Tim McInnerny: ‘I would rather get paid a little to do a great part than a lot to do a little part’
Tim McInnerny’s varied career has ranged from meaty Shakespearean stage roles to parts in legendary screen comedies including Blackadder and romcom Notting Hill. He tells Fergus Morgan about some of his favourite theatre memories and his inspirations
To one generation, Tim McInnerny is best known as the bumbling Lord Percy Percy in the first two series of Blackadder.
To another, he is the awkward Max in the 1999 Hugh Grant movie Notting Hill. Now, to another generation, he is the widowed dad of Dexter Mayhew in Netflix’s recent hit adaptation of David Nicholls’ time-hopping novel One Day.
“This sounds pompous, but I don’t usually do parts that are only five episodes out of 14,” McInnerny says of One Day, which follows a decades-long love story between Leo Woodall’s Dexter and Ambika Mod’s Emma and was released in February.
“As soon as I started reading it, I realised you don’t get writing of this quality on television very often. I knew there was difficult acting to be done, and that has always attracted me.”
“One of the things I like most about this business is working with the next generation of actors, people like Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod,” McInnerny adds.
“The light in their eyes reminds you of the thrill of it all, of why you became an actor in the first place.”
Born in Cheadle Hulme in 1956, McInnerny grew up in Gloucestershire, then studied English at the University of Oxford, where he met comedian Rowan Atkinson and filmmaker Richard Curtis.
“To be honest, I spent most of my time doing plays and comedy revues,” McInnerny remembers. “I’d be doing Richard II at Oxford Playhouse during the week, then a revue with Rowan and Richard on the Sunday night.”
His subsequent four-decade career has seen him work extensively in theatre as well as film and television – he played Hamlet at the National Theatre in 1985, Mercutio with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1991 and Iago at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2007 – although it has been over a decade since the 67-year-old last performed on stage.
“I hope I get back to it,” McInnerny says. “It’s not really about the money. I’d rather get paid a little and do a great part than get paid a lot and do a little part in the West End.
I like to be challenged. Some actors of my generation settle for an easy life, which is fine, but I’d get bored very quickly. I always say that when I go to work, whether it’s theatre or film or television or radio, I want to start every day feeling excited and a bit scared.”
What production made you fall in love with theatre?
I am the fifth of six kids and of those six kids, three are professional actors and two are amateur actors. It was seeing them perform in plays at drama school that inspired me.
What are you finding inspiring at the moment?
Working with younger actors like Leo and Ambika. Acting is a vicious business. You are trying to do something emotionally and psychologically vulnerable, but the business can grind you down. Some people start putting up emotional shields to cope, which then affect their work. Working with people like Leo and Ambika reminds you not to do that.
What role do you really want to play?
There are the great Shakespearean roles. Coriolanus. Prospero. I don’t feel ready for Lear. I don’t feel old enough in my head. I’d be excited by some Ibsen or Chekhov, too.
What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?
I’m afraid it does come down to money. You can forget how life-changing theatre can be. Seeing somebody else on stage with a different way of thinking changes you. It changes the way you think and the way you behave. It is important we support that.
What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?
I was in a play, which I won’t name, in the West End. One night, I was chatting to somebody in the wings, not concentrating. They said: "Tim, that’s your cue." I ran on stage. And I wasn’t in that scene at all. Even worse, the actors on stage were talking about my character. I still remember the horrified looks on their faces.
What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?
We finished touring Hamlet in Germany. After the show, everybody was preparing for a party. I was sat in the dressing room, crying. I couldn’t process it. It was like a bereavement. It was like a best friend had died. That was one of the most extraordinary feelings I’ve ever had. With Iago, it was the opposite. He is a bastard. I couldn’t wait to get rid of him. Carrying him around with me was no fun at all.
What projects are you involved in at the moment?
I will be appearing as the guest detective in Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] 3 at the Park Theatre in London soon, as part of a fundraising run. The rest of the cast are rehearsed, but I arrive an hour before, get an earpiece through which I get instructions, then go on stage. The audience doesn’t know who the guest star will be until they enter. Ian McKellen’s done it. Gillian Anderson. Benedict Cumberbatch. I’ve done it before. I worried that I would walk on and 500 people would groan. It’s great fun, though. And it’s all for a good cause.
Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] 3 is at Park Theatre until May 4. For more information click here
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