Friar Tuck is usually played as a fat, white bald man, says Roz Laws. But Birmingham actor David Harewood does not fit that stereotype.
David Harewood has long complained about the lack of roles available to black actors. Yet he can hardly accuse the BBC of being boringly traditional in casting him in one of its hit dramas.
Birmingham-born David is tall and toned, with a full head of hair. From Saturday he’ll be on BBC1 screens as Friar Tuck in Robin Hood, a character usually played by short, fat, balding, white men.
In fact, Little Britain’s Matt Lucas was rumoured to be taking the role.
David – the first black man to play Othello at the National Theatre – admits that joining Robin Hood’s gang of merry men had never crossed his mind.
“When it was first suggested that I play Friar Tuck, I just laughed,” says the 43-year-old.
“I thought it was hilarious. I was thinking in the same old-fashioned way as everyone else, but then why shouldn’t Tuck be black, or even a woman?
“I hope it’ll be like James Bond. There was all that fuss about having a blond Bond, but then Daniel Craig was brilliant in the role.
“It’s good when people think outside the box.
“It’s a challenge, though, to reinvent a character so entrenched in our minds. And the physical side is enormously challenging.
“There’s lots of fighting and my stunt double is a champion in the Brazilian martial art capoeira and a wonderful mover, so I had to do a lot of training to match him.”
But there was one part of the role which wasn’t as physical as David would have liked.
For the first three weeks of the six month shoot in Budapest, he learned how to ride – but viewers won’t be seeing him on a horse.
“We were short of time and horses don’t always behave, and it was decided it took too long to film stunts with them. I was disappointed, I was hoping to go galloping off.
“Anything they did shoot with horses was done by stunt doubles. They wrapped us in cotton wool a bit too much.”
Robin Hood will be the first production his daughters, six-year-old Maize and Raven, three, can watch him in.
He has been specialising in playing villains lately, in gritty dramas which are certainly not family viewing.
His last film, Blood Diamond alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, saw him play Captain Poison, an evil African rebel leader who chopped off the hands of innocent victims.
And on TV he was last seen injecting fellow jailbirds with heroin in the acclaimed BBC1 drama Criminal Justice.
He’s also appeared in Babyfather, The Vice, Fat Friends, The Shadow In The North and The Palace.
“My children can’t wait to see me in Robin Hood, they’re very excited. It’s the first thing they can watch me in without cowering behind the sofa.
“Not that I’m complaining about playing villains – I was lucky that an American casting agent gave me the opportunity of Blood Diamond, as no British agent would think I could do it. It opened up a new line for me in baddies, and next I’m playing a serial killer in the second series of the ITV1 drama The Fixer.”
David was delighted to see his family when Maize and Raven came to visit him on the Hungarian set with their mum, his fiancée, Kirsty Handy.
“It’s a long shoot and you’re a long way from home. You have to find soul mates, or you’ll go mad. I really like Keith Allen, who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham – he’s not what I expected. We went out to dinner and found ourselves talking, man to man, about some extraordinary, personal things, which I wouldn’t have imagined.”
David grew up in Washwood Heath, Birmingham, the son of a long-distance lorry driver.
He’s just come back from South Africa, playing an iconic figure – Nelson Mandela.
He’s the African leader in a new BBC film Mrs Mandela, opposite Sophie Okonedo in the title role as his wife Winnie.
David says: “It’s a very personal portrayal. People think of Mandela as a smiling, happy world leader, but they don’t know he was deeply unhappy when he came out of prison and very depressed that his marriage had broken down.
“I did an enormous amount of research for the role. I read three books and countless articles and watched hours of footage of Mandela.
“I had a voice coach and concentrated on getting that right. I was so pleased when the sound guy came up to me one day and say ‘If closed my eyes, I thought Nelson was in the room’.
“I had black South Africans shake my hand, saying they never thought anyone could do him justice. That was very moving for me.
“The set doctor actually rang Mandela up and said ‘you have to meet this man who’s playing you in a film’. He was going to set up a meeting, but unfortunately he wasn’t well enough. But he wished me well, which is good enough for me.”
Despite all his success, David still plans on trying his luck in America.
He’s previously said: “This country refuses to – or cannot find the energy to – produce a black international film star.”
Now he says: “I’m doing reasonably well, but it’s still rare to get a role like Mandela. I’ll go to the States next year to see what work I can get out there.”
