Post by admin1 on May 4, 2013 7:07:23 GMT
He had females all a-flutter as one of classical group Blake - now Jules Knight's about to set pulses racing as Holby City's dashing new doctor
By DAVID WIGG
As one quarter of the hugely successful classical vocal harmony group Blake – and the heartthrob quarter at that – the past six years have been an exotic whirlwind of world tours, glittering society singing dates and plenty of female attention for Jules Knight.
Since they won a Brit Award for their first album, released in 2007, the group have gone on to sell more than 500,000 albums, tour with Katherine Jenkins and sing for the Queen and Dame Shirley Bassey.
But for Jules, their fourth album Start Over, released earlier this spring, is his swansong – he’s quit the group for the comparatively humdrum life of a jobbing actor and will make his debut in BBC1’s hospital drama Holby City later this month.
‘I’ve been leading a wonderfully peripatetic life, but it’s time to settle down,’ says the 31-year-old, who trained to be an actor before Blake was formed.
‘It’s been impossible to have any kind of relationship because I’ve never been in one place long enough, so the answer was to change my career – and have a complete change of lifestyle. I know many guys envied my position with a successful group, but it’s difficult to even contemplate a relationship when you’re travelling all the time.
‘Yes, there’s been a lot of female attention being in Blake, some of it unwanted because there are some quite strange people out there and their behaviour has verged on being stalker-ish. I’ve even had to call in the police when it’s got out of hand. It’s a downside of what should have been, and usually was, a fantastic lifestyle.’
Although it was a lifestyle that led to the group moving in the highest of society circles, rubbing shoulders with royalty was nothing new to Jules.
He lived virtually next door to Prince William and Kate Middleton when they were all at St Andrews University together. Ollie Baines, his Blake bandmate and old friend from their days as Winchester Cathedral choristers, used to visit him from Cambridge where he was studying, and the pair became good friends with William and Kate, who had just started dating.
Jules even helped William choose his motorcycle leathers. ‘Kate was sweet and unassuming, and Will was always generous but never flashy,’ he recalls.
‘We watched them become very close, and in the back of our minds I’m sure there was a thought that they would get married at some stage. But of course, we were so young then no one was really thinking about settling down. They were obviously extremely well suited and we hoped they’d stay together, and they have.’
Unfortunately that can no longer be said of Blake, who have decided not to look for a replacement for Jules. He acknowledges that the other members – Ollie, Humphrey Berney and Stephen Bowman – were shocked when he told them last August he wanted to quit.
‘Last year we performed in China, America, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, and finally arrived home on Christmas Day. It was exhausting, and because the others knew I was leaving there were tensions.
'When you’ve spent six years together and been very close, probably closer than brothers, it can seem like a betrayal when someone decides to go. Only time can heal that. But I’m leaving without any bitterness. They’ve all wished me well.’
With his actor’s training, Jules has auditioned for various roles over the years but whenever he was offered a part he had to turn it down because of the group’s engagements.
‘But once I’d decided to leave Blake, I was free to plan ahead. This regular part in Holby City came up and it seemed perfect for me.’ However, it was no walkover. It took two and a half months to choose him from a list of several hundred other actors hoping to play handsome but arrogant Dr Harry Tressler.
‘He’s a young doctor and potentially quite difficult, but very talented, which is his saving grace really. He’s charming with a good bedside manner, but he’s manipulative – especially with women. He likes to play games... there may be an element of me there!’
Indeed, the nurses on set have already nicknamed Jules Dr Love, and he predicts the show’s five million viewers will be split between loving him and hating him, which he thinks will be fun. There are plenty of larks at work too.
‘Guy Henry, who plays hospital boss Hanssen, is hilarious. His character’s very serious, but in real life Guy has the naughtiest sense of humour. He walked into a shot with one shoe on the other day – it was so absurd we all fell about laughing.’
The only downside, he says, is having to be up at 5am for a day’s filming at Elstree Studios. ‘With Blake there was very little routine, so we rarely had to get up early. But at least I have my weekends back now, and instead of being in Birmingham or Barnstaple on a Friday night for a concert I get to see friends in London. And it’s so nice to sleep in my own bed in my own flat after all the hotels.’
A good night’s sleep was something Jules could only dream of when he was boarding at the Pilgrims school in Winchester because he suffered from a condition called night terrors. For half an hour, sometimes longer, he’d be shaking, crying, even screaming, but not know anything about it, as if he was in a trance.
‘I’d wake everyone up, although I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. I’d be taken outside to calm down. Matron would give me a mug of hot chocolate, but I’d just sit there and cry.’
Although the attacks decreased as he grew up, once while he was sharing a flat with bandmate Stephen, Jules was found in a trance-like state dangerously poised on their balcony, and had to be ushered back to bed without being woken. ‘I seem to be OK now, I haven’t had any nightmares for a long time,’ he says.
Even though he’s moving into acting Jules isn’t turning his back on music for good and has already recorded two songs for a proposed new musical of The Picture Of Dorian Gray. ‘I’m pretty ambitious. I’m single at the moment, but I’ve taken a first step towards a normal lifestyle, which one day I hope to enjoy with a family of my own.’
