The Dave Haslam ‘Creative Journeys’ Panel on 24 Oct 2026

It was in early September that something popped up on the socials announcing John Simm was going to appear as one of the panel guests for Dave Haslam’s new book launch Creative Journeys as part of the Manchester Literature Festival. And I thought: Manchester. Hm. That’s not that far. Let’s look into flights and accommodation.

When I found that it was definitely doable, it didn’t take much for me to actually pull the trigger, though I will say that I deliberated a bit on the flight times because, really, I’m very much not a morning person, and getting up at 4 to catch a 7:25 am flight is about as low on my list of things to voluntarily put myself through as it gets. But hey, you only live once, right? And it’s a rare opportunity to see John Simm live on stage. So I went.

Little did I know that storms Austen and Boelo would move across Europe at exactly that weekend, which obviously wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t let that deter me. Apparently the airlines didn’t let that deter them either, so bleary-eyed and bushy-tailed I arrived around 8 am local time in Manchester on Saturday morning and was greeted, not surprisingly, with murky grey skies and steady rainfall.

Dropping off my luggage at the hotel, I set out to explore Manchester for the rest of the day. A welcome opportunity since I had previously only ever seen its airport and had been told it’s actually a really interesting city to look at. In my Gore-Tex shoes, puffy jacket and raincoat, I was dead set on the weather not ruining my mood, so I grabbed my camera and started roaming.

My path first took me to Castlefield, passing the Industry & Science Museum and the Albert Hall on the way. I noticed the sign listing a gig for The Coral who had played a concert there the night before, and I thought, oh hey, here’s another John Simm connection. (Turns out he was actually at the concert. Why am I not surprised?)

This part of Manchester really showcases the eclectic mix of old and new you see all over the city – with its old, red-bricked buildings, mostly from the Victorian period that are often juxtaposed with modern glass-front structures all around them, creating a stark contrast that gives the city a certain flair. Manchester looks back on a rich history of industry and trade, and there are many landmarks that still tell that tale today.

The Bridgewater Canal snakes its way through Castlefield, creating an almost idyllic flair with narrowboats moored on either side that personally reminded me of Banbury where my best friend used to live for the better part of her adult life and I’ve been to many, many times. (As a city honestly not worth seeing quite as much as Manchester. Or many other British cities, as it were.)

A growling stomach had me stop at a café near the John Rylands Library (also an impressive neo-gothic landmark) before I made my way to the Manchester Art Gallery. Escaping the rain for a bit, I strolled through the exhibitions that were separated by themes, with somehow just as eclectic a mix of art styles from different periods, but a fantastic creative journey in itself.

My last destination was New Islington to walk along the Ashton Canal tow path. I made it all the way up to Etihad Stadium, but the rain and wind had really ticked up a notch and it was becoming increasingly difficult to take photos. So by the time the wetness started to seep into my shoes, I figured it was time to call it a day.

Full photo gallery here

I really should have done the sensible thing and taken the tram back into the city, yet I’m stubborn and somehow misguidedly thought the rain might lessen a bit if I kept going. But of course this is Britain and we had a storm rolling in. Literally dripping wet, I stumbled into an eatery where I tried to warm up with a cup of cappuccino and a hot meal before I made it back to the hotel. By then, I was desperate for a room so I could change into dry clothes and get myself sorted for the actual event that had drawn me to Manchester in the first place.

A while later, in a fresh set of garments that included my Gray Wright music label logo hoodie that I had nerdily fabric-painted (not only) for the occasion, I set off towards HOME. Unfortunately, the storm had really picked up by now, so the 10 minute walk to the venue was another exercise in stubbornness that had me soaking wet for the second time that day. So much for changing into dry clothes…

But there were more exciting things to focus on than soggy jeans and damp socks, so I found my way to the auditorium where they had set up an armchair and a couch up on the stage. I was in row three with maybe ten yards between me and the panellists. Perfect! The room soon began to fill, and it wasn’t long until author Dave Haslam appeared on stage and started introducing himself and his new book.

I should preface this by adding that the project manager in me couldn’t fathom going in unprepared, and so I had e-mailed Dave prior to the event to ask if there would be an opportunity to speak to the panel guests after the event and that I was flying over from Germany for the whole thing. (He was very kind to answer with something along the lines of, “I dunno but maybe, so hope for the best!”) I wanted to vanish somewhere under my seat when Dave announced in front of everybody that one person from Dublin had made it a day trip to come over just for the event, and there was even someone from Germany who had flown in “to gaze at John Simm for an hour”. Gee thanks, Dave. Lol

The way the panel was set up was that Dave interviewed each of the three guests individually for 20 minutes, and at the end there were some questions for all of them. John was the first guest he invited to come to the stage, so we were treated with 20 minutes of him talking about his career and what influenced and shaped it and watching him react to the subsequent interviews with Stephen Morris (drummer of Joy Division/New Order) and Julie Campbell (musician and artist LoneLady).

Pardon me for this probably not being an exact recounting of everything that was said since I only have my memory to go by, but I’ll give you my account what I can remember from the conversation between Dave and John, some of which the avid John Simm fans among you will already know since he’s mentioned the odd thing here and there in interviews over the years.

