With Aylesbury Waterside Theatre’s pantomime The Further Adventures of Peter Pan: The Return of Captain Hook opening on Friday 6th December, Mark Moraghan will be playing Captain Hook – the pantomime villain. Mark will be in the cast with Bradley Riches as Peter Pan and Andy Collins as Smee, and the pantomime will run until Sunday 5th January and will see Captain Hook out for revenge and wanting his ship and crew back. With an extensive theatre and screen career, Mark has performed in musicals and plays such as Twopence to Cross the Mersey, You’ll Never Walk Alone, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Little Miss Sunshine, and on screen, he played the recurring roles of Adrian Mortimer in Coronation Street and Tim Richards in Emmerdale, and he portrayed Owen Davis in Holby City and Greg Shadwick in Brookside. Over a number of years, Mark was the narrator for Thomas & Friends and the related series, and earlier this year, Mark appeared in two feature film releases – Look to the Light and Our Kid. Ahead of opening in The Further Adventures of Peter Pan: The Return of Captain Hook, Mark told us about his two feature film releases this year, being the narrator in Thomas & Friends and his screen and theatre career over his time as an actor so far.

As an on-screen actor, you’ve played Martin Reynolds in Look to the Light and Mark Parrott in Our Kid, can you tell us about both feature films?

So, earlier this year, I had two feature films which came out on most streaming services. One was called Look to the Light and I played a character called Martin Reynolds, the father of the main character who is a young lad, an influencer on social media, who gets picked to go on a show very similar to Love Island. The story is basically about the pitfalls of reality TV, and the whole internet and influencers. He goes on a downward spiral when he gets kicked off the show for various reasons – it’s very topical. Really good film, and I think the subject matter has never really been approached before so it was a really interesting film to work on.

And the second film which came out earlier in the year is called Our Kid and is all about a Liverpool family who – without giving the plot away – suffer a loss in the family. I play the dad’s best friend, we work together. They call me Uncle Marko though I’m not really the uncle, I’m kind of a family friend. The young daughter has ambitions of playing for Liverpool ladies’ football team, and she has an elder brother who is in a wheelchair and suffers from cerebral palsy. It’s all about how the family pull together after suffering a loss, and there’s a triumphant ending to the film which involves the young daughter and Liverpool Football Club, which is a club close to my heart. It’s a really uplifting story although it’s very sad in parts – but it was great to be involved with both of those films which were released earlier this year.

For many years, you were the narrator for the hugely-popular children’s animated series Thomas & Friends and the related series, how was your time working on the Thomas & Friends franchise?

Working on Thomas & Friends was an absolute privilege, to follow in the footsteps of Michael Angelis and Ringo Starr, Alec Baldwin, and George Carlin in America. So, big shoes to fill! But it was a privilege to do – I think I did it for five or six years. So yeah, iconic. It’s a legacy to leave behind for my grandkids.

What was it like filming the recurring roles of Adrian Mortimer in Coronation Street in 2015, and Tim Richards in Emmerdale in 2017?

I had a couple of stints on Coronation Street and Emmerdale in 2015 and 2017 respectively. And they were great fun. Adrian Mortimer was Eileen’s love interest… but there wasn’t much to get my teeth into, if I’m honest. But Emmerdale was good because I played a bit of a baddie, a shotgun-wielding baddie, and I got into some good scrapes. So that was a good script to work with.

What are some of your favourite memories from working on Holby City from 2001 to 2005 as Owen Davis?

My favourite memories on Holby are too numerous to mention really. Lots of comedy moments. There used to be a show called Auntie’s Bloomers, which was outtakes, and I made a lot of money over the years with outtakes, because I made quite a few bloomers, funny ones, and lots of them made that show. The editors got a finder’s fee and you got paid for each clip, so yeah, I earned a nice few quid.

Do you have any stand-out highlights from playing Greg Shadwick in Brookside?

Brookside… god, it seems so long ago now. But Brookside was great fun because I was working with friends who I’d known for many years, the Scouse mafia actors, you know, we’ve all kind of crossed paths over the years and I’m still good friends with most of them today. It was just such a blast on the set of Brookside every day, really. Me and Mickey Starke, who played Sinbad, we’d be falling about most days, and Louis Emerick, who played Mick Johnson. So lots of fun memories at Brookside, although I was only there for 18 months… although I did play four different characters, so I suppose I was there a lot longer over the years. But yeah, some great memories of Brookside.

You have also worked on musicals and plays, including Twopence to Cross the Mersey, YNWA, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Little Miss Sunshine, can you say about some of them?

Yeah, I’ve done lots of theatre over the years. Musicals, that’s where I started. Back in 1978… 1979? I did my first job then when I was 15 years old, and went from there. I’ve done lots of plays, most recently a play called Twopence to Cross the Mersey, which was a period piece and there are quite a few books by Helen Forrester. I played the father of the family. It’s a true story about the depression in 1929. The stock market crashed and the family lost all their money – he was a banker – and they moved up to Liverpool and they ended up destitute. It’s quite a sad story but uplifting towards the end.

And we also did a show at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool called You’ll Never Walk Alone, all about the history of Liverpool Football Club. Even if you’re not into football, it’s such a good show. The story of the club’s history is told from 1892 up to present day, with songs, lots of comedy sketches, and a big screen with lots of footie on and some amazing music. So it was a very entertaining show and it should be coming back, hopefully, if Liverpool win a title or two this season… it may be back next year!

I also did The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, playing Ray Say, and that has to be one of my favourite experiences in the theatre.

I also toured in Little Miss Sunshine playing Grandpa. Such a great character, an irreverent, funny guy, didn’t suffer fools. Such a great show – so yeah, we did a national tour of Little Miss Sunshine and had a ball.

Where does your love of acting come from and how did you get started in the industry?

My love of acting started from primary school, really. I had great teachers and they obviously saw something in me – the show-off – and started to cast me in all the school productions. So I got the bug very early on, and that continued into secondary school. Again, I was very lucky to have a fantastic drama teacher and he cast me in the school plays. Then the BBC came with a Willy Russell series, and me and my friend auditioned and we both got the two leads in it. So that’s kind of where I got the bug to go professional.

How do you like to spend your free time?

When I’m not working, I like to relax by paddleboarding. And watching football. Paddleboarding is my go-to, really. It’s great for mental health and fitness and so I go out in all weathers, right through winter, spring, summer, autumn. I’m often down on Camber Sands on the sea, or on the River Medway, or I’m a member of Bewl Water. I go down there, and it really does sort your head out. So yeah, paddleboarding has got to be one of my favourite pastimes.

What are some of your favourite films, TV and theatre shows to watch?

TV shows… that’s a tough one, there are so many. Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos. Some of the greatest television ever made. I’m a bit late to the party but I’m watching a brilliant thing now on Netflix with Martin Freeman called Breeders. It’s a bit of a black comedy but it’s so well-written and beautifully acted so I’m really into that at the minute. I also love documentaries: World War II documentaries, American gangster documentaries.

Choosing a favourite film is really tough. One film that had a massive impact on me was Jaws – not the rubber shark, but the script was amazing and the actors phenomenal. There’re some fantastic scenes in that film, and I don’t know how much I’ve seen it, 20 or 30 times, but I never tire of watching Jaws. So that’s got to be one of my favourites – and also an old film called A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven. A Pressburger film. And, again, that had a massive impact on me. It’s filmed in black and white and goes into technicolour.