‘I starred in Dᴇᴀᴛʜ on Paradise and here’s a huge rehearsal secret you don’t know’
EXCLUSIVE: A Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise star has detailed what goes on behind the scenes
An actor who appeared in Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise has revealed what happens behind the scenes (Image: BBC)
An iconic actor who starred in Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise has revealed they have a very unusual rehearsal process on the show. Robert Daws, 66, who played Dr. Gordon Omerod on The Royal from 2003 until 2011, intimated the show’s rehearsal’s are unconventional. Due to the humidity and heat on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe where the show is filmed, the stars of the BBC show are forced to rehearse scenes in their underwear! The star appeared in the show in 2016 and confessed it was far removed from his previous work experience.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, he laughed: “It’s the only time I’ve ever been forced to rehearse in my underwear. Because it is so hot that the costumes go on at the very last minute. Otherwise they get drenched with sweat. So it’s funny, walking around with Kris Marshall in his underwear, I’m in my underwear, and at the last minute costume coming and put on a tropical shirt.” The legendary actor also revealed he almost turned down the role because his character got killed off immediately – although that proved to be advantageous for him.
“They came through with the offer and my agent said, ‘Look, it’s a small role and you die at the beginning, but you’re in flashback all the way through’.
“And my agent said, ‘I don’t think you should do it.’ So I said, ‘Okay, maybe they’ll come back and offer me something else’,” he laughs.
He continued: “This was a rare moment of being grand for me. They came back and said, ‘Wouldn’t Robert reconsider?’ Because the way it turned out, schedule wise, I needed to be here for two days filming at the beginning of the month, but then they couldn’t do the end of the episode until the end of the shooting schedule. So they said I’d have to spend a month in Guadeloupe, plus they’d fly me and my family and put us up in a hotel for the entire month.
“I thought, ‘That’ll do very nicely. Thank you very much.’ So we had a wonderful time. Went over there, worked on the episode I was in. Two of my friends turned up in it. I didn’t even know they had cast Wendy Craig and Keith Allen.”
He added: “So we just had a month in the sun, and occasionally had the inconvenience of having to do some work, but it was one of those happy, lucky jobs. So I’ve got nothing but fond memories of it.”
The Royal legend Robert Daws is currently appearing in Wodehouse in Wonderland (Image: Publicity Photo)
Robert’s latest gig doesn’t involve underwear. He has been playing writer PG Wodehouse in William Humble’s play, Wodehouse in Wonderland, at Assembly George Square Studios at Edinburgh Festival Fringe since July 30.
The show, which tells the story of acclaimed Jeeves and Wooster writer PJ Wodehouse, is getting set to move to the Tabard Theatre from August 27 until August 30. The one-man play coincides with the commemorations marking 50 years since Wodehouse’s Dᴇᴀᴛʜ . He admits it was a conversation with Stephen Fry which piqued his interest in the role after he had appeared in Jeeves and Wooster.
“One of the many reasons I’m doing it is this idea to the play came about around about 10 years ago, and I was having a drink with Stephen Fry about something completely different. And we started talking about all things Wodehouse. And at the end of it, Stephen said, you know, it’s an interesting thing. Not many people really know about plum Woodhouse. He kept himself very private.
“He spent all his life protecting himself, and with his wife, Ethel, who was pretty much his Jeeves, really just protected him so he could become what he described himself as a writing machine. He just loved writing. He’d finish one novel, put the paper into the typewriter and start on the next. That was his life. He absolutely loved it. And any real distraction from that, apart from walking the dogs in the afternoon or the martini with his wife at 5.15 every day, his whole life was just dedicated to this world that he created,” he said, describing the author.
