1. Name?
Arthur McBain.

2. Where are you from?
Near Liverpool, UK.

3. Where do you currently live?
London, UK.

4. What are your hobbies?
Does something count as a hobby if you make a living from it? Can I say that I do hobbies for a living? That’s acting and writing. Lucky me. Some non-professional hobbies include keeping houseplants, painting & drawing, wandering about aimlessly, climbing mountains, making and eating dhal, making homemade hot sauce, and putting homemade hot sauce on my homemade dhal.

Actually, here’s something cool; I’ve just started learning how to make clothes with an amazing seamstress called Chris Winter, she worked on the TV show I just did and has kindly agreed to teach me. I always try to be learning something new and now I have this crazy idea that one day I’ll make all my own clothes. I think that’d be really cool. I’ll let you know when I’m good enough and I’ll make you some corduroy trousers.

9. What does a general day consist of for you?
No day is the same. I like it that way. Though most days contain some or all of these things: Coffee. Swimming. Arty stuff. Hair products.

10. You are also in a band. Tell us some more about this.
Yeah, I play guitar for a band called Midnight Mouth (Check us out on Spotify). We’ve only released two songs so far. My favorite one is called “Coward.” Am I allowed to say my favorite song? Feels naughty. Like a parent naming their favorite child. Anyway, I love it. It’s so much fun.

As it happens, the band went over to New York last year for a couple of gigs. Sadly, I couldn’t join them because I was in Cornwall filming The Trouble With Maggie Cole, so they did it as a three-piece. I’m sure we will be back at some point. I’ll let y’all know.

11. What’s the best opportunity you have been given?
Err… To do an interview for the coolest magazine in New York. It’s called Photobook, I believe.

12. Tell us about your new ITV/PBS drama The Trouble With Maggie Cole and the role you play?
The Trouble With Maggie Cole is a six-part drama about what happens when small town gossip goes too far. It is about what happens when all sorts of rumors get spread around about local people, with sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic results. It’s got a cast filled with British TV royalty, too. It was an honor being asked to join the cast. I play a character called Alex Myer, who is a local coastguard, but, like all brooding sea faring types, he’s got a bit of a dark secret.

13. If you could play any other character in this show, who would it be?
Well, my colleague Joe Layton’s character got to drive a sport’s car. Regardless of how many times he stalled it… Isn’t that right Joe? See, being a character who’s a coastguard, I got a speedboat. You’d be right to think that a speedboat trumps a sport’s car, but I wasn’t even allowed the smallest go on the steering wheel of the speedboat. I pleaded, but it was futile. Something to do with insurance. So, I suppose I’m envious of Joe getting to operate some fast machinery.

14. Tell us a bit about the last project you did and the role you played?
The last job I did was Judy starring Renée Zellweger, for which she’s just very deservedly won an Oscar.
I played a guy called Askith, who was the double bass player in Judy Garland’s house band. I was on set for two weeks, and I had a blast. However, sadly most of our scenes got lost in the edit - such is the nature of movie making. Lots of scenes and characters didn’t end up in the film. I think Rupert’s directors cut will probably be twice the length. But I was just so pleased to be involved, and the film has turned out brilliantly.
I loved it.

Before that, I went to Sydney to film a miniseries for ABC called Friday On My Mind. It’s about the 60’s band ‘The Easybeats’, and I got to learn the drums for the part. That was great fun too.

15. Which actors would you like to work with in the future?
I would love to work with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. They write and star in a show called Inside No. 9. Do you have it in America? It’s a brilliant anthology series. Every episode is completely different, but always in some way macabre and always confined to just one room or building. I’ve always been a big fan of theirs. They used to do a series called The League of Gentlemen, which I loved. As it happens, Inside No. 9 was one of the initial inspiration points for At Your Peril, which is an original anthology podcast written and produced by my good friend Owen, and me. Do have a listen and let me know what you think!

16. Is it easier to play a character or to be yourself on stage?
I once walked on stage as myself, then realized that I had left the character in the dressing room, so promptly left the stage again.

