'Desperate Romantics' – starring ex-DPG attendant

The smart people who sit quietly guarding the priceless paintings at Dulwich Picture Gallery have astonishing other lives. They are often successful artists, opera singers, illustrators, curators and in this case, an actor.

Sam Crane as Fred Walters

Have you been watching the lavish drama series on BBC2, ‘Desperate Romantics’, all about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood? One of the star parts is played by Sam Crane, attendant at DPG 2002-3.

Sam was interviewed by the Susan Griffin from the Press Association. Below are some extracts.

Long before the likes of Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst arrived on the scene, the debauched antics of a revolutionary group of artists caused as much of a stir in polite Victorian society as their ground-breaking paintings. They named themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Set amid a backdrop of alleys, galleries and brothels of 19th century London,
the series follows three of the men responsible for creating one of Britain’s most important art movements – “Maniac” Holman Hunt (Rafe Spall), the child prodigy John Everett Millais (Samuel Barnett) and the charismatic Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Aidan Turner), who was notorious for seducing his models.

Millais, Rossetti, Hunt, Walters

But just as Brit Art in the 1990s needed Charles Saatchi, so the Pre-Raphaelites required someone to help bring their art into the public consciousness.

Fred Walters, played by our own Sam Crane, is a fictitious admirer of the group, instrumental in bringing the Brotherhood’s art to the masses.

“He’s a very ordinary guy, a writer, who becomes aware of this group of
artists who he thinks are absolutely extraordinary,” says Sam. “But while he admires the group and would love to be part of it, he’s not a talented, sexy painter like they are, so he ends up sort of part of their group but always on the edge of it.”

Fred is an amalgamation of several historical figures. “The main basis is Fred Stephens, who was one of the original members of the Brotherhood and you see him as a model in a lot of the paintings,” says Sam. “There’s also a little bit of Walter Deverell in him too because Walter was the person who found Lizzie Siddal, the group’s main model.

“That’s the first thing my character does. He recognises the group are lacking the perfect model and so he finds the flame-haired Lizzie for them. Finally, there’s William Michael Rossetti. He was the actual diarist of the group, as well as Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s brother.

“To be honest, it’s a fictionalised version of events and even the so-called real characters are Pete Bowker’s (the script writer’s) version of them.”

Fred’s business acumen changes the way the delicate relationship between art and commerce works by understanding the importance of PR spin.

“I think he recognises the artists need to be championed in order to find
their audience and they need to be celebrated”.

As the drama unfolds we see Fred, a fundamentally moral man, gradually become frustrated by the group’s fecklessness, ambition and depravity.

“Fred’s full of conflicting desires,” says Sam. “In his dreams, he’s a painter and womaniser like Rossetti but he’s not like that in reality. He has to cope with his own limitations in terms of his ability and his way with women compared to the others.”

Desperate Romantics has its fair share of bodice-ripping moments. The artists were renowned for enjoying scandalous affairs and dalliances with their muses.

“There’s this idea that Victorians were very prim and proper but of course
they had sex,” says Crane. “And yeah, I think viewers do like to see that” he adds laughing.

As for filming the more intimate scenes, Crane simply says: “It’s a weird thing to do that sort of thing but it’s a lot of fun!”

Sam has played at the National Theatre, The Royal Court and Shakespeare’s Globe, TV- in Midsommer Murders and now this.
“I think in film and telly, especially for young people, it’s so much about
your look rather than what you can do with your character,” he says. “In the theatre you get a chance to try out more things in terms of the parts you can play.”

The greatest role he’s coming to terms with at the moment is that of a new dad.

“Our son was born just before we started filming and my wife (film maker Pinny Grylls who has shown two of her films at Dulwich Picture Gallery) was pretty much looking after him all the time. Now I can look after him for a bit so she can go back to work,” he says. “I’m enjoying spending the time with him but it’s exhausting, absolutely exhausting, much more exhausting than filming a TV series!”

Sam trained at LAMDA where he was awarded the Nicholas Hytner Scholarship.
New York Magazine listed him as one of London ‘s hottest young stage actors. He was nominated for a prestigious Ian Charleson Award in 2008.

Most of the paintings referred to in Desperate Romantics are in Tate Britain. Dulwich Picture Gallery has no Pre-Raphaelite works – they are all older.

Part 3 of the series is on tonight on BBC2 at 9pm. You can catch up with the others on BBC iPlayer.

Lots and lots about Desperate Romantic on their fansite. Sam’s bit.