Sorted - new drama series for 91Èȱ¬ ONE
Mark Womack plays Jack
Mystery man Jack is the outsider of the group who initially resists any attempts to get to know him and include him in the camaraderie of the others.
Ìý
"He's a bit of a loner and he wants to keep himself to himself," explains Mark
Womack. "He's the new arrival as well – when the series starts it's only day
one or two for him so he's a bit of an unknown and he's very closed off."
Ìý
He is carrying a legacy of traumatic events and secrets and letting
anyone get close could risk discovery.
Ìý
"He isn't the person he seems to be and he's actually quite funny when he relaxes and he gets to know you; he's a nice guy although he's not without the odd sarcastic comment either," adds Mark.
Ìý
"When I was told I was being sent a script called Sorted I immediately thought,
'oh, drug dealers and gangsters, this isn't right for me', but when the scripts
arrived they were fantastic and about postmen for a change. Danny's [Brocklehurst]
a great writer."
Ìý
Mark is really pleased to being playing Jack. "I like playing isolated, seemingly insular characters. I'm drawn to these parts. I'm really chuffed to play Jack and all of Danny's characters in Sorted are really well defined and have their own quirks."
Ìý
"As the series progresses you gradually understand the reasons why Jack is as he is," Mark explains and then recalls a scene when Jack's past revisits him which became quite comical by default.
Ìý
"We were filming at a local bus station and Jack is confronted by his ex-wife. It was a very big scene, very dramatic – I'm shouting, she's shouting, it was very public and we were shooting a lot on a long lens," he recalls.
Ìý
"I was dressed in my postman's outfit and this little old lady came up and poked me and said, 'I'll report you to the local post office – you
shouldn't be shouting at that lady like that!'
Ìý
"I explained we were making a drama for the 91Èȱ¬ and then she asked if she could
be in it," he laughs, adding: "I had to say that I was just an actor and unfortunately
couldn't cast her in a part either."
Ìý
A bonus for Mark has been working back in the north – like Jack, he hails from Liverpool and admits he misses his home town.
Ìý
"I'd be happy to move back up north at some stage – and probably will, somewhere north of London anyway!" he smiles. "I like working up here, it's very easy for me to nip over and see my folks and it's nice to have the kids up here because they can see their grandparents."
Ìý
Mark has two sons and a daughter and is married to
fellow actor Samantha Janus.
Ìý
"[My youngest son] was definitely into Postman Pat, though he's outgrown him
now," Mark
says. "I
said to him, I'm going to Manchester to be a postman and he wasn't very excited.
He's at that age where he's into Batman, Star Wars, Pokemon, all that stuff!"
Ìý
Mark's credits to date don't include any superhero roles – though he's been a different kind of hero in cop shows Merseybeat and Liverpool 1 as well as starring in Rockface, Murphy's Law, Hillsborough, Nice Guy Eddie and Clocking Off – and he says as a preference he'd rather do a period drama next.
Ìý
"I've never done one and I'd really, really like to," he says, adding wryly: "I
think I've just got a contemporary looking face!"
Printable version