Why I Like Jeff Archer

Damian Lewis won the role of Jeffrey Archer, a man who has been revealed as a cheating adulterous perjurer -- and ended up rather admiring him.

by Paul English, Daily Record, November 30, 2002

Criminals are not the most hallowed members of society but, says Damian Lewis, prisoner FF8282 at Belmarsh Prison is just the sort of character we need more of in Britain.

Jeffrey Archer may have been a lying, cheating adulterer who conned the legal establishment and wound up in the slammer for his deception. But Damian Lewis -- the man who plays Britain's most notorious perjurer in a new comedy drama -- reckons he's not all bad.

"The romantic in me always likes a maverick, and Jeffrey Archer is a maverick," says the 31-year-old, who takes on his first comedy role as the disgraced peer in Archer: The Truth this week.

"He's got enormous balls. He's either mad or just brilliant. I really enjoy someone like him who can buck the system, but that's probably just a romantic idea."

Archer may be a criminal but his crimes are not as heinous as those of Ian Brady, Peter Sutcliffe or Rose West. Yet take a straw poll on the most hated inhabitant in Britain's prisons and you can rest assured Jeffrey Archer -- a low-risk category C inmate -- makes it into the top 10 every time, alongside child killers, rapists and torturers.

His previous incarnation as a politician with an eye for the ladies and a winning smile made him big news long before he was sent down.

The former Tory party deputy chairman won a libel trial against the Daily Star in 1987. The paper alleged he had slept with prostitute Monica Coghlan, which Archer denied. His privileged position and brazen opportunism meant he wouldn't be brought to justice for another 14 years.

Archer, also the author of 12 best-selling novels, was subsequently at the centre of claims which stated he used fake diaries to win the 1987 trial. His past came back to haunt him in 2001 when he was jailed for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

He lied his way to a £500,000 damages award from the Daily Star. So it's a bit odd to hear someone who voted Labour at the last General Election bemoan the lack of Archer-esque mavericks in politics today.

"Characters like Jeffrey Archer are welcome anywhere," he says. "We want characters to be personalities, we want them to have conviction and the power of persuasion.

"You need people like that in politics as well as the pragmatists."

With that in mind, and looking at the state of the Tory party today, maybe Iain Duncan Smith would fare better if they had someone with the guile of Archer on board?

"Well, they could certainly do with a couple of characters," says Damian. "Playing the quiet man is all very well, but it doesn't sway public opinion.

"The Tories have huge problems with finding policies they agree on. But then again, Jeffrey Archer played an integral part in the Tory's demise, with the sleaze allegations."

So maybe not a good choice for leader of the blues then?

"I think he'd, erm..." says Damian before tailing off, laughing at whatever he was about to say. "I'm tempted to say ... no,
I can't. Just watch the programme."

Maybe it was something legally dubious, in keeping with his new role.

After all, Damian has grown so familiar with Jeffrey Archer's character he now refers to him as "Jeff".

Archer: The Truth has been described as "more Naked Gun than Jonathan Swift", so is it a straightforward laugh-a-minute Spitting Image-style political satire?

"Not really. It's Jeff's life remembered by him," says Damian. "So it's more of a fantasy retrospective.

"I must stress that there's a lot of artistic license taken with his life -- and anything in any way funny has been seized on. There was some dubious stuff in the original script -- mostly about Mary Archer -- which has been taken out.

"The big in-joke all the way through is that Jeffrey is a humble victim of circumstance.

"It's as if he's the kind of guy who gets caught up in one or two shady things but, by and large, is always trying to do the best thing possible."

The laugh a minute comedy portrays Maggie Thatcher (Greta Scacchi) as a sex-mad flirt, throwing her undies at Archer.

Archer is portrayed as being of central importance to every major event of the last 30 years.

He sets Diana up with Dodi, rescues Lady Thatcher from the Brighton bomb, advises the Pope and replaces Tony Blair as PM.

With Spitting Image gone, and Angus Deayton creating headlines rather than raising an eyebrow at politicians, there's not much political piss-taking on the box.

Damian reckons he knows why. "Politicians have become parodies of themselves, so it has become harder for them to become satirised because all that they do is made public so quickly," he says.

Much like actors, really. Damian has split with his news producer girlfriend Katie Razzall, and is single, living in a London bachelor pad.

After starring roles in Steven Spielberg's Band Of Brothers as Major Richard Winters, and The Forsyte Saga, in which he played the despicable Soames, he has become a well-kent face.

But he wasn't around to witness his stock rising. "I was filming a movie called Dreamcatcher in Canada after The Forsyte Saga, and my mates were sending me copies of articles I was popping up in.

"It was hysterical. People were including me in lists of the UK's best known red-heads and stuff."

And men's style mag GQ last year voted him 31st in a poll of the UK's sharpest dressed men.

"I've no idea who was 30 or 32," he says. "I've no idea what makes me sharp. They obviously haven't seen me in the morning."

GQ awards aside, Damian is very well thought of.

He was nominated for a best actor Golden Globe this year for his part in Band Of Brothers. He didn't win, but the series collected a coveted Best Mini-series gong at the prestigious US awards.

"Things got very sexy then," he says. "But don't get me started on the decision to run it on BBC2 -- ridiculous."

Damian will capitalise on his popularity with Dreamcatcher, starring Donnie Wahlberg and Morgan Freeman, about a group of pals who encounter evil forces after going to a hunting lodge for the weekend.

After Band Of Brothers, he turned down a part in Black Hawk Down, a decision he is happy about because "there was a lot of running around in uniform in the searing heat of Morocco".

He is finishing the second series of The Forsyte Saga, in which he has been aged to look 60 and is preparing to send his old mate "Jeff" a tape of his performance.

"I met him years ago when I performed alongside his son James in an Eton production of Nicholas Nickleby," he says. "Afterwards he said: `Very good. When you get to the West End I want seats in the front row for your first night.'

"That never happened, so I'll have to send him a video instead. I'll have to get the prison to give him a VCR for the night."

"I think he'll have quite a good sense of humour about himself. Although maybe it's run out since he has been in jail."

Jeffrey Archer: The Truth, BBC1, Sunday, 9.00pm & 10.15pm