  • Dave mentioned that John had recently wrapped filming series 7 of Grace. They briefly spoke about the role of Roy Grace – a detective with a troubled past. And troubled he has to be, because as per John, characters need to be troubled in order to be interesting. Series 7 is slated to air on ITV in spring 2027, probably around April.
  • What’s next for John, Dave asked. John’s answer: Blackbird, the two-hander stage play that will run from February into March at the Theatre Royal in Bath next year. (Book tickets here.) Rehearsals start in January.
  • The conversation then went back in time to John’s early career. The Lakes was dropped into the mix, but John explained that it was really his episode of Cracker that got him a foot in the door with writers Jimmy McGovern and Paul Abbott and that led to him being cast as the lead in The Lakes.
  • Dave asked if John prefers stage or TV work, and John definitely favours being on stage. His education in drama school was all focused on stage performance, so when he started being cast in television productions in the early 90s, he had to learn everything about camera work on the fly.
  • Dave referred to John being on an episode of DNA Journey with Phil Glenister in 2025 where it was revealed that John’s late father Ronald wasn’t his biological father. John said it was quite a shocking thing to learn at the time, but that he looks back on it positively because it hasn’t changed anything for him and that it was a certain kind of vindication because he always felt a bit different in a way that he can’t explain.
  • John recounted that he used to tour working men’s clubs with his dad when he was a teenager. They were a music band double act with John playing the guitar and they did this on the weekends for many years. John felt very uncomfortable being himself on stage, but that at some point he discovered that it’s a whole different thing when he can embody a character. He called it “armour” he can hide behind.
  • John’s career started young when he first went to a musical theatre college in Blackpool, but he discovered that he didn’t actually want to do musical theatre, so he moved to London and went to drama school there. It wasn’t very glamorous. Living in cheap bedsits and trying to scrounge up enough money.
  • Of course the film 24 Hour Party People came up, seeing how John played Joy Division/New Order guitarist Bernard Sumner in it and we now had drummer Stephen Morris here as well. John remembered that when the film was in development, he spoke to director Michael Winterbottom and asked to be a part of it, and then they subsequently tried to figure out who he would be able to visually believably represent in the film. Being cast as Sumner was the first time that John played an actual real person. (He didn’t meet the real Bernard Sumner until after they finished shooting the film.)
  • Dave asked if John has any aspirations to direct. John said that he wanted to, back when they were shooting Life On Mars and they were in talks for him to do it, but they realised that, with him basically having to be present in every single scene, it wouldn’t work and so the idea was dismissed. He was also considering directing on Grace but that hasn’t come to fruition either.
  • What with this being a panel of all northerners, the conversation at some stage touched on accents and whether John had to work on losing his accent when he moved to London. John said that he didn’t actually want to because at the time it was considered cool to be from up north. He hopes that, to this day, he has managed to hang on to his northern roots, accent-wise. (Yes, John, you have.)
  • When discussing stage work, Dave mentioned that John has already done Hamlet and Macbeth, so would King Lear be next? They joked about appropriate age and the conversation veered towards David Threlfall who is currently portraying King Lear on stage in Manchester and the massive beard that he grew. John compared it to Dumbledore and remarked that David actually ended up trimming it a bit for the role because you couldn’t be a believable King Lear with a Dumbledore beard.
  • Dave inquired with John whether and how fatherhood changed his life and his career. John said that, yes, it changed everything because suddenly you’re not number one anymore and your priorities shift quite drastically. After his children were born, he found it really hard to work on productions where he’d have to be away from home for weeks or months on end because he was missing out on seeing his children grow up. It was one of the reasons that John turned down a series 3 of Life On Mars.
  • Towards the end, Dave asked all of the guests if they could think of one career-defining moment in their lives, and the one that John retold was the story of how he had seen Rebel Without A Cause with James Dean when he was young, which had really impressed him. He wasn’t in drama class at the time but mentioned to the drama teacher at his school in a hallway conversation that the film had really resonated with him. The teacher could have been really flippant and dismissed it, but he engaged with John and asked him if he wanted to join drama class. And that might have been a pivotal moment where, if that offer hadn’t been made, John might not actually have gone into acting.

Dave eventually wrapped it all up and thanked all the guests and the people in the audience for coming out despite the storm. I had been hoping there’d be an audience Q&A at the end, because I had a creative process question related to I, Jack Wright all prepared, but alas that question will now have to live rent-free and unanswered in my head.

Afterwards Dave was available to sign his new book with Stephen and Julie joining him at the table, so I made my way into the foyer to see whether there might be a chance to catch John somewhere. And luck was on my side, since a few minutes later, I spotted him ambling over to the bar area in the foyer where he was getting a glass of wine to sit down with some friends. Which was a bit of a predicament, because I’m not the type to want to intrude on an actor’s private time, but this was kind of a ‘now or never’ situation, so I seized the day (or the night) and made it over there to ask for two minutes of his time, outing myself as the person who had flown over from Germany just to see him.

He was very appreciative of me making the trip and we had a brief conversation about my The Lakes location comparison photos (Part 1 – Part 2) that I knew he’d seen on Instagram. He very kindly signed my DVD covers for Crime and Punishment and The Village, which I told him was my favourite thing he’s done. Well aware that I had more than exceeded the two minutes I asked for, I bid my adieu, and before we parted, he gave me the most gracious thank you. And then I went on my merry way to let him hang out with his friends – or, well, I guess the handful of people who wanted a selfie with him.

You may ask where my own selfie with him is. And the answer is simple: There isn’t one. A shortcoming, you may think? Nah. We had a lovely albeit short conversation, and I couldn’t wish for a better way to round off a very memorable evening as part of a very memorable excursion to Manchester.

Unfortunately, my eternally capricious histamine levels paid for the sugary alcoholic drink I indulged in after the meeting and I probably didn’t catch more than four hours of sleep that night before heading back out on a delayed and very bumpy flight to Germany the next morning. Yet, I can say absolutely no regrets. The trip was definitely worth losing sleep over!

Lastly, a big thank you to Dave Haslam and all the panellists for a most entertaining evening with very interesting stories! It was a real treat.