...study Bernard Manning!

When Timothy Spall was called on to play a foul-mouthed, immoral and arrogant character, he knew where to get inspiration. Bernard Manning.

The actor prepared for his role as vacuum cleaner salesman Tommy Rag in the BBC2 film Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise, directed by Danny Boyle, by renting videos of Manning's performance.

"I got some very funny looks in the video shop," he said. "The tapes were only about 6p to rent - nobody else wants them.

"But even though his politics are reprehensible, Bernard Manning is funny.

"There's always a sense that he's shouting from the inside. He's a real life force - no apologies, take no prisoners.

"He's got his critics, but he's got an answer for them: 'F*** off'. That's Tommy's answer to the world. He doesn't care, not for one moment."

Spall added that Tommy's diatribes are "full of bitterness and bad language, but also a kind of ferocious beauty. he's a visceral bastard who speaks in a very elegant, uncompromising way."

Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise is on BBC2 at 10pm on September 30.

Published: 20 Sep 2001