Post by Angel on Apr 11, 2006 22:59:56 GMT 1
Adrian Lewis Morgan
Monday, April 10 2006, 18:52 BST - by Kris Green
The man behind Doctors' favourite Dr Jimmi Clay, Adrian Lewis Morgan, spoke to DS last week about his time with the show, working with Dynasty star Emma Samms and the prospect of Doctors moving to a later time slot.
Tell us a bit about your character.
Dr Jimmi Clay, well he's very charming, fairly new to the profession and just split up with his wife. I would say that he's a good doctor, and he suffers with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
Did you do any research into OCD?
Well, luckily enough there were a few documentaries on television about OCD at the time, so I watched those and I spoke to my father who was a senior social worker when he was working and he'd had limited experience with people with OCD. But yes, limited research - the job is so fast and very often you don't get a lot of time to be able to do [such things] before the script is plonked in front of you and you just have to start running, so to speak.
How did you get your part in Doctors?
I just auditioned the same as everyone else. I'm familiar with some of the casting people at the BBC and because I used to do Holby City. The way casting works sometimes is if a role comes up and people have worked with you before, they know of your strengths and weaknesses and they know of your type (so to speak) then you'll get called in and from there on it's a normal audition process where you do as best you can, read as well as you can in the audition and hopefully everything fits.
How does this compare with other roles?
As far as TV's concerned, this is a bigger role for me dialogue-wise. With Holby, I had a smaller part so [now] it's more work and it's very fast. The way we film is very quick so you do spend a lot of the spare time you have off work actually working so it's not really spare time, you're learning scripts but it balances itself out. Sometimes you get occasional days here and there where you've got more time to yourself - a bit of extra time or maybe you're doing less in the stories so you can get those things done that you can't get done otherwise.
Were you a fan of the show before?
Yeah, I was actually. I guess I'm one of those people who went though college watching Neighbours and all the lunchtime dramas and of course with Doctors following Neighbours, I started to watch and before I knew it, I got sucked into the story and the characters. I'm not just saying that, I am being honest. I genuinely watched the show so it was quite nice to be able to audition for a regular part.
How do you compare with your character? Do you and your character have any similarities?
Well, yes and no, I mean obviously with any casting there are similarities. There's obviously the look [laughs]. The look is different in the way that I'm usually casually dressed – I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of bloke and Jimmi is very much a suit kind of bloke. The only suit that I own is one that was bought for me when I was around 16/17 for my sister's wedding which was a while ago [laughs].
Do you get along with your co-stars?
Yes, believe it or not. I know you hear horror stories from productions where no-one gets on and there are cat fights but it's a really nice bunch of people across the board. Everyone from the production office, crew, cast, producers, everyone seems to get on very, very well. The show's been running for a while now so that does help everything to gel but on top of that, we run a very tight ship and we do work very quickly so realistically, it's necessary to get on but everyone just does get on if you know what I mean, it's a nice bunch.
Have you ever had any medical emergencies in real life?
Nothing that I would say was a medical emergency. I've had one or two motorbike crashes in my time. I passed two cars that had come a cropper on the M1 one night when I was working in Birmingham doing 'Les Mis' musical show.
I was touring, and I was having to drive back to London late one night after the show to be able to pick some things up and on the way back to London, I found two cars crashed into the central reservation… I stopped to help out. Basically it's a long story but there was nobody else around, it seemed, and the cars that were passing kept passing, nobody stopped. I managed to get one guy from his car because he was in shock – he was wandering around in three lanes looking for his briefcase – so I got him over to the side of the road to safety, told him to stay there and thankfully he did. Then I went back to help the other two in the car behind. There was a guy stuck behind the driver's seat and he was stuck again through shock, not through any physical hemming-in but he was asthmatic and he had two hearing aids and his partner at the time was trying to speak to him but because he was in shock he wasn't really very receptive so I managed to help out with that. I also managed to flag an AA van going the other way. He was going up north and he went up to the next junction and turned around and by the time he'd turned around, I'd gotten the three of them over to the hard shoulder and I had to leave it there. The AA man took over, phoned the ambulance. It was a weird one – there was a car in front stinking of petrol and a small fire started so I wasn't sure if it was going to go up…
I know you're not supposed to move people but I did check if everyone was OK and were physically able to move and I managed to be speak to all three of them before I made any decisions to try and move them…
It was a bit nerve-wracking as the cars coming from the other way were hitting the debris so they were flicking up pieces of glass and whatever from the accident and it was coming off and speed, it was flying past me like bullets so it wasn't very pleasant.
Who is your favourite character?
I'd have to say Jimmi's my favourite character [laughs] I don't know, it's a tough one that. I'd hate to choose one over the other and upset anybody. I do like the character I play and I know that sounds selfish and arrogant but I don't mean it like that. He's a very interesting character because of the OCD and because he had a wife when I started the series. That all broke down and split up and there was the love story with the receptionist and that again broke down. There's going to be a lot more to come next year – obviously I can't mention those things at this stage but there's quite a bit of scope for things to happen to Jimmi so I guess he's my favourite character right now.
