More 'Doctors' chat from Owen Brenman

I recently had a chat with Doctors actor Owen Brenman to hear about the directing work he's been doing for the BBC daytime drama.

If you haven't yet read the main interview, then click here to take a look.

Here, however, are some bonus snippets from Owen revealing what it's like to play Heston and more!

Would you like to see Heston find love again?
"Yeah, or at least try to! I do feel that Heston has been a bit of a loose cannon without anybody around, and everybody else having relationships. So I would, yes! I like it when he has a strong woman, so I liked it when he had Lily to play opposite, and there was also another doctor called Diana. I like it when he has a feisty woman to interact with. I also liked it when Anita Carey was playing Vivien, the receptionist - we didn't have a romantic relationship but there was an interesting tension there between two bossy characters. Although I think he was more bossy then than he is now!"

Do you miss working with Seeta, who played Lily?
"Yeah, I think there was a nice dynamic there. I do miss Heston being in a relationship and I think it would be nice to have that strand. I'm looking at it from an acting point of view, because I think it makes the character more interesting."

Who are your favourite people to work with at Doctors?
"How do I answer that question without upsetting somebody I don't mention? (Laughs) I like working with them all. For me, I just like it when there's an interesting story or something nice to get your teeth into, so it doesn't really depend so much on who the actors are, but rather the story and the dialogue. For example, we've just got two new characters who've only just started and who won't be on air for several months. I've been doing some scenes with them, and Heston's laying down the law a bit, in a friendly but firm way!

"I quite like it when Heston is decisive and authoritative - probably slightly more than when he's the buffoon, although sometimes I quite like the buffoon! I like it when he has strong things to do, even if he makes mistakes, and I think it's more interesting when he's being single-minded about something."

Last December, the Doctors fans on our forum voted Heston as their favourite male character - why do you think he's so popular?
"That's very nice to hear - what good taste they have! (Laughs) I think the way they conceived the character, before they even cast me, was that there's a lot going on with him - he's this rather pompous surgeon who's had to become a doctor, which is perceived as going down in the world in medical terms. I think that they write nicely for him, he's not like any of the other characters, he's like a fish out of water in some ways, and I think they can do a lot with him. They can do the day-to-day medical stuff, but they can also go off, explore his past and explore some slightly more upper middle-class storylines, which suit him.

"I think Heston is an interesting character and I think they've made him more interesting as time has gone on, because when I first arrived, I was more like a sitcom character because I suppose my background was more sitcom. But I think what happened is that they humanised the character and they put some tragedy into his life, because there's a story with his ex-wife Christina and losing his son. Also, the writers respond to what they see - they throw a lot of stuff at you, and when they watch it back, they see what works and then they develop that. It's a two-way process."

Is Heston a person who you'd be friends with in real life?
"Oh, it's an interesting question - I don't know! I think initially I'd look at him and think that he's a pompous prat! But if I got to know him, I might realise that there's a bit more to him than what you may think."

What have been your favourite storylines from your time at Doctors?
"One of them is a storyline that I did recently which hasn't been out yet, so I can't talk about it! I also liked the stuff with Lily and I liked the stuff with Heston's ex-wife Christine. Often, I'm more into individual episodes than a long storyline, and I just like working with interesting directors and interesting scripts. Sometimes a 'story of the day', rather than a long serial, can be really fun to do - I really enjoy that."

What do you think of the experimental elements that Doctors episodes sometimes have?
"I quite like that about Doctors. Some work better than others and some will appeal to some viewers more than others. But I like the fact that Doctors takes the work seriously, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. So you can have a jokey episode and then you can have a very serious episode. I don't think the other soaps do that as much - they tend to stick to the party line, while Doctors has a long-running serial but can also have a bit of fun at the same time."

Finally, are you happy at Doctors and likely to stay for the foreseeable future?
"Yes, I've been in the business long enough to know that this is a very good job and I'm not always thinking that the grass must be greener somewhere else. I really enjoy this job and for the foreseeable future, I am definitely staying. It's a nice place to work, and I know everyone will say that, but it really is. I have to pinch myself every now and then!"

Are you a fan of Doctors and Heston? Let me know your thoughts using the form below!