Reichenbach Falls
Richard Wilson plays Arthur Conan Doyle
Whilst Richard Wilson was honoured to be asked to portray one of Scotland's great literary figures in Reichenbach Falls, he did have one small reservation about playing Arthur Conan Doyle as it involved one of his personal pet–hates – false moustaches.
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"My first scene was at the top of Nelson's monument in Edinburgh," explains Richard.
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"And, even though it was a sunny day, up there an eight–force gale was blowing. So, first of all it was freezing cold – absolutely freezing, as only Edinburgh can be – and, secondly, my false moustache kept blowing off," he groans.
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"I really don't like wearing false moustaches and I never have. But, of course, Conan Doyle had a huge one so I had no choice in the matter and it just kept flapping in the wind. So, it was a fraught first scene but, fortunately, I enjoyed the rest of the shoot much, much more than that first day."
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In Reichenbach Falls, Arthur Conan Doyle is a knowing, ghostly, character that appears in the middle of DI Buchan's madness and mayhem.
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"At first, the confused cop thinks he's an old man whose appearances are merely coincidental.
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"It's only over time, as he begins to have nightmares that his arch nemesis The Monkey is trying to kill him, that Buchan discovers he is actually Arthur Conan Doyle and, with this realisation, the moustached stranger's appearances become even more frequent.
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"Buchan's a bit taken aback at first, until the drama begins to unfold and he realises the significance of Conan Doyle's visits," explains the acclaimed actor, famed for his One Foot In The Grave role as grumpy Victor Meldrew.
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And for Richard, who has also starred in Born And Bred and Doctor Who, his involvement in Reichenbach Falls gave him a chance to embrace a "spirited" performance.
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"I must say it's very hard to play a ghost, and you go about it with great difficulty," he smiles. "First of all, I don't believe such things exist but you just have to give yourself to the writing and the script and hope that you can make sense of it.
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"Fortunately, it was an excellent script, although when I was reading it I wasn't quite sure I understood what was happening. But, by the end, it all became much clearer – well, after the director had explained it to me it did, anyway," he laughs.
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"The other thing was I was playing Conan Doyle – one of Scotland's greatest writers and certainly one of the richest. To bring Sherlock Holmes back from the dead, he was paid a fortune. But I wasn't going to try and do a proper portrayal of him because that wasn't necessary.
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"I didn't have much time to prepare so I just stuck on the dreaded big moustache and crossed my fingers, basically," says Richard, who is currently starring in the political satire Whipping It Up with Robert Bathurst at the Ambassador's Theatre in London.
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"Anyway, it was all there in the script which is very cunning. I'm only making a joke of it a bit by saying I couldn't understand it. Actually, it's a very witty piece and it's very cunningly put together. The cross referencing between literature and history, I think, is all rather intriguing and you'll be going over and over it in your head for hours afterwards."
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