“He’ll be flattered!” Kevin Bishop gets political in mockumentary Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back
The BBC Two comedy imagines the politician’s life after UKIP leadership
He’s portrayed numerous famous people during his career as a comedy actor, but Kevin Bishop was baffled when asked to take on his latest role – as on/off Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
“It’s weird that they asked me to do it, I wasn’t quite sure why they wanted me,” explains Kevin, 36. “I thought it was odd – I’m only in my thirties and Nigel Farage is twice my age!”
Nevertheless, he soon settled into the part and even changed his mind about the politician the more he learned about him.
“I didn’t like Nigel Farage until I took this on,” admits Kevin, who plays the MEP in BBC mockumentary Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back.
“When they said: ‘Will you do this Nigel Farage thing,’ Brexit had just happened and I said: ‘Yeah,’ pretty much because I wanted to send him up properly. Then when I got into researching him I quite liked him as a character.
"I didn’t agree with his policies, but I do like him as a person and I believe he speaks from the heart. That’s something I like about Nigel Farage, that he is himself, he doesn’t seem to hide his agenda.”
So how easy is it to portray Farage?
“People with very plain or unremarkable voices, they’re the hardest ones to do, whereas Nigel’s voice is so full of character it’s quite easy to emulate,” says married dad-of-two Kevin.
“He does this jolt thing when he speaks. When he wants to say something he puts an emphasis on the word and does this sort of violent headbutt. He also does this thing where he’s talking to someone and charming them and he does this purr when he speaks to them.
"When you recognise it and become aware of it, he does it all the time. I call them my ‘get out of jail free cards.’ If I think: ‘I’m not really feeling very Faragey in this,’ if I get in a few headbutts and purrs then I know I’ve somehow scraped through!”
The programme imagines what Farage’s life might be like after stepping down as Ukip leader: watching Pointless on TV and trying to get his old cricket team back together for example.
“I’ve absolutely no idea what he thinks of the idea, but he does seem to have a sense of humour so I think he probably will have a laugh about it,” smiles Kevin.
“I imagine he’s pretty vain and probably likes watching himself on telly, I should imagine he’d be quite flattered.”
It’s been another busy year for Kevin, who received great reviews for his portrayal of Fletcher’s grandson Nigel in a reboot of classic sitcom Porridge, recently commissioned for a full series. But his casting wasn’t without its controversy.
“There was quite a bit of opposition,” admits Kevin. “When the BBC announced they were remaking it with me as the lead there was quite a furore on twitter a) about them doing it in the first place, and b) about them choosing me to fill Ronnie Barker’s shoes, so I was terrified.”
“What swung it for me was that there were these two writers [Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais] that were still alive and had written my favourite sitcom of all time and were willing to write another one for the entertainment of an audience that missed that style of comedy.
"It was a no-brainer really, I just thought: ‘Why wouldn’t I do it?’”
“I was never going to do an impression of Ronnie Barker and I think the BBC were quite pleased about that. I just wanted to capture a bit of the twinkle in that character and Fletcher had a twinkle.
"Dick and Ian seem to think that Ronnie would have loved it. I’m really excited to do more and can’t wait to get stuck in.”
Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back, Sunday 30 October, 10pm, BBC Two
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