Chris Routh, who stars as Shaun in this "Made for Schools only " project for drug awareness purposes, was a year above me at Shirecliffe College in Sheffield. I, along with a few College drama students and youth theatre mates went along to the national auditions for this at the Crucicble Theatre. It was the first time that I'd auditioned and Chris was there, we didn't really speak much at college but we knew who each other was. Chris was excellent at the audition and to no surprise was chosen from an astonishing amount of youngsters in the north of England. I finally watched this on youtube a couple of years ago and looking at the reason it was made was very evident, Chris who has been interviewed about this recently has gone on record to say that some of the scenes looked a bit rushed, which is probably the case, anything funded for educational purposes back then and to an extend now, but more so then, had to be completed in an amazing amount of time. However it is still watchable and very purposeful in it's delivery. Perhaps the subject matter is hammered home slightly, but that is a mere quibble as to what was at the time, a very successful series. Chris comes across very relaxed and natural and gives no hint about this being his first TV professional job. He was the talk of the town at the time and it's a shame that this was never broadcast as it was generally made for schools only. It's worth watching for the great Dennis Waterman, George Cole, Glynn Edwards, Elaine Lordan who tell the story of "Shaun" with professional and positive manner connected to their characters. It's also worth watching for all those young hopefuls out there that sometimes it is NOT who you know, it CAN sometimes be WHAT you know, I can vouch for that, Chris was from a very humble and honest background with NO connections in the industry whatsoever, he was picked because he was very focused, professional and positive in his audition and in his portrayal.
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