The Stage

Harman relief at performing Pinter classic

Published Friday 15 September 2006 at 12:15 by Liz Thomas

Former EastEnder Nigel Harman has told of the release he has felt to be working in theatre, again lambasting scripts on the long-running soap.

The star, who made his name as Dennis Rickman on the flagship soap but has starred in West End hit Guys and Dolls since he quit, is now preparing to appear as Mick in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield next month. The show is part of a city-wide celebration of the acclaimed playwright’s work which will include performances, screenings, readings and speaker meetings across Sheffield.

Harman said: “I’ll be working on a classic piece of literature, where every word, every comma, every piece of punctuation is sacred, and coming from two years where I was basically making up my lines as I went along on EastEnders, it will be amazing.”

It is not the first time the actor has criticised the quality of the storylines on the popular soap, in an interview earlier this year he revealed: “How can I put this politely? You’re not always guaranteed a good script at EastEnders. I’ve watched a couple of people deliver lines that were so spectacularly bad, so spectacularly well, it’s bowled me over.”

Harman, who will appear in new ITV1 drama The Outsiders in October, also added that The Caretaker is likely to come to transfer to London next year. He admitted that money was not a motivation when looking for work and said that he was happy to focus on theatre until next year.

The Outsiders is a pilot, and depending on the audience response, it could get a full series. Writer Caleb Ranson told The Stage he had worked out storylines for an eight part series but would ideally like to create something that ran for 22 episodes in the style of many US shows.