Alistair McGowan

16/11/2009

Impressionist, comedian and actor, aged 44

I had very thick hair at 16, which I’d kill for today. I was just developing a sense of style – I had a long Cromby coat which cost me £4 from a charity shop. In ‘anorak country’ in Worcestershire, it was very unusual. But I loved it.

I was very happy and had nothing to rebel against. I had two fantastic parents and a brilliant and loving sister. My dad and I went to see Coventry every week and my mother was interested in the theatre and took me to London on coach trips to see plays.

I lay awake worrying about nuclear war. 1980 was a scary time in that respect. It gave me sleepless nights for quite a while. I still worry about the big things – things I hope society won’t do. I’ve always been something of a control freak, so I’m told, so I worry about world events I can’t control, and I hate seeing people fight each other, slap each other, be rude to each other.

I would envy that boy his world. I think the world was a better, more innocent place in 1980. The kids in Gregory’s Girl look so happy and things have changed so much since then. I would also envy his lack of involvement in the financial world and responsibility. And I’d envy his ability to disappear. Being famous means you can’t disappear. And technology has made it hard for any of us to disappear – we didn’t have answer-phones in 1980.

The teenage me would be amazed I’d gone into comedy. He was more interested in the Royal Shakespeare Company. He’d be surprised to be recognised in the street, which has happened in Scotland since Only an Excuse in 1996 – it still happens more in Scotland than anywhere else, there’s so much affection for that programme. I’d love to have gone on doing that longer actually.

If someone had said to me, you will one day be involved in all sorts of football projects with the people you’re now idolising, I’d say yes please –
even if my relationships did suffer a bit. Frank Worthington asked for my autograph 10 years after I asked for his!

I do wish that I’d been able to be more social. I’ve often envied people like Steve Coogan who has this big team around him. I’ve ploughed quite a lonely furrow. It’s because I’ve never drunk – I was far too health-conscious – so I’ve never been part of that culture that says, let’s go and have a beer and talk about it, share ideas. It’s always made me feel a bit outside society.

I’d love to tell my 16-year-old self about the amazing night in 2001 when I won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Comedian. I was so thrilled and all these famous people were there being bright and beautiful and I came out of the Grosvenor Hotel with this award under my arm and got into my car thinking, it doesn’t get any better than this. The driver asked me if I’d had a good night and
I told him it had been fantastic. “What do you do then?” he asked.

Interview: jane graham