Straight Outta Dartford- Mackenzie Crook

Find out more about Dartford raised Actor Mackenzie Crook

STRAIGHT outta DARTFORD

BY SHANNON RANDALL

Born in Maidstone and brought up in Dartford, Mackenzie Crook is the next subject for Straight Outta Dartford! Mackenzie Crook is a fairly media shy public figure with no social media presence and not an awful lot of exposure with online articles and posts. This lack of media presence is made up for tenfold by his extensive and wellloved work. Acting, voice acting, theatre acting, directing, painting, music-video directing, writing... Name a creative profession and Crook is sure to have some experience in it!

Lovers of fantasy have endless Crook content with his characters in films and series such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Merlin, Game of Thrones and comedy fanatics have shows like The Office or his BAFTA winning show The Detectorists. What I find most endearing and inspiring about Crook is his pure passion and love for what he does. According to an article from the Radio Times -linked below in references- Crook turned down the next Pirates of the Carribean film to continue with his much loved series The Detectorists. On top of that he stood his ground when it came to creating a new season for it, stating that he thinks the last season ended the story perfectly. With the ever growing trend of stretching out series until their seasons reach double figures, it is refreshing to see someone dig their heels in and put the art form above the monetary rewards. Mackenzie Crook is inspiring because the work he releases is one he truly cares about and is a representation of himself. As luck would have it, my stepdad Neil Garner went to school with Mackenzie Crook which led me to believe that a good way to end this piece would be to ask him a couple of questions about pre-fame Crook. Q: What was Mackenzie Crook like when you knew him back at school? Neil: I remember Mackenzie -who at school was called Paul- being a very quiet person. Remember him keeping himself to himself but at lunchtime he and a few friends would put on comedy sketches/skits against the wall in the playground and they’d get a decent crowd. These were a regular thing and very popular. Q: Were you surprised to see the direction his career went in or did everyone expect him to end up in some form of creative industry? Neil: I guess in hindsight with those lunch time shows we should have known he had an amazing career ahead of him. I remember seeing him many years ago in the old Paper Moon pub in Dartford, but I didn’t speak to him as he was with a few friends. I assumed so far his ambitions hadn’t taken off but when I went home to my parents house and turned on the tv, there he was on Channel 4’s ‘The Eleven O’Clock Show staring alongside Iain Lee and some bloke called Ricky Gervais. Not sure what ever became of him! His career has been amazing and well deserved through his sheer hard work and determination. It’s fantastic to see one of the good guys do so well.