Vicky McClure

May 2015

The last time we saw Vicky McClure on screen was a brief glimpse during the BBC’s live coverage of the British Academy Television Awards.
The 32-year-old from Wollaton was there to, we all hoped, pick up her second Bafta, after winning Best Leading Actress four years ago for her reprised role as Lol in This Is England ‘88.
The only person confident that she wasn’t going to win was Vicky.
“I didn’t expect the nomination in the first place,” says the actress, who has also been seen in ITV’s Broadchurch alongside David Tennant.
The nod was for her role as DC Kate Fleming in Line Of Duty, the police drama that she is currently filming a third series for in Belfast.
As it turned out, she lost out on a second Bafta, this time for Best Supporting Actress, to Gemma Jones for her role in Marvellous, based on the true story of Stoke City kit-man Neil Baldwin.
“Marvellous was my favourite piece of TV last year so losing to Gemma was more than fine by me,” says Vicky, who was papped on the red carpet wearing a full length white dress by London-based designer Osman Yousefzada.
So busy was she before the ceremony last month, that it wasn’t a dress she had time to pick herself.
“My publisher is a good friend and he knows what I like so he got everything arranged,” she laughs.
Vicky was there with other members of the Line of Duty cast as the show, BBC2’s biggest ratings winner in ten years, was also up for Best Drama, while co-star Keeley Hawes was nominated in the Best Leading Actress category.
“It’s going really well,” she says of the filming that started in April and runs until July.
“The scripts are stronger than ever and there’s a really nice vibe on set. The new additions to the cast are incredible.”

Among them is fellow Nottingham actor Arsher Ali, who starred in The Missing and Arthur and George.
“It’s been great to have a Notts lad on set,” she says, although the pair’s allegiances to football clubs are on opposite sides of the Trent.
Was Forest fan Arsher, who grew up in Sherwood, kind about Notts County’s relegation?
“Nothing was really said,” laughs the Magpies fan.
“I think everyone was kind enough not to mention it.”
Having another Nottinghamian on set has helped ease Vicky’s longings to be back in her city.
“We’ve been chatting a lot about Notts, which has been great. We’ve filmed scenes together and we did try and get an ‘ey up mi duck’ into one of them,” she laughs.
“But that’ll probably be cut.”
There are rare breaks from filming when she has been home. Soon after the Baftas she was at Notts County for Football Rocks, a charity event organised by the club with Jake Bugg. Vicky appeared in the Clifton chart-topper’s video Two Fingers and they have since become friends.
But the main reason she was there was because boyfriend Jonny Owen was playing.
The couple met three years ago during the making of the rock ‘n’ roll comedy film Svengali, written by and starring Jonny.
The Welshman and our Vicky, who appeared in the film as his girlfriend, first settled in London but the draw home was too much for Vicky and the couple now live in Toton.
“I love the city and I love the people – they remind me a lot of those in South Wales,” says Jonny, who has appeared in TV dramas Shameless and Monroe.
“Everyone is very friendly and open. I can’t speak highly enough of people in Nottingham. They have made me feel very welcome.”
Jonny, who produces shows for Notts TV, is currently making a major film about Nottingham Forest’s legendary European Cup wins.
On another swift visit home, Vicky and her man had a meal at La Rock in Sandiacre, a restaurant, which earned the very first five star review from the Nottingham Post’s long-serving restaurant critic, the Food Sleuth.
“It was some of the best service I’ve ever had. And the maître d’ was so lovely. There was nothing pretentious about it and the food was great.”

The former Fernwood Comprehensive School student is a graduate of Nottingham’s Television Workshop, along with Joe Dempsie, Jack O’Connell, Samantha Morton and many others.
It was the two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton who spotted her talent at the Workshop and brought her to the attention of director Ian Smith.
Her early screen roles included a spot in daytime soap Doctors, as well as Filth And Wisdom – the first feature film directed by Madonna.
But her big break came after she was cast as Lol in Shane Meadows’ feature film, This Is England, which won him a Bafta.
The third spin-off TV series, This Is England ‘90, has been shot and is due on Channel 4 in September.
Vicky was reunited with fellow “workshoppers” Joe Dempsie, Andrew Shim, Rosamund Hanson, Michael Socha and Chanel Cresswell.
And once again director Meadows insisted the cast improvise each scene.
Says Vicky: “It’s the most fun I’ve had on a set in a long time.”

