Interview with Phil Davis
Phil Davis plays the role of chemist shop owner Ray in Help Me if You Can. Ray is struggling to cope after the death of his wife and turns to the bottle, potentially putting his customers’ lives in danger when he begins to rely more and more on Valerie who – unbeknown to him – is not a confident reader.
“People who have problems in that area and watch this might decide to get help. Everybody can get help, people can learn to read.”
Phil Davis first shot to fame in the cult film Quadrophenia. Since then he's appeared in huge range of TV dramas and films including a BAFTA-nominated performance in Vera Drake. Recent television credits include the hit drama series Whitechapel.
Phil was inspired to take the role of Ray because of the quality of writing but also because of the adult literacy theme. He says: “I liked the script and I liked the character and I just thought that it’s a nice little piece of writing. And obviously people with those kinds of difficulties need help and it encourages people who have problems in those areas to get help.
“Working in a chemist and not being able to read properly is a recipe for disaster. I don’t know that Ray knows much about how it affects everybody else but he knows how if affects Valerie. Obviously, working in a pharmacy, she’s giving out medicine to people and if she can’t read properly then there could be a problem. One of the people that pick up from the chemist is diabetic. They pick up their insulin and it looks for a moment as if they’ve been given something that they shouldn’t - that’s when Valerie owns up to her problems with literacy. She realises that she’s got to address the problem and he (Ray) says that he will help her and hold open the job for her.”
Like Ray did with Valerie, Phil hopes the drama will inspires others to seek help.
“People who have problems in that area and watch this might decide to get help. Everybody can get help, people can learn to read. Quite often people grow up having literacy problems but they’re not stupid. There are other issues and other problems in their life stopping them. There are other areas of their lives where they operate very efficiently and we just need to learn to address the problem.”
