In 2005 I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to audition for the ITV Television
Workshop, having been well established in Nottingham for many years (think Jack O’Connell
and Samantha Morton) and having built a sizeable reputation within the industry this was a
great opportunity and one I will always be grateful for at the age of 15.
Having successfully navigated my way through the first round of auditions I went on to meet
Dean Smith (my Sober co-star) at the recall, one doesn’t simply forget hair that curly.
Through luck, and potentially a small amount of talent, we were both fortunate enough to get a place in the original Leeds group.
Roughly a year went by of weekly Friday classes at the then West Yorkshire Playhouse and
various productions with the workshop. Dean and I had built up a rapport on and off stage
at this point. Bonding over how bad Leeds United were (are), The first couple of Artic
Monkeys albums and our unwavering ability to put make up on, dress up and pretend to be
somebody else.
This is when Matt Cooper (Sober director) came into our lives in the form of a group audition for an online
series he had written, ‘Dylan Ogden’, directed by Ian Bevitt and produced by Martyn Smith.
This was my first real audition process, made so much easier being there with a group of
friends from the workshop who I had come to love and respect, that coupled with the
relaxed style and passion for the job of Matt, Ian and Martyn. We did a lot of improvisation
work based around the characters. Dean auditioning as Dylan and me as the notorious
Quinny, who will always have a special place in my heart.
I think that through working together weekly at the workshop, that during the improvs in
the audition me and Dean had a strong dynamic and played off each others strengths well,
luckily this came across to Matt and the guys who cast us as the two leads, a phone call I will
never forget.
The hard work started straight away with roughly 10 episodes of scripts to learn in roughly
three days. All absolutely worth it and incredibly easy to learn because of Matt’s beautifully
put together and fluid writing style. One of my favourite parts of the day was the Taxi ride
into Harrogate with Dean, cute I know. 10 episodes shot over four days with a wonderful
cast and crew, open to experimenting and trying new things on set I could not have wished
for a better first job.
Unfortunately the show was probably a little ahead of its time with web series not really
being ‘a thing’ at that point. No Netflix, no iplayer, you get the idea. Nobody was watching
things regularly online this was one of the first of its kind. MySpace initially wanted to buy it
and then didn’t want to buy it. Then Facebook turned up and MySpace became as relevant
Liz Truss.
There was talk of a second series but that didn’t come to fruition, possibly because of the
first series never really finding a home. But the important thing that remained was the
connections and relationship made with Matt, Ian and Martyn. With Ian having cast both
me and Dean in TV shows over the years.
But who would’ve thought 16 years later myself, Dean and Matt would be back on a set
together, collaborating on an exciting project and potentially the greatest film ever made…
(in Leeds… in 9 days… on a budget of 40p and a packet of pork scratchings).
Tom Gibbons
