Britains got Talent?

Watching Britains got talent and seeing 10 year old Holly crack up transported me back to when I was around 8 years old. Between 1967 and 1970, I was a successful child actor/model, appearing in numerous adverts. One of these, for Heinz beans won an award and others such as for Cadburys chocolate, Galaxy Chocolate, Tizer etc saw my face on ITV every night. I stopped acting in 1970, when my mum was diagnosed with stomach cancer and she had bigger fish to fry than my acting career.

Watching Holly crack up, vividly reminded me of the scenes we'd see during casting auditions. I'd turn up to be greeted by a room full of children with parents/chaperones. Generally the best parts for the biggest products, such as Heinz and Cadbury's were competetive. I'd walk in and eye up the competition. There were regulars, familiar faces. Rather like Alex Ferguson awaiting the draw for the Champions League, I'd know who the real competition were and what my chances were. About 50% were products of stage schools. Then there were a few first time hopefuls and the non stage school regulars such as me. As with Alex Ferguson, there were faces that, should they show up, you knew you were in for a proper game. Of all of these, the only one I really worried about was a boy called Darren Scott. Of all of the auditions I went to, either myself or Darren got picked on all but one occasion. That particular time, one of the last auditions, as my mum was ill, my brother Frank took me to. Upon seeing Darren Scott, I decided to take a novel approach to winning the part. I thumped him and gave him a black eye. Unfortunately the plan backfired and we were both ejected.

The thing that brought this back to me was the way Holly cracked up. One sight that probably happened at every audition was a pushy mum with a boy who clearly wasn't up to the job. To sit in front of a group of adults, be told what to do, get it right first time and look happy and at ease whilst doing it, well enough to impress a panel of hardened professionals is difficult at any time. When you are 8 and you don't want to do it is even harder. Often mums had spent large sums of money having a professional photo portfolio put together. The pressure was intense. Being dyslexic and useless at school, for me it was a welcome relief to be good at something. I've always been gifted with boundless self confidence. Unfortunately many of the kids were nervous wrecks by the time they went in. Many of the boys, especially the younger ones would crack. You'd see them being dragged out by the arm, pushy mum berating them. Hardened old timers such as myself and Darren Scott would smirk. The best time to go for your audition was straight after one of these breakdowns. In we'd bowl, smiling, confident, happy. After the audition, you'd look over to those you perceived as the real competition & smile confidently.

Sometimes we'd hear the mums pleading with the casting team for another chance. Sometimes the mums would have to be almost dragged out pleading. The point is that all of this went on behind closed doors. Apart from a few kids and a few mums, once poor little Johnny was home it could all be forgotten. The parental pleading was part of the job for the team. Once you'd worked with a director a couple of times, they'd sometimes just ask for you straight away. Those that cracked were generally not seen again.

The things that struck me about Holly's outburst were firstly how unfair it was on all of those kids who hadn't cracked. She'd failed, yet she got a huge sympathy vote. In any other casting, that wouldn't happen. In a private audition, Simon Cowell would have shown Holly the dorr straight away.

Secondly I thought how unfair it was to expose a child to such pressure. It was bad enough doing it in front of a few adults. On live national TV, it is immeasurably more stressful. At some point in the future, Holly will have to deal with teasing of her classmates. How will she cope? Maybe she'll do well. I just think of former child star, Lena Zavaroni. She died at 35, unable to cope. When I was 8, the actor I most wanted to emulate was Jack Wild. He was the star of Oliver! He died in 2006 of alcohol related problems. The stresses of early fame are not always easy to deal with. I adopted a very simple approach with my classmates at St Vincents. I never discussed it. The school forbade me from appearing in school plays etc, as they felt other kids should get an opportunity. I felt this was highly unfair at the time, but probably helped keep me grounded. It certainly meant that there was no resentment that I was aware of.

The entertainment industry is a brutal machine. The very last consideration made when providing 3 minutes of entertainment on a Friday night is the wellbeing of the child. For me the experience was a great one. I wouldn't deny any child that, but I had a caring family, 5 elder sibling and a great home life. I wasn't allowed to get big headed or arrogant, as I'd get slapped back down immediately.

I'd suggest that in fairness to the kids involved, that anyone under 16 should be filmed beforehand. If a child cracks up, then don't show the footage. A simple statement that "***** had to withdraw" would suffice. I'd also use child protection laws to prevent papers exposing what happened. There is no public benefit to seeing or knowing that a 10 year old child has cracked up.