Interview taken from HermAphrodite #10

RIKKI BEADLE-BLAIR on ‘METROSEXUALITY’

Over the last six weeks, the giddily-paced drama ‘Metrosexuality’ has been whirling its glittery way into the hearts of the nation, looking rather like nothing we’ve seen before. It’s sparky and shiny and sexy and a whole host of other alliterative adjectives, it’s the proud owner of a cracking theme tune, and has been perking up the TV schedules while cheerfully filling the Original Drama void. It involves a physically & sexually diverse cast in a message of unity & universality without ever being too patronising / Sesame St (‘look kids we’re all the same really’) about it. It centres around life and love and human flaws, and still has time for tiny hotpants. It tackles negative issues (like gay-bashing and abusive parents) without letting the programme itself slink away from a positive outlook, so as it all comes across as a half hour hug. And everyone has such very good hair.

All of which is the brain-child of Rikki Beadle-Blair. Who not only scripted & directed & cast his mates in the series, but also played Max, the blond-dreadlocked dad/lover/brother/pink-jeep-owner hub of the action. He describes the show as ‘a multicultural, ambi-sexual community, where everyone is welcome’. And as he was just as open & friendly as Max in yesterday’s Ch4 web-chat about the programme, and told us his email address, I thought I’d abuse the line of communication with a selection of vaguely probing questions. Thusly.

Wow - such good questions - and so many!
Here goes...
So. You are the star, creator, director… 
Are you the Dick Van Dyke (one-man-band/pavement-artist/chimney-sweep/Cockney-Australian) of television? 
Dick van Dyke - no 
Denise Van Outen maybe....
 
You write, direct, act, sing. Which do you enjoy bestest? 
Acting is the one I couldn’t live without - performing in general but specially acting... though I really love songwriting... I like writing the least... but it’s still an essential part of my life...
 
Do you do it all yourself cos no-one else could do it properly (i.e. how you would do it)? Or just cos you
want as much of the credits to yourself as possible?
I don’t do it all myself - there are hundreds of others 
working alongside me and without them I am 
nothing – it’s just a question of having lots to say 
and not holding anything back in any area.
 
I’m presuming you have a CV chock-full of other 
excitements; what else have you done? 
Had you directed before? Been in ‘Cats’? (And so on…)
 
Rikki Beadle-Blair
Biography
 
Rikki Beadle-Blair is from Bermondsey, South London. He attended the experimental, 
hippie-run Bermondsey Free School, where he could study whatever subjects he liked – 
and so concentrated on performing arts, theatre and film.
He has played Hamlet, toured as a singer/dancer, performed in cabaret all over the world, 
gigged extensively in a rock band, assisted in a snake act, chorographed strippers 
in Baghdad and contemporary dance at the Sadlers Wells and directed extensively 
on the London fringe.
Some recent credits His screenplay Nigel Finch’s Stonewall – 
won the Outfest ‘96 for outstanding screenwriting. 
Stonewall also won the ‘95 London Film Festival and ‘96 San 
Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Audience Award.
He wrote and performed ‘Captivated’ a one-man film 
directed by David Squire, released Nov ‘98 on video.
He also appeared in David Squire’s multi-award short film
 ‘A Dog’s Life’ (98)
He wrote the the short film ‘Native’ for the BBC TV/Sarah 
Radclyffe productions, directed by Rene Mohandas (1999)
He has written the screenplay for ‘Karma Chameleon’ the Boy George biopic 
directed by Kfir Yefet for BBC/Regent films - in production Winter ‘99.
He has written and performed six short plays for Radio 4 - ‘Native’ (98) plus a series 
comprising of ‘Fares Fair’, ‘Finders Keepers’, ‘Puppy Love’, ‘Silly Me’, and 
‘Open Pores’ (all in 99) He also co-composed the theme tune for the series.
He acted in ‘Seven Circles Around the Fire’, by Mahesh 
Dattani, directed by Jeremy Mortimer. (Radio 4 ‘99)
In 1999, Rikki directed two short films for the winners 
of the Big Breakfast’s schools writing competition 
and wrote a summer project play for the 
National Youth Theatre.
He wrote, directed and performed in the multi-award winning ‘Heterosexuality’, a half-hour film for 
Channel 4 (99) also co-composing the soundtrack 
with Mark Hawkes.
Subsequently he has written, directed, co-composed and appeared in ‘Metrosexuality’, 
the six-part Channel 4 series due for the broadcast Jan 2001. He co-produced and 
performs the soundtrack album.
He choreographed the opening number for the 2000 TMA Awards at the Royal Court. 
 
