The boy from Wormit

Bit late to this but I discovered this week that I have something in common with actor and comedian Richard Gadd, who wrote and starred in the award-winning Netflix series Baby Reindeer.

Like me, Gadd is a former pupil of Madras College in St Andrews. He supports Dundee United, and he grew up in Wormit, where my family lived from 1969 to 1978 (and where his parents still live).

I'm three decades older than Gadd so our paths have never crossed, but we seem to have shared an early interest in acting. Sadly, that's where any similarity ends.

According to the Madras College Christmas newsletter (2005), Gadd 'excelled' in the title role in the school production of Macbeth a few months' earlier:

He delivered a wonderfully physical performance in which he was perfectly prepared to smash his head off the set when the role demanded it!!

The programme for that production offers the following portrait:

Richard's drama career began when he played the part of a wise man in the nativity play at Wormit Primary School. He thoroughly enjoys his drama classes at Madras, easily picking it over Latin in his second year. He took part in the LAMDA acting exams, performing pieces from "The Trestle" and "Billy Liar". Richard has taken part in several small school productions during lunchtimes and after school including one in aid of Tsunami Relief.

He auditioned for "Macbeth" expecting a small role but instead was handed the role of Macbeth. This has involved endless pages containing huge speeches (half of which had been cut after learning them). He is both nervous and excited about performing and knows he will miss all those involved after the final curtain. It will also be hard for him to stop lapsing into Shakespearean when talking to friends and family when the production is over.

That was 20 years ago. Last year the show he created won four Emmys including Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Not bad for a boy from Wormit.

PS. Driving home from Scotland on Thursday we were listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 when another former Madras pupil was interviewed.

Born in Edinburgh in 1975, KT Tunstall was only there for a short time, I believe, but as far as I'm concerned she's still one of us.

The Ivor Novello Award-winning singer-songwriter has written the music for Clueless: The Musical, hence the interview on Woman's Hour. It's at the Trafalgar Theatre in London until June 14.

See: ‘Like a gig with your favourite 90s artists’: KT Tunstall composes Clueless musical (Guardian).