Nicholls admits reckless boozy phase

NICHOLLS ADMIT RECKLESS
BOOZY PHASE

Release Date:

February 3, 2003

Press Release:

MRIB

Actor PAUL NICHOLLS in a somber scene from the Intermedia/Outlaw/Love Spell motion picture, 'IF ONLY"

Whoever said there's no such thing as life after soap should eat their copies of Inside Soap. Just look at ex-EastEnders heart-throb, Paul Nicholls - he's certainly proving that there are exceptions to the rule.

Not only has he taken the West End stage by storm in plays such as Long Day's Journey Into Night, alongside Jessica Lange and Charles Dance, he's also appeared in several of films like The Clandestine Marriage and Goodbye Charlie Bright.

Top stuff, indeed! The likes of Paul J Medford (who played Kelvin in the soap) or Linda Davidson (punk Mary) certainly haven't enjoyed this level of success since they jumped on a No. 15 bus at the end of Bridge Street all those years ago.

But Paul, who played Mad Joe in the series, could quite easily have followed suit, for after quitting the role five years ago, he lost himself in a whirlwind of booze!

"I just crashed out," he told Now magazine. "I'd been working non-stop and decided to take three months off and all I did was party. I went out loads, drinking and messing around and by the end of that year I was mentally and physically exhausted. Let everyone down who believed in me, through sheer madness. My poor agent had to put up with a lot of shit from me, such as not turning up for auditions and being unmanageable. And although all sorts of people were giving me well-intentioned advice, I chose to ignore them."

Luckily, Paul has now put his reckless phase behind him and has just finished shooting a film called If Only with Hollywood babe Jennifer Love Hewitt. While this could be his big Hollywood break, he admits that he's not that bothered if stardom in tinseltown will follow.

"It's a case of one thing at a time," he said. "It's hard enough here. So why go to a place where there are thousands more actors out of work?"