Mathew Horne: Worried About The Boy

May 2010

GAVIN and Stacey star Mathew Horne will be seen kissing a 17-year-old man on BBC this weekend.

But he’s not worried what his mum, back in Burton Joyce, will think.

“I’ve done it before so I don’t think she’ll mind too much,” said the 31-year-old, who appears in the Boy George drama Worried About The Boy.

“It was with James (Corden, his Gavin and Stacey co-star) and in the very early days that I did on-screen boy-on-boy action.”

Mathew plays Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, who had a tempestuous relationship with the androgynous singer, played by newcomer Douglas Booth.

The 90-minute drama charts the beginnings of the band on London’s New Romantic scene up to their first hit in 1982, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The song was written by George about Moss.

“When we recreated the Top Of The Pops performance of that song Jon was on set, which was very strange. Especially as I’m wearing the same shirt he wore.

“I asked him for any clothes he had and he happened to come up with the shirt. So there I am as him, in his clothes, 28 years on.”

Moss was concerned about how he would be portrayed in the drama, which also stars The League Of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss as Malcolm McLaren.

“I think he was happy that I was playing him but he wanted to know about the script and how he was going to be portrayed. I told him he was being portrayed in a really nice way.”

The Moss/George relationship remained secret outside the band until the singer published his tell-all autobiography, Take It Like A Man, in 1995. By this time Moss was married with three children.

Moss was the driving force in the band but there was little actual footage of him for Matthew to capture his personality.

“I can play the drums a bit and that was enough to get by. But on the internet there’s an interview with him and a press conference but little else. It became clear that I need to look like Jon, which I think I do, but to make it a 100 per cent accurate impersonation would be a mistake.

“We all had to find the right balance between making it faithful but also dramatic.

“It’s got to work as a film for somebody who doesn’t know Jon Moss or Culture Club and who wasn’t around in the eighties.”

He was too young to draw on any personal memories.

“I don’t remember anything of them. But I really wanted to do it because the script was so good and to do with music which I’m very interested in.”

Though he never wanted to be a musician himself.

“It would take away my love of music,” said the regular gig-goer.

The drama was filmed in Manchester earlier this year. He currently has a number of projects on the go.

“I’ll be doing something on the radio, I might be writing something in book form, I’m writing a couple of comedy shows, I’m attached to some films and there’s a play I want to do. I like to do one-off unique projects.”

He then admitted: “I’ve been taking it a bit easy. You’ve got to look after yourself.”

Last year he collapsed on stage due to exhaustion during a performance of Entertaining Mr Sloane at London’s Trafalgar Studios theatre.

At the time he was also promoting his BBC3 series with James Corden, Horne & Corden, their big screen debut Lesbian Vampire Killers and travelling around the country DJ-ing.

“I enjoy the DJ-ing but it’s such late nights and I was doing it four nights a week. I went through a period of really disliking it. But I’ve just started enjoying it again.”

He runs a monthly club night in Shoreditch, near to his home.

“I’ve never had one big ambition,” he said.

“I’m fortunate to have been given some amazing opportunities and at the moment that is still the case, so I’m really happy.”

Worried About the Boy is on BBC2 on Sunday at 9pm

Rick Astley

January 2009


HE has been ski-ing in Zurich for a few days when we catch up but Rick Astley hasn't slipped back in to retirement.
The singer who famously quit the music industry in the early-90s because he couldn't handle the attention is in his second year of a comeback.
Well, comeback is too strong a word.
"It's more of a weekend job," says the 42-year-old.
"I've been singing my old songs again and doing these 80s things... but it's not my plan to record a new album."
And why not?
"The music business is really difficult at the moment. There's a lot of big artists who put a record out and it doesn't really do anything so for someone like me to do that again...
"Unless you are 100% into it and you're going to commit absolutely everything in your life to it, you don't really stand a chance because that's what everyone else is doing. And I'm just not in that frame of mind."
The nostalgia shows, be it on the Here & Now Tour – which he was on when it came to Nottingham's Arena last year – or on his own, have taken him around the world.
"I don't think U2 would consider it a lot of time on the road," he laughs.
Last year Astley was in the US quite a bit and performed in New York as part of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In the coming weeks he'll be doing a few shows in Canada, Chile and the Dominican Republic.
"And that's enough to be honest; I'm very comfy with it all."
A few extra dates have been added to his diary for May as he'll be back on the Here & Now Tour, as a replacement for Boy George, who was jailed for 15 months last week for a "humiliating" attack on a male escort.
Just to check, you don't have any court cases pending, do you?
"I don't, no. I think it's really sad all of that. I was probably about 15 when Do You Really Want Hurt Me? came out and it was just brilliant. We're so used to androgyny now and guys wearing make-up but he brought that in to the mainstream.
"I know he's had a bit of a rough ride over the years with different things because he's a bit of character but at least he's a proper pop star. I was unbelievably boring compared to him.
"That's sometimes what music lacks a little bit, people like him, real characters."
He adds: "It's sad to think of him locked up. He's unbelievably bright and you often find with really bright people they have a bit of a dark side. Normal life probably bores him."
Astley didn't have to think too long whether to do the tour when the offer came in.
"I did it last year and I actually enjoyed it. To be honest I find it really easy."
Nottingham was the first gig on that tour.
"I know I would be saying this but the audience were amazing. Really up for it."
For Here & Now he'll be joining fellow stars of the Eighties including Kim Wilde, Howard Jones, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Altered Images, Brother Beyond and Hazel O'Connor.
"I'm friendly with them but they're not exactly bosom buddies.
"They all seem to have a good perspective on their life and where they are. Grateful is a bit too strong but we're all glad that we can do this. To be honest it's nice to earn some money."
Astley's ambitions lay in film, recently finishing a screenplay for a musical set in New York during the Eighties.
"I started writing a few tunes a couple of years ago. I've got a studio at home. I don't do it professionally any more but I enjoy it. And a couple of the tunes kind of spoke to me. They're like little stories if you like. And my wife's a film producer so I'm around scripts quite a lot.
"We're now in the process of trying to get a director and get the money together."
Has she cast a professional eye over your work?
"For sure. Just because I sleep with the producer it doesn't mean I get off easy."
He adds: "I'm not fooling myself. It could come to nothing but I've really enjoyed it. And also it's good to get my teeth in to something because I've kind of been retired for a long time."
That was in 1993 after he'd enjoyed six years of hits, starting with Never Gonna Give You Up which bolted from the Stock Aitken And Waterman stable to the top of the UK charts. It also toped the US chart.
Other hits included When I Fall in Love and Together Forever.
After his fourth album failed to make the chart he disappeared into a self-imposed retirement.
Since he's been back in action, Astley has inadvertently hit the headlines. First with an internet campaign, since labelled Rick Rolling, that resulted in him beating Elvis, The Beatles and everyone else for MTV's Best Act Ever Award.
And only this week he's been in the news again, thanks to Lily Allen, who mistakenly sent a topless picture of herself to Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs. When asked about it she joked that she had meant to send it to Rick Astley.
"Well she's not," he laughs, admitting he's not heard the story.
Would he want a topless photo of Lily Allen?
"I think I've seen one to be honest. They're everywhere aren't they?"
He adds: "I have genuinely never courted this attention. I've had a very quiet life in the past 15 years in terms of the papers. They've just left me alone. And I'm glad about that."

The Here And Now Tour 2009, Arena, Saturday, May 16