I can't wait to lay Ruth to rest; THE LUCKY SUIT.
Eastenders star Caroline Paterson admits she's desperate to get back to her roots.The Glasgow-born actress best known as Ruth Fowler in the BBC1 soap is waiting for the day she can pack her bags and move back to Scotland.
As she shoots her final EastEnders scenes in December, she will be counting the days until her next visit home.
The 32-year-old actress has accepted it will be a year or two before she moves back to Scotland permanently, but she is determined to raise her 14-month-old son Louis in Glasgow.
For now, she has to content herself with her first film being shown by BBC1 on Monday.
The Lucky Suit is a testament to her family background and, if the girl can't return to her roots, she is going to put them up in lights.
The film, starring former boyfriend Robert Carlyle, is based on the life of Caroline's grandfather, Tommy Yorke, a variety performer who worked Scotland's theatres in the 1940s.
"He womanised and drank his way to the bottom," says Caroline about the man who once shared bills with the biggest names in Scottish variety.
It was only when the actress starred with Jimmy Logan in the TV series Winners and Losers that she began to build up the story.
She recalls: "Jimmy showed me pictures of the old days of variety theatre and my grandfather was in them. It was really strange, like a history lesson."
She stresses The Lucky Suit is only based loosely on her grandfather's life, but she sees it as a tribute to him.
Hamish Macbeth star Ron Donachie plays Tommy and Robert Carlyle stars as a homeless rose-seller, who watches one night as Tommy strips off his blue suit and runs away. He and a friend trace the showman to his hotel room, where there is a surprise confrontation.
Caroline took great delight in casting Robert. She has worked with him in acclaimed theatre company Raindog for years and The Lucky Suit was the group's first film.
She is relieved EastEnders will soon be behind her and is looking forward to pursuing a number of projects, some with Raindog. She appears to have high hopes of one in particular, but refuses to be drawn on the subject.
Caroline has found the soap's schedule difficult since giving birth. "I was doing EastEnders and being a mother. It felt like I wasn't fully there for either, which was awful."
She has accepted her agent's advice to stay in London for a while after leaving EastEnders. But she's never felt at home there, even after settling down with Louis's father, hairdresser Claudio Carnovale. And she is determined Louis will go to school in Scotland.
"I don't want Louis brought up in London," she says. "It's a better way of life in Scotland. When you leave you really appreciate where you belong."
There are a few more weeks before Caroline can lay Ruth to rest. But when she does, the corks will be popping, at least in her home.
DRAMA of the week
This gritty, warts-and-all police drama has attracted a lot of controversy, particularly among serving cops.
Some of them think it undermines the public's confidence in them, while others have praised it as a realistic portrayal of the conditions they work in and the pressures with which they have to cope.
One thing's for sure, it isn't Dixon of Dock Green.
In this week's episode, PC Mike Thomson and his wife are horrified to find their house has been burgled and daubed with anti-police graffiti.
Sergeant Giffen thinks it might have something to do with an upcoming court case, an idea dismissed by Detective Sergeant Wakefield.
Meanwhile, policewoman Mel complains to her partner about only getting the boring jobs.
But she's soon got more excitement than she can handle when she realises she has managed to let a burglar escape.
Can she cover it up and avoid being rumbled?
FILM of the week
NICK HORNBY'S book was a love story about 12 men - Hornby and Arsenal - with women well down the league table.
On the big screen, the romantic interest won promotion, probably to widen the film's appeal to women.
But there's still plenty here for the football obsessive to relate to.
Hornby's love for Arsenal - and that of his alter ego in the film Paul (Colin Firth) - survived many years of failure and jibes as well as the fairytale season of 1988-89 which forms the climax of the film.
Ruth Gemmell plays Sarah, the woman who always plays second fiddle to the Gunners ... until Paul wises up.
SOAP of the week
We all knew it had to happen and, typically for EastEnders, it happens just as Grant is trying to patch up his rocky marriage to Tiffany.
Their planned perfect day ends in tears when Tiff (Martine McCutcheon) finally finds out about her husband's affair with her mother.
The news is the catalyst for a life-changing decision for Tiffany. But Grant's efforts to keep her are destined to lead to tragedy.
Meanwhile, Ricky and Bianca are also experiencing relationship problems, falling out over the birth of their baby. And another of the great mysteries of EastEnders - the paternity of the surly and brooding Gianni - is under discussion.
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
|---|---|
| Author: | Morgan, Kathleen |
| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Nov 28, 1998 |
| Words: | 875 |
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