Bill Maynard “Well, I’ve been on television for 50-odd years,” agrees Bill Maynard, “but I’ve been in the business since I was eight years old.”
Forget the half century comment, then: Bill’s been working for... “74 years,” he adds. “I’m 82 in October, so I’m getting on a bit.”
It’s a career that’s seen Bill so many things, from theatre to stand-up, Carry On films (he’s been in five), TV dramas – “one of those was Love Affair, almost a two-hander with Celia Johnson” – and even nearly represented the UK in the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest.
“Well, not really ‘nearly’,” he corrects with a laugh. “I came fourth in A Song For Europe with a song called Don’t Cry Little Doll.
“I was a band singer for a while in my teens, and recorded for Decca and EMI and other companies. When you did a stand up in the old days, you had to finish with a song. You couldn’t do what you do these days and say ‘thank you, goodnight, thanks for listening’ and go, you had to do something to finish it off.“
It’s fair to say then, that Bill has had a career of great variety but there are three roles he will always be remembered for: Selwyn Froggitt, Fred Moffatt in The Gaffer and Claude Greengrass in Heartbeat. With all three series now available on DVD, it’s a reminder of just how good they were. Bill downplays the praise but has noticed one thing.
“I never realised how fast the dialogue was in The Gaffer!” He laughs. “It’s amazing to see the speed we worked, and we did that in front of a live audience. It’s quite incredible. I could relax more in Selwyn, it’s quite physical but the articulation wasn’t as tight, but The Gaffer was nearly all verbal humour.
“Heartbeat was easy – it’s a drama so there’s no audience. When you do a sitcom in front of a live audience, first of all you’ve got to make it real, secondly you’ve got to make sure the audience can hear what you’re saying. And then you have to do it in a certain time, that night, in about 50 minutes.”
Unsurprisingly Bill finds it difficult to pick a favourite from these or any of the other shows and films he’s appeared in. “I usually say my favourite is the thing I’m doing at that time,” he explains. “But I think the easiest thing I ever had to do in my career was probably Heartbeat. There was no real responsibility, I could rewrite everything I wanted to say – I was brought in to do that to add to the comedy – and then it was a drama as well. It was a drama with all these other plusses. It was beautiful. And it was lovely up there in Yorkshire. The whole thing was a joy. No responsibility and all the joy.
“When you work with the same people for a long time, there’s a bonhomie, if you like, an understanding that you don’t always get with actors. When you don’t have that time, all you can worry about is turning up for work and not tripping over the furniture.”
After 155 episodes of Heartbeat, Claude was written out due to Bill’s illness – “I had a stroke about 10 years ago” – but in such a manner he could return. Instead, Claude popped up in Heartbeat spin-off series The Royal for a few episodes in 2003. After 74 years of work, Bill’s probably due a bit of a break but laughs off the suggestion.
“I don’t want one. My life has been such a joy. People say to me ‘what do you do for your holidays?’ and I say ‘work’. Every time I’m doing something it’s a holiday to me.”
'Heartbeat - Season One' is out now on DVD. 'Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggitt' and 'Selwyn – The Complete Series' and 'The Gaffer – The Complete Series' are out now on DVD from all good stockists.