By Jeremy Campbell
Clare Thomas and Toby Millis Zivanovich are two local stars who are keeping Rik Mayall in check in his new comedy drama All About George on ITV.
The series, which is about the ups and downs of a family, is set in Buckinghamshire and has used the Bucks Free Press newspaper as a prop in the series, but the association does not end there.
The two actors live in the High Wycombe area, and take on the roles of the children in the family.
Clare, 16, says that living close to where the filming happened gave her an advantage over the rest of the cast.
She says: "There was a lot of filming in Gerrards Cross. It was great, I used to get much more sleep than anyone else. I could roll out of bed and get to work really quickly."
Clare started acting when she was seven years old, when she joined the Jackie Palmer Agency in High Wycombe. She was inspired by school friends who she saw enjoying themselves on stage.
"When I was seven, I saw my friends getting loads of attention and applause when they were acting, and I thought that I would really like to do that. So my friend gave me the number for the Jackie Palmer agency and it all went from there."
Clare plays Katie in All About George. Katie is just coming of age, dealing with the problems typical to any teenager.
She says: "The part was really good. I think Mike Bullen, the writer wanted to make the script realistic. Typically Rik is a comedy actor, but I think he wanted something more like real life, where the character is funny, but in his way of dealing with situations."
As a 16-year-old girl, Clare is just getting into more serious roles, but she has plenty of experience on stage and screen behind her. She played the lead role in Fungus the Bogeyman, alongside Martin Clunes, which showed on BBC1. She has already acted with the RSC, was in a film with Michael Caine, and is currently shooting for the next series of Life Begins. She wants her career to develop from here but understands that the industry can be tough to master.
She says: "At the moment I am being cast in the typical girlfriend role. But I would love to get something a bit more meaty, a person with loads of problems. At this age it's hard to find a role that's too complex as they usually give them to adults. It's a case of waiting it out, and hopefully they will come along."
Toby is nine years old, and plays seven-year-old Ben, Rik Mayall's son in the series. He has been the star of numerous television advertising campaigns since he began acting, and joined the Jackie Palmer Agency when he was just three years old. He is also from the High Wycombe area, so benefitted from living close to where much of the filming took place.
Many of the scenes in the house where Rik Mayall and his family live were filmed in a house in Gerrards Cross. Toby was excited about his first day on set, but it didn't go exactly to plan.
He says: "The first time I went to film for the show was at night and we were in the car. It was with the people who I am in the show with the most, Rik Mayall and my "on-screen" half-sister and half-brother. I had not spoken with them much before I got on set, and it took a long time before we got it right, because me and Rik were speaking all the way through. It went awfully wrong, but we got it right in the end."
All About George, ITV, Thursdays at 9pm