Vicky McClure

October 2014

WHEN the Nottingham branch of the Alzheimer’s Society contacted Vicky McClure, who had recently picked up a BAFTA for her role in TV drama This Is England 1988, she knew little of the disease.

“I knew it was horrific but little more than that,” says the 31-year-old actress, who lives in Toton.

“They asked me to open the Memory Walk and I’ve been doing that every year since,” she says of the charity’s fundraising trek around Wollaton Park.

“Then, a year ago, my nana was diagnosed with dementia and since then it’s become part of my life.”

Dementia describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. It’s caused when the brain is damaged by diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease or a series of strokes.

Vicky undertook a Dementia Friends course to further understand what her nana was going through.

“It teaches you better ways of communicating with people who are suffering with it,” she says.

How her nana’s illness has affected the family – including Vicky’s mum Carol – and others is the subject of a short documentary as part of the BBC’s Inside Out programme.

“In the film we go to my mum’s house in Wollaton to interview her. Before we starting filming we discussed the possibility of actually going to my nana’s house in Aspley and filming there. Initially, we said no because she can’t speak for herself. She is unable to make that decision.

“But when it came to it, we decided to include her in the film simply because it’s very hard to describe to people what it’s like unless you see it.

“It was probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.”

The actress, who has starred in TV dramas Broadchurch and Line of Duty, adds: “I do like to keep my personal life to myself but this was a cause that was important and my mum agreed. And really it was my mum’s decision to make more than mine as she is my nan’s mum and one of her carers.

“She has a full-time job but she’s round there every other night.”

Nana is Iris Hedley, who’ll turn 78 on Monday, the day the documentary airs.

“Dementia is a horrible disease that means you forget who your family are. She was the most stylish and proudest woman and she was very confident but that woman doesn’t exist any more.

“Some days she knows who I am and some days she doesn’t. I’ve had my hair dyed blonde for filming This Is England 1990 and she recognised that I’d had it dyed but it’s hard to have a full conversation.

“My mum and her brother, they’re both used to it, if that’s the right term. When your nearest and dearest fall ill, I think you find an inner strength and you just get on with it.

“My mum is an extremely strong woman and she’s amazing with her. Even though sometimes she just doesn’t recognise her.

“She used to work at Player’s. My grandad, who worked at Raleigh and then Player’s, died quite a few years ago and my nana doesn’t always recognise his photograph.

“And she has a tendency to scream a lot, through frustration. I think it’s because if you ask her a question, she knows the answer but she just can’t find it.”

The documentary also sees Vicky, who grew up in Wollaton, visit the ward at the QMC where they treat sufferers of dementia, Alzheimer’s and delirium.

“I spent a day on the ward and met the patients, the families, the doctors, the nurses and the carers. It’s designed in such a way to help them, with signs explaining what day it is, which season it... and it’s colour coded.

“There’s not enough room on the ward so the charity helps people get support at home. My nana wants to be at home. She’s comfortable and she’s happy. But you can see in the film that clearly she’s not very well.

“It’s really beautifully made. It did make me cry because it’s my family.

“It’s very hard hitting, very real and very honest. Particularly when we visit the ward but I left there feeling very positive.

“I hope when people watch it, they get a greater understanding of those kinds of diseases.”

After making the film, Vicky, who lives with actor and producer Jonny Owen, who she met on the set of the film comedy Svengali, was back in Sheffield to continue filming This Is England 1990 for Channel 4, in which she returns as Lol.

“I have been recognised more with the blonde hair,” she says. “I was at Notts County on Sunday with my grandad and a few people recognised me there. It was a great game. We had chip butties and a pint at the Trent Navigation afterwards.

“I go whenever I can because every time I leave the ground I’m always buzzing.”

Notts County gave Vicky her own team shirt branded “McClure” and “BAFTA”, although she resists the urge to wear that to games.

“It’s in my drawer with all my other tops,” she laughs, adding: “I don’t mind people recognising me as Lol. I love This Is England. It’s my favourite job in the world. So being back on it is like living the dream. And I love that people love it.”

