Paul McEwan: North and south
Anwar Brett speaks to Paul McEwan, the Yorkshireman and Emmerdale actor who has made himself at home in south London
Above: Paul McEwan lives between Brixton and Clapham in south London
If it seems a little ironic that he moved south to pursue his acting career, only for a major role to take him back within a few miles of where he was born and brought up, then Paul McEwan can still smile about it.
Having grown up in Hoyland near Barnsley, he came to London a decade or more ago to train at ALRA in Wandsworth, and was already building a diverse CV when he was cast in the evergreen soap Emmerdale late last year – which took him right back to his old stomping ground.
"There is an irony to it," he explains, "because a few years ago all the work was in London but I think it’s getting spread out more now. I think that’s healthy because everybody used to feel they had to live here and now it’s a choice. I love London, I’ve always loved it from the moment I came here."
With his current spell on the soap just over, McEwan can at least reflect on the impact his policeman character Shane Doyle made on the show. Yet in spite the havoc he caused in the lives of other characters, most notably poor Donna Louise-Dingle, he has yet to find himself demonised in the way other memorable bad guys in such programmes have been.
"To be honest when I first came in and was harassing Verity I thought I’d get a bit of hate mail," he chuckles, "but everyone’s writing that they really love the character and asking for signed photos. I thought, ‘I’m not doing my job here!’"
The regionally specific nature of Emmerdale – the fictional village of the title is supposedly based between Bradford and Leeds – suggests that anyone sharing a carriage with McEwan on the Victoria Line or walking past him on some south London street, would not necessarily associate him with a character from something set so far away.
"I actually get that up there, never mind down in London. I popped into the local supermarket the other day. I’ve been going in there on and off all my life. I paid for my paper and the lady behind the counter did a double-take. I’ve known her for years, to look at and maybe talk to when I was younger, and she turned round and said, ‘You know you look just like a guy in Emmerdale’."
"I said, ‘I know, it’s me and you’ve known me since I was 15.’ So that even happens up there. It’s not so bad down south because it does have a predominantly northern fan base. But I attended the Emmerdale fan club weekend in February and people came from Ireland, from Wales, from Scandinavia. I’d be fascinated to see the demographics of its audience broken down to find out where people are watching it, because people think of it as a north of Watford soap but I don’t think it is."
Away from Emmerdale McEwan’s career has taken in work on stage and screen, and couple of movies including Tied In Blood scheduled for release this year. Prior to that he established himself with extensive work in the theatre culminating in a spell with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
"I went up to the Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1999," he recalls, "and did Romeo and Juliet, playing Lawrence and Tybalt which was a fab double. Then I did an episode of Clocking Off when it first started. They put it on all over Christmas and I think that really helped get my audition into the RSC, which I joined in 2000. You meet some of your heroes there, like David Troughton, who I was lucky enough to work with alongside Sam West in Richard II.
"Working with both of them was wonderful. On top of that you get 10 weeks rehearsal, and then you’re doing the play for a year and a half. In the days of the rep system you’d go out and meet these really good actors and just learn. The RSC gives you that, you go in there and there are brilliant actors left, right and centre and you get to be on stage with them for a year and a half, and you grow."
The 37-year-old is clearly a keen student of acting, his heroes ranging from Paul Newman and Al Pacino to Albert Finney and Robert Shaw, though when he’s not indulging his passion for film and theatre he surely finds even greater drama following his beloved Leeds United. He’s a long-distance fan now though, based as he is between Clapham and Brixton. And he unconditionally declares himself a fan of the area.
"What I love about south London is that it’s got energy and greenery. I live a short walk from Brockwell Park which is just fantastic. I really enjoy getting out there and being surrounded by greenery and trees, it’s wonderful. There’s a pub in Clapham North called The Railway. When we were at the RSC rehearsing we used to spend most nights in there, getting acquainted. It’s still one of my favourite haunts."
As a proud Yorkshireman who has fallen for his adopted London home, McEwan is enthusiastic about its benefits and well placed to observe the very particular tribal qualities in all corners of the capital.
"The only north-south divide I get involved in is the real one," he chuckles. "I’ve not found London to be that tribal actually. What I love about it is the opposite, I love its eclecticism. I think when you’re outside major cities things become much more tribal. There’s a way of doing things and there’s a way of dressing and a way of looking. What’s extraordinary for me when you go to London is it’s primarily about individuality, and for me that’s the most exciting thing about it."