals and what not.

It's good that you can diversify between acting and music as long as you can find that you can get work. and keep the roof over your head..

Gareth: Yeah, yeah it's kind of cool and I think, I'm what, 53 and my brother is a few years younger than me and bless him he's fantastic but he says 'When are you going to act your age, Gareth?'

What's that? (laughs) I get that all the time - Act your age? Yeah right - (points to the large beach towel displaying a Tardis on my wall and various action figures of Torchwood and still the many Tardises adorning various shelves on my bookcase and chest of drawers, with Star Wars figures decorating my window sill) - I'm never going to grow up and I'm a year younger than you! (laughs)

Gareth: (laughs) Well I'm cursed actually in a way that I can make a living out of my hobbies and sometimes, I can get paid.  Money for going to a party.

I'm clearly in the wrong job then!

Gareth: (guffaws) It's not as juicy as when you're a soap star for example, you're paid really good money for just standing around in a night club. That's really not my scene, but I could have got into that whole scene in the 80s but (adopts showbiz voice) I wanted to go and do theatre, darling!

I will still do theatre if people ask me and if it's right. I was in the symposium the other day as well and I teach as well - I'm a lecturer at universities or drama schools and other things, so of the actual screen or one of my passions is devising pieces so there's always something to do and I know a lot of people and I've accumulated a lot of contacts...

That's good to have, innit? (laughs)

Gareth: Yeah, yeah!

Will you be doing any more of your Street Food documentaries?

Gareth: The idea was and it's still there but it's kind of on ice. They're all little promos for Cardiff really. I love the city I live in. I run a weekly club night and I'm part of the whole social scene. At the moment I'm writing forwards for the programme to the Sŵn Festival set up by the DJ Huw Stephens. It's a multi venue festival in Cardiff that happens every Autumn and they have some great bands playing and some great events happening, so I'm writing for that at the moment.

https://swnfest.com/

I love my city. I love living in it. I love the people in it. And I love that people come to it. So, it struck me that maybe I should be writing a series of short films for YouTube for people that are coming to Cardiff or someone who knows Cardiff intimately. So that's what those are they're a bit of a muck around promos on my Channel just to sort of kickstart it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWwE_QD4Kfk

I have this channel with nothing on it. I should have done more over the Summer but I got busy and because nobody was paying me to do it. It is something I really want to do and set up a site. I do podcasts as well. I just do loads. It's a personal brand. It's something you do off your own back. I think that's really important to do that if you work in a creative thing, just to give some stuff away and show some stuff and show what you're doing. So that's what they're about. They're quite ready as well.

I liked the street food one. Where you were working through the different stalls of food. It made me very hungry I have to admit.

Gareth: What was really brilliant was Amans, the guy who was feeding me, he is one of the best chefs in Cardiff. He just latched onto me and brought me loads of food and chatted. I pay lots of money to go to same food restaurants and he's got into the whole street food thing and he's got his little truck and a lot of the events in Cardiff and South Wales, so I think he's an absolute genius. And he was just giving me free food and being my mate, and every time I see him he's ‘Hiya Gareth, how you doing? You should make a film in Karala.’

‘Yeah why not, let's make a film in Kerala.’ Great, time and money, I'd love to make a film in Southern India. I think it would be amazing.

That would be cool. That would be really, really interesting that one.

Gareth: Generally, it's just making a bunch of films about Cardiff. Cool places to go in Cardiff. And I did really want to do one about Cardiff Bay and they can go to the Ianto Wall and I would have to include that.

You would, really. Your Torchwood connection.

Gareth: Absolutely!

How did you get the gig for Torchwood?

Gareth: My agent at the time put me up for it, and they said 'Yeah, come in'. I went to someone at the BBC, I met some of the people, shook some hands, they passed me some slides and bits of script and I looked through them and went in and was about to read them on camera for them and my Mum called me. I hadn't switched my phone off...When I'm teaching kids - when you go for auditions, get up early and for god sake switch your phone off. And I was on camera in this screen test talking to my Mum. And I was 'Mum, Mum, Mum.' She says 'Are you alright, can we talk now?' I said, 'not really, I'm in an audition.' 'Oh my god' she said, 'I'm really sorry.'