Vicky McClure & Jonny Owen: Svengali

March 2014

VICKY McClure was on Radio 1 discussing This Is England ‘88, the second spin-off TV series by Nottingham-based director Shane Meadows, when Jonny Owen first heard her being herself.

The Welsh actor and screenwriter had enjoyed some success with his internet comedy series Svengali and was looking out for talent to cast in a film version.

“I thought she was very funny,” says Jonny, a 42-year-old Welshman who’s appeared in TV series such as Murphy’s Law and Shameless.

“I loved Lol, this fractured character she played in This Is England, but this person I was hearing was a much bigger personality. She was funnier, more entertaining and sexier. She was talking about living with her mother, the Baftas, stuff like that.

“I went home to Wales and dreamt about her playing Michelle in Svengali.”

The comedy film, which is released this month, tells the story of Dixie (played by Jonny), a postman from South Wales who dreams of discovering a rock ‘n’ roll band and taking them to the top. He finds The Premature Congratulations, a quartet of young and arrogant but talented musicians, on YouTube, and with a demo tape in his pocket heads to London to the heart of the music industry.

It’s based on Jonny’s experiences in the Pocket Devils, an indie band he was in 20 years ago, who opened shows for INXS, Stereophonics and Catatonia.

“I told the rest of the team that I wanted Vicky for the part of Dixie’s girlfriend Michelle and there was a lot of head-shaking. She was the hottest in Britain, as she is now, and they didn’t believe she’d do it.

“But I approached her agent who said she had eight scripts and she’s gone to Russia.”

“This was mostly true,” laughs Vicky, who was shooting Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley and Jude Law.

“But there weren’t eight scripts,” says the 30-year-old, who grew up in Wollaton but now lives with Jonny “round the corner from Shane Meadows” in Beeston.

Undeterred, Jonny sent Vicky a ‘viral’ (a video clip).

“You’d got Boy George, Martin Freeman and Maxine Peake already attached to it, never mind the viral you sent me,” says the Broadchurch and Line of Duty actress.

Jonny then sent her the script and was told that she was going to ring him to talk it over.

“I’ve never told you this before, Vicky but I saw that it was a Nottingham number and before I answered I took three deep breaths!”

She laughs: “And now I’m a complete nuisance.”

“She was fantastic. Straight away she said she loved the script and wanted to do it. It was such a relief. We talked for about half-an-hour and we arranged to meet. She said ‘when we do meet I want a sausage cob.’ I thought, this is my kind of girl.”

“Well that’s normal if you’re from Nottingham,” says Vicky.

“We went to this really posh Shoreditch restaurant and had a sausage sandwich,” she adds, poshing up the latter.

This was two years ago and the beginning of their relationship.

Says Vicky: “People ask what it was like for everybody else on the film, dealing with the fact that we were together but it wasn’t like that. No-one spoke about it; it wasn’t obvious and we weren’t doing anything that made people feel awkward.”

Working together did have its moments.

“There was a scene where were going to argue and Vicky being ‘Mrs method’ said ‘Right, we can’t talk to each other today,’” laughs Jonny.

“And she was the first actress I ever met who would go through the script saying ‘I wouldn’t say any of that... or that’ and there are three pages of the script gone!

“I think that comes from the (Television) Workshop, which I’m a huge admirer of anyway,” he continues, referring to the Nottingham-based acting stable that has produced many success stories, Vicky among them.

Svengali sees her in a new light; doing comedy.

“She’s a long way from Lol,” she says of Michelle.

“People will look at Line of Duty, This Is England, Broadchurch and it’s all quite dark but being a Workshopper, I’ve been doing comedy since I was about 11. The Workshop embraces comedy in a big way. So this is a big deal for me; Vicky does funny.”

She’s already filmed another comedy, Convenience, with Austin Powers actor Verne Troyer.

“Although I’m not very funny in it; I’m quite mardy,” she admits.

“It’s funny. I think it’s a bit of a stoner comedy. I don’t know if it will get a release. Sometimes they don’t.”

As well as Vicky, there are other Nottingham elements in Svengali. Jonny was helped with the script by Sneinton-born Henry Normal, who runs TV company Baby Cow with Steve Coogan. And the soundtrack includes Clifton’s Jake Bugg.

