STEVEN DUFFY
From a simple psycho in Small Faces to a complex clerk in Channel 4's new sitcom Slap!, STEVEN DUFFY is a lad of many parts.
Words: Peter Ross
18 THE [181' 6—19 Mar 1998
WHEN THE KNIFE goes in, the boy crumples to the ice. Two men drag his body from the rink. Seen from above, his lifeblood leaves a scarlet scar on the cold. white surface. As iconic film images go, this scene from Small Faces, Gillies Mackinnon’s tale of Glasgow’s 60s gangland, is a modern classic. Steven Duffy plays backward hard-nut Bobby Maclean who skates to a sticky end. For some reason, the 28-year-old actor from Kilwinning tends to play characters who come to no good. As Bobby Caryle’s buddy Thingme in recent high—profile Beeb skag saga Looking After Jo Jo ends up smack sick; playing Luke Kennedy in Tartan Short Initiation he
gets his balls cemented in a
male bonding ritual; and, as
mentioned. in Small Faces he slips up with a Torvill and Dean meet Psycho routine. But that’s all set to change. In saucy new seven-part sitcom Slap.’ — Love. Lies And
St eve n
Lipstick, Duffy stars as Dan, a lovelorn bank clerk in Manchester, whose only ache is in his heart. He and Sheryl, a make-up counter assistant, fall for each other big-style, but spin a complex web of lies. He reckons he’s bagged an actress, and despite his hapless ball-skills. she thinks he plays for Man Utd.