(That’ll be a yes to the other projects then…)
 

 
GETTING IT MADE
 
How did you come to work with Channel4? 
I’ve developed stuff with them before that didn’t get made but then we just applied 
with 1000 other applicants to get the half-hour pilot commissioned - it took about nine 
months - but we got whittled down to the last six - and we shot it! 
Then we had to campaign for 2 more years to get the series...
 
Can you see the programme having been made by any other company?
Hard to say - it’s not typical of their other stuff - let’s put it this way – 
they are the ones who had the balls to go for it.... I salute them!
 
How different was the original community drama thing 
to what we saw onscreen? 
(Beyond that whole ‘15 years in the making’ aspect…) 
It wasn’t community drama in the church hall sense – 
it was drama about a community 
Er, we were all younger - there were no kids – 
just twenty-somethings. 
And everyone was in showbusiness...
 
Mobile phones seemed to be just as important to the plot & characters as sex - how did that work in the 80’s? 
There were lots of phones just not mobiles.
 
How different was the pilot to the finished product?
Not that different actually - there are more 
characters in the series but many of them make an appearance in the pilot – 
it focussed more on Kwame and Max, and Kwame trying to lose his virginity.
 
Is it how you’d imagined? Is the onscreen action a transcription of your ideas, or a metamorphosis? 
It’s always a metamorphosis - the design crew and cast and cameraman and budget/weather restrictions and endless script meetings always changes your 
original intentions but that can be a good thing - I don’t like to be too controlling – 
the piece needs to be allowed to breathe and grow for itself - it’s like having a kid – 
it’s part of you but it’s not you - you can guide but you can’t enslave it!
 

 
WRITING & CASTING
 
When writing, did you start off with the title before anything else? 
Often that’s the case - it was with this - the pilot was called ‘Hetrosexuality.’
 
Or was it a vision of a credit sequence filled with bouncy pants? 
That came last - I improvised that whole thing on the set - it was the last thing we filmed.
 
What was the biggest intent (theme) of the series? 
Love Family. Growing up.
 
Did you have final say (first say…) on casting? 
Yes
 
Did you deliberately pick foxes? 
Kinda - they’re not all traditional beauties – 
but we treat them like they are.
 
Were they your friends before? 
All of them except Jonno - who is now.
 
How much nepotism/libido went into the making of ‘Metrosexuality’? 
Nepotism - I cast my sister as my sister and my mother as my mother - but she 
got cut out- the producers kids played Doris and Cindy’s kids - Marlon’s and Deans’ 
Mum is really Marlon’s mum in real life Tel is really Asha’s dad... Robin really is one 
of my best friends... 
Libido - I would shag any of them - except my sister... 
 
How autobiographical is it? 
I was raised by gay parents 
 
How do you answer your phone? 
Politely
 
What do you drive?
A Burgundy Diahatsu Fourtrak Jeep
 
Is your wardrobe all skin-tight?
Either skintight or extremely baggy – 
It’s the dancer in me.
 
Do you have a huge surrogate family?
Huge!
 
Is your advice usually dispensed in rap form?
Sometimes its accompanied by diva snaps 
and head rolls. 
 
Did you write Max with yourself in mind to play him?
What do you think?
(I’m guessing…)
 
How much of the other characters is based on their actual selves?
It is tailored to us individually - to really at all - we’re acting – 
we’ll be totally different in our next project, you’ll see. 
 
The number of characters does seem slightly overwhelming at first (though that could’ve been something to do with the rapid-fire advance advertising), but even after watching the one episode you’ve settled into them. Did you always have a ‘realistic’ number of friends in mind? (Fed up with sitcom types stars only seeming to know 5 people with whom they get into ‘hilarious scrapes’?) 
Er yes. 
seriously I just wanted to show the characters in the context of community 
and extended family - that needed the numbers...
 
