Going Out

Interview: Terry Alderton

Footballer turned comedian Terry Alderton is heading back to Norwich - an area where he learnt his comedy trade, he tells ABIGAIL SALTMARSH.

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He might struggle with his mobile phone signal when he's up here in the sticks but comedian Terry Alderton is still passionate about Norfolk.

Not only do his parents live in the county but this is also where his comedy career began, back in the late 1980s.

“I love Norfolk. We used to have holidays up there when I was a child, at Hunstanton and on the Norfolk Broads, and my parents always said they would move up to Norfolk when they retired, which they did,” said Terry, who as an ex-Southend goalkeeper famously comes from Essex.

“I'm always wishing I could get up there more - it is so quiet and relaxed.

“But Norfolk is also where I did my first ever summer season. I performed at Potter's Leisure Resort at Hopton. It was great fun and I've been back several times since to do a couple of gigs.”

Terry will, in fact, be back as he performs at the Playhouse in Norwich on November 26.

“The show is basically me doing what I do in a comedy club,” he said. “Of course I have some bits of material but how I get between them varies from show to show.

“But there is no real theme to it. I have done that in the past, and it is something I enjoy, but this time I just decided to let go a bit more, to be a bit freer.”

As a youngster, Terry was football obsessed. He played for Southend as a youth player and turned down offers from Queens Park Rangers to join them as a professional player.

But after playing in a friendly match in which he made a great save only to concede a free kick because he was doing a Michael Jackson moon walk while still holding on to the ball, he decided to leave.

But since then his relationship with football has continued. He appeared on the Celebrities team on Sky One's The Match and has guested on and presented various sports television programmes.

“I try to steer clear of football these days though,” he admitted. “I still enjoy the game and love going to watch it but I don't really want to be talking about it on television all the time.

“I always feel like I'm blagging it - I don't know as much about it as the people who are watching. I would rather be a punter now I think, and just tell jokes.”

After leaving the football club and taking an open mic slot at his local comedy club, his new career on stage was born.

He back to do gigs and enter competitions, going on to reach the semi-finals in Sky's Star Search, presented Keith Chegwin, beating singer Chesney Hawkes in the process.

“It was then that I went off to work as a holiday camp entertainer at Potter's,” he said.

After his stint at Hopton, Terry decided to hit the London comedy scene and it was then that he really began to make a name for himself.

His many TV appearances since those days have included two series of The Comedy Store (Channel 5), Jack Dee's Sunday Service and The Jonathan Ross Show. He has also hosted the National Lottery.

As an actor, he has also carved out an exciting career, starring as a fire fighter in ITV1's London Burning, a yardie gangster in film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and taking parts in shows Holby City and Waking the Dead.

At the moment, following success on YouTube with short appearances on his Bloke Cast, he is in talks with MTV about putting together a show for them.

He is also working on a pilot programme for Radio 4 called Terry Alderton Unscripted, where he has to get from one of a story to the other within half an hour while trying to deal with disruptive sound effects.

“If this is commissioned it should go out in the summer,” he said.

Once the tour is over, Terry is hoping to find more film work. He would like to be seen as a modern day Peter Sellers, a comedian who can also take on and develop characters.

“In the meantime, I'm really enjoying the tour,” he said. “How the show goes down does depend as much on the venue as on the audience, and I'm looking forward to playing Norwich because it's a great place.

“Playing in Norfolk is always fun. You are like an old Aga up there. You may take a while to warm up but once you really get going, you really get into it.”

Terry Alderton, Norwich Playhouse, November 26, £12 (£10 cons), 01603 598598, www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk