Worzel Gummidge goes woke with The Office star Mackenzie Crook

Actor Mackenzie Crook has made a career out of doing precisely the opposite of what is expected of him.

Shy and introverted, he opted to become a stand-up comedian – one of the most brutal careers going. Then, 20 years ago, after just about ‘making ends meet’ on the late-night circuit, he auditioned for a part in an unknown mockumentary called The Office, written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The part called for a ‘big, heavy-set thug type’ to play the self-important Territorial Army obsessive, Gareth Keenan.

Mackenzie Crook as Worzel Gummidge. Crook has become a quiet storm, not just as an actor but as a writer and director

The rake-thin Crook, 48, says: ‘So I thought, why not go for it? It was a brilliant script and I could see exactly how I could do it. It came down to me and a big guy who fitted the description but they finally went with me. I think they thought it would be funnier if someone like me played it.’

It was the part that changed his life. Since the first screening of the iconic comedy in 2001, Crook has become a quiet storm, not just as an actor but as a writer and director. He has starred in three Pirates Of The Caribbean films, played the wildling Orell in Game Of Thrones, and won two Baftas for Detectorists, which he wrote, directed and starred in. He appeared in the hit play Jerusalem and was then asked by its writer, Jez Butterworth, to star in Sky’s historical fantasy drama Britannia. Now he has tackled one of the BBC’s most ambitious projects: writing, directing and starring in a new version of Barbara Euphan Todd’s children’s classic, Worzel Gummidge.

For Crook, who could be making a fortune in Hollywood, this latest project about a talking scarecrow in the English countryside means everything. He has already turned down million-pound pay cheques because it is his mission to make us think about nature and the environment. So rather than take up the offer of a fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean film he instead wrote a gentle comedy about two men obsessed with metal-detecting in rural idylls.

‘I can’t imagine what they would have thought about this Brit actor saying no,’ he says, ‘but I didn’t think about that. Detectorists was a passion project of mine and I wanted to spend my time on that.’

On paper it’s amazing the show even got commissioned, but on screen it was a massive hit, running for three series from 2014-17 before Crook decided to pull the plug.

‘I’m not doing any more,’ he says firmly. ‘I think you have to leave something at its peak and move on.’ He also scotches any idea of a revival for The Office, which ended in 2003. ‘I haven’t spoken to Ricky or Steve for ages,’ he says with transparent honesty. ‘Everyone from that show has just gone on to do big things – wonderful, isn’t it?’

Vicki Pepperdine as Aunt Sally

Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs as Worzel and Aunt Sally in the original 1979 television series

Vicki Pepperdine as Aunt Sally (left); Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs as Worzel and Aunt Sally in the original 1979 television series (right)

Today his mind is firmly on Worzel Gummidge. And his is a very woke Worzel, focusing on climate change and the problems it causes farmers, all filtered through comedic stories about the talking scarecrow, two children – John and Susan – and his not-so-merry band of scarecrow friends and relatives, including the snooty fairground doll, Aunt Sally, played by Vicki Pepperdine.

Crook made a point of not watching the 1979 series with Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs. ‘I never saw it as a kid and I didn’t want to sit and watch it before working on this,’ he says, ‘because I had a very clear idea about how I wanted it to unfold. I thought it was right to knit in environmental issues, not in a way that is preachy but in a way children would understand in the context of the stories.

‘We are living in times where the environment has to be the number one issue for everyone. Worzel is part of a dying England but he has a message which is incredibly relevant for today. Nature and the environment are so important to all of us. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to do this and why I want to carry on with more series.’

Visually, his Worzel is an extraordinary feat of prosthetics and make-up. It took three hours each morning of the 30-day shoot for Crook to be transformed into a living turnip head, a process he found strangely enjoyable.

‘There’s something really meditative about it,’ he muses. ‘You have to sit there while make-up artists apply all sorts of rubber and colours. You can’t really move, you can’t go on your phone so you just learn to sit still and think. I look at myself in the mirror and watch the transformation, which is pretty incredible. I never get bored of it. You can’t eat much more than tiny snacks and by the end of a day’s filming you can’t wait to get it off your face. But I like the mask. It helps me to get into the part and really become the character. I catch sight of myself at times and think, who the hell is that? It’s a strange experience.’