Jules debuts in Holby City on Tuesday 14 May, 8pm, BBC1. Blake’s latest album Start Over is out now.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2318347/Jules-Knights-set-pulses-racing-Holby-Citys-dashing-new-doctor.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
By DAVID WIGG
As one quarter of the hugely successful classical vocal harmony group Blake – and the heartthrob quarter at that – the past six years have been an exotic whirlwind of world tours, glittering society singing dates and plenty of female attention for Jules Knight.
Since they won a Brit Award for their first album, released in 2007, the group have gone on to sell more than 500,000 albums, tour with Katherine Jenkins and sing for the Queen and Dame Shirley Bassey.
But for Jules, their fourth album Start Over, released earlier this spring, is his swansong – he’s quit the group for the comparatively humdrum life of a jobbing actor and will make his debut in BBC1’s hospital drama Holby City later this month.
‘I’ve been leading a wonderfully peripatetic life, but it’s time to settle down,’ says the 31-year-old, who trained to be an actor before Blake was formed.
‘It’s been impossible to have any kind of relationship because I’ve never been in one place long enough, so the answer was to change my career – and have a complete change of lifestyle. I know many guys envied my position with a successful group, but it’s difficult to even contemplate a relationship when you’re travelling all the time.
‘Yes, there’s been a lot of female attention being in Blake, some of it unwanted because there are some quite strange people out there and their behaviour has verged on being stalker-ish. I’ve even had to call in the police when it’s got out of hand. It’s a downside of what should have been, and usually was, a fantastic lifestyle.’
Although it was a lifestyle that led to the group moving in the highest of society circles, rubbing shoulders with royalty was nothing new to Jules.
He lived virtually next door to Prince William and Kate Middleton when they were all at St Andrews University together. Ollie Baines, his Blake bandmate and old friend from their days as Winchester Cathedral choristers, used to visit him from Cambridge where he was studying, and the pair became good friends with William and Kate, who had just started dating.
Jules even helped William choose his motorcycle leathers. ‘Kate was sweet and unassuming, and Will was always generous but never flashy,’ he recalls.
‘We watched them become very close, and in the back of our minds I’m sure there was a thought that they would get married at some stage. But of course, we were so young then no one was really thinking about settling down. They were obviously extremely well suited and we hoped they’d stay together, and they have.’
Unfortunately that can no longer be said of Blake, who have decided not to look for a replacement for Jules. He acknowledges that the other members – Ollie, Humphrey Berney and Stephen Bowman – were shocked when he told them last August he wanted to quit.
‘Last year we performed in China, America, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, and finally arrived home on Christmas Day. It was exhausting, and because the others knew I was leaving there were tensions.
'When you’ve spent six years together and been very close, probably closer than brothers, it can seem like a betrayal when someone decides to go. Only time can heal that. But I’m leaving without any bitterness. They’ve all wished me well.’
With his actor’s training, Jules has auditioned for various roles over the years but whenever he was offered a part he had to turn it down because of the group’s engagements.
‘But once I’d decided to leave Blake, I was free to plan ahead. This regular part in Holby City came up and it seemed perfect for me.’ However, it was no walkover. It took two and a half months to choose him from a list of several hundred other actors hoping to play handsome but arrogant Dr Harry Tressler.
‘He’s a young doctor and potentially quite difficult, but very talented, which is his saving grace really. He’s charming with a good bedside manner, but he’s manipulative – especially with women. He likes to play games... there may be an element of me there!’
Indeed, the nurses on set have already nicknamed Jules Dr Love, and he predicts the show’s five million viewers will be split between loving him and hating him, which he thinks will be fun. There are plenty of larks at work too.
‘Guy Henry, who plays hospital boss Hanssen, is hilarious. His character’s very serious, but in real life Guy has the naughtiest sense of humour. He walked into a shot with one shoe on the other day – it was so absurd we all fell about laughing.’
The only downside, he says, is having to be up at 5am for a day’s filming at Elstree Studios. ‘With Blake there was very little routine, so we rarely had to get up early. But at least I have my weekends back now, and instead of being in Birmingham or Barnstaple on a Friday night for a concert I get to see friends in London. And it’s so nice to sleep in my own bed in my own flat after all the hotels.’
A good night’s sleep was something Jules could only dream of when he was boarding at the Pilgrims school in Winchester because he suffered from a condition called night terrors. For half an hour, sometimes longer, he’d be shaking, crying, even screaming, but not know anything about it, as if he was in a trance.
‘I’d wake everyone up, although I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. I’d be taken outside to calm down. Matron would give me a mug of hot chocolate, but I’d just sit there and cry.’
Although the attacks decreased as he grew up, once while he was sharing a flat with bandmate Stephen, Jules was found in a trance-like state dangerously poised on their balcony, and had to be ushered back to bed without being woken. ‘I seem to be OK now, I haven’t had any nightmares for a long time,’ he says.
Even though he’s moving into acting Jules isn’t turning his back on music for good and has already recorded two songs for a proposed new musical of The Picture Of Dorian Gray. ‘I’m pretty ambitious. I’m single at the moment, but I’ve taken a first step towards a normal lifestyle, which one day I hope to enjoy with a family of my own.’
Jules debuts in Holby City on Tuesday 14 May, 8pm, BBC1. Blake’s latest album Start Over is out now.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2318347/Jules-Knights-set-pulses-racing-Holby-Citys-dashing-new-doctor.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
