Call the Midwife's Cliff Parisi on his first convincing performance and biggest regret

The popular actor talks about how his first performance didn't go to plan and why prison became his university.

Image credit: Mark Harrison

By Pam Francis | Published - 21 Nov 2024

How will you spend Christmas at your home?

My wife Tara normally cooks our turkey dinner. I’m a good cook too but I tend to get banished from the kitchen because I create so much carnage.

We normally have 15 for the day, including my mum. I’ve got two younger children, Patrick, nine and Indigo, 14.

I’ve also got three grown-up children and three grandchildren and I’m a great-grandad now to five-year-old Malaya Rose, who is the cheekiest, funniest little kid. I love spending time with her.

On Christmas Day, it’s a tradition to all sit round the telly and watch Call the Midwife.

How did you meet Tara?

I’ve never seemed to do badly with the ladies, but in my late forties, I started to get a bit lonely.

Tara was a BBC producer I worked with on Comic Relief and Children in Need. She wasn’t impressed with the fact I was an actor at all.

I had this new girlfriend and took her to watch some filming, and I said to Tara, ‘What do you think of my new girlfriend?’ It was obvious she disapproved.

So, I said, ‘Well, you go out with me then.’ That was 15 years ago and after going out that night, we haven’t been apart since.

What I love about her is that she doesn’t take any c**p. She is a tough woman and I need that.

What was it like being a father again in your fifties?

Hard. But because you’re older it’s not quite so scary.

My kids are a great joy to me. All of them

Tell us about your childhood.

I was born in the East End but grew up in North London in a run-down area known as ‘Hungry Hill’ by locals.

Me, my mum, dad and two sisters Debbie and Nicola shared a lovely old house with two other families. It was partly derelict with no heating and a toilet in the back yard. As kids we played out all day and entertained ourselves.

Cliff Parisi and wife Tara Wyer — Image credit: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock

How will your character Fred Buckle celebrate the festive season?

He’ll be dressing up as Father Christmas for the 14th time.

It was the same when I played Minty in EastEnders for eight years. Before that, I dressed up as Santa for my kids’ school.

I’ve obviously got a Santa face!

Fred nearly died of tetanus this year. How would you feel if the BBC had killed him off?

It would have been a fantastic exit because it was really moving.

I was getting text messages because viewers weren’t sure if he had died. But I would’ve been sad to say goodbye because Fred and I are mates now.

He’s a big, rotund, gentle giant, isn’t he? He’s always got a dream to make a load of money – a get-rich-quick scam. And they always fail. I’ve always been like that too.

Where did the acting come from?

When I was young, I used to watch actors on the telly and go, ‘I don’t believe you’, then go and look in the mirror and say their lines. But my first convincing try at acting didn’t work out so well.

When I was seven, I pretended to be ill. I started writhing around on the floor groaning.

Mum went to the local phone box to call an ambulance, and by the time she got home it had arrived. The next thing I was being examined by doctors.

"I’m OK now, honest," I told them. But it was too late.

My reward for my convincing acting role was having my appendix out!

What is your biggest regret?

Trying my luck as a rubbish bank robber and ending up in prison aged 19. Where I grew up was fairly rough. I left school at 14 unable to read or write and if you didn’t have any prospects, which I didn’t, you could easily get in trouble. And I did.

When the robbery went wrong, I escaped from the bank on a bus. I got away with it for a year. Finally, one of the other guys got arrested and the next thing I knew the police were knocking on the front door.

I was just about to go onstage for a big production of South Pacific, but got carted off to Brixton Prison. I got bail and was able to do the show before I was sentenced. I used my 18 months in prison to work on my reading.

Prison was my university in a way. So, every cloud has a silver lining.

Cliff Parisi standing in a yellow cardigan — Image credit: Mark Harrison

Do you have any secret skills?

I pilot small planes. I started lessons in secret and surprised my wife on our wedding anniversary by announcing I was going to fly her to Le Touquet in France.

It was before I was fully qualified, so I had a BA co-pilot with me. Tara was sitting in the back when the plane started to make a funny noise because of engine trouble.

My co-pilot called Mayday and we had to make an emergency landing at Manston Airport in Kent. As we landed, we had fire engines racing along either side of us and there were two live television news crews there.

That was my wife’s anniversary present. Put it this way, she has never gone up in the plane with me since.

How do you relax?

Watching the telly in my pants with a drink and our Cavapoochon Chief Inspector Pedro Sanchez. He is such an important part of our family.

As a surprise, I brought him home one night. I slept in the spare room and when my wife came in, his head popped up and she screamed.

Would you say yes to Strictly?

When I was very young, I danced in a disco in Spain on roller skates. Can you imagine that? I can fling my limbs about, but I’m getting on a bit, so I’d probably put my back out.

I was asked to do the Christmas one once, but I had other commitments. Maybe I’ll do it one day.

If you were Minister for the Saga generation, what would you lobby for?

I’m disappointed that the government is taking away the Winter Fuel Payment.

I know some pensioners are quite wealthy, have a good pension and might be sitting in a valuable property, but a lot of the elderly are going to need that money.