Are you a sucker for happy endings?
Yes. But I’m just a sucker, period.
 

 
 
SET, COSTUMES, MAKE-UP
 
Did you know all the crew before filming?
Some - Katrina the Production designer lives with Karl who plays my ex. 
You pick up people along the way through various projects.
 
Had you had any of them design pieces for your home/body before?
Sadly no. I do it myself.
 
How much do the homes (/tent) of the series resemble those actually lived in by the cast?
Mine is pretty wacky - Katrina and Karl’s is quite spacious and cool. 
Gabriel has really fab flat. 
Our Art directors have amazing flats – 
and our costume designers’ is amazing!
 
How good was the cast’s hair before you started filming?
Gorgeous - but not quite so out there – 
mine was the same.
 
Were any of you wearing your own clothes? Accessories? 
Little bits and pieces here and there - but not really. 
We bought a lot of it though.
 
Did any of you do your own make-up?
No - our make-up artists are way better at it than any of us. 
I hate being made-up I have to be held down in the chair.
 
Did you get to keep any of the stuff?
For a price!
 
Why did you make Dean’s character shave his lovely hair off? Jealousy? An ode to Right Said Fred? A desire for an on-set stress ball? (Or was it just – boringly – ‘the dictates of character growth’?)
Paul was doing a west end show and he had to have it shaved for that – 
so I worked it into the script!
 

 
FILMING 
 
Did you story-board it?
Not at all - i just close my eyes and dream out loud
 
Was it easy to direct even when in front of the camera?
A Doddle.
 
Good use of light & texture (bright, grainy, etc.) to set 
mood of scenes…
Were you aiming for punchy & visceral?
I just try to serve each scene appropriately.
 
Did you have any particular influences on your filming techniques? 
Taxi Driver - Rumble Fish and the Outsiders - Betty Blue - The Red Shoes – 
Les Amants Du Pont Neuf - Map of the Human Heart...
 
(Does the zippy pace show you to be a child of the ‘MTV generation’?) 
I think its just reflects the pace of my life - I just I’ve just got a quick mind....
 
Style and substance - well done. 
gee...
 

 
 
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE:
 
Scene? 
Outside the club episode one or Dean’s mum remembering her murder attempt...
Costume? 
My Pink dressing gown with ears and Bambi’s breastplate and trousers – Dean’s 
hot pants - and Kwame’s silver chaps - I could go on and on...
Line? 
Just cause I’m a prostitute don’t mean I’m not sincere...
 

 
GETTING IT SEEN
 
Were you happy with the time-slot? 
No
Did it free you?
No
Do you feel a post- Graham Norton catchment served you well? 
No
(Too many folks expecting high camp buffoonery and dodgy sex toys…?)
 
Also… tidy timing, around Mother’s Day, well done.
That was cool - but accidental on their part.
 
Have you had any particularly juicy compliments/criticisms? 
I don’t read the press - but Sasha Selavie 
for QX magazine wrote the most amazing review - forget our shows the style of the 
writing was stunning!
 
Did you set the Ch4 Duty Loga-buzzing? 
Dunno - hope so
 
Do you thrive on feedback (positive/negative)?
Only from people who aren’t paid to give them. - its all too distracting!
 

 
FUTURE
 
Second series? 
?
 
Christmas special?
Nice idea
 
No plans for a tie-in clothing range then?
(sigh) I can dream
 
What’s next for your company? (A musical’d be nice…)
You read my mind!
 
Have you had any commercial voice-over offers yet (yer fruity-toned so ‘n’ so…)?
Aww you!
 
Chance of a single?
(sigh)
 
Have you worn a tutu since?
Onstage prompting the record.
 

 
AND FINALLY…
 
Can you be too straight or too gay (as the CH4 web-site test suggests)?
You can only be too afraid
 
Oh, and not everyone in Leeds survives on deep-fried Mars bars ya know…
Sadly true - otherwise I’d move there.

Wobbly pictures as taken from the TV screen, because I can’t find any other press shots and besides, I quite like these uns. Even with the wavey wobbles…

Last revised: 26/07/01