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 I approached Alex Norton's Stokey front door with some
trepidation. Anyone who's seen his sterling performance as DCI Mike Burke in ITV's Taggart
knows that this is an actor who can curdle milk by simply staring at it. Norton, or rather
Burke, is the kind of copper they used to say 'could go either way', ie psychotic armed
bank robber or...a DCI. The man himself was described by The Scotsman as having a 'bog
scouring scowl'. Norton , 'just say I'm in my forties', laughs at the reminder.
'Burke and I do share certain characteristics', he says as we drink tea and munch biccies
at the kitchen pine table surrounded by the various detritus of family life. Norton and
actress wife Sally have three sons at local Stokey schools.
'Burke is a perfectionist and so am I. I like a job to be well done and I'm always working
away at my lines. And I've got myself into hot water when I was younger by opening my
mouth when it maybe should have stayed shut.'I can imagine. Norton, small, stocky and
quietly brooding, is a curious mixture of thinly disguised sternness, quick wit and mind,
overlaid with great bursts of sunshine when he relaxes enough to smile. I wouldn't be
surprised if he's had his battles with depression in the past.
'The older I get, the more I realise there is quite a bit of my father in me', he says
talking of the Glasgow plumber and fervent trade unionist with whom he had a highly
complex relationship. 'My dad had a thing about discipline and I suppose so do I.
Sometimes I catch myself saying things to the kids which sound just like him.'If this
makes Norton appear scary or, heaven forbid, unloving then nothing could be further from
the truth. He obviously adores his sons and wife and speaks with enormous pride of his
good fortune with them. 'I was pretty chaotic when I was much younger but now there is
nothing which can hold a candle in significance to my family', he says without a hint of
sentimentality.
Norton was brought up in Glasgow, 'outside lavvy, that sort of thing, but no violins, we
never went hungry', and discovered acting at the age of 14 through an out-of-chool drama
group which led to a surprise part in Dr Finlay's Casebook. He was a grammar school boy,
'too embarrassed to have my classmates back to my place', whose strongly opinionated
father had mapped him out for a good apprenticeship. He made his disapproval of his son's
acting ambitions very clear. Norton decided against the traditional RADA type route,
'didn't think I'd fit in... It's one of my regrets', and opted instead for entering the
business immediately, steadily moving from part to part. He has an impressive CV littered
with radical film, television and theatre work.
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He was part of John McGrath's seminal 7:84 company - his
face wreathes in smiles at the mention - Gregory's Girl with Bill Forsyth, the award
winning Beautiful Creatures, Little Voice, Orphans and some good old blockbuster Hollywood
hokum like Patriot Games with Harrison Ford. Norton's won two screenwriting awards. 'I
love writing but hate doing it if you see what I mean. The lone scribbler in the garret
isn't really for me. I'd like to do more but I'm more interested in directing at present',
he says.
At the moment life is of necessity built around DCI Burke and a grinding shooting schedule
in Glasgow. 'I'm away most of the week. We discussed moving to Scotland but we're very
happy in Stokey and the kids didn't want to', he says. 'We've been here about 14 years now
and it suits us just fine. I like the Bohemian feel.'
His sons, Jock 13 and Rory 11 are at Stokey Comp and Jamie 5 is at Grasmere.
They seem to have penchant for The Biz themselves with Jock reaching the last three for a
major role in Harry Potter. 'Absolutely no pushing from us or telling them not to come to
that', says Norton hastily, 'although I was dead proud. He was very professional'. The
highest of accolades coming from Alex Norton.
Norton definitely loosens up the longer you're with him and I eventually caught glimmers
of the good fun guy, great company, fund of sharp stories his friends talk about. He
describes himself as an actor who works on 'instinct' and I should imagine that's the way
he judges people as well. 'But the most important thing for me is that I have to believe
in what I'm doing.' As for the future, like most thesps he's dependent on the phone
ringing but says sanguinely, 'when and if it does stop then maybe we'll go to France and
I'll sup a glass of red or two'. His home now, though, is most decidedly Stokey: he's not
a Scot who hankers for the Highlands.' I'll tell you how I know', he says. 'I was making a
movie in Nova Scotia and it kept running over. I got very homesick. But I wasn't wishing
for Scotland. I dreamt about Stoke Newington.'
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