EastEnders delves back into the Carter family's history next week as
Stan comes to stay at the Queen Vic.
The storyline kicks off when Tina
discovers that Stan has been in hospital and invites her father to recuperate at
the pub. While Tina is optimistic over the arrangement, it's not long before
Stan causes tensions by showing his true colours…
Here, Timothy
West - who plays Stan - reveals what fans can expect from his
character's return to screens.
How would you describe Stan - cantankerous, malevolent or
lonely?"Malevolent is a bit strong. He does disagreeable things.
He's certainly lonely, though he wouldn't admit that to a soul. He's getting
towards the end of his life and he has very few friends because he doesn't go
out very much, so he wants to be reconnected with his family.
"It's a
very fractured relationship but Stan wants to be a member of the family. He
wants to be the head of the family. He sees himself as the 'pater familias' in
the Victorian sense. He's the head of the family and therefore deserves respect
and consideration and should be the first person that the rest of the family
consider.
"The rest of the family don't see it in that way, of course,
and his behaviour doesn't incline them to see it that way, but that's what he
really feels should happen."
The Carter family's backstory is
being slowly explored rather than revealed straight away. Have you enjoyed
that?
"I think that's very good and it was very surprising to me.
When you do a play you know the whole story of the play before you come to
rehearsals. Here, you're constantly being surprised by a new development that
you didn't necessarily think was part of your character's make up. You're
learning all the time, which is fascinating."
What was it like to
start filming in The Vic for the first time?
"I've now done several
scenes in The Vic. Although because I've been injured with a broken ankle,
they've wonderfully written in an accident for Stan, which has enabled Mick to
feel he has to bring him to The Vic to recuperate, but of course he's been
shunted upstairs.
"Stan's got his own bed in the lounge which is a
nuisance for the rest of the family, but it installs him quite well. Although
he's thrown out quite a few times, but he gets back in."
What's the reason in the storyline for Stan being in
hospital?"It's the same that what actually happened to me in
reality - a broken ankle. Whether he has had surgery or not, I don't know, but
we first see him in hospital. He's been in for a few days, so I think he has had
the same surgery as I have. Having your ankle pinned means he has got to spend
quite a lot of time in plaster, and eventually, he will be able to hobble
about."
Once Stan moves in with the Carters, he soon shows his
true colours over a family dinner. What happens?
"He manages to
offend everyone because he hasn't got any kind of social tact at all. In fact,
if he was confronted about not having any social tact, he would ask what social
tact was and why it was necessary.
"There are members of the family that
he finds more congenial than others. He likes Johnny but can't really cope with
the fact he is gay, but after an initial, very rude couple of outbursts about
both Tina and Johnny being gay, he warms to them both."
How does
Mick react to Stan's behaviour?
"I think he blames Stan very much
for things that have gone wrong to him - as well as things that he doesn't know
about, things that he is confused about and things he's unhappy about. It's all
so complicated. We're finding out more and more about the past
history."
Do you hope that Stan's children and grandchildren will soften towards
him, or do you quite like the brittleness?"No, I don't like the
brittleness. I assume the brittleness has to be there in such a relationship but
Stan enjoys the warmth. When Tina is kind to him, he likes that. He would like
them, in a word, to be a very warm, respectful family, on his
terms."
Are there any characters that you would like to share
some scenes with, excluding the Carters?
"I'm afraid I'm still very
ignorant about a lot of the rest of the characters, as when I get a chunk of
script I just go through the scenes that happen in our family. I mean I watch
EastEnders, and I am fascinated by the different stories but I don't
get involved - but I have enormous respect for June Brown."
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