Funland
Starts this autumn on 91Èȱ¬ THREE
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Mark Gatiss plays Ambrose Chapfel
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Comes from: Darlington, County Durham.
Studied at: Bretton Hall Drama College.
What's he been in before? Mark has written and appeared in The League of Gentlemen and more recently he has appeared in the 91Èȱ¬ THREE comedy, Nighty Night.
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When Mark was first asked whether he would be interested in taking on a role playing a repressed Dutch taxidermist, it was an offer that he couldn't refuse as it was a role that was never likely to crop up again!
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"I remember when Jeremy first called me up and asked if I would be interested in playing this Dutch taxidermist and that immediately got my interest!" laughs Mark.
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"I obviously know Jeremy from collaborating with him on The League of Gentlemen and he knows that grotesque characters are my speciality! But I had never done a Dutch accent before so I had to do some research.
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"I knew Simon Greenall (who plays Ken Cryer in Funland) had played a Dutch character before so I talked to him and he gave me some really good advice."
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And Mark was able to have quite a lot of input into Ambrose's appearance, although he was a little worried as to how far he could go.
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"I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb if the rest of the episode was very naturalistic," says Mark. "But I wanted him to have hair like Purdey from The Avengers and an Amish beard - he looks quite gnomish really.
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"And then the costume designer created this fabulous denim smock with is absolutely stuffed full of these strange taxidermy instruments."
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Ambrose Chapfel is a sexually repressed character who doesn't get many visitors to his shop, Animal Magic. So when Carter, a good-looking young man, walks into the shop he can't quite believe his luck and quickly gets the wrong end of the stick!
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"Ambrose thinks that Carter has something to do with his one and only sexual conquest when he was in London many years ago!" explains Mark.
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"But Carter is in fact sitting on this reservoir of anger because he thinks that Ambrose has something to with his mother's murder. He almost flirts with Ambrose at first to get the info that he needs and then just turns on him."
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But Carter soon realises that Ambrose's name is Chapfel not Chapel and that he has the wrong man! Their relationship then quickly takes a turn for the better.
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"I think Ambrose and Carter really develop a mutual respect for each other, which is a bit sad really but also quite touching. Carter will come to Ambrose in his times of need and I think in some ways Ambrose is the only person that Carter actually trusts in the whole show.
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"And I have had a great time with Danny Mays, who plays Carter - we have had a real laugh.
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"There's a line in the first episode where Carter is trying to entice Ambrose to give him some information and he asks Ambrose to go for a drink and then I say in this Dutch accent – 'I don't know, maybe later,' which became a bit of a catchphrase amongst the crew!"
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2005 is proving to be a busy year for Mark as, having just finished The League of Gentlemen film, he is also about to head off on a tour of The League of Gentlemen at the end of the year.
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And earlier this year he took part in The Quatermass Experiment for 91Èȱ¬ FOUR.
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"It was a fantastic experience to do a live TV broadcast of a two-hour drama. I had never done anything like that before and it was really exhilarating.
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"But I discovered, watching it back, that although I thought I was pretty nerveless when I did it, I found that I was rubbing my nose all the way through the piece! I think it was a completely subconscious thing because at the time I had no idea that I was doing it.
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"And next up I will be playing Bamber Gascoigne in a new romantic comedy called Starter for Ten."
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