Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Doris, or Doris Visits?

I've just been looking through some archive tapes, and I found a chat I was having with James Whale, a great friend of mine from way back as far as 1978. That's a long, long time. Long time. So most people know James as a shock jock, somebody who was angry with the world. But I've got to tell you, he was a sweet guy, he was very soft, and he also ran a charity and did lots of great work. I probably knew him different to the way you did, so I thought I'd share the chat with you, just so you could see the real James, if you didn't happen to know him. It's from 2015. I didn't think that me looking for Doris would take me back that far, but hey, have a look. How lovely it is to sit here. In the garden. In Hollywood, by your pool. And how successful you've become as a film producer. You see, now I'm interviewing you. That wasn't really how it was supposed to go. But what I should do is say, when we first met, Stuart was doing The Breakfast Show on Metro Radio in Newcastle, and I was doing The Night Time Show. And I've been on the radio somewhere for 45, 46 years now. Unlike you, who then decided to diversify. I remember, didn't you get a part in Pantomime? Oh yeah, certainly, but I think lots of DJs now do panto. That wasn't what made me change. I was still a radio DJ back in, well all through the end of the 60s, all through the 70s. And in 1980, 81, TVS, which was a TV station in Southampton, decided to make a soap opera about a radio station. And I got cast as the DJ in that TV series. So by default, jumped from being a DJ on the radio to a DJ on television. And that made me even more unpopular. I bet it did. But you had your own TV show, didn't you? I did, yeah. In the 90s, well, it was networked through all the ITV channels. People think it was on Channel 4. It was, in fact, on ITV. Went out around about 1 o'clock in the morning. At its peak, it had about 4 or 5 million viewers, which for that time of night now, people would kill for. And it's funny, every month or so, somebody comes up with an idea and gets in touch and says, oh, we've got this great idea for you to do a late night television show. And I usually say, well, been there, done that. You can't really go back. You can't go back. I think as an artist, you want to try and do something different, don't you? Yeah. Which is what, funny enough, is we're sitting here in Doris's garden, in Hampstead as it were. And Doris Shades is a female serial killer in a soap which is on the web. It's a web series. Now, web series is becoming very quickly the new form of broadcasting. So it's like us as an artist, or me as an artist, this is what excites me about this, is doing something that we've not touched before. Because let's face it, we've all been around the, you know, you and I, 40-odd years in the business. You've done most things. I have. And I've done, in fact, I started off as an actor, but I soon found it was more lucrative to be on the radio or the television. And you, of course, now, we should point out that you're the producer and director of this series. And you've done all sorts. You've produced movies. You've directed movies. Don't let people who are watching this want to know exactly what your pedigree is. The last movie, which is when we kind of got back together again, was the status quo movie. Yeah, it was full of quo. Yeah. And it was one that didn't get the best as far as the critics were concerned. But listen, lots and lots of people have seen it. Well, the film critics didn't like it, because I think they get a little insulted or annoyed when people go into what they class as their territory. And so many people are doing it now, because whereas you can make a record in your bedroom, you can now make a TV show in your bedroom. And making a movie is no longer that special. Being a film critic is no longer that special, because there are millions of people doing it on the web. So there's a lot of frustrated people out there. Buller Quo was a film about status quo for status quo fans. So some of them, some of the big glossy newspapers were saying Francis and Rick weren't very good at playing themselves. Well, you know, I have to tell you, actually, it's it's not easy to play yourself. They were very good at it. Because in this I'm playing myself. Detective Inspector James. Well, exactly. One J. One W. Yeah. And and listen, I have to say, this is something that perhaps more and more people will do, because the episodes in this production are what, two or three minutes long, aren't they? Yeah, we made a choice with that, because one of the things that we've learned about the web, and I've been studying this for some time, I don't mean studying the web, I mean studying how people view it, is that there are viewing habits. If you make a program that's over eight minutes long, it's watched on the tablet and the television, but not much on the phone. The phone is used for things under eight minutes, traditionally three or four. So we made a decision at the beginning to go for things that would go multiplatform. It's going to be for people watching on the phone on the move. But we've watched it on our own television set, which is a big 90 inch screen, and it plays just as well on that, because we do shoot it on a broadcast, well it's a movie camera, it's a proper black magic cinema camera. That's what it's shot on. The sound's done properly, the music's done properly, we're not cutting any corners just because it's on the web. It's actually better, we shoot it better quality than they shoot the soaps. Reg is just messing around in the back of shot there, but you know, you want to find out what Reg does and what Reg gets up to. If Reg falls in the pool, you're going to have to rescue him. Well, if Reg falls in the pool, it'll actually save me a job of arresting him, taking him down to the station and questioning him, which