November 1997
As Lily's fresh-out-of-Borstal son Jason, Daniel Newman spends most of his time making a video diary of his family's antics.
"There I am in this Frankenstein family with this mum coming home drunk with a kabab and dropping it on the floor and crawling around looking for it," he says. "Unlike Lily and Bunty, though, I don't have a mad hairdo or strange clothes. I'm just a straight kid, trying to be a cool teenager. It's such earthy humour," he adds. "Anyone who's ever been down the Social for three hours trying to work out their benifits will love it, and so will everyone else."
Daniel is a huge fan of his screen mum. "Working with Lily was a treat," he says. "I absolutely loved it. She was so welcoming and so funny."
But while he was filming his role in the series, the 21 year old actor was nursing two secret heartaches: the sudden death of his brother earlier this year and the breakdown of his marriage.
His 25 year old brother Mark died in a car accident in January, and in August, Daniel, who has a nine month old daughter, Isobel Autumn, separated from his wife. "It hasn't been a good year. You can only do your best," says Daniel who was married when he was 18.
"But my work has helped me to come through everything," he adds. "The day I heard about my brother's death, I was on stage in London's Huckleberry Finn. I had two shows to do and decided to go ahead and do them. I really think it helped to keep working."
Far from being educated in a Borstal like Lily's son, Daniel, who lives in London with his parents, actually went to public school. "I suppose I had a diverse upbringing," he says. "I was brought up on a council eastate but got a scholarship to go to public school. I hated it so much I left. Because I had a girlfriend at drama school, I went there instead and loved it."
Since then he's notched up appearances in several movies and TV shows, including Prince among Thieves, Ab Fab and The Bill. If he hadn't been an actor Daniel would have concentrated on his second love, martial arts. "I'm a fighter, it helps when you're only 5ft 6in like me!"