I switched it off and carried on and I dunno, they still gave me the part. And I did the scene where I sing Danny Boy. Maybe they liked my Welsh Male Voice Choir version of Danny Boy which I'd learned especially.  I'd gone on YouTube and watched Tom Jones and lots of different people singing Danny Boy.

Is it more daunting singing a scene than speaking it with regards to Shaun singing at the funeral - Random Shoes?

Gareth: Not really, it's all part of the performance. I've done plenty of stage shows with songs I've not done really musical theatres, but I've done plenty of shows where there are songs that are sung. I was brought up in South Wales, we sing at the drop of a hat. The National Eisteddfod was in Cardiff the week before last and I am certainly one of those Welsh people that wants to shrug off those stereotypes about us, but you get a bunch of Welsh people together and give them a bunch of beer and you're going to be joining in as well and it will be beautiful and lovely. We had the Eisteddfod from a very young age, we're competing, we're competitive singers, I guess we punch above our weight really in as much as the amount of famous performers that come up are from a very small part of the world.

Singing is nothing. It's not just the people that you see on camera, the people at the funeral in that scene, there's a whole bunch of other people, there's the cameraman, there's the producer, the director, there's makeup and everyone who was behind the camera, so you've got a great captive audience so if you're a performer you're going to be quite happy to do that.(laughs)

Which isn't a song I grew up with, aware of it. I thought it was some awful mournful Irish song, but it wasn't that daunting. As daunting as anything you make sure you know what you're doing before you turn up on the day - you really have to know it inside out, therefore you turn up and get on with it. I did one of those things certainly on the funeral day I stayed in character as much as possible - all day - and so I was very much drawing on experiences of family funerals. So, I was doing the whole, how is Shaun feeling? Taking it really seriously. It's a day’s work and they pay really well for it and you don't want to show yourself up in front of all these professionals, you just want to get on with it, it's what you're paid for.

And of course, here's another thing, when they say 'Action' it could be a scary thing but the trick is and it is a trick and I tell my students when I'm teaching them. When they say Action, you need to relax. 

Action doesn't mean GO! It's not like a race, you can take your time, relax yourself and do it. So being intimidated by the word Go or tensing up is something we need to learn to work through in acting lessons.

Are there any roles you wouldn't touch for any given reason?

Gareth: I don't think so really. I would play terrible characters. I would play characters that are against things that I believed in. I would play those characters. I would play racists, or

rapists or villains. I would definitely play those characters and I would definitely try and find some sympathetic way of playing them as well. It doesn't mean I sympathise with them but if the play or the film or whatever, if the directive of the film was against what I believe then I'd have to turn it down.

I wouldn't, I guess, appear in a Party Political Broadcast for a Party I didn't agree with. I don't think I should. So, I guess there are limits. But I would play someone of that and try and find as much sympathy as I could with that person, so I would play a rapist or I would play a despot or a terrible villain, so some of the best parts are those and so therefore, there isn't an area I wouldn't touch.

I wouldn't want to play a part of someone who was sympathetic to someone, although as an actor I would have to be sympathetic towards the character. That's the really odd thing about being an actor - this guy's really evil - I like it!

What came first, the TV or Theatre?

Gareth: Professionally - TV came first but I'd done a lot of school plays and music theatre plays. Although when I was a young actor I really wanted to be in theatre and work in theatre. I was quite lucky really, I got to do a lot of television between the ages of 18 and into my 30s - I've done a lot.

You also write as well as direct, have you written anything for mainstream TV?

Gareth: No! I've written for documentaries. I did a documentary on Welsh Language Punk Rock which is pretty niche! I wrote and presented that, and it was based on a theatre show that I made, and it was pretty popular, and we were commissioned to make a TV show out of it, which is great, so I've spent a lot of time writing that.  I've written short films. I've written plays for theatre. I wrote a really short piece for BBC Worldwide - it's an internet thing recently and that was about music in Cardiff. I'm kind of the music expert guru.

