CityLife

Adam Zane - 10 years on from Queer As Folk

ONE of the comedy highlights of the first series of Queer As Folk, Dane was the hapless best friend of Alexander. Since his time on Queer As Folk, Adam has kept busy in the profession, and most of his time recently has been spent with the groundbreaking Hope Theatre Company, taking challenging productions such as The Laramie Project into schools across the region.

Ahead of Manchester Pride, Grahame Robertson caught up with:

When were you first aware of Queer As Folk?

There were rumours going around Manchester that there was going to be a gay soap opera. I got called in to audition for the part of Alexander, and they asked me to read for Alexander and Dane. At that point it was actually called ‘Queer As F*ck’, that’s what we all thought it was going to be called. I then went off to Gran Canaria with my boyfriend, and it was the first time I’d ever stayed in one of those gay complexes. I remember my agent ringing me while I was there and saying ‘you’ve got the part’ and me just going ‘oh my god, I’m in a gay soap!’ And everyone around the pool was shouting ‘oh my god you’re going to be in a gay soap!’ But I hadn’t read the first script.

Were you given any idea at the audition about the character or storylines?

They don’t really tell you much at an audition, but the minute I heard it was going to be set around Canal Street I just thought ‘wow, this is going to be really new.’ The idea of the show was just really exciting to everyone really.

What were your thoughts when you read the first script?

The scenes I read in my audition I thought were brilliant, and then when I read the full script I was just blown away. You just knew it was going to be huge. On the day of the read through when we all came together and heard it, you just though ‘i’ve never heard anything like this before’. It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. As a gay actor, to pick up a script and read it and recognise it. So I guess it was quite surprising when all the controversy started because everything became focused on the underage relationship, which I hadn’t really picked up on because I was so excited about the fact it was the first proper ‘gay drama’.

How long was the filming process?

Well I was only in two episodes, but from the response that I got people think I was in all of them. Because there we so many locations all across the city in just one episode, I was contracted for a good couple of months. There were night shoots on Canal Street and I’d be called to the set about 11pm and we’d go right through until the morning. The clubs would all shut and then it would just go mad. They were always looking for extras, so the production team would go out and recruit in Cruz 101 and try and get gay looking people to be in the show. So everyone knew about it. The reaction was great though and I certainly do[n’t] remember any negative stuff. You’d arrive on Canal Street and you’d see how they’d lit it in so many different colours and I knew it was going to look great, but it wasn’t until I saw the episodes that I thought they’d made Canal Street look magical. And if I was watching the show now, I’d just want to move there.

How long before you finished filming and the show actually aired?

I was filming in October and November 1998, and I think the first episode went out in February 1999, so it was quite short.

Do you have any particularly memorable experience from your time on Queer As Folk?

Everyday we’d get a call sheet for the next day with what time you should arrive and what scenes were going to be filmed. This one afternoon, the call sheet came around, and at the top it didn’t say ‘Queer As Folk’ anymore, it said ‘The Other End of the Ballroom’. We all went, “What???’ and the production team said, ‘Yeah, there’s been some controversy over the name.’ I remember going for lunch that day with Denise Black (Hazel) and saying, ‘Denise have you heard about the new title?’ and she stood up and said, ‘No! Well I’m having words with Russell!’ – and the next day it was changed back to Queer As Folk!

You and Antony Cotton (Alexander) had some of the funniest and most memorable scenes in Queer As Folk – especially the balcony scene. That must have been fun to shoot.

Yeah, that was a night shoot as well at a house in Victoria Park. We arrived and I could see the scaffolding with a crash mat outside and I just thought, ‘oh no’. In my head I thought it would be fine and perhaps it would be a first-floor flat and I’ll just have to jump down and crouch. But when I saw the scaffolding I thought, ‘oh no I’m actually going have to fall!’ And what a mad night! There was a bloody snake in the bath that was wriggling around, there’s a leather man who was completely scary… but when I read that script and all those wonderful gags (“I’m burying a bride and groom at 10.”, “I’ll wash me kn*b.”) I just knew it would be brilliant.

Have you kept in touch with anyone from your time on the show?

Yeah, I see Antony from time to time through Pride events and events in Manchester. I occasionally see Carla (Donna), she’s doing really well.

