AFTER spending most of his working life in Central London, Bernie Fallon moved to Lyme Regis in 2003 to be with his partner Rachel Thom.
Bernie set up his business Doodle Computers that he runs from an office in Charmouth and still spends two days a week in London where he works on a number of popular TV shows.
Closer to home Bernie is now in his third year as a retained fire fighter in Charmouth. Bernie is also a trained musician and has been involved in musical theatre since the age of 15, even working on some professional productions.
Bernie, along with friend Maria Herbert, established his own theatre group, Marvellous Amateur Dramatics (MAD), earlier this year.
He is currently busy with rehearsals for MAD’s first show Summer Holiday on which he is the Musical Director. The show will be performed at Axminster Guildhall in February 2010.
How does life in London compare to life on the coast?
The one thing I sometimes get a bit frustrated with down here is that if you run out of milk after 11pm then you’re stuck. Or when I used to smoke and you wanted to nip out and get cigarettes at 1am you couldn’t. Tesco opening in Lyme is a bit of a godsend really because they stay open really late. The pace of life is a lot slower. People are a lot more chilled out and there is no pressure. When I go up to London I have to spend a couple of hours gearing myself up because the way of life is so much faster. Everyone has got somewhere to go and something to do and it's high pressure all the time.
What are the best TV shows you’ve worked on?
My favourite was Friday Night with Jonathan Ross because they always had a good mixture of guests and it was a good, fun production team. They are no longer my clients as Jonathan Ross set up his own production company and took the show with him.
What are the best musicals you’ve worked on professionally?
I would say 42nd Street was my favourite because I love all the big band swing music. I played on that when it was touring the country.
What made you decided to become a retained fire-fighter?
When I moved down here everyone was really nice to me and went out of their way to help me feel settled and comfortable and I felt that I would like to give something back into the community. I thought the fire service would be quite a good way of doing that.
Why did you decide on Summer Holiday for your first show?
We had a committee meeting and put it to a vote basically. It was one of four potential shows. We shortlisted The Buddy Holly Story, Summer Holiday, Back to the Eighties and Disco Inferno. Summer Holiday got the majority vote and that’s why we went for it.
What do you like about the show?
I like the music. Cliff Richard gets such a bad press for his music but I think some of its really good. I don’t know why all of a sudden people turned on him. I like the music and I like that era. I’m not a huge fan of rock and roll but I like the style of 60s music, and The Shadows aren’t that bad either. It’s a nice story, quite cheesy but a fun story and I think people will really enjoy it.
Who would you recommend the show to?
I think it appeals to everybody really. You’ve got a nice simple story for younger kids to understand, you’ve got the music for lets say people in their 30s to 60s who remember and appreciate it. And for the older people there are no scares. We have a cast of good looking lads as well of course so all the ladies will love it. I don’t think you could say that it targets a particular audience because it’s a family show for everybody.
What shows would you like to do in the future?
There are quite a few shows that I would like to do. One of them is Rent but I am not sure whether our small communities are ready for such a wild story. We have ideas on what we are planning on doing but I will just reserve that for a no comment at the moment.
How are preparations going for next year’s show?
We are a strictly non-profit organisation so all the money that we make will go into this show and future shows and as such we need to do a lot of fundraising. Our next event is this Friday, December 11th where we have a Westlife tribute act, but they also do Take That and Boyzone and all sorts of things. My brother is in the band and they are coming down from Manchester for free to do the gig for us and help us raise money to put on the show.
Who would be your three dream guests at a dinner party?
My first would be the drummer Buddy Rich. I’d like him at my dinner party so I could steal a few ideas from him and get some lessons because he is a legend. My second would be Freddie Mercury. Although I wasn’t a great Queen fan when I was younger, I am now. I think that he was a tremendously talented man and I’d like to find out where he got his influences from. He was such a character that he would make the party quite wild. Finally it would be Stephen Fry because I love his intellect, he could entertain anybody.
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