I've written things for the students. I'm always writing something or other. I'm writing a screenplay at the moment, a full-length screenplay which is really daunting but I feel I have to do shorts of things, remind myself that I can actually finish things. That's the thing, getting things finished. Sometimes a screenplay can take, three, six months, a year, maybe longer and I've taken a lot longer and it's also a lot more rewarding with the process of writing it. I'm typical, I've got a half finished novel in a drawer and on my hard drive. I've got all these things, loads of plays I've started and thrown away - the characters always stay with me and they'll jump into another thing.

I spent a lot of time, about fifteen years ago, in Kosovo, after the War, in the Balkans. I went over to work for some people making theatre over there, and one of the really important things I learned from working over there, where they would have three or four power cuts a day was to, when you're writing - SAVE - save all the time. Press Ctrl S all the time - just do it all the time, as you won't lose anything, because the power will go off just like that and it will take a while for the generators to power up again. That was hilarious working in an impoverished country that still had a UN presence and tanks roaming the streets and the power kept going off, and it's a habit that has stayed with me. Save all the time!

For a man who spent a lot of the 90s composing techno on a computer and been to raves I'm surprisingly inept at computers.

We talked about Project: Torchwood briefly - touching on the programmes we review, such as Doctor Who, Torchwood (naturally) and Sarah Jane Adventures, along with the usual films etc that cast and crew from the world of Who have been involved in over the years, which brought up a nugget of information that I didn't know about Gareth.

Gareth: My wife's worked on Sarah Jane, she worked on pilot of Sarah Jane as a designer. She worked for somebody else as a prop buyer, so I remember those old Sarah Jane ones. I mean it was really sad what happened to Lis Sladen, there was a lot of people I know who worked with her and loved her and I remember her from Doctor Who.

I've never been in Doctor Who! I always thought I'd be in Doctor Who at some point.

There's still time yet, there's a new one starting.

Gareth: Of course, there is! I might badger them, I'm good at badgering!

Well, Torchwood is on audio now with Big Finish so who knows, you could always get a voice over.

Gareth: Yeah sure, sure! Of course! Do you know anything about Torchwood, whether it's going to come back or whether it's finished?

Updating Gareth on where Torchwood now stands for the fans, directing him towards Big Finish audios since it no longer appears on the telly (sad face), we talked a little more about the writers of the show and the show's creator Russell T Davies and talking of the original cast of Torchwood, which has always been a treat to listen to on the audios.

Gareth: Eve's doing loads at the minute.

Especially with Keeping Faith, it's been brilliant that series.

Gareth: Will have to see about doing a bit of that next I think. (laughs)

Well why not indeed! Matthew Hall wrote the series!

Gareth: I know a lot of people who work on that - the production company!

What role would you love to play given half a chance?

Gareth: I like detectives. I watch a lot of detective stuff. That's kind of my genre. I did a kids show with lots of green screen stuff and I figured that, and it was great fun, I really enjoyed it, and you got to use your imaginations. I guess a lot of action films these days would be cool to do.

I did a bit in Gareth Evans' new film. It was great working with him. Gareth is the director of the Indonesian films - The Raid, and Raid 2. They're just really fast and furious and violent. Asian action films and martial arts. And he's a young Welsh director who wants to make those kinds of films and he went to Asia and he came back recently to Wales to do a movie called Apostle, that'll be on Netflix. And I went to see it in the movies and you do get to see me quite a bit. I almost sneaked into it. My wife was working on it. I said: You're working with Gareth Evans, oh my god! I read the script and said I really wish I could be in this. And she said, well you know Barry was working on this as a third assistant director, do you want to be an Extra? I said I don't really want to be an Extra, no! Work with Gareth Evans? And my friend Barry who was working as a third assistant director said: Do you want to be in the movie?

