Loving every minute (From The Argus)

Loving every minute

10:31am Tuesday 14th August 2012 in Interview By Nione Meakin

One might imagine
the larger-than- life
personality of
Christopher Biggins
to be diluted on the phone;
if anything, it’s exaggerated.

It’s like having a run-in with
a technicolour tornado.

“Everyone on TV is gay!” he
shrieks. “Everyone! In fact, if
you’re not gay these days, it’s
very hard to succeed.”

I’m not sure that’s strictly
accurate but his point – that gay
life has improved immeasurably
in the past few decades – is a
sound one.

We’re talking about The
Boys/Girls In The Band, the
stage show of Mart Crowley’s
1970s screenplay, which is
widely considered a classic
of “queer cinema”. Crowley
is an old pal of Biggins’, and
producer and world-famous
drag queen Dave Lynn invited
him to direct it. “It’s a very
witty, clever, acidic, moving
play. It’s about nine gay men
who come together for a birthday
party, which degenerates
into something horrible for
all sorts of reasons. It’s
absolutely brilliant.”
 

It’s a show of two halves:
the first telling the men’s story
and the second a wild drag
party where a speedy interval
turnaround sees the cast
transformed into The Girls In
The Band. “I was very worried
initially,”Biggins says. “Drag
queens can be very, er, what’s
the word…amateurish… bad
on timing. I must admit I had
very negative thoughts about
them. But last week we did
three rehearsals and I’m so
excited. They’re brilliant.”

He’s had a fair bit of drag
experience himself, playing the
dame in more pantomimes
than would seem feasible for
one actor. He’s done so much
panto in Brighton alone that
many assume he lives here (he
doesn’t). But I’m soon put right
on that being drag. “I don’t
think pantos are dragging up.
I love playing the dame and it’s
very important to me. I think
drag queens are very different
to that but I’m fascinated by
how it all works.”

The play is set in the 1970s,
a period when Biggins was still
married to actress Beatrice
Aston. Things were very different
for gay men then, he says,
and “hopefully we’ve come on
a long way since”. He has been
with his civil partner Neil
Sinclair, a flight attendant, for
17 years. “I think that says a lot.
We laugh a lot, we have good
times, we enjoy each other’s
company and we like the same
things in life. He’s away a lot
and I’m away a lot and I think
that’s good. I wouldn’t want
to be in a relationship where
I lived with someone 24/7.
It obviously works for some
people but not for me.”

He considers himself
fortunate to have escaped
any obvious prejudice for his
sexuality. “I’ve never faced any
whatsoever, although there was
a period when I was doing
children’s TV such as On
Safari and Rentaghost when
I couldn’t go round flaunting
the fact I was homosexual
because I think I’d have been
considered a paedophile or
something. I kept it quiet, even
though everyone knew. Now
things are very different, it’s
very open – and quite right.”
 

After the heady days of the
1970s and 1980s, when Biggins
was rarely off our TV screens
and stages, he found himself
enjoying a new wave of fame
when he was crowned the
winner of I’m A Celebrity...
Get Me Out Of Here! in 2007.
Even now, he gets a bit teary
thinking about it. “It was a
life-changing experience for me
and to win it was fantastic. To
come out of the jungle, back
to England, to find the love
and affection of practically the
whole country, was one of the
most moving things to happen
to me. I’m a soppy old person
anyway. Every morning I watch
what’s happened the previous
day at the Olympics and I’m
in floods – tears pouring into
my porridge!”

He’s since done other reality
TV, notably Come Dine With
Me, which he also won. But
he says he won’t return to the
jungle. “I have a three-line
whip on that, which is that I
loved every moment of it,
I wouldn’t change it for the
world and I’d never do it again.
But I think it was great for
showing people a different side
to me. I’ve been in the business
for 35 years and people knew
me and knew of me but I think
it changed their perceptions
and it was great. The whole
thing was very special.”

It’s hard to imagine Biggins
having much left to reveal; I
wonder what people tend to be
surprised by when they get to
know him? “Well, I’m so old
I don’t think there are any
surprises at all! Maybe it’s that
I’m a nice person with a great
sense of humour who enjoys
life and doesn’t take anything
too seriously?”

I’m not sure that will come
as much surprise to anyone; even when forced to attend
a speed awareness day after a
recent driving offence, Biggins
tweeted about the fun he was
having. “Oh it was unbelievably
boring,” he guffaws. “Four
hours! But it was a laugh
because we were such an
extraordinary group and the
man giving the lecture was
very funny… I mean, it was
interesting, but next time I
think I’ll just take the points!”

He does treat money a little
more soberly than he once did,
however. He says voluntary
bankruptcy was “the best thing
that happened to me. It made
me aware of money. Now, when
I get £1,000 my agent takes their
cut, VAT goes into another
account, 30% into a tax account
and I’m left about £500 out of
that, which is brilliant because
I know that is my money. Neil
and I have no mortgages so it’s
just day-to-day living. My only
extravagances are travelling
and eating out, which I do far
too much of.”
He even tells me proudly of
the time he acted as financial
adviser to his friend Cilla Black,
when her husband Bobby died
in 1999. “When Cilla lost
Bobby, we went out for dinner
and she didn’t know what to do
– such a generous man, he’d
always paid for everyone. I said,
‘We all go Dutch, of course’
and she couldn’t bear it but
she’s come round to it now. If
you want to go out all the time,
you can’t go round paying six
or seven hundred pound bills
but you can pay £100 or £60 –
that’s acceptable.”

His attitudes to his finances
may have changed a bit, but
it’s clear Biggins will never be
a penny-pincher. “I’ve got to a
stage in my career now where
I love saying no to people and
things. Nothing pleases me
more than to say, ‘Thank you
very much but no thank you.’
“I’m really into doing the
pantomimes but even more
into going abroad and enjoying
myself. I’m 64 and I don’t
want to be 84 with lots of
money but too infirm to
make the most of it. I don’t
want to live to a very old
age but when the end comes,
I want to say, ‘I did it, I’ve
done it and I’ve got the
T-shirt.’” I don’t doubt
for a minute he will.

The Boys/Girls In The
Band is at Theatre Royal
Brighton from Wednesday,
August 22 to Sunday, August
26. To book, call 0844 8717627