What was it like working with Emma Samms?
That was great - she's lovely and it was really odd because I grew up watching her when I was younger on television and I used to see her weekly so it was kind of weird. When they turned round to me in casting and said to me 'oh, we've cast your wife, it's going to be Emma', it was a real shock but she's fantastic to work with - she's an ultimate professional. Obviously from the experience she's got and she just made it easy. We had some heavy things to do, some very long days with long scenes but she made it a lot easier to get on with that.
Who is your role model in the acting world?
I don't really have one person to be honest, I tend to favour whoever makes me believe the story. If somebody puts in a good performance, is believable, and reaches the audience, then that's who I like at the time but I don't stick with one person.
Who would you most like to see Jimmi have a fling with other than Sarah?
[Laughs] I've got to be careful there, I've got to say my girlfriend otherwise she'll clip me [laughs].
What’s to come for Jimmi?
There's a lot to come but I'm not allowed to talk about it unfortunately. I've only been told that certain things will be happening in the last couple of weeks, so there is a lot to come… I've been sworn to secrecy…
Would you like to see Doctors move to a prime-time slot?
Yes I would. We had a meeting with the cast and some of the heads recently and I actually mentioned it because a lot of people have mentioned to me in the street that it's a shame that it isn't repeated in the evening at the very least if not moved to a later time slot so more people can see it. There is obviously a limited audience in the middle of the day and it would be really good to see it move up to a bigger slot in the evening to try and capture a bigger audience. That would be very nice. Whether anything will come of it I don't know.
What other soaps do you watch when you’re not filming apart from, of course, Doctors?
Well my girlfriend is very much into Emmerdale and Coronation Street so I get roped into watching those most evenings. My favourite would have to be EastEnders. Whether that was something to do with the fact that I worked at Elstree for a couple of years with Holby – I got to see people go backwards and forwards at lunchtimes. I watch a lot of television – always have done and I know I shouldn't watch as much as I do but I'm a big fan of television of all different types of programme.
How often do you get to catch yourself on television?
Well I do tape the show every day. Not because I enjoy watching myself on television [laughs] more just to check that I'm doing an OK job and if there's anything that needs 'fixing'.
How long do you expect yourself to stay with the show?
As far as I'm concerned, for the foreseeable future. I'm very happy there and I'm comfortable - it's a nice job to have.
If your character ever leaves the show, how would you like him to be written out?
[Laughs] Hopefully in a big way. I wouldn't like to give them any ideas in case they start thinking down that road. Hopefully a nice chunky decent storyline…
From DS
Monday, April 10 2006, 18:52 BST - by Kris Green
The man behind Doctors' favourite Dr Jimmi Clay, Adrian Lewis Morgan, spoke to DS last week about his time with the show, working with Dynasty star Emma Samms and the prospect of Doctors moving to a later time slot.
Tell us a bit about your character.
Dr Jimmi Clay, well he's very charming, fairly new to the profession and just split up with his wife. I would say that he's a good doctor, and he suffers with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
Did you do any research into OCD?
Well, luckily enough there were a few documentaries on television about OCD at the time, so I watched those and I spoke to my father who was a senior social worker when he was working and he'd had limited experience with people with OCD. But yes, limited research - the job is so fast and very often you don't get a lot of time to be able to do [such things] before the script is plonked in front of you and you just have to start running, so to speak.
How did you get your part in Doctors?
I just auditioned the same as everyone else. I'm familiar with some of the casting people at the BBC and because I used to do Holby City. The way casting works sometimes is if a role comes up and people have worked with you before, they know of your strengths and weaknesses and they know of your type (so to speak) then you'll get called in and from there on it's a normal audition process where you do as best you can, read as well as you can in the audition and hopefully everything fits.
How does this compare with other roles?
As far as TV's concerned, this is a bigger role for me dialogue-wise. With Holby, I had a smaller part so [now] it's more work and it's very fast. The way we film is very quick so you do spend a lot of the spare time you have off work actually working so it's not really spare time, you're learning scripts but it balances itself out. Sometimes you get occasional days here and there where you've got more time to yourself - a bit of extra time or maybe you're doing less in the stories so you can get those things done that you can't get done otherwise.
Were you a fan of the show before?
Yeah, I was actually. I guess I'm one of those people who went though college watching Neighbours and all the lunchtime dramas and of course with Doctors following Neighbours, I started to watch and before I knew it, I got sucked into the story and the characters. I'm not just saying that, I am being honest. I genuinely watched the show so it was quite nice to be able to audition for a regular part.
How do you compare with your character? Do you and your character have any similarities?
Well, yes and no, I mean obviously with any casting there are similarities. There's obviously the look [laughs]. The look is different in the way that I'm usually casually dressed – I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of bloke and Jimmi is very much a suit kind of bloke. The only suit that I own is one that was bought for me when I was around 16/17 for my sister's wedding which was a while ago [laughs].
Do you get along with your co-stars?
