Great Stephen Lewis interview stuff

[Sarkus]

I kind of referenced this in another thread, but I recently came across this On the Buses video content and it includes parts of a lengthy Stephen Lewis interview done in 2002. There are several videos with Stephen in them.

 

[RickAns]

Great find, thanks for sharing.

 

[Adrian Morris]

Thanks for sharing. I found it's amazing how different his regular voice is compared to the voices he used for Inspector Blake and Clem 'Smiler' Hemmingway.

 

[Sarkus]

Its not the video I linked, but in one of them they show that when he showed up to do the interview he brought his old Blake costume and put it on to do an improvised little sketch for them. I remember reading once that when he was living in a retirement home near the end of his life, he would still happily call out his old catchphrases to entertain the other residents. Its refreshing that he embraced those characters so much even though it typecast him and didn't complain like many actors with similar careers do.

 

[maltrab]

He would tell some great stories during filming breaks, one I recall was he was wandering down Oxford Street in London, a chap walked up to him and said it is you off the TV isn't it. and they had a little chat, some 15 minutes later what he though as the same chap came towards to him again, he looked the same and dressed the same, yet when striking up a conversation this chap had a Scottish accent and found it odd that Stephen felt that he already knew him.

 

[captain clutterbuck]

I am not sure he ever used public transport but could you imagine the reaction if he was to get on a bus especially from the driver , priceless.

 

[Denton Pette]

I have just watched "That Certain Smile" and when the trio visit smiler he speaks very gently, but later on when he becomes a regular character, he speaks more like Blakey from On The Buses, It seems as if it is a set speech pattern Stephen Lewis uses for his characters.