Interview: Sean Pertwee - SEAN SOLDIERS ON; SEAN PERTWEE TALKS EXCLUSIVELY ABOUT THE LOSS OF HIS TWIN BOY. BY ALUN PALMER.
Byline: ALUN PALMERIt has been six months that would test the strength of any man. While Sean Pertwee's career has soared after appearances on TV in Cold Feet and in the Hollywood films Event Horizon and 51st State, his personal life has been touched by tragedy.
Last year he and his wife Jacqui Hamilton-Smith were delighted when they discovered she was pregnant with twins. But just before Christmas the babies were born four months prematurely. Sadly, only one survived.
"We didn't have twins - unfortunately, we lost one," says Sean, talking about the tragedy for the first time. "They were born just before Christmas. We lost Gilbert, but we had Freddy who is with us now. He is the most beautiful son called Alfred - Alfred the Great. We have only just got Freddy home now as he wasn't very well himself. It's just great to have him here. It is still very fresh and painful to talk about."
Not surprisingly after all he has been through, Sean, 37, is finding it hard to tear himself away from his wife and child.
"I want to spend more time with my son, so I am working from home," he says. "Next year I have a couple of things happening, but it'll take a lot. And until Cold Feet, I'm staying at home."
A new run of the popular drama about relationships, in which Sean plays publisher Mark, who lured Karen away from David in the last series, is being made later this year, so he will have plenty of time between now and then to get used to being a dad. Yet while he is busy changing nappies, film fans will be watching him take on werewolves in his latest film Dog Soldiers.
In the gory horror, lightened by a deft comic touch, Sean plays Sergeant Harry Wells leading his troops on a routine exercise in Scotland. Then something starts picking off his men, one by one. It gave Sean the chance to play against type.
"I'm usually the angst-ridden, violent wideboy, but Wells is the complete opposite of that," he says. "He's the salt of the earth, an experienced soldier who is mother, father and best friend to the men in his unit.
"The film really does wear its heart - and its intestines - on its sleeve. It doesn't profess to be anything else. I am very proud of it. It only had a pounds 3.5 million budget and most of that went on special effects. They built three full bodies for the werewolves with weird stilt things and three animatronic heads.
"There is no way you can compete with the sheer brilliance of An American Werewolf In London - we didn't have the budget. There were a lot of homages - including Zulu with us being at Rourkes Drift. I have never enjoyed a job more. We were working in all weathers and rolling in muck. It was great fun."
Acting is in Sean's blood. His dad Jon, who died in 1996, became a hero to millions as Dr Who and then as Worzel Gummidge.
"We had a great relationship," says Sean, fondly. "We were very affectionate towards each other, but we were also very fiery people. If my dad had been a Master Butcher at Dewhurst I would have become a Master Butcher at Dewhurst. It was just something natural. But I was always terrified of being accused of nepotism. I didn't tell my dad at all when I did auditions.
"I'd go on set every Saturday for Dr Who. It was a cool programme - in its day it was pretty cutting-edge, revolutionary stuff. I got a Dalek once as a present and they are distinctly unimpressive. There are three office chair wheels, an old plastic school chair, a piece of string that moves the eye up and down, and a handle which makes the plunger spin around. I don't know how they could have conquered the world if they can't even climb stairs.
"I was a bit of a rebel as a kid. The majority of actors are non-conformist and slightly freaky at school. I wasn't that much of a wideboy. I just used to run with some pretty full-on guys. I went to a King Kurt concert once and the police said I had threatened some old age pensioners by brandishing chicken's feet as horns. I had five charges and got a suspended sentence. But then I saw the error of my ways. And that was when I decided to go into acting in a big way.
"My father was excessively proud when I joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was something he had never done, although I was still paranoid about nepotism. But I realised there that as long as you do your job and keep your head down then you are taken on your merits. I kind of wish I had done theatre for longer, but I always had this love for film."
He still misses his father keenly and more so now that he has become a parent himself.
"I love being a new dad, it's heaven on a stick," says Sean. "Freddy's so beautiful. It's difficult that his grandad isn't here, but I think he'll be smiling down on us."
Dog Soldiers is out now.
CAPTION(S):
HOUNDED: Werewolves start picking off a military unit led by Sean (right) in the creepy gore-fest Dog Soldiers; DELIGHT: With pregnant wife Jacqui, before the twins arrived prematurely
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Mirror (London, England) |
| Date: | May 10, 2002 |
| Words: | 910 |
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