“It was actually before he made it and I didn’t know he was from Nottingham,” insists Jonny.

After filming finished they moved in together in London but within eight months Vicky wanted to come home.

“We were coming back so often for my mum’s Sunday roasts anyway,” she says.

“I made friends really quickly here and I’d watch County and Forest, so it made sense for us to move here,” he says.

“I love the city. It’s got a lot of interesting creative people like Shane and Billy (Ivory) and Jake Bugg and Notts TV and Antenna. And the people don’t shout about it. They just get on with it. I like that.”

Svengali is released in cinemas and as a digital download to buy or rent on March 21. It's released on DVD on April 7. For more about the film go to svengalimovie.co.uk.

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Part II

IT is the story of Dixie, a postman from South Wales, who dreams of discovering a great rock ‘n’ roll band to manage.

Trawling the internet one night, he stumbles upon The Premature Congratulations, moves to London with girlfriend Shell in tow to convince The Prems to take him on as their manager and uses every penny of his savings – and £4,000 borrowed from a loan shark – to pique the interest of cut-throat record labels.

Svengali, a British comedy which brings together a cast that includes Vicky McClure, Maxine Peake, Martin Freeman, Katy Brand, Matt Berry and Morwenna Banks, plus cameos from Alan McGee, The Libertines’ Carl Barat and Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, is loosely based on the experiences of Jonny Owen, the film’s writer and lead actor.

During the 1990s, Jonny was in a band in South Wales called The Pocket Devils who were signed to a major label, toured with the Stereophonics and Catatonia, and supported INXS at one of their secret gigs.

“We had 1,000-strong crowds in Wales and sold out 2,000 copies of one of our singles in one week,” says the 42-year-old, who admits they didn’t have the staying power to make it any bigger.

It was his acting ambitions that prompted him to leave.

“I had a part in a series in Wales called Nuts and Bolts and it was nine months’ work. 

“Apart from anything else it was easier than lugging amps around at three o’clock in the morning.”

After that he appeared in Murphy’s Law, Torchwood, My Family and Shameless, and co-produced the documentary The Aberfan Disaster for which he won a Welsh Bafta.

Svengali was an idea that came to him from Creation Records’ boss Alan McGee, most famous for discovering Oasis.

“He gave me a great line when he said: ‘Rock ‘n’ roll is the only world where bad behaviour is actively encouraged.’ 

“You know, if you’re Pete Doherty and you fall over in a bar everyone thinks you’re a poet, but if you’re an electrician you’re thrown out.

“I thought that was a great background for a film to be set. That was the premise. And I knew a lot about that world so I thought I’d use a lot of what I’d experienced.”

Dixie is based on The Pocket Devils’ manager, Paul Dixon.

“He never had a bad day,” says Jonny.

“He’d be massaging your ego: ‘why aren’t you on the cover of the NME, why is Damon Albarn on there?’ The truth was Blur were a much better band. So he was a good basis for a character.”

Svengali started life as a web series in 2008 and featured Boy George among other familiar faces.

With funding secured to take it to the big screen, Jonny set about recruiting his cast. That’s when he and Vicky got together.

“I heard her on Radio 1 being interviewed about This Is England ’88 and I thought she was very funny. I dreamt about her playing Michelle in Svengali.”

She liked the script and the names already attached to it, as well as the sausage cob he bought her when they first met. “People ask what it was like for everybody else on the film, dealing with the fact that we were together, but it wasn’t like that,” insists Vicky, 30, who grew up in Wollaton.

“No one spoke about it – it wasn’t obvious and we weren’t doing anything that made people feel awkward.”

The film sees her in a new light; doing comedy. “People will look at Line of Duty, This Is England, Broadchurch and it’s all quite dark but being a Workshopper, I’ve been doing comedy since I was about 11,” she says, referring to Nottingham’s Television Workshop, where she trained.

“The Workshop embraces comedy in a big way.”

She adds: “The comedy is quite slapstick in places. It’s old-fashioned physical comedy. That was good fun, as was trying stuff out and making up stupid words.”

Says Jonny: “She’s got her own little language and her whole family knows about it. 

