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The Main Event: Steve McFadden
Conrad Astley23/12/2005
After a year in which he was rarely out of the papers - sometimes for the wrong reasons -Steve McFadden is the star attraction in one of the season's biggest productions. Earlier this year, he spoke to Conrad Astley at the launch of Peter Pan.
HE MAY be better known for terrorising the inhabitants of Albert
Square, but Steve McFadden is now busy spreading fear at the Opera
House.
The actor, known to millions as Eastenders hardman Phil Mitchell,
is appearing as arch-villain Captain Hook in the theatre's
production of Peter Pan.
His well-missed character - one half of the Mitchell brothers
alongside the equally menacing Grant played by Ross Kemp - recently
returned to Walford, to look out for his sister after spending
years running from the police.
But Steve, who played the same part in panto at Milton Keynes last
year, said he loved it so much he had to tell his BBC bosses he
would need to take a break from the soap.
"I had a brilliant time in Milton Keynes last year" he said.
"They asked me if I wanted to do it again, and I had to say yes - I
love doing panto.
"When I was asked to come back to Eastenders I had to tell them I'd
be doing this again, and I'd have to fit my return around the
panto."
His role as the villainous Captain Hook sees him firmly back in the
baddy territory he has become known and loved for.
"It's funny because I'm not really like that at all in real life,
but Ross Kemp does come across as much more of a tough bloke, even
though he's a lovely guy.
"It does bother me that people seem to compare us all the time.
It's always done and it's just a bit dull really.
"I've been one of the Mitchell brothers for over 10 years, and
people do get to recognise your face. It's something you can't get
away from."
Steve may have become accustomed to celebrity, but his entry into
this world was almost never to be.
He became interested in acting at school, but explained he had to
give it up at a young age for his own personal security,
explaining: "When you're a kid at a London school in the 70s,
prancing around as a luvvie doesn't really go down that
well."
He later rediscovered his love for the thespian world
"accidentally" - standing in for someone who had dropped out of a
dramatic production at the last minute.
This led him to attend London's prestigious Royal Academy of
Dramatic Arts (RADA) - after he had been turned down from a place
at the former Manchester Polytechnic - but still admits to being
astonished at getting through the auditions.
"RADA gave me a lifeline," he said.
"I didn't have the faintest idea about acting before I went there,
didn't know about how to learn a speech, didn't know about any of
the classics and all that.
"Luckily, they just thought they saw something in me - some sort of
potential."
Despite stints in TV series such as Minder, The Bill and Bergerac,
Steve admits it was not all plain sailing until he landed his
Eastenders role in the early 90s, and occasionally even had to fall
back on his first trade - as a plumber.
Steve has also recently made steps towards the big screen, playing
a policeman in a film called Provoked.
The movie is a collaboration between British, American and
Indian filmmakers - featuring a well-known Bollywood star - and
centres on an Asian woman who gets accused of murdering her
husband.
"There was a Bollywood crew filming it who hardly spoke any
English" he said. "They were knocking me out of the way and they
didn't have a clue who I was, and I told them it was my first
film.
"When I'd done my bit, they saw I was giving it some and they all
said `oh, you are a very good actor'."
While he admitted he had no idea when, or even if, the film would
appear, he enjoyed the thrill of not being Phil Mitchell for a
while.
"You carry the Eastenders thing with you, but with US casting
agents, that doesn't come into it. It was like starting again after
14 years of TV."
However, on the subject of how long he would remain terrorising the
residents of Walford, he suggested they might eventually be rid of
him for good.
"I'm back in for one year," he said.
"After the first year I signed for two more years, then kept that
up until year 10. All I can say now is one more year."
Steve McFadden stars in Peter Pan at The Opera House until
January 8.
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