David Thewlis has recalled an unexpected encounter with Joey Ramone while filming Only Fools And Horses.
Before he starred in Harry Potter and Wonder Woman, Thewlis had a small part in series four episode ‘It’s Only Rock And Roll’ in 1985 – where Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) joins an aspiring rock band with Stew (Thewlis), only to be kicked out before their big break on Top Of The Pops.
While filming the performance in front of an actual Top Of The Pops audience, Thewlis told NME how it led to meeting Joey Ramone backstage.
“My main memory of that was I got to meet the Ramones,” Thewlis said. “One of the Ramones came into my dressing room just on the off chance and actually asked me if I had some skins. Of course I didn’t, but that was a big plus for me.”
He added: “They were on The Old Grey Whistle Test, they weren’t on Top Of The Pops but they were in the next dressing room. It was literally a knock on the door and Joey Ramone walked in.”
Thewlis stars opposite Olivia Colman in Landscapers, based on the true story of Susan and Christopher Edwards who, in 2013, confessed to murdering Susan’s parents William and Patricia Wycherley in 1998.
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The show is written by Colman’s husband Ed Sinclair, who wasn’t very forthcoming about sharing details beforehand on the series with his wife.
Asked if she got a sneak peek beforehand at the script, Colman said: “Mainly the finished product. He works on lots of things but this really took him. He was absorbed in it.
“There were a couple of moments when he [said], ‘Can I just show you something? Is this too much?’ This was during the police interrogation when she’s talking to the police but then goes into the story world.
“He said, ‘Is it too weird, going between the two things?’ And I went, ‘No this is great, what a lovely thing to perform because you never get the chance to do that’. And I wanted to read more and he’d go, ‘No that’s all I wanted to know,’ and then I wouldn’t hear about it for a year. So I was desperate to see what was happening.”
In NME’s five-star review of Landscapers, Dan Seddon wrote: “This is a tale that defies belief, but in the hands of Colman, Thewlis, Sinclair and director Will Sharpe it feels utterly real – and completely unmissable.”
Landscapers airs on Sky Atlantic and is streaming on NOW.