The Junior Transport Minister

Eric studied politicians as they spoke to journalists

Eric Carte drew on the experiences of his politician friends for his role as Junior Transport Minister Tom Walker.

Here he explains how he prepared for the part and braved an interview with the BBC's John Humphrys.

The producers wanted to create a true documentary style of programme and make it as real and immediate as possible. During casting I was given two A4 sheets of paper filled with information on the character and the scenario.

After reading these notes I had to play the character during my casting interview, so I was required to jump into the deep end from the beginning.

I based a lot of Tom Walker's character on former Conservative Transport Minister Stephen Norris

Eric Carte, actor

After getting the part I was given mountains of material from the programme's researchers. That included factual material and statistics on transport, government White Papers and Ministerial interviews.

After looking at this research I began to get an idea of how the government runs transport. I also became aware that the transport job is a bit of a poisoned chalice within the government as Ministers have to pretend that the tiny amount of money that they are given is a huge amount.

I also studied politicians in action and, as an actor, I could spot bad acting from them. They all seem to employ a marvellous hand movement when on camera.

The "Junior Minister" tours the crash site at Waverley

They will hold their palms out and move their hands up and down as if to say 'I am handing this over to you truthfully and honestly'. It's a complete fabrication and hilarious to see. They have all obviously been trained by the same person.

Two of my friends are politicians. One is a Liberal Party MP who left a lucrative career to become their transport man. He is also a member of my family, so I was able to approach him for advice.

Politician friends

He was very helpful, but had quite a laugh when I told him I was playing a government Minister. Another friend, who used to be an actor, is now an MEP. Both of them gave me useful insights into the world of politics.

I can't say my opinion of politicians was changed by playing Tom Walker. It's a very odd job being a politician. When I was filming I quite liked being called Minister all the time and was getting in and out of nice cars. I thought 'I could get used to this'. So I can see how power can change people.

The most daunting part of filming was being interviewed as if for real by John Humphrys

Actor Eric Carte

But some politicians are still seen as being quite human. I think Tom Walker is quite a decent chap who has to stand up in the full glare of publicity while the fertiliser hit the fan. He is also prepared to stand up and be counted while others are trying to shovel the problems under the carpet.

I based a lot of Tom Walker's character on former Conservative Transport Minister Stephen Norris after watching a lot of footage of him being interviewed.

I thought he was most like Tom Walker - slightly brighter than most politicians, well educated, but also a likeable character with a populist feel.

False reality

I was given a script but told not to learn it word for word. I just had to get the gist of what was going to happen. The interview sequences are mostly my own words based on the skeleton of the script.

There were new development in transport policy and in the relationships between various government Minister as we were filming, which I added into the dialogue as I went along.

John Humphrys was "very charming"

It was important not to learn the script too much for this role as I wanted to give the real impression that I was giving answers off the cuff.

As an actor I have a facility to transmute myself into character and create a false reality. If I had fallen into the trap of becoming line-bound I would not have conveyed as much realism in this case.

During filming I was skating on thin ice at times. Some of the 'journalists' would ask me the wrong question at the wrong time. I would have to think on my feet and appear calm, while cursing them inwardly.

I studied Philosophy which teaches you to always answer a question with a question if you do not want to reveal something. That is what a lot of politicians do, so I was able to draw on my old studies.

John Humphrys

The most daunting part of filming was being interviewed as if for real by John Humphrys. The interview took place down the line on a Saturday morning, straight after the Today programme had finished, so though he was sat in his actual studio I was in the kitchen of my house.

I listened to the Today programme on Radio 4 that morning and he had given one interviewee a real mauling, so I wasn't looking forward to my encounter!

But he turned out to be a very charming and interesting man and we had a lot of fun doing our interview. He played his part very straight, but he wasn't nasty to me. I thanked him for that afterwards and he told me he had been nice because I hadn't tried to fool him around.

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The Day Britain Stopped was broadcast on Tuesday, 13 May, 2003 on BBC Two at 2100 BST.

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