In June 2008 the school was contacted by Tim Quin, media specialist and publicist. He outlined his vision, inspired by his friend Enid Blyton's daughter Gillian, to involve school students in celebrity interviews to provide a fresh and honest view of people in the media glare.

His series, aptly named 'Class Acts' is being run in the magazine 'Country Border Life'.

This was a fantastic opportunity for our students and Kirsty Whittall and Callum Edwards (Year 10) travelled to London to interview Matthew Wolfenden, currently playing David Metcalffe in the Soap Emmerdale. They had to research the Star's life to date and write their own questions for the interview guided by Tim Quin.

Following the interview and photo shoot Kirsty and Callum had to use the transcript and their impressions of the celebrity to write an article for the magazine. This is due for publication in Nov/Dec 08.

Tim Quin described the article as professional and praised the work of the school.



You can see more photos of the interview in the gallery here.


Kirsty and Callum's article is printed below:-

AWAY FROM THE YORKSHIRE DALES

Away from the Yorkshire Dales – Our meeting with Matthew Wolfenden, better known these days as the new Cassanova of Emmerdale, could not be separated from the excitement of travelling down to London from Ysgol Rhiwabon, our school in North Wales, to the excitement of city life and theatre land in London. We travelled across the city using the tubes and on foot: for Kirsty this proved to be her first visit to London. As we stood on Waterloo Bridge and discussed our forthcoming interview the anticipation of meeting Matthew Wolfenden mixed with first views of an iconic landscape: the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye. Emmerdale, with its rolling landscape similar to the mountains of our locality, seemed a world away but the actor was not. We had a 5 o’ clock meeting with him at the Saddler’s Wells theatre! A quick run through of our questions and running order in an intimate café in Covent Garden and we were ready for our interview.

In preparation for the day we had read previous interviews with Matthew and researched as much as possible. As intrepid interviewers we were keen to find the real man behind the handsome Emmerdale newcomer. Armed with a range of questions to tease out the real Matthew our feeling of excitement was replaced with nerves as we walked ever closer to the theatre where we had arranged to meet the actor.

As we entered the relatively small café area of the Saddler’s Wells Theatre, it was empty except for two people on separate tables enjoying the peace and quiet. We thought we recognised a handsome, cheeky face half hidden by a large woollen hat and whispered to each other about his identity. It was Matthew about to enjoy a sandwich – chicken tikka by the way and a cold beer. We were early but were immediately greeted like familiar friends and put at our ease. Our early arrival could easily have meant we had to wait for Matthew to finish his late lunch, but instead we were met with a grin and a sense of fun which lasted throughout our interview.

QUICK MAKEOVER – It wasn’t just us keen to look our best for the interview (if you can in a school uniform). Matthew made a quick exit to remove his hat and returned with tousled hair, and relaxed attitude ready for our grilling. The sandwich was pushed to one side though not the beer and we sat round a café table not dissimilar to our school canteen. This seemed to make the interview feel like a familiar meeting with an old school friend not a celebrity.

Avoiding obvious Emmerdale questions at first, and curious about Matthew’s past, we thought a good place to start would be with Matthew’s school days. “You know I’ve never been asked about what I was like at school before in an interview. I was always quite shy. I was a gymnast from the age of six, spending most of my time in the gym away from people.” In fact by the time Matthew was sixteen he was in the British gymnast team and aiming for the Olympics. A serious accident during training brought an abrupt end to such aspirations and led to a couple of years without clear direction.

Despite Matthew’s relaxed attitude he is clearly a man who thrives on new challenges and following his accident, on his dad’s advice, he auditioned for a place at the School Of Contemporary Dance in Leeds which led after three years training to a dancing role in Romeo and Juliet in the West End. Matthew trained in classical ballet not musical theatre which is a completely different genre. This opportunity he describes as great combining acrobatics and the ability to break-dance He described to us his first breakthrough in the role of Tybalt. “I remember the first time I went on in the part. Tybalt had this big song and I was absolutely terrified. I stood in the wings of Piccadilly Theatre, looking out at nearly two thousand people thinking, oh God!” The gymnast turned West End actor need not have worried as he continued to somersault through life straight from the stages of the West End through the open doors of….The Woolpack.

