Fresh from the political intrigues of TV dramas State of Play and The Deal, Davie Morrissey admits that it was Gene Kelly musicals which got him into entertainment in the first place. Steve Pratt reportrs on the all-singing, all-dancing series based around the famous old seaside resort of Blackpool.

SEEING David Morrissey as an all-singing, all-dancing arcade owner in BBC1's new dark thriller series Blackpool may come as a bit of a shock to some viewers. He's more usually associated with serious drama, most recently State Of Play and as Gordon Brown in The Deal.

But like other characters in Peter Bowker's six-part series, he bursts into song - like people did in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective.

This was fine by Morrissey, enabling him to fulfil a childhood dream to sing and dance. "I must say when I was a kid, before I got introduced to Brando and De Niro or any of those, it was Gene Kelly and the musicals that really inspired me to look at films in a different way," he says.

"On The Town is still one of my favourite movies of all time. So it's something I've loved watching, but never imagined myself ever doing. It really was a realisation of an ambition of mine to sing and dance. I never thought I could do it, and now I'm dreading every wedding I go to."

The songs, he says, are very integral to the story. By coincidence, Blackpool contains one of his favourite songs of all time - Ooh La La by The Faces, which features in episode four. "It's a great, great song and one I've been singing in my bedroom for years," says the actor.

"It was quite exposing to boogie on down in front of people when you're not a dancer and singer, but the crew were very supportive, and entered into the spirit of it. The atmosphere created on set was one that made you brave."

Blackpool not only gives the series its title but the seaside town provides the setting for Bowker's darkly comic thriller with musical numbers. Morrissey plays local entrepreneur Ripley Holden, whose fortunes take a downward turn when the dead body of a young man is found at his new showpiece arcade in the Lancashire coastal town.

Writer Bowker recalls that his first 11 holidays were spent in Blackpool. "We'd go for a week in August and again for three days for the illuminations, so I felt that I knew Blackpool well," he says.

"As anybody will tell you who has been there, it's unlike anywhere else in Britain. I was also interested in the way Blackpool has tried to reinvent itself again and again, and the Vegas industry seems to be another of those attempts. Whether it succeeds remains to be seen."

Liverpool-born Morrissey travelled to the town to soak up the atmosphere before filming began. "I went up there and spent a few days speaking to arcade managers and punters," he says. "The managers were able to give me an insight into what it takes to run an arcade and the type of shenanigans the punters get up to. That was really important to me.

"As a kid we always went to Southport for day trips and our family holidays were spent in North Wales. We never really went to Blackpool. So it was important that I went and had a look around because it wasn't a place I was familiar with before.

"Blackpool is a resort that has the promenade, B and Bs, and then there's the town itself. It does have this kind of tacky exterior but you had to go beneath that. In the end I was quite affectionate towards Blackpool. It's a place where people go to have fun, and how they did that it was up to them.

"The Pleasure Beach is a brilliant place to be although I hate rollercoasters. What I think the series captures well is that Blackpool is a different world. It's not a town like any other.

"It has a history. There are museums to George Formby, posters of old musicals and end-of-the-pier shows all over the place. So there's a nostalgic feel about Blackpool that's fighting against the lap dancing bars and very risque sex toys that are in gift shops, which they're trying to clean up."

Ripley Holden, the man he plays, is outspoken, brash and quick-witted. The actor became obsessed with the larger-than-life man after reading Bowker's scripts. "The character kept coming back to me - the lines he said, the situation he got himself into, his philosophy. I kept picturing how he would look in my head and that obviously meant that I really wanted to play him," says Morrissey.

"He's also very funny which is something that I don't get to play now. There's nothing subtle about Ripley when you meet him, and he sings and dances. When I read the scripts it really frightened me. I thought, 'Oh my God, how am I going to do this?'. And that's why I really decided to take the part because it was a brave piece of writing and a brave piece of commissioning."

* Blackpool begins on BBC1 on Tuesday at 9pm.

Published: 04/11/2004