Life as a 90s kids’ TV superstar
With every passing generation comes a plethora of children’s television that is forever etched into our memory. Much like the music we grew up listening to, the shows we watched as kids hold a special place in our hearts. They will always be the best — regardless of what parents or younger friends or siblings say.
For me, growing up in the 1990s, shows like The Queen’s Nose, Round the Twist and Bernard’s Watch were after-school stalwarts.
I spoke to David Peachey, who played Bernard, to find out what life was like as a child star in the wacky world of 90s British kids TV.
When we think of child actors, names like Macaulay Culkin or Lindsay Lohan come to mind. Notorious figures known more for their later mediocrity, public meltdowns and brushes with the law.
The same certainly cannot be said for the unassuming thirty-year-old trainee-GP David Peachey, from Nottingham, who rose to considerable fame (among those of a particular age) for his role as Bernard, in the ITV children’s show, Bernard’s Watch.
For the un-versed, Bernard’s Watch told the tale of a young boy named Bernard, who finds a magical watch which can stop time.
By and large, Bernard used the watch for innocuous things like helping his grandad to paint his living room or skipping a queue in a shop to pay quicker [yes, I know!].
Though I can certainly think of several, pos-sibly more nefarious, things many of us may use this watch for now (a round of free drinks anyone?).
Describing how he got the part, David says he didn’t actually have to audition. The show’s director, David Cobham, saw him in a play and decided he’d be right for the role.
“The play was called Street Fighter, which is a bit odd for an eight-year-old, but I think it was about the computer game.
“I went for a chat with him [the director], I think it was more just to check I wasn’t going to be a nightmare on set rather than an audition and that was it really.”
“Apparently, someone came to your door and asked, ‘What’s the time, Bernard?’ and you punched them.”
Rather than flaunt his fame as an eight-year-old schoolboy, David says he was more embarrassed and shy — his most distressing moment being in a McDonalds after being recognised by a gang of thirteen year olds.
“I couldn’t be doing with that.” David said, describing how he didn’t take naturally to fame. “It didn’t ever really bother me, but I felt quite shy. I remember dreading it if I was out somewhere and I could tell that somebody was looking at me or pointing at me and I was always trying not to make eye contact.”
Going to Grosvenor House prep school, in Nottingham, where he knew almost everyone, helped keep him grounded at the time and helped protect him from any potential bullying. All this despite episodes of Bernard’s Watch being “almost always on repeat” at the school’s after-school club.
Similarly, as the middle child of three, David says his parents were keen not to treat him any differently to his two brothers and that they were careful not to let him get too big-headed, despite there being a large stack of VHS copies of the show in his dad’s office.
Nevertheless, being recognised by his peers was something that continued into David’s university life, “I went to Sheffield and knew a guy from home who was in the same halls and he told people.
“Other people then told other people, so it wasn’t long before the whole of the hall knew I was there or at least they knew there was a lad there who played Bernard’s Watch.”
Even so, David sees the funny side of living in a building with several-hundred other students, most of whom watched him on CITV as children.
“I’d often hear rumours about things that I’d done, as you can imagine in that university environment.
“I remember someone once asking me if I was alright, on the way to uni. I replied, “Yes, why?” He told me: “Apparently, someone came to your door and asked, ‘What’s the time, Bernard?’ and you punched them”.
David chuckles as he re-tells these ridiculous stories, recalling another rumour that suggested every time he entered the university’s canteen, the whole room would freeze as if stopped by the watch and that he would get really annoyed by it.
I can tell that while David reflects on his heady days of childhood stardom, he is keenly aware of the opportunities and experience he was given because of his role on TV.
Similarly, David is well-aware of how his five years on-screen helped him in later life — especially financially.
“I don’t have a pot of money sat away somewhere, but it means I’ve never had to work otherwise as a child and I’ve probably been given more than my fair share from my parents, but I’m definitely not sitting on a nest egg from the Bernard’s Watch days.”
“I can remember cheques coming through the door, all in my name. My parents looked after the money and made sure that I didn’t have to get a job at university.”
Despite being a working actor from the age of eight, David says that none of it really felt like work and the process of filming was largely easy, and usually meant he missed the last couple of weeks at school every year.
“It was always, always really enjoyable. Throughout the whole five years it was pretty much the same cast and crew. The director was the same, the sound men and the other people involved — they were all fantastic to me really.”
“I’m certainly not going to sit her down and say: ‘Daddy was a TV superstar’.”
The job, he says, only really became a burden as he entered his mid-teens, when production would eat into his school holidays, where he just wanted to be enjoying the summer with his schoolfriends.
The role itself was rarely challenging for David, who describes many days filming would only involve him having to stand in a particular spot, making sure his arm, and the watch, were in the right place.
“I didn’t have that many lines, as there wasn’t actually that much speaking in it, it was narrated a lot of the time.”
David gave up the role of Bernard at the age of thirteen, though the show was brought back some years later with a new actor in the role.
“I tried to watch it, but it was a bit more jazzy with a few more special effects.” David laughs as he describes what he thought at the time: “That’s my job, not yours.”
Despite his modesty, David regularly performed with Carlton Television Workshop, a youth group sponsored by ITV to develop young acting talent for the stage and screen.
The workshop still runs today, and is still free to join, though there is a rigorous audition for any young television hopefuls.
David talks warmly of his time at the workshop: “It was a really fantastic place and it’s gone on to produce quite a lot of other recognisable faces who’ve gone on to win Baftas and Oscars I think — the guy who ran it, Ian Smith, was fantastic.”
Notable figures from the workshop include Golden Globe-winner, Samantha Morton (Minority Report, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them); Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, Money Monster) and Vicky McClure (This is England, Broadchurch, Line of Duty).
The opportunity to perform alongside these, now recognisable, names is obviously something David remembers fondly.
Describing his friendships, he says: “In my group, week-in and week-out, people who I’d definitely call friends were Joe Dempsie, who went on to do Skins and Game of Thrones.
“I’d stop and have a chat with him in the street if I saw him and we’d have a drink or something.”
It seems though, that nowadays, he is relieved that Pampers’ and playtime are his main priorities, rather than the paparazzi or The Priory. His family and friends are more important to him than the trappings of fame, and he doesn’t seem to regret not pursuing an acting career.
“I don’t think I was ever good enough to be a professional actor. Bernard’s Watch was probably about my level, but I’m sure if I kept getting different roles and auditions, I could well be still doing it now.”
Even so, David says he could be persuaded to give up medicine if Hollywood was beckoning, though he doesn’t expect that to happen any time soon.
I speak with David shortly after he and his wife, Hayley, also a trainee GP, celebrate their daughter Grace’s first birthday.
I asked whether his days in children’s television would be something he would talk to his daughter about, or whether he would show her clips of him as young boy.
“I think it’s the sort of thing she’ll hear about from our friends and family, they’ll no-doubt mention it at some point. It’s definitely not something I’ll keep from her though and when she’s old enough to understand I’ll probably show her.”
“I’m certainly not going to sit her down and say: ‘Daddy was a TV superstar’”