“She was doing it inbetween takes and I said ‘do that on camera, it’s really funny’”.

“It’s really childish,” she says, before demonstrating: “Habadaba... oramov... baratabada... hamar...” she babbles.

Vicky will be in another comedy soon, called Convenience, with Austin Powers actor Verne Troyer but she doesn’t plan on moving away from the gritty roles that have made her one of Britain’s hottest young actors.

As well as Vicky and Jonny, who live together in Beeston (“round the corner from Shane Meadows”), the Nottingham connections with Svengali continue with Michael Socha, another Workshopper, and the addition of Jake Bugg’s Taste It on the soundtrack.

Says Jonny: “We made the film two years ago, before he was really known. I heard this song and thought it was great. Then it turns out he’s from Nottingham. “Obviously, everyone will think he’s on there because he’s a huge star and from Nottingham.”

Others on the soundtrack are the Stone Roses, Miles Kane, Small Faces, The Fall, The Coral and the film’s fictional band The Prems.

To ensure the chemistry between the actors playing The Prems felt authentic on screen, Jonny got them together in a hotel to practise and bond, with the help of Carl Barat of The Libertines.

“I was there as well, handing out beers; I knew my place,” jokes Vicky, who will be filming This Is England 1990 with Shane Meadows later this year.

“They started acting like a band,” says Jonny.

“They really got into it. There was one morning when they knocked me awake and Michael Socha asked me ‘where’s the nearest McDonald’s?’ I said, ‘hang on, I’m not your bloody manager!”

He adds: “The drummer Joel (Fry) looks a lot like a young Jimi Hendrix, Dylan (Edwards) like Bob Dylan, Michael (Socha) like Bernard Sumner and Curtis (Thompson) like Paul Simenon from The Clash. 

“I told them this and they all went away and studied videos of each of them to see how they played. Obviously Joel is a drummer so I told him about Mo Tucker of the Velvet Underground.”

He sees the band The Prems as a cross between The Stooges and The Clash. “Which I think is what rock ‘n’ roll needs,” he laughs.

“What with the X Factor going on...”


Svengali will be screened at Broadway next Friday at 8.15pm, after which there’ll be a Q&A with the cast and crew, including Jonny Owen and Vicky McClure. Tickets are £7.70 from the box office, call 0115 952 6611 or go to broadway.org.uk. It is available to rent/buy as a download now on Sky, BT, iTunes, Xbox, Sony, Google Play, BlinkBox and Filmflex. The film will be released on DVD on April 7. 


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Part III - Svengali screening and Q&A at Broadway, Nottingham

Nottingham’s Bafta winning actress Vicky McClure joined her Welsh boyfriend Jonny Owen at Broadway to talk about their new film, Svengali. The Q&A, which followed the screening of the British comedy on Friday night, was hosted by Post entertainment editor Simon Wilson. During it they spoke of their passion for the city...

You met during the making of Svengali and first moved in together in London but soon moved to Nottingham. Why?

J: Because Vicky was like ‘Oh I don’t like it here!’ There was a flat with a window looking out over Shoreditch, the trendiest part of London. She’d be there with a fag: ‘I hate it here!’ ‘Do you want to go home?’ ‘Yes!’

V: That’s so true. The thing is, I love London...

J: You don’t!

V: I do, I genuinely love London for what it is and now I get the best of both worlds. I’m there, pretty much, every week. I like to dip my toe in and then bugger off back to Nottingham.

J: I didn’t need much persuading. I was coming up with Vicky most weekends, going round her mother’s for a Sunday roast. Her dad’s one of my best mates and we’d go to the pub with his mates. I fitted in very quickly.

What is it about the city that you like?

J: What I love is that it’s as talented as Manchester for bands and This Is England and all the rest of it, and the people are as friendly as, say, the Geordies but they don’t crow about it. I love you for that. It’s a great city.

And you live where?

J: In Toton. I’ve started calling it Tot-ton for some reason.

V: We lived in Wollaton with my mum and dad for about a year. I came back from London going ‘I want to stay with my mum and dad for a few weeks.’ And before we knew it... it was like ‘this is all right isn’t it?’

How involved are you in Notts TV?

