Cliff Parisi and Ricky Groves on recreating the chemistry of Minty and Garry on EastEnders - "I don't think it ever went away"
EastEnders celebrates its 40th anniversary in February 2025 and the show's gearing up to celebrate its big birthday in style.
EastEnders 40th Anniversary - Everything you need to know
Interview with Ricky Groves
How does it feel to be back, especially to celebrate the 40th anniversary of EastEnders?
A privilege. An absolute privilege. It was a lovely day. It felt weird because I hadn't been there for fourteen years so it was great to see my old buddies. It was great to meet some of the newer cast. Only wish I was there for more.
What do you make of where Garry is now? Did you expect he'd be living in Minty's spare room?
I don't know where they came up with that idea but we were always a double act towards the end. We always said that EastEnders is a bit like Shakespeare. You have your comedy characters, tragedy characters and you have your love characters and your revenge characters. You have got all those things to play around with. Gary and Minty were the Laurel and Hardy of the 2000s.
Do you enjoy working with Cliff again? Was the chemistry of Minty and Garry easy to recreate?
It was because I don't think it ever went away. We still keep in touch and it came very naturally. We worked together for such a long time, so it's kind of like putting on a pair of old shoes. It was great, it the chemistry came back within minutes.
Cliff Parisi
After almost 15 years away, how did it feel to step back into Walford once again to reprise the iconic role of Minty?
It was great fun, I really enjoyed it. It was like going back to an old house that you used to live in but the furniture has been moved around a bit.
Had much changed since you left, or was it still largely the same?
It was pretty much the same. Lots of new faces which was nice. I met quite a lot of the new guys there. I was only there for the day so I didn't get to meet everyone. What I love about the show is the collaboration that you can have there. We had Jamie [Annett] directing who I have worked with a lot in the past. He is really playful and if you have got ideas, he will listen to them and will try to get them in so, it was great!
What was it like to reunite with Ricky Groves as well as your former cast mates?
Ricky is great fun and he really made me laugh on the day that we were filming. He just has these faces that he pulls as his character is always in shock about something and it really makes me laugh [Laughs]. It was lovely to work with him again, and Perry, and all the others including Shane. It was really nice and it felt like going home. It was a bit like being away for a very, very long time and living abroad and then coming back and going into your local pub. Few familiar old faces around really lovely to see everyone and work with them again. I really enjoyed it.
CT
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