David, 76, 'marries the Bionic Woman'

A RETFORD Little Theatre actor and director has a role in the new ITV1 two-part drama Mr Eleven, which starts tomorrow at 9pm.

David Larder, 76, plays a vicar who marries former EastEnders stars Michelle Ryan and Sean Maguire in the romantic comedy.

Mr Larder, who has lived at Gateford, near Worksop, for the past seven years, is currently appearing in Everton Players' murder mystery for Carlton-in-Lindrick WI.

But Friday night's small screen appearance will be a family triumph – as Mr Eleven is the brainchild of Mr Larder's daughter.

Britain's youngest TV drama producer at 31, Nicola Larder was at the helm of the programme – which also features household names Adam Garcia and Lynda Bellingham.

The original concept behind Mr Eleven came from Nicola, who used research which showed that the average British woman today marries their 11th sexual partner.

She produced the multi-million pound two-parter for the British production company Tiger Aspect, which was responsible for comedy hits including The Vicar of Dibley, Mr Bean and Benidorm.

Nicola cast all the parts, including Michelle Ryan – who went on to become the new Bionic Woman on US TV after leaving EastEnders, and heart-throb Sean Maguire – along with her father's latest TV role.

"I trained as a professional actor in theatre and appeared all over the country before becoming a drama teacher," said Mr Larder. "Nicola started out as a receptionist after studying the classics at Reading University.

"She's been a senior script editor for New Tricks on the BBC and now is storyline producer for advance episodes of Casualty.

"And she cast a small part in Mr Eleven for her dear old dad.

"I was very proud indeed when I did my shooting at a big old mansion house – Nicola was in charge of between 50 and 200 people on set each day.

"It was a joy to see her at the helm, with her kindly, but assertive, manner. They were all lovely people to work with and I really enjoyed myself and had fun on set."

Mr Larder also admitted to buying every Sunday newspaper this week to check out more than 25 advance critical reviews of the ITV drama.

And it won't be the first time he has been on TV – Mr Larder was a high court judge in Sky One's sports soap Dream Team.

Meanwhile, it will be back to reality after Christmas when he returns to the stage at Retford Little Theatre as a Cockney crook in its production of The Shop at Sly Corner.