05 Feb 2026
We ask a different figure from the local community to choose 10 questions to answer from a list of 50. This week: actor Vincent Franklin, most recently seen as the Prime Minister in Doctor Who spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea… but also a star of TV shows Cucumber, Twenty-Twelve, Bodyguard, The Office and Happy Valley, and movies Vera Drake, Topsy-Turvy and The Bourne Identity.
Do you ever Google yourself?
I try not to. It’s vain and depressing at the same time. A man called Alan Vincent Franklin was a steward on the Titanic and I remember being stupidly delighted when I’d done enough TV and film to mean it was my name not his that came up first. How sad is that? To think you’ve got one over on some poor bloke who drowned a hundred years ago?
What’s your favourite St Albans pub?
I really like the Lower Red Lion, but after a game of snooker (I’m bad but keen) I like a pint at The Garibaldi.
Do you play any musical instruments?
I was second trombone in Hall Royd Methodists Young Persons Brass Band. I was neither a practicing Methodist nor a competent trombonist. I’ve recently given the trombone away and the world is a better place for it.
Which three people, living or dead, would be your ideal dinner party guests?
Could I just ask Bob Mortimer to come for his tea three times?
What was your first job?
My dad owned The Bronte Cafe in Haworth, when I was a kid. If it was busy I’d wash up and butter bread (not at the same time) from when I was about eight or nine. Later, he had market stalls in Bradford and then Shipley, and I worked on those right through my teenage years and when I was back from university. They were an education!
Were you well behaved at school?
Yeah. I was a joker but I was never a clown, and I wanted to make my teachers laugh just as much as my classmates.
What’s your favourite place to have breakfast in St Albans?
My kitchen. When did going out for breakfast become a thing? I don’t think my parents ever went out for breakfast – even for someone’s birthday! But, if I have to go out, I’d probably head for the George Street Canteen.
What object would you save first if your house was on fire?
I’m getting on a bit now and I’m trying to get rid of stuff. So, in a way, a fire would be doing me a favour. Over the years, we’ve gathered so much clutter – I bet we have 20 cables for charging phones they don’t even make any more. And I worry that if you save just one thing, afterwards you’ll regret your choice – you chose the wrong photo album, you saved a picture painted by one of your kids but not one painted by the other. So, best to let it all burn. No regrets.
What is your most-missed St Albans shop, pub, café or restaurant?
Don’t get me started. We’ve lost all the useful shops and now just have places where you can buy a lifestyle or a cinnamon bun. Oliver Bonas is a place for men to buy a present for their wives that requires only a smidgen more effort than shopping at the petrol station. Thank goodness for Beelex Electrical. Proper shop. What I miss, like all people of a certain age, is Woolworths.