SOAPLAND – We felt that at least some of the interview should focus on Matthew’s relatively new role as Eric Pollard’s long lost son in the ever popular soap Emmerdale. When asked about his original audition for the part of Eli Dingle, Matthew reacts in a characteristically fun way raising a mock fist to Callum for reminding him of this. Losing out to Joseph Gilgun, his agent phoned back to offer him the part of David Metcalfe the new heart throb in the village. We can’t help thinking at this point that fate plays a serious hand in Matthew’s career and this is linked to his determination to succeed his way. For this reason he explained to us how he made subtle shifts in the way David was originally intended to be played so that now he is a loveable rogue who remains likeable. “A bit of a bumbling fool who’s always on the lookout for a quick buck. How I play him now is much more fun.” He describes his character David as similar to his on screen father Eric Pollard. This father son relationship on the soap is certainly developing into an interesting element of the drama.

It is clear to us that this role has been a dramatic turning point for Matthew. “Overnight it happens ……suddenly you have no anonymity”. In a world of camera phones Matthew talks about no longer being able to walk around supermarkets or shopping centres without mobile phones pointed in his direction – our teacher is busy snapping away in the background!! This overnight fame has been more noticeable in the North where Emmerdale is huge he explains. In London he is still able to gain some privacy.

He gives us some interesting insights into the world of soaps - the gruelling thirteen hour day followed by learning the script for the next day; bizarre storylines which include murder plots involving poisoned cheesecake; real beer in the Woolpack which can be dangerous after several takes of the same scene! Through all these fun tales shines an enthusiasm for the job. “I still can’t believe I get up every morning and do what I do. It’s so much fun. It’s the most brilliant, daft job in the world and I get paid to do it.” He doesn’t give us the opinion that he takes this for granted though and tell us that before performing, especially on live stage, he crosses his left hand and touches wood five times.

FROM SOAPSTAR TO SUPERSTAR. Matthew describes his appearance on Soapstar superstar last year as the most nerve wracking thing he has ever done in his life. We suggested that Matthew would be an ideal candidate for Dancing on Ice. He was recently approached about the possibility but turned it down because of a general dislike of reality shows and because he feared for his life on the ice. We thought it would be an attractive proposition following on from his flamboyant outfits on Soapstar Superstar. This led us on well to a question of fashion sense. “I don’t have a style. I used to be in to designer stuff when I was younger but not any more. On the way here I’ve been looking at clothes in a charity shop. You can get some good things in a charity shop”. This down to earth attitude is apparent in the way he talks about his life in general, his family and new home in Leeds. As we talk to him the topic of conversation ranges across a range of interests, challenges and his successful career to date.

Back to the topic of clothes we couldn’t resist asking about the lack of them in his recent pose for the Cosmopolitan Magazine. With mock shock Matthew asked us how we knew about this. At first he explained that he turned the nude pose down until he found out what it was for “ I said no way! Definitely not! But the agent then explained that it was for the Everyman testicular cancer campaign. They get a male person to pose naked to promote this every month. Some great names have done it so it was quite an honour to be asked. It was scary though.”(When we asked if Matthew would consider a similar pose for our school magazine he jokingly whipped his t-shirt off saying, “let’s do it!”)

Despite the temptation we moved on to some quick fire questions. Matthew’s favourite holiday destination so far is named as Las Vegas to suit a person who admits to liking constant action, “I always get a bit agitated and fidgety if I’m doing nothing” Matthew enjoys reading and has Russell Brand’s autobiography beckoning in between Emmerdale scripts. Chris Chattell, who plays Eric Pollard, has encouraged Matthew to join his running team to raise money for leukaemia research. He is also patron for the society Speak-Up for adults with learning difficulties which was set up by his god parents. If he could be God for just one minute? He ponders, laughs and admits that he should answer with an impressive philosophical response. His answer seems fair enough – buy a round for everyone in the world! Can the Woolpack cope with this generosity of spirit?

The interview ended with a more formal photo shoot against the backdrop of a bright café wall. Even our teacher entered the fun, to cause some jealousy in the staffroom we think.
Matthew thanked us for questions which he described as both different and great. Whether they were or not he certainly left us feeling great. His natural charm and friendly manner meant we walked away from the theatre feeling a million feet tall. We think we will hear more of Matthew Wolfenden in the future, with little need for him to touch wood five times!