17. What are you most proud of and why?
This is very difficult. This is the section where people say, ‘my kids’ or ‘my wonderful wife’. But I don’t have kids or a wonderful wife, or any wife, that’s not me having a go at my un-wonderful wife. I just don’t have one. I suppose I’d have to say that I’m most proud that I didn’t give myself a backup plan when I left school. Because making a living in the arts is difficult, and everyone warned me against it (apart from my mum, total legend). This career is often hand to mouth kind of stuff, feast or famine. When you’re working it’s like you’re living on a cloud, and when you’re not it’s like you’re living under a cloud. I’m proud that I never gave myself the choice to do something else. That’s not to undermine people who have decided to do something else - credit to them. I’m envious, but everyone is different. I think that I’d be bitterly unhappy if I went and got a nine-to-five. I’m also very proud of any future kids or any future wonderful wives. (They’ll be annoyed if I don’t mention them).

18. We have seen that you are an actor but also a published writer. In which area are you most fulﬁlled?
Wow, that’s very difficult too. I’m deeply fulfilled by both, but in different ways. In The Dead Of The Night is my debut kid’s book. It was released in Australia last October (other regions to follow!). Making a book like that is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I’m so proud of it. I can still viscerally remember all the books I had as a child. To know that my book is currently sat on bookshelves in total stranger’s houses and is being read to a generation of children is an awesome feeling. I went to Australia last September for a small promotional visit, during which I went into a school to read the book to the pupils. Afterwards some of the kids went away and drew me some fan art. It was an amazing feeling to have made such an impression. Kids don’t hold back if they love something. Tom Knight’s wonderful illustrations are a wonder to behold. I feel so lucky that such a great artist brought my story to life. He’s sent me some of the original drawings, which I cherish.

19. Tell us some more about your book and why you specifically chose to write for children?
I write every day, and it’s not always for children. There are a couple of novels and some scripts sitting on my hard drive waiting to see the light of day. But I do have a lot of fun writing for young kids. I love rhyming and finding ways to tell a story as quickly and effectively as possible, while trying to pitch it between being just silly enough and just serious enough. Really, it all started with a story I wrote for my little cousin for her birthday. I enjoyed it so much, that I wrote more. Now my little cousin is almost a teenager and is too old to find it cool. But let that try and stop me! The follow up book to In The Dead Of The Night is written and ready to go.

20. What do you think is the key to success in your ﬁeld?
If I ever find out, you’ll be the first person I tell.

21. Tell us something about yourself that no one knows.
Well, if I knew something about myself that no one knows, then that would mean that I know and I would not be telling you something that no one knows… I’ve suddenly got very suspicious, are you trying to trick me into admitting to a crime?

22. What is next for you?
One thing I can announce is that In The Dead Of The Night is being released in Korea. How cool is that! Sadly, I won’t be able to oversee the translation as I can’t read Korean. However, I love how their letters look. I’ll certainly appreciate their beauty. I can’t wait to see it. The first print run is something like ten thousand copies, that’s more copies of my own book than I will ever see in my lifetime. I just did a shoddy calculation and I think that ten thousand copies of In The Dead Of The Night would fill my entire apartment minus the bathroom.

23. What is your motto in life?
I suppose the closest thing I have to a ‘motto’ are these few paragraphs from Aldous Huxley’s book Island. My mate Mark introduced me to the book, and I’d love to share this section with you. I think it would be quite snazzy to put the whole thing here.

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard.

Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.

Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.

Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.

I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig.

Lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me.

When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic.

No rhetoric, no tremolos,

no self-conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell.

And of course, no theology, no metaphysics.

Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light.

So throw away your baggage and go forward.

There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet,

trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair.

That’s why you must walk so lightly.

Lightly my darling,

on tiptoes and no luggage,

not even a sponge bag,

completely unencumbered”

24. Instagram?
@arthurmcbain

You can watch The Trouble With Maggie Cole on the ITV Hub in the UK.

Article by Alison Hernon, Editor-In-Chief, PhotoBook Magazine.

Street Talk supports emerging artist who merit being discovered with skills such as: dance, art, designers, sculptors, architects, fashion trends, shop the look and fine art photography.

Spotlight: Arthur McBain

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