Me and my school photo: Alun Armstrong remembers getting caned and working with Michael Caine

By Tim Oglethorpe for MailOnline
Updated:

New Tricks star Alun Armstrong, 65, plays Southouse in Garrow's Law

New Tricks star Alun Armstrong, 65, plays Southouse in Garrow's Law

This is me as a nine-year-old at Annfield Plain Junior School near Consett, County Durham. I was quite a good-looking boy – don’t you think? – so I’m not sure what happened there. It must have been funny genes!

As for the school, I hated it. I was OK once I’d passed my 11-plus and gone to Consett Grammar, but this part of my education was awful. The teachers were cruel and didn’t hesitate to reach for the cane.

The problem for me was that my dad was a pillar of the community – a Methodist lay preacher – as well as a miner, so I used to get double punishment if I did something wrong. Not only had I misbehaved, went the argument, but I’d also let down my father.

I used to get into trouble quite a lot and therefore got caned quite a lot – everything from missing school to scrumping apples or illegally hitching a ride on one of the locomotives that ran at the colliery where Dad worked.

But I suppose you could see the seeds of my acting career from this age and younger. My mum told me that, as a tiny kid, I’d be up on the seat putting on a show for the rest of the passengers when we were travelling on a bus. And later I was the class clown, so maybe I inherited the desire to perform from my parents. They were both lay preachers and ‘performed’ in churches far and wide.

The one class I enjoyed at Annfield Plain was drama. There was a radio broadcast called Music And Movement, a rudimentary drama class for children provided by the BBC. We’d be invited to go to the corner of the room and ‘be summer’ or ‘be a giant’. I loved it, especially when the teacher said, ‘Look at Alun – that was very good.’

Alun is married to Sue, he has three sons - including fellow actor Joe - and lives in London

Alun is married to Sue, he has three sons - including fellow actor Joe - and lives in London

The significance of those lessons didn’t really hit home until I was 15 and saw a TV documentary about a drama school, which reminded me of those classes and how much I’d enjoyed them. Inspired by the documentary, I stayed on at school until the sixth form with a view to going to drama school, and started performing in school plays under the guidance of an inspirational teacher called Dennis Earle.

I auditioned for RADA in London but was turned down, so I began studying for a fine arts degree at Newcastle University instead. But my heart wasn’t in it and, after a stint working on a building site, I got a job backstage at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. That led to a radio play and in turn to a part in the film Get Carter, which was being shot in Newcastle with Michael Caine in the lead role.

This was 1970 and, in those days, there weren’t many Geordie actors around – at least not with broad accents – which probably helped me get the part as Keith in Get Carter. I did all my scenes with Michael Caine, who was lovely: incredibly friendly and helpful. He even arranged for me to meet his agent because I didn’t have one.

He didn’t take me, but I ended up getting my own agent and my acting career was well under way. More than 40 years later, I’m still performing and enjoying it as much as I did during those Music And Movement classes at Annfield Plain Junior School.

Alun stars in Garrow’s Law, BBC1, tomorrow, 9pm.

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