J: I’m doing the football for them. I’m going to watch County, Forest and even Mansfield. They’ve got some really exciting things going on, they’ve got people like Shane (Meadows) and Vicky involved. I think it’ll do really well.

Vicky is a County fan so are you Notts or Forest?

J: Cardiff.

In terms of This Is England, you will be joining Shane Meadows for another TV series later this year?

V: Yes and we start shooting toward the end of the year. It’s set in the ‘90s and as far as I’m aware we are all back. I genuinely can’t tell you how excited I am. The last time I was in this cinema was with the This Is England film and that’s coming up for ten years now. It’s played such a massive part in my career. It could be the last one. Never say never but it sounds like it will be.

Vicky, Line of Duty was so well received, will there be another series?

V: I hope so. Apparently we’re going for dinner with the producer soon so that’s a good sign. I’ve been recognised (in the street) more times for Line of Duty than anything else. ‘Oh my God, how small are you!?’ It’s been an amazing response.

J: A guy I work with told me that his mate said to him: ‘I saw a great film at the weekend. It had this dopey Welsh fella in it and the fit bird from Line of Duty.’ Dopey Welsh fella!?

Jake Bugg’s Taste It is on the Svengali soundtrack but Jonny, you chose that without knowing he was from Nottingham, didn’t you?

V: The director said to Jonny ‘I’ve found this track...’ and he straight away thought it was brilliant, listened to the album and wanted Taste It for one of the scenes. This was over two years ago and no-one really knew about him. I’d never heard of him. But when I realised who he was I said: ‘Oh he’s from Nottingham, use it!’”

J: And she was in his video (Two Fingers) about a month later.

Are you two going to get married?

J: We are. I often say to her ‘Are we going to get married?’ and she says ‘Yeah, but it’s got to be special, it’s got to be a really expensive ring...’

V: Not that expensive! What I said was ‘When you propose, you need to think of it as though you are writing a script, so it’s like the movies.’ That’s what I want!

J: It will happen... and you’re all invited.

Svengali is available to rent or buy as a download from Sky, BT, iTunes, Xbox, Sony, Google Play, BlinkBox and Filmflex. The film will be released on DVD on April 7.

The Television Workshop

November 2013

Ian Smith

HE had no idea she was going to be there. As far as Ian Smith knew he was at the family home of one of his ‘Workshoppers’ just for a spot of lunch. And then Angelina Jolie walked in.
“She said: ‘Oh my God, Ian Smith, I’ve heard so much about you, tell me about the Workshop.’” says Ian, the director of The Television Workshop for much of its 30 years.
“I thought, this woman knows more about me than I do about her!” he laughs.
“It was incredible.”
This was in Derbyshire earlier this year at the home of Jack O’Connell, who is currently in Australia filming with the megastar for her latest film as director, Unbroken.
“For him to be playing the lead in an Angelina Jolie film is pretty amazing for a lad from Alvaston,” says Ian, 58, at the Workshop in Stoney Street.
“Jack was training for the part of  Louis Zamperini, an American Second World War veteran and national hero. She came over to meet his family. As ridiculous as it sounds for her to helicopter in to the Priest House in Castle Donington... that’s exactly what she did.”
He adds: “We had lunch, which was slightly surreal. We talked about the Workshop, the plays we’d done, playwrights like Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, about Jack and how amazing she thought he was and perfect for the part...”

Jack O'Connell

O’Connell, who had joined the Television Workshop when he was 13, had come to Ian to help him film a video audition for the part.
“That got him a screen test and she was infatuated by his talent, as was I,” says the Carlton born mentor.
Ian, who started out as a comprehensive school teacher, is not one for being starstruck.
“I’m as awed by some of the kids in my group for their talent than those who have made it. But stick me in front of a musician and I’m tongue tied. I remember meeting Desmond Dekker in the toilets at Gatwick. This man had been on my record deck most of my teenage life and I was all the shop. It’s because music is a mystery to me. It’s something I don’t have a gift in. But acting I know.”
He started out on stage himself with the Lace Market Theatre and did make an appearance opposite Bob Hoskins in Shane Meadows’ TwentyFourSeven.
“I was all right,” says Ian of his own acting ability.
“I do like acting. The problem is working with the likes of Vicky McClure, Jack O’Connell and Toby Kebbell; they’ve an incredible gift. I’m a better director, let’s put it that way.”
Ian was also running the youth theatre at the Lace Market Theatre.
“I was sending kids to the Workshop and they asked me to run their youth group there.”
Central Junior Television Workshop was started in 1983 at Central Telvision in Lenton Lane by the programme controller of children's TV, Lewis Rudd. Its aim was to train youngsters, aged from seven to 21, to act. Many appeared on the locally produced Central series Bernard’s Watch, Woof! and Press Gang.
“And 30 years down the line we’re not just surviving we’re thriving,” says Ian, who took control of the Workshop after four years.