Ooh. I've got a lot of work coming up and I was DJing in Ibiza - I said, I could go for a week or so. So, I did it for money, but I did it because Gareth was directing it. And it's great. I went to see it and it's absolutely bonkers. Michael Sheen is in it and Mark Lewis Jones, I don't know if you know him. Dan Stevens is in it who I didn't know was Welsh. He was going 'Oh yes, I'm Welsh.'

It was really cool to work with these people. I was told not to say anything, just to walk around and stand next to them and react, really, really acting light. I'd like to work with directors like that actually. I don't think it does your career any good going to be an Extra any more, however, watching how they did certain stunts was really great.

Yeah, so either a down the hill detective or crazy action, that's the sort of what I'd like to do. Despite the down beat manner of Shaun on Torchwood, I'm quite bright and spritely and fit.

Would you ever play a zombie?

Gareth: Oh god, yeah, I love Walking Dead and all that. I'd like to have a life before the zombie. Yeah, I love zombies. One of the reasons I liked the Walking Dead when it started was that zombies decided to run all over the place, and I was blaming 28 Days Later which is a great film, however, they're not zombies.

Call me old fashioned but I loved those George Romero films where they shuffle along, so yeah, playing a zombie would be great. I love zombies. I am a big horror fan. I don't watch as much horror as I used to.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Gareth: The highlight of my career? Right, there have been many. I did a one man show in the 90s, about twenty years ago, I was in a show called Marriage of Convenience - it was an hour and a quarter, and it was just me on stage which was a challenge in itself. It was by a brilliant writer by the name of Ian Rowlands and we did it at the Edinburgh Festival that year and we got great reviews, Five Stars and we won an award from the Glasgow Herald - the Herald Angel Award. I got nominated for Best Actor by The Stage newspaper. We took it for a week in Glasgow and did really well. We filmed at the Tron, a brilliant theatre in Glasgow. Took it to Ireland, toured it around Ireland after that and ended up at the Dublin Theatre Festival where we bagged the Best Production Prize - a tiny theatre company run by my mate in Wales, well, three of us on tour - me and the lighting technician, and the stage manager and we built the set every day and that was hard work in a rock and roll equivalent, you're in the back in the van, and they were long days, especially touring, and you're doing one night stands, you build the set, you do the show, pull the set down and you get dragged to the pub, by the people who would lay you out at the pub and you'd go and sleep for a bit and you get up and you drive to another town and you'd do it like that. I know it sounds a bit of a nightmare - I could never do that now.

That was amazing, and I loved that work. I couldn't do that now as there's no money in it but it really kind of trains you as an actor - really kind of focuses your four months and doing an hour and a half of text in front of people in quite a physical show, every night was a challenge. But I liked that experience, so I guess that was really good.

Did a great show based on a great Welsh novel called Un Nos Ola Leuad- it was translated to English as Full Moon or One Moonlit Night. Full Moon it was called - we did that a lot and toured that a lot and did six weeks in the Vic in London. We toured it to Poland.

I liked the whole touring thing, I'm mad like that. I like being on a bus watching the landscape change. Turning up at the airport. I like touring, it's great. I'd take friends in the 90s who became rock stars and we'd talk about touring and all of them hated it and some of them got into real kind of problems with booze because they'd just drink all the time. They found it so long and so boring and I really love it.

And sometimes, I'd be somewhere, and you're meant to be on tour there and then you'd have a great time and that's happened a few times, especially when I was in Dublin. I was in Dublin for a fortnight doing a show and three bands who I knew end up in Dublin. I like that.

It can drive you mad but because of the nature of what you do as an actor you really have to keep yourself focused and your head down. I know a lot of actors drink a lot, and I know that but you've got to keep yourself healthy. A lot of actors my age have really given up drinking. A friend of mine who was a real hellraiser and does Hollywood movies and things, and I thought, god you know, I didn't think they did that in Hollywood any more. The last time I went to the pub with him he was drinking soda and lime (laughs).

