Shane scales new heights

[carmelina]

SHANE RICHIE’S career has reached dizzy heights.




So it was a shock when he was spotted swaying on the edge of a 22-storey building in Manchester, yelling: “Why me?”

But life hasn’t suddenly taken a dramatic downturn for the 43-year-old actor. He was performing a daredevil stunt while filming new ITV comedy drama The Good Samaritan.

Shane — fondly remembered as EastEnders’ Alfie Moon — admitted: “A few people shouted up to me, ‘Kat’s not worth it, Alfie’.”

In the one-off programme to be screened tomorrow, Shane plays Brian Guest, a bungling office worker who gets a call from a man saying he is about to jump from a building — and Brian jokingly tells him to do it.

But it turns out the stranger had mistakenly called Brian instead of The Samaritans.

Viewers see the caller change his mind and walk away unscathed — but when Brian turns up at the scene later he spots police cars attending an unrelated accident and is convinced he is to blame for a terrible tragedy.

Bizarrely, the zany plot mirrors an incident where Shane tried to intervene in a real-life suicide attempt. He said: “A couple of years ago, when I was still in EastEnders, I was driving my sons Shane Jr and Jake home to Blackpool from a McFly concert in Manchester.

“We got stuck in this solid traffic jam on the motorway. I could see there was some commotion up ahead and people were out of their cars.

“I got out, walked up and asked a policeman what was going on. He told me there was a guy threatening to throw himself off the bridge.

“I asked if there was anything I could do to help.

“I thought seeing someone he knew off the telly might help him, or that I could offer him a trip round Albert Square or something — anything to stop him jumping.

“But the copper just looked at me and said dryly, ‘No, best get back in your car. I think he’s a Corrie fan.’

“That put me in my place all right! In the end the lad did a runner and I ended up signing autographs.

“But it is spooky that it happened in Manchester and now here I am re-creating a scene in which a bloke is about to throw himself off a building.”

Meeting Shane and seeing him in his usual chirpy form, it’s hard to believe that less than a decade ago he considered taking his own life.

The bleak moment followed the 1999 breakdown of his marriage to singer Coleen Nolan and a string of money problems.

He said: “I think everyone is capable of suicide and most people think about it at some time. There are some who go through with it. I never would have done it, though.”

Nowadays Shane has plenty to live for — not least his summer wedding to dancer Christie Goddard, 28.

The pair, who have a one-year-old son, Mackenzie, are planning a lavish bash in July. The wedding has given Shane a good laugh — he finds rumours that Westlife and Robbie Williams are booked to sing at the reception hilarious.

He explained: “I think the rumours started because I said the musicians from their bands were mates of mine and were playing at my wedding.

“It is like when I had my 40th bash. It was in all the papers that I was having Siberian tigers in my back garden. Next thing I had the RSPCA on the phone complaining!

“The truth is a few of my old mates, like Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet, will probably get up and sing. I really can’t wait.”

However, if The Good Samaritan is a hit, Shane may have to scrap plans for a honeymoon.

Success will see it turned into a series, with filming tentatively scheduled to begin two days after the wedding. Shane said: “Luckily, Christie is really understanding.

“I hope it does go to a series because the scripts I have seen are fantastic. The character is similar to Alfie, he wears his heart on his sleeve and has puppy-dog eyes.”

While Shane is looking forward to his second wedding, ex-wife Coleen has been busy flogging off memories from his first in 1990 — with his blessing.

Earlier this year she sold her dress on eBay, raising £1,200 for The Alzheimer’s Society.

Shane said: “I didn’t mind. It was only gathering dust and it is great that she raised money for charity.

“But I am not in any rush to sell the suit I wore — it looks like an old Spandau Ballet cast-off. Same with the shoes. Maybe I’ll give them to Tony Hadley!” Shane is looking forward to having more children with Christie and would love a girl.

He said: “If I had a daughter I would be the ultimate protective dad. Can you imagine a boyfriend having to meet me?”

Not that his other kids make life easy. He said: “The worry never stops. Mackenzie started crawling on the same day Shane Jr passed his driving test. I was worrying about the baby bumping into things at the same time as I was nervous about Shane out in his car.”

Shane is now starring as Randle McMurphy in the stage production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest — a role made famous on film by Jack Nicholson. But Albert Square comes back to haunt him in the most unlikely places.

He recently went to Morocco to film the movie Prisoners Of The Sun, due for release next year.

His character has a showdown with another played by Michael Higgs — Alfie’s rival Andy Hunter in EastEnders.

Shane said: “The film is sort of like The Mummy meets Indiana Jones. I play a Rastafarian antique dealer and Michael kills me.

“We were filming this scene where he puts a walking stick to my neck then stabs me. We had an English crew and they are all going, ‘Go on Andy, get your own back on Alfie.’

“Michael and I were pinching ourselves to think that three years ago we were sitting in the Queen Vic and now here we were in the middle of the desert in Morocco.

“I had to smoke a hookah pipe in the scene and the Moroccan tobacco went straight to my head.

“By the end of the scene I was half stoned and looking at Michael, thinking, ‘Andy has come back to get me’.”


The Good Samaritan is on ITV1 tomorrow at 9pm.


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