What’s On TV Guide – October 1999

By Fiona Cumberpatch

It’s every actor’s dream to have a part written specially for them, and when that actor is Richard E. Grant, the part is bound to be something out of the ordinary.

Richard, who specialises in edgy, eccentric characters, says he jumped at the chance to appear in Trial and Retribution III, Lynda La Plante’s latest two-part psychological thriller, which starts this week.

I’ve known Lynda for years and she had said that she was going to write something that was perfect for me, explains Richard. When I saw the script and read the character I was to play, I was completely taken abackˆ but I thought it was a hell of a part.‚ Richard plays Stephen Warrington, an upstanding member of the community and a charming businessman who is hiding the fact that he suffers from cyclothymia, a form of manic depression. It‚s only when he starts making obsessive telephone calls to Detective Inspector Pat North (Kate Buffery) of the vice squad that he betrays he instability ˆ and his possible links to the death of a young girl.

To prepare for the role, Richard attended meetings of a Kent branch of the Manic Depression Fellowship. Meeting real suffers of Stephen’s condition completely altered my preconceptions about how this part could be played‚ Explains Richard. “The people I met had an amazing sense of humour and they shared incredible stories with me.”

Richard is no stranger to characters who live their life on the edge. He got his first break playing a neurotic out-of-work actor in the movie Withnail and I (1986). Since then, he has given a string of manic performances in films as varied as How To Get Ahead In Advertising (1989), The Player (1992), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and Spice World (1997).

Despite his extraordinary roles and on-screen success, Richard tries hard to keep his feet firmly on the ground. He lives in London, rather than Hollywood, with his wife of 16 years, voice coach Joan Washington and their young daughter Olivia. Being a celebrity means living a completely abnormal existence” he says. You’re paid millions; everyone thinks you’re beautiful, brilliant and they’re gagging to hear your every word. Then the next day, you learn you’re ugly, you speak all wrong and you’re not talented after all!

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