I think doing that kind of work, I loved the one man show and being on tour, and I probably will do another one man show. I'll write a new solo show which I flippantly refer to as my Stand-Up Tragedies! (laughs).

What inspires you?

Gareth: Talented people inspire me. Kind people inspire me. Good things I guess. Positivity - which is great because I'm a fan of really dark things. However, good ideas I guess and travelling, and great food and I think you can get all of those and obtain great ideas. Great heart!

Where do you find the best place to write when you start to put your ideas together?

Gareth: I think very early in the morning. I'll sit there and I'll write for two hours and then leave it for a bit, then go and walk my dogs, then sometimes then if get into where you're writing, a couple of hours every morning, then maybe some ideas will be coming when you're walking the dog or when you're eating your meal or something. 'that thing that I was thinking about...'

I have a mentor as well, who I share all my writing with, he is a lecturer at a university and we'll meet up and buy him a beer and show him my writing and he'll go, 'this is good, this is good, not sure about this, how about this, and give me a bigger problem, Gareth. I don't believe that problem, give me a bigger problem.'

And I guess, good dramas always work on big problems. And I'll get notes, 'be crueller to your characters.'

'But I like my characters too much.'

'Make bad things happen to them and if the situation is bad, make it worse.'

That's what the audience want cos it will be alright then. (laughs)

We talked more about my writing ideas that seem to come at the most inopportune moments, Gareth's come while walking the dog, mine all seem to come when I'm elbow deep in mucky stuff or in the Throne Room!!!

Gareth: Then that kind of thing come to you when I'm walking the dog. Yeah I'll be in the garden and I'll be ploughing up something or digging a ditch or other and suddenly out of nowhere a great idea - you have to start that by writing it first. And my motto is Don't get it right, just write it.

I said to my mentor that I'd made the mistake of watching 'Stand by Me' the other day, again I haven't seen that film since the 80s and that film was so perfect blah blah blah and I don't know whether I should go on writing this thing. He said, 'What you see with Stand by Me is the end of a many, many draft, and you've been working on it for so long. Just carry on what you're doing, it's great.  I think that's the way. So that's what I do, that's the process.

What projects are you working on at the moment?

Gareth: At the moment I've got my screenplay. I've got my podcast. It's the summer so I'm still in the midst of festival season, so I'm DJing a lot - so it's in the rock and roll world of staying up too late. I mean this weekend (August 2018) I got to bed about half past four in the morning, but I had to get up as my wife was going to London and I kind of wanted to have the morning with her and then I had to go up to North Wales for that Radio show. Then I had to prepare for that, then I had to phone the guy I was interviewing on it and then I came back yesterday, and I couldn't do anything other than take the dogs for a walk.

However, this week I will get some more writing done and just plough on. I have got a lot of things going on, I can't think of them (laughs).

I've got my screenplay and try to secure myself a radio series with someone (laughs)

and get a regular part in a soap opera or something so I can go into work every day - that's something I haven't done for a very, very long time.

It was kind of odd playing Shaun in that, as Shaun ages 15 years in that. You get old Shaun and young Shaun, and so they'd age me up and I looked exactly like my Uncle Graham. And now I've got a beard, I am 15 years older.

There was a photo of you which I think you were wearing a big thick cardigan and you looked like the Scottish actor Brian Cox because of the beard. Initially when I'd posted up on my social media page, a friend had said that you looked like Ricky Gervais

Gareth: (laughs) I know Stephen Merchants sister and she used to come and stay with us and she was always saying 'You look exactly like Ricky'. So, I said, well why don't you get your brother to write something where I get to be Ricky's accidental double because loads of people say that.

Oh well that's alright then (laughs)

Gareth: It never happened!

Thank you so much for an awesome interview, Gareth!

Gareth: Just before I go, another trivia fact for you. My wife worked behind the scenes in the Tardis when David Tennant regenerated into Matt Smith!

Headshot photos of Gareth, courtesy of Gareth Potter