is what I'm just about to do. Look at the state of him, look at the state of him. Yeah, you're not quite in shot there Reg, you need to move a little to the right. Sorry. I tell you, Doris Shades, the whole thing about Doris Shades, and I think... Who incidentally is your wife? Incidentally is, yeah, but in story turns, and I think one of the things that we as broadcasters like to pick out is we do like issues, we like to be fair, we like to dig out injustice, and when I was asked to do this, it has to be a drama, it has to be entertaining, fictional and funny, but there's that side of me which went, hang on, how can I anchor this? So the little anchor that I did have was I feel, personally, that people have become immune to crime. They watch the television, and you can have the most horrific thing, like this chap who's unfortunately been stabbed in this road raid, and you know what, you just go, oh yeah, and carry on making a cup of tea, you take no notice. So it doesn't matter what crime you see on the television, you're immune to it, the public have become immune. So I thought, if I get a housewife, a small, ordinary lady woman from Hampstead... A lady woman? A lady woman. Not a lady boy? No, no, ordinary, original type, to do all of these crimes and say all of these awful things, people are going to be disgusted. And then they need to ask themselves, why are they annoyed, because Doris is doing it, when in fact... Oh, he is going to fall in the pool any minute. Have you finished with his filming? No, he's got to carry on filming. Oh right, okay. Why are they annoyed when Doris does it, and they don't take any notice when it's on the news? So Doris is scorned as a woman and becomes a serial killer, and fails, and gets into a few other crimes, and then gets headhunted by an organisation. Did you write this as well? Oh, my mad brain can go anywhere, yeah. Yeah, I know. Well listen, it's been good, we'll wait and see. What is he doing? Look at that. God. Why don't we push it? Oh no. So when's your next big... Let me talk about your charity and your radio show before you go. No, fine. Is that a... I thought you had a giant snail in the... Just there. I don't think it is. No, it's a fountain. Oh, it's a fountain. Right, okay. So when's your next big charity event for your kidney cancer? Well, we are 10 years... Now be careful, Reg, just in case you fall over, won't you? Yeah. I mean, I know you're cutting the budget, Stu, but getting people from the old people's home down the road really is... Well, we can make them walk here. Yeah, well, yeah, and actually, if you pan over there and watch him, he's not even very good at walking. Have a look at that, poor old Reg. The Jameswell Fund for Kidney Cancer, which... 10 years? Yeah, well, 10 years next year. Hopefully, we're going to arrange some big things for next year. We're going to have a ball. I don't like... It's very difficult. When you're running a charity, to put on events costs money, and I'm always loath to do it, but we are going to put on an event next year. Lots of people do things, like we've got people cycling from Marble Arch to the Arc de Triomphe for us, and if people go on the website, jameswellfund.org, you can see what we do. Basically, the charity's there to help people who have been diagnosed with kidney cancer and their relatives, so that there's a place where people can go and get information and get help and just talk to somebody who's been through the same stuff. Plus, we have some research going on. We have a nurse training scheme where, online now, we offer a training module for nurses, and this is taken up by nurses all over the world, not just in this country. All of this, of course, takes money to keep it going, and charity is a very, very... It's not a dirty word at the moment, but charities, basically, are getting a lot of stick, and to try and raise money for charity is difficult. But this is a small charity, and it's run by you, so there are no big execs driving big cars and taking the money out. No, no, no. There are two full-time people who work on the charity. Not me. I started it. I'm the chairman of the charity, which entails me going to a number of functions and chairing about four meetings of the trustees every year. And that's jameswhalefund.org. Check it out. And you do it, really, because you've got kidney cancer. It's not something you've just anchored. No, no, no, no, no. I don't want people to think, no, I'm not one of those, well, it's for charity, folks. No, it's because you genuinely... I had kidney cancer, and I asked the consultant who saved my life, I said, well, you know, in fact, funny story, I took him out for dinner. You know, people get really attached to their doctors and their nurses when they're in hospital. It's quite strange. And afterwards, I said, well, listen, let me take you out for dinner. We became quite pally. I mean, they work hard. He used to come in and see me. This is a consultant who... Some people said that my tumor was so big it was inoperable. And he said, no, I think I'd like to have a go at getting it out. I've never seen one this big, and it'll be quite interesting. So it was the size of a football, and really, I should have not even been alive with it. But he did get it out, and within two weeks, I think I was out of hospital, to be quite honest with you. And radio-wise, where can they find you on the radio now? Where you can find me, well, you can go to my website, jameswellradio.co.uk. jameswellradio.co.uk, and I'm on a couple of radio stations, and people can find out from there. Fantastic. James, it's been a pleasure. Good man. I'm just going to shake hands with you. Thank you very much, indeed. I think we should get Reg, and I think we should just drop it. Throw him in the pool. Shall we? No. And remind people to check out the show. Shades of bad, yeah. Shades of bad. Brilliant. Shades of bad. Come on, let's go. Thanks, James.