Yes, believe it or not. I know you hear horror stories from productions where no-one gets on and there are cat fights but it's a really nice bunch of people across the board. Everyone from the production office, crew, cast, producers, everyone seems to get on very, very well. The show's been running for a while now so that does help everything to gel but on top of that, we run a very tight ship and we do work very quickly so realistically, it's necessary to get on but everyone just does get on if you know what I mean, it's a nice bunch.
Have you ever had any medical emergencies in real life?
Nothing that I would say was a medical emergency. I've had one or two motorbike crashes in my time. I passed two cars that had come a cropper on the M1 one night when I was working in Birmingham doing 'Les Mis' musical show.
I was touring, and I was having to drive back to London late one night after the show to be able to pick some things up and on the way back to London, I found two cars crashed into the central reservation… I stopped to help out. Basically it's a long story but there was nobody else around, it seemed, and the cars that were passing kept passing, nobody stopped. I managed to get one guy from his car because he was in shock – he was wandering around in three lanes looking for his briefcase – so I got him over to the side of the road to safety, told him to stay there and thankfully he did. Then I went back to help the other two in the car behind. There was a guy stuck behind the driver's seat and he was stuck again through shock, not through any physical hemming-in but he was asthmatic and he had two hearing aids and his partner at the time was trying to speak to him but because he was in shock he wasn't really very receptive so I managed to help out with that. I also managed to flag an AA van going the other way. He was going up north and he went up to the next junction and turned around and by the time he'd turned around, I'd gotten the three of them over to the hard shoulder and I had to leave it there. The AA man took over, phoned the ambulance. It was a weird one – there was a car in front stinking of petrol and a small fire started so I wasn't sure if it was going to go up…
I know you're not supposed to move people but I did check if everyone was OK and were physically able to move and I managed to be speak to all three of them before I made any decisions to try and move them…
It was a bit nerve-wracking as the cars coming from the other way were hitting the debris so they were flicking up pieces of glass and whatever from the accident and it was coming off and speed, it was flying past me like bullets so it wasn't very pleasant.
Who is your favourite character?
I'd have to say Jimmi's my favourite character [laughs] I don't know, it's a tough one that. I'd hate to choose one over the other and upset anybody. I do like the character I play and I know that sounds selfish and arrogant but I don't mean it like that. He's a very interesting character because of the OCD and because he had a wife when I started the series. That all broke down and split up and there was the love story with the receptionist and that again broke down. There's going to be a lot more to come next year – obviously I can't mention those things at this stage but there's quite a bit of scope for things to happen to Jimmi so I guess he's my favourite character right now.
What was it like working with Emma Samms?
That was great - she's lovely and it was really odd because I grew up watching her when I was younger on television and I used to see her weekly so it was kind of weird. When they turned round to me in casting and said to me 'oh, we've cast your wife, it's going to be Emma', it was a real shock but she's fantastic to work with - she's an ultimate professional. Obviously from the experience she's got and she just made it easy. We had some heavy things to do, some very long days with long scenes but she made it a lot easier to get on with that.
Who is your role model in the acting world?
I don't really have one person to be honest, I tend to favour whoever makes me believe the story. If somebody puts in a good performance, is believable, and reaches the audience, then that's who I like at the time but I don't stick with one person.
Who would you most like to see Jimmi have a fling with other than Sarah?
[Laughs] I've got to be careful there, I've got to say my girlfriend otherwise she'll clip me [laughs].
What’s to come for Jimmi?
There's a lot to come but I'm not allowed to talk about it unfortunately. I've only been told that certain things will be happening in the last couple of weeks, so there is a lot to come… I've been sworn to secrecy…
Would you like to see Doctors move to a prime-time slot?
Yes I would. We had a meeting with the cast and some of the heads recently and I actually mentioned it because a lot of people have mentioned to me in the street that it's a shame that it isn't repeated in the evening at the very least if not moved to a later time slot so more people can see it. There is obviously a limited audience in the middle of the day and it would be really good to see it move up to a bigger slot in the evening to try and capture a bigger audience. That would be very nice. Whether anything will come of it I don't know.
What other soaps do you watch when you’re not filming apart from, of course, Doctors?
Well my girlfriend is very much into Emmerdale and Coronation Street so I get roped into watching those most evenings. My favourite would have to be EastEnders. Whether that was something to do with the fact that I worked at Elstree for a couple of years with Holby – I got to see people go backwards and forwards at lunchtimes. I watch a lot of television – always have done and I know I shouldn't watch as much as I do but I'm a big fan of television of all different types of programme.
How often do you get to catch yourself on television?
Well I do tape the show every day. Not because I enjoy watching myself on television [laughs] more just to check that I'm doing an OK job and if there's anything that needs 'fixing'.
How long do you expect yourself to stay with the show?
As far as I'm concerned, for the foreseeable future. I'm very happy there and I'm comfortable - it's a nice job to have.
If your character ever leaves the show, how would you like him to be written out?
[Laughs] Hopefully in a big way. I wouldn't like to give them any ideas in case they start thinking down that road. Hopefully a nice chunky decent storyline…
From DS
