Singing a new tune: Bobby Davro relaxing at home in Surrey. Photograph: Cambridge Jones/Getty Images
News that Bobby Davro is to join the cast of EastEnders as a loveable rogue (is there any other kind?) should not be viewed with too much disdain. Granted, his heyday was in the mid-1980s, when wowed audiences with his impressions of the likes of Alex Higgins and Jonathan King, but he has some pedigree for joining BBC1's soap. He was, after all, in three episodes of Footballers' Wives: Extra Time.
While you wonder what he's been doing these last 20-odd years (filling his pockets with bread rolls at Variety Club lunches on which to later gnaw in his gloomy bedsit while dreaming of sunnier days? Or splitting his time gigging in Dubai and playing golf in Surrey?), consider the footsteps in which Bobby follows. He is not the first slightly irritating, jowly comedian-cum-entertainer to head soapward when the end of the pier began to look too precarious. EastEnders has been lacking a loveable rogue since Shane Richie's Alfie Moon departed while Coronation Street resuscitated Bradley Walsh's career to such a surprising extent, he imagined he could leave and get his own successful chat show. (Wrong!) Lest we forget, before he was a Walford stalwart, the lately late Mike Reid was a proper old-school stand-up. Barbara Windsor is, perhaps, the epitome of the magic of soap in rejuvenating one's career.
Soaps, and continuing drama, have always provided fresh starts for those pursuing new directions. Such folks have a recognition factor with the audience and, initially at least, are cheap and grateful for the work. Emmerdale, for example, is home to Patrick Mower (Callan) and Linda Thorson (The Avengers) and will soon host 'Allo 'Allo's Yvette Carte-Blanche, actress Vicki Michelle. The Bill's DI Samantha Nixon is played by Lisa Maxwell, who starred with Abbott in his show and was often referred to, for her sins, as the female Les Dennis. Meanwhile, rarely a week goes by without Russ Abbott appearing in Casualty and the only reason Dustin Gee hasn't been seen in Holby City is that he's already dead. Not that that seems to stop some of its guest stars.
Indeed, it can only be a matter of time until the Krankies pop up in Emmerdale as a couple with a secret past, most likely involving swinging. Me, I'm hoping for Bella Emberg gracing Hollyoaks.
