.words.

Legal eagle rests his case as a father figure

North Square is a new drama series on Channel 4, on Wednesdays at 9pm. OLIVIA CONVEY spoke to one of its stars, Kevin McKidd.

HE'S not a vain man, but Trainspotting star Kevin McKidd would like to say a big thank-you to the make-up team on his new series, North Square, for performing miracles every morning.

''They would take one look at me at 6am and say, 'Oh, Kevin ­ what are we going to do with you?' But somehow they managed to make me look human for the camera.''

The reason the blond, good-looking actor was having problems with his appearance was the arrival of his first son, Joseph George McKidd.

''He was born in June and he is amazing,'' says the ecstatic new dad.

''I have just about got through the knackered stage, but, for the first few weeks, he just cried all night and I was working on North Square, having to get up really early. Then at about two months he began to smile at me and that makes it all totally worthwhile, it really does.''

The Scots star couldn't escape babies this summer. In North Square he plays Billy Guthrie, a barrister, whose partner Rose is heavily pregnant as it opens. There is a touch-and-go car chase to the hospital as she goes into labour.

''It wasn't quite that dramatic with Jane, but North Square is set in Leeds and so we had a cottage up in the hills while I was working there. There was a bit of a mad car journey when I heard Jane was in labour.

''I was on the set and had to get back to get her to the hospital. So Joseph George was born in St James's hospital in Leeds.''

Becoming a parent has radically changed his outlook on life.

''I feel as though I have suddenly become part of the human race,'' he explains. ''Before that you've been this kind of alien. If you're on your own, then you are just on your own and that's it. But, by having your own child, you are handing on the baton.

''You do leave the planet for the first few months though. That's why I could totally identify with Billy.

''He is very idealistic at the start of the series, but he becomes beaten down and destroyed. He gets so concerned about his son's future that he allows himself to be blackmailed, otherwise he is worried he might lose his livelihood.

''When you have a baby you suddenly have to realise it's not just you any more."

McKidd grew up on a council estate near Inverness, the son of a plumber and a secretary. He ditched an engineering degree at Edinburgh University in favour of drama and played Tommy in Trainspotting.

More recently he was Count Vronsky in C4's Anna Karenina. Helen McCrory, his Anna, plays his partner Rose in North Square.

McKidd hates the comparison with cult series This Life. Certainly, if last night's first episode is anything to go by, North Square is faster moving.

''It's not patronising,'' says McKidd. ''You have to keep up with it. These people are so bright and intelligent, they are thinking as they talk and the scenes are really alive because the actors don't pause."

For research, McKidd shadowed a barrister in north London.

He has more film work in the pipeline ­ although he won't say what until it is signed and sealed.

''But until that happens I am busy doing loads of DIY at our house in Camberwell, in south London. When it's all done we want to sell it and get a place in the countryside.

''I don't want my kid growing up in London, I want to give him the same kind of childhood that I had, running around in the fields around Elgin, in the north-east of Scotland.''

And he is already thinking about a brother or sister for Joseph George. ''I definitely want more kiddies in a year or two,'' he beams.

''I get really passionate about the whole thing, it is like a drug."

Cambridge News 23 October 2000

<< words