There can’t be many people who don’t know the name Willy Russell, and this must be one of his most enjoyable plays, with lovely characters, not the least of whom is mine. I thought he ought to be played as a real self-important martyr, so as well as a highly unfashionable dress sense (although, it was the ’70s, after all!) I used a voice very similar to that of Boycie in the hugely successful television comedy Only Fools and Horses.
As well as forever worrying about the safety of his precious car while it is parked on a ‘problem’ estate, Ted likes to impress people with his knowledge, incomplete or inaccurate though it might be, and he does like to encourage people to participate, making him a wonderfully irritating character!