We didn’t watch VIEWPOINT last night. Though it wasn’t lost on me that meant we were missing out on enjoying Alexandra Roach’s superb performance as a consequence of taking the only action we could after reading the persuasive news reporting about the show’s lead.

In this industry if the word on the street about someone is a history of being “dodgy” or “a dick” or “a tiresome diva” you don’t work with them. Simples.

My working life is full of conversations about casting and attaching actors to films, TV shows and plays. And actors are regularly taken off lists when due diligence is done and you hear they are “wankers” in some way or other. It’s not hard.

These actors “flaws” get overlooked because they may have “profile” and help a show get green lit or produced. But it is a foolish course of action. I’m lucky only a few “wankers” have slipped through my net over the years and I can tell you they’re not worth the bother.

Their egos, demons, destructive or abusive behaviours draw you in to a world of pain that harms the quality of the work and at the very least makes it an unhappy experience for everyone else.

So if you can’t just do the right thing and avoid people with bad reps BECAUSE ITS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Be self-interested and protect yourself and your work and your personal happiness and DON’T touch them with a barge pole.

Don’t work with people, whether they are famous or not, if you are persuaded they are not the kind of people you wouldn’t want to associate with outside work when the job is done. Don’t watch their work. Simples.

I love Alexandra Roach. She is brilliant. And she doesn’t know this but a chance encounter in a theatre bar inspired a line in my play BEGINNING.