~*~BeN~*~
Ben Davies aka Marcus Patric
What were you doing before you started in HOLLYOAKS? I was travelling in Brazil for about five to six months with a few mates from London. It was absolutely amazing – until I ran out of money. Then I came back and was money-less and jobless basically. Then I got the job in HOLLYOAKS so I was really lucky.
So, you got your part through HOLLYOAKS: ON THE PULL ... what made you go up for it? I heard about the auditions on the radio and I was always into acting when I was younger – I did school plays and out of school productions as well – but that was only when I was really young. As I got older I kind of lost the interest a bit and got into other things (like football). But to get the opportunity to audition for HOLLYOAKS without having to have an agent was amazing, so I just grabbed my chance.
Were you nervous when you found out you’d got the part? When I got the part I was told “right you’ve got the part of Ben, he’s a fireman ... and you start tomorrow” and I was like “riiighttt ... any chance of a script?” So basically I was straight into it – I really didn’t have time to think. It was a whirlwind experience!
Do you remember your first day on set? Yeah, my first scene was with Stephanie Waring who played Cindy Cunningham. The story was I’d just been out with her – because they film it out of continuity I was doing a scene that was going to appear later on. So, I’d taken her out for a row along the river and I was taking her back home. It was the first time we’d been out and it was about my fourth episode along. I hadn’t even done anything and I was filming my fourth episode! The scene was me just walking her up the garden path and I just had to say one line and then kiss her goodnight and hop it. But it was quite a pivotal scene and I had to give her a nice long snog, which everything was building up to.
Not long after that there was the hit and run story. How did it feel to be landing such a dramatic plot so early on? It was really good, actually. It was partly because Stephanie Waring was leaving and they needed to give her an explosive storyline and it was a really good storyline to get me into it. It was a really good opportunity to show what I could do, although if I was given it now hopefully I’d play it a bit different. – not that I was disappointed with it! I thought it was alright for my first big storyline, but I’ve learnt a lot since in the year and a half I’ve been here.
What do you look for in a date? I like a girl who doesn’t feel like she has to impress me too much. Who can just chill out and be herself, and have a bit of a laugh. I like messing about, so I do like a girl with a sense of humour – that’s really important. I’m quite laid back, so a girl doesn’t have to put on any front with me.