Playing God is a perfect part

The 66-year-old actor is preparing to tour several cathedrals with the two-man production Father and Son: Son and Father in the lead up to Easter.

God is the latest in a series of roles that Graham has played since taking early retirement from his job with Gloucestershire County Council and beating off competition from 1,000 hopefuls to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

In the decade since then, the former teacher has appeared in some of the nation's favourite TV series, including Kavanagh QC, The Bill and Midsomer Murders, and trodden the boards in theatres all round the country.

"I've had a run of being farmers," laughed Graham, who lives in Chalford. "I drove a combine harvester in Midsomer Murders.

"I think it was something to do with my publicity photographs in which I was wearing a checked shirt."

Graham, who has a three-year-old granddaughter, has had to prove that he's game for anything during his acting career - not least when he joined the Whole Truck Theatre Company to take the role of Albert Nobbs, the eponymous hero in a play by Gordon Steel.

It was only when he read his contract that he realised that part of the play involved him performing in the nude.

"It was the first time, and probably the last that I appeared with no clothes on.

"I was allowed to wear a posing pouch.

"Everybody laughed when I stripped for the first time during rehearsals - in the play it's a very funny moment - and I suppose I got used to it.

"So it was a bit of a surprise when there was uproar from the audience when we first performed the play.

"It was a lovely production in which to be involved - it was a new play and we were actually creating the parts. It meant I could achieve one of my great ambitions of being listed as the first person to play the part when the play was published."

The dancing skills Graham learned from his grandfather came in handy when he toured the country with the play Ballroom three years ago.

"It was a bit nostalgic for me really," he said.

"The play was about four old people going to a tea dance.

"There was a lot of ballroom dancing in it which was great for me as my grandfather had been a ballroom teacher and I learned to waltzes and fox trots when I was six.

"I was told that I got the part because I was the only person at the audition who could dance and talk at the same time."

Another role involving dancing brought Graham into contact with Wayne Sleep who was the choreographer in the musical Roll Over Jehovah.

This led to him being talked into playing the villain Stinkwart against Wayne's Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk at Truro.

"I had vowed never to go into pantomime but in the end I took the part and loved it.

"The year after I played opposite Rick Wakeman in Aladdin."

When he's not been touring with plays or away filming on location, Graham has continued to support Stroud's Cotswold Playhouse.

Over the years he's helped out on the bar, led workshops and given advice during rehearsals.

"I try to do quite a lot of work with them because I feel I want to give something back to amateur theatre because I got so much from it myself over the years."

But currently Graham has to keep his distance from his friends in the Cotswold Players due to his new role as an adjudicator for the Gloucestershire Drama Association, which came about after the reappearance of an old back injury forced him to look at other directions in which to take his career.

"I never realised how difficult it would be - to be accepted by the guild you have to have references, pass tests, attend weekend lectures and be interviewed by a panel.

"As an adjudicator for the Gloucestershire Drama Association's Full Length Play Festival I go around all the societies and see the plays they do.

"Unfortunately this has meant that because the Cotswold Players enter the competition I have had to avoid having anything to do with their production.

"From what I have seen so far, I would say that the standard of drama in Gloucestershire is very high indeed."