New Let's Play: A blog by Sid

 Hi Sid! So what have you been up to since you left the CBeebies house last year? 

Since leaving the CBeebies House I have been dreaming up ways of engaging some of our younger generation through theatre and performance and discussing the possibility of launching an empowerment programme for the development of kids, particularly under-privileged children from a disadvantaged background. 

I have been supporting a few charitable endeavours, one of which will see me dancing Latin Style in a Strictly Come Dancing style competition later in June. One in which last year I was a judge alongside Zoe Ball, so this time I am putting on the slippery soles and looking forward to busting my moves.

 I’ve become a bit of a Yoga fan so it’s been great to tap into that more regularly. Since I no longer make the regular weekly trip up north from the southern seaside, I’ve set up a theatre company , I’m growing my hair, I’ve been cycling around on my bicycle as my main mode of transport, going to art galleries, playing football, visiting museums, helping my son prepare for his exams, that sort of thing. Mostly I have been touring the UK with a theatre show and also performing with Andy at a few festivals and events.

How was it hooking up with Rebecca again for the new series of Let's Play?

Well Rebecca is a joy to work with and surprisingly we’ve not seen too much of each other since the first series. So right now were making up for it, 12 hours a day! Do you think we might be a little co-dependant? Its great working with her, she is always beavering away with characters and voices that she will create. I basically steal her ideas and pretend I’ve made them up myself; it’s so easy to work with someone like that. Seriously though, it’s like we never had a two year gap between filming. I hope they don’t leave it that long before series 3, and I hope there is a series 3! It will all depend on how much everyone loves this next batch of comedy capers.

So what can we look forward to in this series?

This series has been very exciting as we have been having snippets of crash courses in all kinds of things; ballroom dancing, (learning the Mambo, Fox-trot, Tango and Waltz!), clowning- slapstick routines, opera singing and later on I will be having drum lessons, all of which gets put to good use. My Favourite so far is between Painter and Decorator (I actually used to be one!) And opera singing (I am never going to be one!). For me the biggest fun is coming up with the character accents and mannerisms oh - and I must give a special mention to 'Artist' as an episode and 'Tennis Player' where I have some fantastic fun being a Caribbean Tennis coach and an Irish wardrobe master – watch out for those!

You had some pretty awesome outfits in series one! Are there any special ones we should be looking out for this time around?

As for the outfits, I’m loving the random ones that don’t seem right. Even though Suzie in wardrobe and Lisa and Colette in make-up with their array of wild wigs and moustaches produce amazing looks in world record time to keep the studios in recording mode, sometimes I can see other possibilities for their creations, like the umpire in tennis, could be a school boy. My favourite is Boris Blueburger the art critic where the wardrobe, make-up and script teams really excelled themselves - they are always in tune and this combination hit the high note!

There is a brilliant judge's outfit which made me feel ultra-important and definitely up for auditioning to play a part in 'Silk', oh and Captain Mack in 'Pirates'. Who doesn’t love a pirate outfit?

What do you most enjoy about doing Let's Play?

The best thing about Let's Play is a coin toss between dressing up and playing so many fantastic, over the top, terribly-accented characters and being on the adventure watching Rebecca playing the characters whilst sharing that adventure with the viewers.