Vicky McClure

The biggest success story is Samantha Morton, a two-time Oscar nominee who has worked with Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Woody Allen and Johnny Depp.
“As an actress she has done some amazing gigs,” says Ian, proudly.
“But she’s also a very talented director. I went to see her on the set of The Unloved in Nottingham and she was in her element.”
Others include Chris Gascoyne (Coronation Street), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), Aisling Loftus (Mr Selfridge), Toby Kebbell (War Horse, Prince Of Persia, Wrath of Titans), Pui Fan Lee (Teletubbies), Rosamund Hanson (Life’s Too Short), Chanel Cresswell (Trollied) and Michael Socha (Being Human).
“They think of me as their dad, which is worrying,”  laughs Ian, who refers to them all as Workshoppers.
A few of them are taking part in this weekend’s 30th anniversary celebration at Broadway, which runs until tomorrow.
It’s another celebration that follows a gathering earlier this year at Nottingham Contemporary.
“That was one of the most amazing nights of my life; I was still dancing at 6.30 in the morning,” says Ian, who taught at Frank Wheldon School in Carlton and Fernwood School in Wollaton.
“There were people who hadn’t seen each other for 20 years. There was a Mexican wave of screams of recognition that went on all night. It was like a school reunion on Prozac.
“There were people texting and emailing the next day saying ‘it was the best night of my life’”.
The party is only eclipsed by the BAFTA in terms of his highlight of the past three decades. The Workshop was handed the gong in 2006, in recognition of its “outstanding development of young talent for film and television.”

Toby Kebbell

Classes run at Stoney Street six days a week. There are 200 who attend classes weekly and another 100 in the reserve group.
Does he know straight away that a youngster has acting ability?
“Give me five minutes,” he says, stressing how important the ability to improvise is.
“If they can improvise then you can see that they can act. It’s an ability to think of your feet and enter an imaginative zone with full commitment.
“And we like fearlessness. You have to get up and go for it.”
As intense as that sounds, the Workshop is, he insists, fun.
“It’s not school. It can be quite daunting but they are soon laughing in classes. Everyone has a good time but they manage to take the job seriously. Although not themselves too seriously. That defines what we’re about.”
He says the requests for youngsters to go for auditions for film, TV, theatre, radio and adverts come in every day.
“In my office at home in Calverton I was a wall of pictures of the current Workshoppers and I’ll look at them and think who’ll be the next Jack O’Connell or the next Vicky McClure.
“You recognise kids with the same sort of energies, who are something special.. With good luck and the right sort of casting they could well end up as another BAFTA winner. Or the one who will bring home that first Oscar to the Workshop.”
There have been times when the Workshop has faced the axe as Central became Carlton then ITV Granada before the Nottingham studios closed for good in 2005.
These days The Workshop is funded with a £300 annual subscription fee, for those who can afford it.
“No kid is turned away with talent,” insists Ian.
They also rely on donations from past Workshoppers.
He says: “Financially it’s incredibly tight and there are ex-members who are incredibly generous.”

For more about The Television Workshop go to thetelevisionworkshop.co.uk.

Nottingham’s biggest music star Jake Bugg is good enough to join the Workshop if he ever fancied branching out in to acting, says Ian, after watching his debut in the video for his latest single Slumville Sunrise. Directed by Shane Meadows, the video closes with the 19-year-old in a scene with Rosamund Hanson.
“If you see him being interviewed he’s monosyllabic at best. He’s not comfortable in that situation. But in the video... I think that’s Shane’s magic. And Ros is great fun to work alongside. I was pleasantly surprised.”