Baftas, Ashes...and Pakistan!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since my last blog, and quite a lot has happened since then. Now, let me think........ I seem to remember a little known awards ceremony called "The Baftas", and "Life on Mars" was up for "Best Drama". There we all were in our Sunday best, all excited about attending the highlight of the year. Unfortunately it didn't turn out quite the way we would have liked.

We all walked round to the Palladium together (well, I say all, but we were missing John, Liz and Marshall (John was having a little trouble with babysitters, Marshall and Liz were not attending). We arrived at the red carpet to a sea of people. All of them shouting our names, and thrusting all kinds of things in front of us to sign. We had photos taken and kisses were given. After about 20mins, I managed to get to Fran and Elf, who had very kindly turned up to say hello and take some photos for the site, and "Best" magazine (well done Fran). Another 20mins and we were at the end of the carpet and in to the Palladium. We were told our category was first up. I wasn't too happy about that, cos I was of the opinion that if the decision didn't go our way, we would have to sit through the whole evening a little peed off. Anyway, some of the other members of the team thought it wasn't a bad idea, as it would get it out of the way. We lost and I was peed off for the rest of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we were taken to the Grosvenor hotel for the dinner. It was a lovely dinner, and the company was great. We chatted about how we'd been robbed again, and about "Ashes to Ashes", and how the next series is going to shape up. We also bumped into Keeley and Matthew (who was also robbed of "best actor"). Of course Keeley looked stunning, and it was really nice to see her, as we'd not been together for a couple of months, so we had lots to chat about (of course Matthew looked as handsome as ever, but I'm not gonna say that am I? I'm a bloke ha). Then it was off upstairs for the after party. The champagne was flowing and all kinds of cocktails etc etc. I'm a little old for all that, but Denise made me stay and dance, drink and be merry (good decision). It's also nice to "people watch". The evening came to an end shortly after the 14th glass of champers, and off into the night we went. Myself and Denise were "Papped" outside which was a very new and unusual thing to happen to us, but a bit of a laugh too.



The DVD for Ashes was being released so we had some PR to do for that. I was paired up with Marshall to do a couple of things. We started on BBC Breakfast TV with Bill and the lovely Sian. They were both lovely and the interview went swimmingly. We got quite a long time on there (around 10mins) which is a lot for a DVD plugging slot. I was told by Sian after the interview that I was a "lot better looking in real life". I took that as a big compliment, so I told her she was pretty fit herself haha. Then a few days later we were on with Jonathan Ross. I was a little nervous, because of his legendary wit. I had nothing to worry about, cos he was a lovely chap, and big fan of the show, and Marshall and myself held our own against all the odds.

I'm off to Pakistan on the 10th June to make a film called "Khandahar Break". It's a feature, directed by David Whitney. I'm really looking forward to going, as my characters oppo is being played by Shaun Dooley who is not only a good mate of mine, but also a brilliant actor (and a Barnsley lad). The script is both controversial and brilliant. It's an east-west love story, that turns into lies and deceit.

I have recently had a real struggle with a "frozen shoulder", which not only had me in agony 24hrs a day, but as the name suggests it was "frozen" so I had restricted movement. Anyway, I was kindly given a feature from a national newspaper from Debbie, which talked about a new "cure" for frozen shoulders. The long and short of it was, it worked and my shoulder is back to about 95% which in my eyes is a miracle. Why am I telling you this? Oh yes, because I have managed to do some exercise in the last 3 weeks for the first time in 12 months. I wanted to be a little fitter for my trip to Pakistan (I'm sure I'll lose weight there anyway ha), so I've hit the gym and the squash courts, and managed to lose 10lbs. Hopefully after the Pakistan trip that will turn into a stone and a half, and we could have a whole new Raymondo for series 2 of Ashes. Just to stop that Gene Hunt fella getting all the Gals ha. Thanks for stopping by, and reading my blog. I will have a lot more to say soon, after my trip, which will hopefully be accompanied with some photos from the set. Thanks again for supporting us all, and I can tell you, we are all looking forward to getting back to Ashes and making another great series (I put the storyline to the producers about Alex and Ray getting it on, but they didn't seem that keen on it........can't think why haha). Will be back soon.

Deano xx