The Inside Interview

With Ricky Groves

Garry Hobbs’ cheeky charm has won him many a one-night stand since her arrived in Walford last September, but few sane women would touch him with a bargepole.  Knowing what  Garry’s long suffering fiancée, Lynne Slater, seems reluctant to admit- that Garry is as likely to stay faithful as Phil Mitchell is of becoming a born again Christian- most of us would run a mile.

So, it is a relief to discover that the only similarity Ricky Groves seems to share with Garry is a chirpy nature and a real cockney accent.

For while Garry would probably kill for the soap-star life, 33-year old Ricky shuns the limelight, preferring to spend his time golfing, writing or relaxing with his real life girlfriend- and Eastenders co-star- Hannah Waterman (Laura Beale).

“The biggest thing me and Garry have in common is our upbeat nature,” reveals Ricky, as he chats at the Eastenders studios in Borehamwood, Herts.  “I’ve usually got a spring in my step, and I can be a bit immature like Garry.  However, I’m in a settled relationship now- unlike him- but I probably went through a Garry stage a few years back.”

Despite the fact that Walthamstow –born Ricky only joined the Eastenders cast 12 months ago, its hard to remember a time when Garry wasn’t busy strutting around the square, chatting up anything in a skirt and stirring up trouble with those feisty Slater sisters.

“When the producers were casting the Slater family, they held a series of workshops, so they had to whittle down about 300 actresses to find the four sisters,” explains Ricky.  “But they cast Garry through normal auditions, and I think there was someone in line for it before I came along, but luckily for me he wasn’t quite right.  I turned up on the day and did something at the audition which made Tony Jordan (Eastenders storyline consultant) put his hand straight up in the air and say, ‘that’s it.  We’ve got him!’”

The life of an actor is a notoriously unstable one, and as Ricky recalls, after only a week at Eastenders, he feared his soap career might be over before it had begun.

“On the dressing room doors at the studios, each actor has a brass plaque with their name on, which is attached by a little screw in each corner,” explains Ricky.  “One day, about a week after I started filming, I was sitting in my room when I heard this scratching noise, and when I opened the door, I found a maintenance man behind it busy unscrewing my plaque!  It turned out that when Mike Reid (Frank Butcher) left, he’d taken his plaque, and its screws with him, so when John Altman (Nick Cotton) rejoined and moved into Mike’s old dressing room, they needed to nab a screw off four of the other doors so that they could put his name up.  But it was pretty scary at the time- I thought, ‘oh well, that’s my career over then.’”

Joining a high profile soap like Eastenders is a life changing experience for any actor, but it was especially emotional for Ricky, as it was his first Major role since stepping out of drama school 18 months earlier.  In fact, until the age of 29, he’d worked as a professional chef, and his acting experience had been limited to amateur dramatics.

“I’d worked in kitchens since the age of 14, when I had a part time job washing up at a local hotel.  I moved on from that to Kitchen porter, and when I left school and they offered me an apprenticeship, I took it.  I liked the atmosphere in the kitchen, the banter between the chefs and the waiters- so I went on a day release scheme to learn the trade properly.”

“There was a high level of intensity in Raymond Blanc’s kitchen that didn’t suit me very well,” he remembers.  “So I fell out of love with the business slightly because of that, and went into contract catering for companies like ICI and Glaxo Wellcome.  It was around that time that I started doing a lot of amateur dramatics, which I really enjoyed, and found I was needing to take more and more time off to do productions.  It got to the point where I was appearing in one play, rehearsing for another, and reading for another at the same time!  It was then that I realised I would have to make a choice between catering and acting.  So I gave up being a chef and went to drama school instead.”

Ricky new that his career change would mean starting at the bottom, but loved the challenge.

“I went from earning quite a lot of money to barely scraping by, which is quite a humbling experience.  But I kept focusing on my goals and when I left drama school I was fortunate that that there was a lot of London based writing around, which was perfect for me.”

Ricky cut his TV teeth with small roles in series including Burnside, London’s Burning and Chambers, before landing the part of Garry in Eastenders.

“I’d always had a fascination with the show, because it was so ground-breaking when it launched, and I still think it’s got a real edge,” says Ricky.  “Some people say it’s not like real life, but I think if it reflected reality too much it would be boring!  But in terms of the characters, everyone can relate to them.”

And Ricky believes that includes Garry, as well as the women like Lynne, who are mad enough to date him.

“Most girls probably think ‘I’d never go out with anyone like Garry,’ but they don’t realise that they actually are, because there is a little bit of Garry in most blokes.  It’s like having fillet steak indoors, but still wanting to nip out for a burger!”

While the womanizing mechanic’s behaviour borders on heartless, viewers seem to love Lynne and Garry’s ‘will they, won’t they?” relationship.

“When we were filming in Brighton, hundreds of people turned up.  The lads were all going ‘don’t marry her Garry’ whereas the women were asking ‘When are you marrying that nice girl?’  I’ve still got the public support!

Looking to the future, does Ricky believe that commitment shy Garry should walk down the aisle with home loving Lynne?

“He certainly didn’t propose for the right reasons,” ponders the actor.  “Garry was dumped by his first girlfriend, Theresa, and it obviously knocked his confidence.  When he went to Brighton and met up with her again, he wanted to win her back, but he couldn’t.  Then, when Lynne went to dump him he proposed, just because he couldn’t bear to be on his own.  He’s still got a roving eye, but he also wants someone to cook him egg and chips.  To be honest I don’t know what’s going to happen to Garry and Lynne, but I’m sure the writes have a sting in the tail for them!”

Whatever the future holds fort he character, Ricky is happy to remain in Albert Square for the foreseeable future.  And despite his success in Eastenders, the actor has kept his feet firmly on the ground.

“I sometimes get jealous remarks when I’m out, so I’m a bit reclusive,” he sighs.  “It’s silly because I don’t think I’m better than anyone else.  I’ve made Borehamwood, but I’m not ready for Hollywood yet!”