Articles Lockdown Special with Robert Stone

 

In Victorian London, a group of five young people battle monsters and solve the puzzles that seem to elude Sherlock and Doctor Watson – but in life, everything happens for a reason. Bea and her sister Jess, discover just what really did happen to their mother, and what lies in store for all of them, if the Rip in time opens fully. 

The series is utterly brilliant, and it has a strong cast, many to root for, and some that pass in the blink of an eye, but, it’s great to see them in that moment. One of these people, is Robert Stone, who appears in the first episode, as Tam Bibby, street fighter about to knock Billy’s block off, 

I caught up with Robert this week for a chat about The Irregulars and what he’s been doing during his time in Lockdown. The first part of the chat was prior to having seen his episode. Save any confusion. 

Hi Robert, I see you’re in the new Netflix series The Irregulars – are you a recognisable character or are you in disguise? 

Robert: You'll see me as long as I don't end up on the cutting room floor. Don't know which episode though, I know it starts tonight - 26th March 2021. I filmed my bit January-ish 2020, then they had to stop filming because of you know what and they resumed I think September, it was supposed to be out last Halloween. 

After the episode had aired, I caught up with Robert again.  

You were definitely not on the cutting room floor. It’s a great series. Watched four back to back episodes. It’s very addictive viewing. Are you in any other dramas I can look out for? 

Robert: Thankfully, I suppose I was integral to the scene. I'm going to try and watch it over the next week or so. 

I've only got a BBC Doctors episode coming up in a few weeks. I'll post it when it airs. 

Auditions and jobs have been scarce, as you can imagine. I did get an offer of a job on a film in the Czech Republic as a Russian Gangster but turned it down, I wasn't prepared to go back and forth on a plane with Covid carriers and all the travel that came with it, especially in Europe where it's not under control. 

I quite agree. I wouldn’t want to put myself in that situation either. I hear you also have a YouTube project, can you tell us more about that? 

Robert: Well, in the first lockdown, I sat there twiddling my thumbs, no work, no life and I had an idea. To be honest I had it a few years ago about a Doctor talking to patients about their ailments, I actually robbed it from the series Behind Closed Doors the Doctor Surgery Program. I used to sit there every time making jokes about the patient and their ailment, I know it was wrong, I just didn’t know how to format it; I didn’t want to set up a surgery situation but as Skype and Zoom became popular I had that light bulb moment. 

So, I got my tablet computer and did my first one, people raved about it so that spurred me on to do more and getting a better camera and equipment, I’m into my sixth one now. I play all the characters and write, produce, direct, perform and edit everything. They were a bit rough at the beginning, you can see the evolution here

http://artechniques.com/behind_closed_doors.html   

I just put them on Facebook at first to see the reaction, it was positive so I then pushed them over to YouTube. Some of the subjects, characters, language and situations are a bit dodgy, to be fair most of them are, I didn’t think YouTube would publish them but they did and off I went, can’t stop me now. 

I call it a comedy melodrama.

Thanks for the catch up, Robert.

 

Articles Lockdown Special

Articles Lockdown Special June Edition by DJ Forrest

Hi Folks

For our June Edition of Lockdown Special, we have not only writers and broadcasters, we also have our very own team writer, Matt, adding his words to the post. If you would like to join in with our Lockdown articles, do please get in touch as we’d all love to hear from you. 

Articles Lockdown Special May Edition

It’s been a long six weeks for some in Lockdown, while others seem to revel in the fact that they’re at home, with a world of opportunities at their fingertips. For many, it’s a time to reflect. To pick up old hobbies. To catch up on all those plans to redecorate. Improve on the garden. Dust off the notebooks where plans of becoming a writer were just a pipe dream, or become culinary wizards.

John Barrowman and husband Scott Gill have been busy with Lego creating all kinds of models, and all pretty awesome and it does make me wish I’d never got rid of my Lego kits. I also wish I’d never sold the PS2 console either. I also wish I had saved up for more Big Finish audios before the business went into download options only.

For some of us, Lockdown is something we’ve yet to enjoy, and for me especially I can’t wait for my four days off in June, to catch up on the gardening projects and indeed perhaps, put some ink to paper and start writing again!!!

I wondered what the cast and crew of both Torchwood and Doctor Who were doing while in Lockdown and so after some chats over email and social media, I was able to find some willing participants only happy to share with everyone their photos and words of what they’ve been up to.

There are still more to come and they will appear in next month’s Issue and beyond, given that none of us are actually sure just when everything will return to normal. If you would like to add your photos and words to our next Issue and beyond, do please get in touch, in the usual fashion – Facebook, Twitter or email.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this Issue article.