Crook grew up in a small village in Kent, the middle of three children. His childhood was a happy one. He remembers lots of bike rides and fishing expeditions. It was because of the freedom he had as a child that he decided to buy eight acres of woodland in Essex to ensure his own children, Jude, 17, and Scout, 12, had a space beyond their north London home to run wild in the countryside. ‘My kids love going there,’ he says. ‘There are trees and rivers, they have absolute freedom and enjoy being in nature. I think it’s been really good for them.’

Crook is still a shy man. Ten years after he became famous thanks to the stellar success of The Office, he developed a back problem. It turned out to be a disc issue exacerbated by constantly walking with his head down (with a baseball cap on) in an attempt not to be noticed. Again, there is a contradiction in the way he is and the way he looks. His dirty blond hair is long, silver chain bracelets hang from his wrists and he has nine tattoos, including Nirvana’s In Utero album artwork on his back, his children’s names and three symbols of Zimbabwe where he spent his childhood summers at his uncle’s farm. He looks more like a musician than an actor. He smiles: ‘As a teenager I wanted to be Kurt Cobain. I was as like him as I could be, without the angst or the drug habit.’

Crook has little interest in celebrity parties or keeping up with his famous friends. To him, fame and success have simply meant the freedom to make the career choices he wants. ‘I’ve been to Los Angeles and I’ve had a nice time there because I’ve always been working, but I would never want to live there because it’s too much. Even the waiters serving you coffee are actors. I prefer a quiet life.’

If he hadn’t been an actor, he would have worked in conservation. He takes out his phone and shows me a video of a robin eating food out of his hand. He shows me a second clip of the same robin pecking at his head.

Mackenzie Crook as Gareth with Ricky Gervais as David Brent in The Office

Mackenzie Crook as Gareth with Ricky Gervais as David Brent in The Office

‘He was angry because I hadn’t given him enough food,’ he laughs. I assume this is all part of his preparation for Worzel but I am wrong. ‘We call him Winter George. He’s been in our garden for years and we’ve got to know each other. He’s a cheeky bugger. He started coming for food, then he started flying into the kitchen and sitting on my shoulder. Now he feeds out of my hand. He’s a real personality.’

He shows me another video of a baby tortoise crawling out of its egg, the latest progeny of a pair of breeding tortoises he was given when he was 20. ‘I love animals,’ he says. According to naturists, breeding tortoises is one of the hardest things to pull off. Crook shrugs his shoulders. ‘Gardening and being with nature, slowing down, appreciating it all is how I relax; it gives me time to think about what I want to do and what life is about. That’s why Worzel Gummidge means so much to me, because it’s taking everything back to what we should be really thinking about, but it’s also entertaining to watch and it actually means something.’ 

‘Worzel Gummidge’ is on Boxing Day at 6.20pm and December 27 at 7pm on BBC1

CHRISTMAS WITH THE CROOKS

Are your family very festive? 

My wife and daughter are real enthusiasts. I like Christmas but compared to them I’m Scrooge. They would have an inflatable Santa and reindeers on the roof but I’m having none of it.

Do you have any family traditions?

The tree goes up on December 1 and I have a smashing O-gauge electric train set that runs around it on the floor. My daughter’s birthday is on Christmas Eve and that has always involved a trip into London to see a show. This year, ironically, it’s A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic. 

Who does the cooking?

If we’re at home I do most of the cooking. For a few years I barbecued the turkey in the garden to free up space in the oven, but the house didn’t smell like Christmas so we brought it back inside.

Most memorable present?

When I was five or six I wanted the Fisher-Price multi-storey car park with the lift and the turntable and the automatic barrier. My dad decided £11.95 was too steep and made one out of plywood down the shed, complete with a lift that wound up on a string. It’s become a treasured possession, but at the time I was sorely disappointed.

 

 

 

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