And what about the American version? Did you watch?

I loved it, absolutely loved it…

Was there a Dane equivalent in the US version?

No, and I was absolutely gutted! I was waiting for the Dane. It was so different, and I was really impressed at how they kept the stories and the characters going. I know it was filmed in Canada, but they made the idea of Pittsburgh seem like a really great Canal Street. Funnily enough, I’m going to Pittsburgh for my honeymoon just to have a drink in a Pittsburgh gay bar!

There was huge controversy once the series aired. What was your life like after Queer As Folk was screened?

It was ridiculous, and it’s still ridiculous. It was mad, and we were celebrities for that brief period in the Village. There was this sense that everybody was really excited. I remember when it was on, I couldn’t go anywhere on Canal Street without someone coming up to me and saying ‘oh my god it’s Dane!’. The funniest one was when I had done something really small in the Fred West scene – the scary man comes in and I pick up an ornament and make this little move with it, and that’s all it was… but this group of young lads from Nottingham came up to me months later and said, ‘oh my god we all do Dane! If something embarrassing happens we all pick up an ornament and do Dane…’ – I just thought that was so lovely, that in Nottingham people are doing a Dane! But one of the big memories for me was during the last episode when there was a big party in Prague 5 (now View) and Russell and Antony and everyone was there – and everyone was just gripped about how it was going to end. The ending of that last episode in the first series was just so iconic, with Stuart and Vince dancing to ‘Its Raining Men’ in the middle of Cruz 101 – and I just remember that moment standing in a full bar and watching that moment, everybody was just jumping and cheering and dancing. It still sends shivers up my spine when I think about that atmosphere. And of course, after the screening they all went off to Cruz and danced to ‘It’s Raining Men’…

There hasn’t really been any proper ‘gay drama’ since Queer As Folk. Do you think that young gay people who are just arriving now on Canal Street need something like Queer As Folk?

Yes, I think so. The thing is Queer As Folk was the first one. It’s for that reason that it will always stay in our hearts, and we will always have that memory of that period when WE first saw Queer As Folk. It would be lovely to think that young gay kids now would have their Queer As Folk, and have their moment. But I think Hollyoaks had that with the John Paul storyline. Going around schools with OutLoud, and talking to kids about gay issues, they all talked about Hollyoaks and how brilliant that plot was. They felt really connected to it. So… that’s their Queer As Folk.

Ten years later, are you still recognised as Dane?

I could be in a bar in Madrid and someone will come up to me say, ‘Were you Dane?’ I mean, my God, I was in TWO episodes! That’s so lovely and I’m always absolutely thrilled because I’m so proud that I was part of it.

Were you upset not to have been involved in the second series?

That’s an interesting story. It’s ten years this year since I first got involved with Manchester Pride, and that was because of Queer As Folk – they’ve just asked me to be a patron actually. I remember ten years ago at Pride we were all talking about series two. I was with Russell and Denise, and Denise said, ‘I’ve just read the script and you have the most amazing scene, you will not believe it!’ and I was so excited. And then my agent called the next day and said ‘Carla Henry has just dropped out, so all of your storyline has been dropped out’. Well I was just… you can imagine. I was devastated. But then I got a job at the Royal Exchange playing an accident-prone gay character from London, and next to Queer As Folk that turned out to be the second best job I’ve ever had. It was a play called ‘Prize Night’. So the fact that they were all filming down Canal Street on the sequel, I was at the Royal Exchange having a ball. So it all turned out well in the end.

Did you watch the second series?

Oh god yes. I mean, I was sad that I wasn’t a part of it. But because I hadn’t read the script and didn’t know what was going to happen, but the whole chase scene leading to the ‘TARDIS moment’ on Canal Street was one of the most iconic queer moments of telly. And to look now at what Russell’s done with Doctor Who, it’s just incredible really.

Perhaps we’ll see you in Doctor Who one day.

God yes. Preferably a scene with Captain Jack!

What do you think Dane would be doing now ten years later in 2009?

He’s probably still getting into scrapes with dodgy blokes that he’s met in a club. He’s probably broken both of his arms and constantly walks with a limp.