What Did Gian Sammarco Think of Becoming Adrian Mole?

Piecing together a young actor's thoughts

It’s been coming for many years, but this week was the week I finally watched The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾. Naturally, I adored the series from start to finish, with Adrian’s comically warped, yet steadfast conviction in the validity of his thoughts and beliefs resonating strongly with my teen experiences. Sammarco captured this phase of male adolescence perfectly, and he delivered a performance which was well above the average child star of the mid-1980s.

I can’t really see any point in dissecting the programme with a review, as it’s already been pored over by countless commentators over the years. And, of course, I haven’t watched the follow-up The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, but you can rest assured I’m looking forward to that. So, instead, I decided to take a look back and see what I could find out about Gian Sammarco’s thoughts and insights, at the time of the series, of becoming such an infamous literary character.

The first mention of a TV adaptation of the inner workings of Adrian Mole, who had originally started life as Nigel Mole in a 1980 Leicester-only magazine and then a 1982 BBC Radio 4 play, came in March 1984. Thames announced, as part of their £60 million budget for the year, that their children’s department would be producing a dramatisation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾.

Further details of the series emerged in 1984, with news that Sue Townsend would be adapting the text herself and that Peter Sasdy, who had previously worked on The Stone Tape, Out of the Unknown and Minder, would be directing. An actor to inhabit the character of Adrian Mole, however, had not yet been found. Sasdy explained, at the time, that “The book, and its sequel The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, have attracted such a cult following, that it is vital that the casting of Adrian is right. We must cast him before we can begin to consider the other characters.”

Sasdy was hopeful that they would have their Adrian by Christmas, and this was somewhat of a necessity what with the series due to begin an eight-week shoot in March 1985. And, just before Christmas 1984, it was revealed that 14 year old Gian Sammarco, who hailed from Northampton, had been chosen to play the titular character.

Interest in Sammarco grew and the press were keen to find out more about this curious schoolboy, who was attending Kingsthorpe Upper School in Northampton. Sammarco, it turned out, was relatively new to acting, having made his debut as Dame Petunia Periwinkle in the school panto when he was 12, an experience he claimed to enjoy despite the obvious embarrassment. Sammarco classed himself as a shy individual, but he had begun messing around in class and projecting a cranky image - clear signs that he wanted to perform.

And Sammarco appeared to be perfectly placed to step into the shoes of Adrian Mole, as he explained to The Evening Post in January 1985:

“I actually read the book when I was 13 and three quarters and I can relate to a lot of it, particularly when he talks about his spots. I have spots and I hate it. You stand in front of the mirror and squeeze them and they just get worse. So you go around with these big red spots all over your face. I had one come up on my nose especially for this occasion. I don’t think I could live without the opposite sex but I don’t think girls and me mix at all at this age. I can make friends but if I try anything more they just run a mile. I don’t think I’m a cool guy to know.”

He certainly had the Mole lifestyle down to a tee, but where did this confidence come to step in front of the cameras? It was, as Sammarco explained, very much a performance in itself:

“It’s all a sham. Nobody’s ever asked me if I’m insecure, they just think I must be confident because of the way I carry on. I think that’s one of the reasons I act. I don’t just do it for myself but for my parents - I want to make them happy, although they don’t push me - and I wanted to impress my peer group.”

It was certainly a busy time for Sammarco, his TV debut Space Station Milton Keynes aired as part of the Screen Two anthology series in March 1985, and he was also studying for his O-levels, writing experimental fiction and playing music on his Yamaha PS3 keyboard. In terms of his future, Sammarco appeared to have acting as his main focus, quipping that “You think about things like accountancy but after this it would just be so very dull.”

Filming for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ began on 18th March 1985, with the first scenes to be recorded taking place at the Mole family home. Despite, on screen, this appearing to be in Leicester, these scenes were actually filmed in South Harrow. A few weeks later, when filming had relocated to Leicester, Sammarco caught up with the Leicester Mercury to reveal a few insights about his background:

“Most people say I am like him (Adrian Mole), but I would not like to agree with that. He’s horrible, and dishonest with himself and others. (Regarding Pandora) She is under-developed, which is a big miss with boys my age, she is also quite immature! I used to want to be a pathologist, I think Quincy on television inspired me. I come from a very ordinary family (his father works for a local brewery and his mother is a housewife. Mum and dad are pretty pleased about it all.”

Sammarco, it appears, was incredibly comfortable around the time of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ and displayed an articulate nature well beyond his years. It’s telling, of course, that he doesn’t wax lyrical about the art of acting, or truly commit his future to performing. For the rest of the 1980s, Sammarco continued to act, most notably in The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole in 1987 and the so-meta-it-hurts Whizzkid in Doctor Who serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. But, by the start of the 1990s, he had disappeared from our screens.

The Daily Mail tracked Sammarco down in 2001, to coincide with Stephen Mangam’s turn as Mole in Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, to discover that he was now working as a mental health nurse. Sammarco revealed that his time as Adrian Mole had, in fact, been far from ideal:

“I've moved on a lot since filming Adrian Mole. As far as I am concerned, that is something from a different part of my life. I wouldn't wish my experience on my worst enemy. Some teachers made every day miserable for me. They would slag me off in front of my classmates and whenever anything bad was written about me in the papers they would discuss it during lessons.

I actually considered dropping out of school.'I found it hard to relate to people my own age again. I was never immensely popular at school. I had different interests. I couldn't wait to leave. I had problems with being treated like a child at home but being expected to turn on adult behaviour for the public.”

A cautionary tale for young actors then, and also further evidence that the sheen of promotional interviews should always be taken with a pinch of salt. But it doesn’t detract from the brilliance of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾, a series which holds up a mirror to almost all of our teenage selves with unerring accuracy, for which Sue Townsend is rightly applauded. The television series simply wouldn’t have been the same without Sammarco at the helm, and it’s fascinating to go back and hear his contemporary thoughts on the programme.