Burnside Special
UK, July 2000

by Pam Francis

His look is pure menace. You don't mess with top cop Burnside - on or off duty. For Christopher Ellison confesses that even at home he's got Mr Mean down to a fine art in more ways than one.

'I'm loud, volatile and moody.'

While mean and moody is no guarantee of magnificence, it's a surefire way of pulling in the punters when it comes to TV audiences. Just look at The Bill's Det Insp Frank Burnside, the man who made wheeler-dealing an art from long before CID colleague Don Beech took up the dodgy geezer gauntlet.

So popular was Burnside that he's now been given his own spin-off six-part ITV series called, you've guessed it Burnside. He'll be seen investigating the murky world of gang warfare and serial killers as a member of the National Crime Squad.

And no one is more surprised at being given the series than Christopher Ellison, the actor who brings the curmudgeonly copper so convincingly to life. 'I thought he was over and finished with. I didn't expect to be playing him again,' he says. 'But I'm very happy that I am.'

We can expect to see a darker side to Burnside, who's flanked by two new sidekicks, feisty Scottish brunette Det Con Sam Philips (Zoe Eeles) and a black gay officer Det Sgt Dave Summers (Justin Pierre). But TV bosses reckon his menacing character will still be a ratings hit. So just what is Burnside's appeal?

'I have NO idea!' laughs Christopher, 53. 'I guess that although he's a policeman, he also has a side to him that's slightly villainous. I think people enjoy that.'

One person who knows all about Christopher's darker side is his long-suffering wife Anita. They've been married almost 21 years and have two children, Louis, 18, and 10-year-old Francesca. Christopher proposed to the former singer four days after their first date.

'I can't imagine myself with anybody but Anita because I don't think they'd put up with me for one minute,' he says. 'I'm loud and volatile and moody. We haven't had the perfect marriage. It's been hanging by a thread sometimes, but we've stayed together because we've always been great friends.'

It's obvious that family is very important to Christopher. But he admits he let work get in the way of his home life until the death of a close friend.

This happened after he left The Bill and, despite being exhausted by five years of constant Sun Hill storylines, went straight into starring in his own series Ellington, which saw him playing a sports promoters. Christopher collapsed. Luckily, the series' director and close friend, Gordon Flemyng, made him take things easy. But just before the seres was screened, Gordon died of a heart attack.

'I'd said goodbye to him on the Tuesday night and came into work on the Wednesday to be told he'd died,' says Christopher. 'I was shattered. don't think anybody ever knew the effect it had on me.'

The tragedy made him think about his own life and he now spends as little time as possible away from his family and their home near Brighton. 'I always want to rush back,' he says. 'I hate hotels. I like the nest.'

He still works hard - filming Burnside involves 13-hour days. 'The difference is on this four-month shoot, there's light at the end of the tunnel,' he says.

It helps having his daughter on set. While Louis - who played a kidnap victim on The Bill when he was seven - has since shown no signs of wanting to follow in his father's footsteps, Francesca's far keener. She chats to him between takes and genrally manages to keep her dad's stress levels down.

And what else does he do to unwind? Boxing? A game of rugby, perhaps? No, it's er... painting. Christopher went to art school before he got into acting and still enjoys dabbling - hardly what we'd expect of Burnside.

'I can't knock him because he pays the bills,' smiles Christopher. 'I suppose I have to look at him as my mate. And I'll be happy to go on playing him forever.'

© 2000

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