The Street - a new drama for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE
Timothy Spall plays Eddie
Working overtime to pay the bills, Eddie the cabbie picks up Ojo (Jamiu Adebiyi), an asylum seeker who is being re-housed. Unable to drop him off, the kind-hearted cab driver invites him home for the night, much to the consternation of his wife, Margie (Ger Ryan).
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"Eddie wouldn't really hesitate to help someone who needs it which is why he ends up taking the asylum seeker home," says Timothy Spall who plays the sympathetic cab driver. "There's a great line in it where his wife says to him: 'the Doberman was bad enough'!," laughs Tim.
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"There's something quite innocent about Eddie, he is open-minded and open hearted. The lovely thing about the story is that Eddie and Ojo build up a really nice relationship - they have a connection.
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"It's like a strange kind of love story in a weird way. There's nothing sexual in it obviously, but they really find, in this odd series of events, a kind of great affection for each other, an incongruous one which shows it is completely universal really.
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"In its own simple way this story says a lot more about race relations and prejudices, than a story that would be far more interested in waving its political flag.
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"Obviously there's all sorts of objections to asylum seekers in this country because our system is bursting at the seams, but if you really deconstruct it, and break it down to you being in that position, why on Earth would you leave your home country and everything you know and love - if you have children drag them over in appalling conditions to get away from a country?
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"Is that really just to enjoy shopping and getting child benefit? No. It's an act of desperation. If you're an asylum seeker it means you're seeking asylum from a place you are being persecuted or you might be executed.
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"So actually if you want to say don't let them in, you're being ruthless I think.
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"This was the first thing I read after I decided to take a bit of time off and I couldn't resist it," continues the popular actor whose long list of credits include Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Harry Potter, Secrets & Lies for which he earned a BAFTA Award nomination; Life Is Sweet and the Gilbert & Sullivan biopic Topsy-Turvy which he starred alongside Jim Broadbent.
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"I've never worked with Jimmy McGovern before I've always loved his stuff so to get the opportunity was fantastic! I've also seen episode one and I thought it was absolutely tremendous.
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"What Jimmy does, he writes about ordinary people who get themselves in extraordinary situations, and he just writes absolutely truthfully and honestly about the consequences of their actions in a non-soapy way.
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"He really does have a massive talent and his finger right on the human condition. He always surprises you. The stories are so beautifully told, the dialogue always authentic and you always go on an emotional journey with the character and he has a wonderful sense of humour.
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"So although you get tragic stories they're always laced through with a real sense of humour.
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"It was a pleasure to do this project actually. David Blair is such a great director and I've worked with some of the crew before so it was like working with old friends. Jim (Broadbent) and Jane (Horrocks) are old pals, we've done quite a few projects together over the last 15 years.
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"Life is Sweet is where we all became real pals. It is a delight to not only work with people you really like, people you respect on good projects is like a dream really. It is what you strive to achieve.
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"There were also some fantastic actors on this like Jamiu Adebiyi, Chrissy Bottomley, Lee Ingleby, Shaun Dooley, Danny Ryan, a tremendous group with no fuss no messing about. Very difficult stuff to be done, everybody absolutely pulled their weight without one bit of fuss.
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"It was only the second time I've worked in Manchester and I absolutely loved being there too. I was brought up in Battersea (South London) on a street very similar to this. There was a sense of community.
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"I remember playing football in the streets and all our parents' knew each other. A lot of these places in London have long gone now. We had a wonderful time as kids, you felt very safe apart from the increase in traffic."
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What's next in the pipeline for the in demand film and television actor? "I play Albert Pierpoint the prolific public executioner, it's a very interesting story; Juliet Stephenson plays my wife.
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"I'm also about to play a reluctant Disney baddie in Enchanted which is set in New York. The film also stars Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon and Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy."
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