Backing into the Spotlight: A Memoir
Michael Whitehall
Nov 2017 · Little, Brown Book Group · Narrated by Michael Whitehall, Hilary Whitehall, and Jack Whitehall
5.0star
4 reviewsreport
headphones
Audiobook
5 hr 34 min
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
Want a 33 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
Read by Michael Whitehall, featuring Jack Whitehall and Hilary Whitehall.
Standing in front of a full-length mirror in my dressing room at ITV studios, waiting to go on to the set of Backchat, I had a brief conversation with my reflection.
'Michael, what the f*** do you think you're doing?'
Theatrical agent Michael Whitehall spent a career pushing others into the spotlight. He had been involved behind the scenes with the careers of many prominent actors, including Colin Firth, Richard Griffiths, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Courtenay, Ian Ogilvy, Judi Dench, Edward Fox, Michael Fassbender, Angela Thorne and Nigel Havers.
But then, much to his surprise, his son Jack becomes a successful comedian and actor and decides that his new comedy partner should be his father. Whitehall Snr. finds himself reluctantly appearing on stage and then television, cast as the archetypal grumpy old man and thrust, in his early seventies, into a whole new career in front of the camera. Minor fame comes at a sedate pace: one of the highlights being a record £300,000 win for charity with Jack on Channel 4's The Million Pound Drop.
In this enchanting memoir Whitehall looks back on his life, from growing up in suburban London in the 1940s and '50s with his saintly father and social climbing-mother, who coined the phrase 'à la carte' to describe people who were posher than she was and whose company she craved, to falling into a career as a successful theatrical agent and producer. As he says, 'Actors can be egotistical, greedy and vain, but they're not half as bad as agents and producers.'
Charming, gossipy and above all very funny, Backing Into The Spotlight is no ordinary show business memoir.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.
Standing in front of a full-length mirror in my dressing room at ITV studios, waiting to go on to the set of Backchat, I had a brief conversation with my reflection.
'Michael, what the f*** do you think you're doing?'
Theatrical agent Michael Whitehall spent a career pushing others into the spotlight. He had been involved behind the scenes with the careers of many prominent actors, including Colin Firth, Richard Griffiths, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Courtenay, Ian Ogilvy, Judi Dench, Edward Fox, Michael Fassbender, Angela Thorne and Nigel Havers.
But then, much to his surprise, his son Jack becomes a successful comedian and actor and decides that his new comedy partner should be his father. Whitehall Snr. finds himself reluctantly appearing on stage and then television, cast as the archetypal grumpy old man and thrust, in his early seventies, into a whole new career in front of the camera. Minor fame comes at a sedate pace: one of the highlights being a record £300,000 win for charity with Jack on Channel 4's The Million Pound Drop.
In this enchanting memoir Whitehall looks back on his life, from growing up in suburban London in the 1940s and '50s with his saintly father and social climbing-mother, who coined the phrase 'à la carte' to describe people who were posher than she was and whose company she craved, to falling into a career as a successful theatrical agent and producer. As he says, 'Actors can be egotistical, greedy and vain, but they're not half as bad as agents and producers.'
Charming, gossipy and above all very funny, Backing Into The Spotlight is no ordinary show business memoir.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.
Ratings and reviews
5.0
4 reviews
T Dim
- Flag inappropriate
November 11, 2022
Excellent, hugely entertaining, a mood fixer!
About the author
Michael Whitehall was a leading theatrical agent and producer whose clients included Nigel Havers, Daniel Day-Lewis, Edward Fox, Michael Fassbender and Colin Firth. He appeared with his son Jack Whitehall on BBC 2's Backchat and more recently with Jack on Travels With My Father for Netflix. His books include Shark Infested Waters and Him & Me with Jack.
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
