The Sun, 23 March 2002, by Jon Peake.
"Find me Miss Right...now."
-----------------------------------------------------------

Busy bachelor Patrick is desperate to make new life - but 
first he needs a wife!

*Manchild* Tuesday BBC2

You'd think someone with loads of money and spare time would 
easily find themselves a wife. But that's not the case for 
wealthy memorabilia dealer Patrick in *Manchild*. In the 
latest episode, he decides to do something about it. "He's 
been busy doing other things like being interested in art, 
music, literature and life," muses actor Don Warrington, who 
plays the middle-aged bachelor.

"But following his mother's death, he decides to take 
action. Losing her makes him realise he quite likes life and 
wants it to continue.

"The answer to life is to breed and create more of yourself. 
And the quickest way to do that is to find a wife."

And the quickest way to find a wife, he decides, is via a 
dating agency.

"Instead of doing the obvious thing, like looking for a 
woman himself, Patrick cuts straight to the chase," laughs 
Don.

The 51-year-old actor, who lives in London with his partner 
and sons Jacob, 21, and Archie, 12, can relate to his 
character's way of thinking.

"But as to whether there's a lot of him in me or not, I 
think that's really for other people to say," he ponders.

"Patrick has a whole different emotional framework than me, 
but it's been great fun creating it. Men don't have the same 
emotional baggage as women."

While Patrick is determined to find a wife, James and Terry 
(Anthony Head and Nigel Havers) are horrified by his quest, 
and Gary (Ray Burdis) has his own problems. He talks Cheryl 
(Lindsey Coulson) into agreeing to try swinging, but then 
realises he doesn't have the nerve to go through with it, 
after all.

Don loves playing Patrick, but he's still best known as 
student Philip in the hit Seventies comedy *Rising Damp*, 
which also starred Leonard Rossiter and Richard Beckinsdale.

It was Don's first role out of drama school - and it became 
a tough act to follow. He did have another major TV role, as 
the boss in Eighties crime caper *CATS Eyes*, but it didn't 
have quite the same impact.

"No one ever talks about *CATS Eyes*, chuckles Don.

"It was a bit of fun but it wasn't as powerful as *Rising 
Damp*. Finding work since *Rising Damp* has been hard.

"People think if you're not on TV all the time, you've died 
or have become a busker. I've done neither."

In some ways, his early success in *Rising Damp* could be 
seen as a double-edged sword, but Don's philosophical. "I've 
done what I've done and that's it," he says.

"I'm not going to make a judgment about it. It could have 
been different if I'd made different decisions, but this is 
where I am, this is what I'm doing and we'll see what 
happens next."



-----------------------------------------------------------
                     Bentley's Bedlam
            http://www.BetsyDa.com/bedlam.html

This website is for information and entertainment purposes only 
and is not intended to infringe on copyrights held by others.