BBC2, *Manchild* press packet (series one)
"Feature Interview: Don Warrington is Patrick."

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Actor Don Warrington applauds "brave" casting for 
*Manchild*'s Patrick.

Still recognised for his role as *Rising Damp*'s Philip 
Smith - Rigsby's (Leonard Rossiter) well-spoken lodger in 
the classic Seventies sitcom - Warrington plays dashing art 
dealer Patrick in BBC2's new comedy drama.

"In this country, there are still few convincing characters 
written for black actors," says Warrington. "Generally, 
black roles are quite limited. A glass ceiling still exists. 
But I think that this role is moving towards something new. 
It was never conceived that Patrick would be played by a 
black man and, in that sense, the casting was quite brave."

Born in Trinidad, Warrington moved to England with his 
parents as a young boy. Raised in inner-city Newscastle he 
swiftly developed the Geordie accent he was only to drop 
when he joined the local repertory theatre at the age of 17.

"I spoke with a strong Geordie accent until I found my way 
to the local theatre and met a lot of actors who all spoke 
in 'posh' voices," he says. "I thought: 'If you're going to 
get on then you'd better learn to speak like them.' I've 
always been a chameleon."

Warrington praises the quality of *Manchild* author Nick 
Fisher's writing and is sure that audiences will identify 
with the forty-something angst of the affluent Patrick, 
Terry, Gary and James.

"I think everyone at some point looks at their lives and 
thinks: 'What have I done with my life and what do I want 
from it.' If that's a mid-life crisis then, yes, I think 
everybody has one," he says. "It seems to me only sensible 
that people should choose to take stock. In some way, each 
of the four men has a crisis, each of them comes to a moment 
when they recognise something about themselves. It's funny 
because anxiety can be very, very amusing. Look at Woody 
Allen!"

Married with two songs aged 21 and 12, Warrington was 
attracted to the unusual character of confirmed bachelor 
Patrick.

"He's quite hard to locate because his history is not 
clear," he says. "But curiously that allows one to make up 
his future. He's into rather eccentric things and he seems 
to be someone who has ditched his past and is reinventing a 
present and future. All the other men are married and have 
kids but he doesn't have any of those things so one would 
assume that he set out to have more intellectual pursuits. 
Life for Patrick is a concept as opposed to a reality."

Warrington's broad range of roles over the years have 
included: a touring *Macbeth* for the English Shakespeare 
Company - playing to audiences in Malawi, Ghana and Sierra 
Leone; the priapic opera singer in acclaimed director Peter 
Greenaway's *Eight and a Half Women*; Anthonio in Birmingham 
Rep's *The Merchant of Venice*; and the long-suffering 
chauffeur in Bristol Old Vic's stage production of *Driving 
Miss Daisy*. But, much to his surprise, the actor finds that 
he is still best remembered for his role as Rigsby's 
handsome tenant.

"I still get recognised as Philip Smith which is odd really 
because it's as if it's never gone away," he says. "It can 
be a little frustrating. It seems that whatever I do, people 
still come up to me afterwards and say: 'You know, I really 
liked you in *Rising Damp*!' Clearly, it's entered into 
people's consciousness--which is great."

Warrington hopes that the strength of *Manchild*'s four male 
characters will appeal to a wide-ranging audience.

"I think what's interesting about this series is that you 
see men of a certain age exploring areas that you don't 
assume that generation would," he says. "They are still 
searching for the perfect love, the perfect business, the 
perfect life. And it's especially fascinating because, 
whatever they decide to pursue, they go after it with a kind 
of richness because they bring all their experience to it.

"I think it will appeal to all kinds of people, especially 
women," says Warrington. "Because women know men better than 
men know themselves. I think that women will look at it and 
laugh because they will say: 'That's just like my partner!' 
The problems that these men have are the problems that most 
men have. All men suffer from a kind of inarticulateness 
that is well known to women. Men pretend with each other 
much more than women do in my view and that gets explored 
here."

Warrington reveals that he loved playing alongside fellow 
co-stars Havers, Head and Burdis and hopes that they will 
have the opportunity to work together again.

"It's been a wonderful time, really," he says. "We got on 
very well. We all seem to have the same sense of humour and 
we had the same objective--to make the series as rich and 
interesting as possible. And I hope that's what we've 
achieved."



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