Under The Thick Skin Of Archer

James Rampton talks to Damian Lewis about his hilarious TV send-up of disgraced Tory peer.

by James Rampton, Sunday Express, December 1, 2002

Damian Lewis has only met Jeffrey Archer once, but it was an encounter that the young actor never forgot. "I was 17 and he came to see a school play I was in," Lewis recalls. "I played Wackford Squeers in a production of Nicholas Nickleby, and after the show Jeffrey grandly beckoned me towards him. 'When you're a professional actor,' he declaimed, 'I'd like seats in the front row of your first night in the West End.'

"Although he was very charming, he was also rather unctuous. It felt a bit like being summoned for an audience with the Queen. I thought: 'Come on, you're only Jeffrey Archer.'"

Now, in a bizarre turn of events, the peer will be able to enjoy another of Lewis's performances -- this time as Jeffrey Archer. The actor takes the title role in an uproarious new film entitled Jeffrey Archer: The Truth, which goes out on BBC 1 tonight.

"I'm going to send him a tape of the film with a note saying, 'Sorry I didn't invite you to my first night in the West End, Jeffrey. But to make up for it, here's me playing you.'"

The film, a fantasy about a fantasist, has a delicious premise. Set in 2009, it shows Archer dictating his life-story as he remembers it to an adoring young female biographer. Hitherto, he has been too modest to reveal his key role in many world-changing events over the past four decades, but now he wants to set the record straight. The whole piece is an extended in-joke about what Mary Archer called Jeffrey's gift for "inaccurate precis."

Guy Jenkin, the writer-director and the man responsible for Drop The Dead Donkey, sums up the film thus: "The story is based on real events -- only the facts have been changed."

So, in this hilarious Alice Through The Looking Glass world, Archer is seen discovering the Beatles, inventing break-dancing and the mobile phone, and being consulted by the Pope on key theological issues.

Later, we watch in admiration as this Jeffrey bravely heads the SAS unit that frees the hostages from the Iranian Embassy, urges a wavering Mrs. Thatcher to dispatch the Task Force to the Falklands, and manages England to a 9-0 victory over Germany in the 2006 World Cup Final.

More controversially, we see the Jeffrey of this film seducing a besotted Mrs. Thatcher (played with great gusto by Greta Scacchi). Princess Diana is also smitten, while Tony Blair follows this Jeffrey around like a lovesick poodle.

Lewis, who throws the kitchen sink at this role, explains that in the film: "Jeffrey remembers himself as a debonair James bond figure. If anything untoward happens to him, he is merely a victim of circumstances, it's never his fault."

Like the lantern-jawed protagonist of one of Archer's novels, this Jeffrey is a Boys' Own hero who declares proudly: "I'm the last romantic in a world turned cynical and sour."

The 31-year-old actor, who has made his name in such dramas as Band Of Brothers, The Forsyte Saga and Warriors, reckons that people are simply transfixed by the invincible chutzpah of the peer, who is serving a four-year sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

"When this film was announced, one of his representatives phoned up and said: 'Wouldn't you prefer to film The Accused [Archer's play] with Jeffrey starring in it?' That sums him up. Just the other day, he apparently got lost on his way back to prison so he had to flag down a police car and ask for directions. It's so typical of a man who has this unerring knack for self-publicity."

The film looks set to make a big splash tonight. It has already garnered plenty of news coverage. "We've had an unprecedented number of requests for publicity photos and interviews," says Lewis. "People are preoccupied with Jeffrey and find whatever he does fascinating. It will be intriguing to see what he does next. I wouldn't put it past him to be mayor of London within the next five years. That's quite a scary thought."

So if it does prove a hit, could the BBC spin Jeffrey Archer: The Truth into a long-running series? Lewis hesitates: "I'm not sure the public could stomach a whole series about Jeffrey."

Finally, the actor speculates about what Archer himself might make of this film. "The problem with Jeffrey is that I suspect his irony levels are quite low," Lewis chuckles. "So he may look at this and say, 'What a wonderful film!'"

Jeffrey Archer: The Truth is on BBC 1 at 9 pm tonight.

Caption: Larger than life: Damian Lewis plays the title role in Jeffrey Archer: The Truth, a humorous dig at the jailed peer's inflated ego.

Caption: Plausible: Lewis as Archer.