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TV Times
Interview
- Yellowthread Street
By Steve Turner
DO NOT COPY THIS IMAGE TO USE ON OTHER BP FAN SITES Bruce Payne is quite clearly not going to be selling Yellowthread Street too hard. Not just yet, anyway. He extols the virtues of his fellow actors, chucks in compliments about directors and excites you about Hong Kong, but holds tight reign on his adjectives when it comes to the 13-part series itself. “I certainly think it’s a new thing,” he says tactfully when asked why the public should stay to watch it on Saturday nights. “It’s a very brave thing. Whether it’s going to be good or not… who knows? I can’t be the judge of that. “Yes, it’s exciting. Yes, it has a lot of interesting characters. Hong Kong, of course, is very much in the news. It certainly makes for a very interesting weekly thing.” But “certainly makes for a very interesting weekly thing” isn’t the sort of line to market an 8 million pound series shot entirely on location almost halfway around the globe. Nor, for that matter, is “lots of interesting characters”. What’s more likely to sell is the image of a hunky cop, Detective Nick Eden (Payne), with blond hair, a strong jaw and bulldozer shoulders, who holds the evil Hong Kong underworld at bay with his fellow model agency detectives and a few rounds of gunfire when the language barrier proves too great. Isn’t Eden a hunky cop, an English Don Johnson? “Nah,” Payne, brushing off the implied compliment with a curl of his lip, “Eden’s a ponce! He’s a maverick character who’s worked with Interpol and knows the drug scene in New York. He’s got a lot experience and because of that he’s very dependable. He works very quickly”. And shoots very quickly, too? Payne appears a little uncomfortable about the ratio of bullets to feet of film: he obviously doesn’t want to be stuck with a Rambo tag and explains that the people who make such decisions are scriptwriters, not actors. “You could do an entire film without weapons at all. I’m all for it,” Payne says. “the film Things Change is about the Mafia but there are no killings – it’s wonderful to watch. But the writers are the people to ask. I’m in favour of the film that doesn’t have weapons but I don’t have the power to decide that.” You get the impression that Payne liked the work – over four months settled in the Grand Plaza, Hong Kong – but personally has higher aspirations. He’s happier talking about Shakespeare, black and white Indian films and his work with Steven Berkoff. He says he’s like to work with director Michael Bogdanov, who has taken over the main theatre in Hamburg. Raised in South London. He left school at 16 and went to RADA at 19. “In between I worked as a carpenter, a salesman, and a landscape gardener. When I left drama school I did a film called Privates on Parade with John Cleese.” Life’s been pretty good for him ever since. He’s traveled extensively, worked in films (including Absolute Beginners), television (including Operation Julie, Smart Money and The Equalizer) and on the West End stage (including Greek). “I’ve been very lucky,” he admits. There are more films in the immediate future. He may be working in Paris. He talks casually of the time he filmed in China or how he likes to catch up on film watching when he is over in New York. Yellowthread Street was offered to Payne in early 1989 and the appeal was the chance to star in what was ostensibly seven one-hour films. He was drawn to the character of Eden, he says, because there was room to develop the character. In Hong Kong, Payne hung around with local cops to catch the flavour of the job. “I don’t think you can work without getting involved like that,” he says. “It would be like someone handing you potatoes, batter and some fish and asking you to open up a fish and chip shop right there and then. “You have to learn about it. The people I spent time with were high-ranking detectives. They were very down-to-earth, very helpful on technicalities.” If Yellowthread Street becomes the blockbuster ITV hopes for, Payne’s days of relative anonymity could be numbered. He scoffs at the idea. “I think I’m just one of the seven people,” he stresses. “If one was to use that awful word ‘star’, I think the star of the show is Hong Kong.” And will Payne be at home watching Yellowthread Street on a Saturday night? “Oh, no,” he says, laughing. “Forget about it! I’ll watch them about six months from now. It’s just too close for me now. I wouldn’t be able to see it for what it was.”
Copyright TV Times, Jan., 1990.
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