Brian Beacom

WHEN would you ever think pottery could be sexy?

It could only every happen in Ghost, the story of Sam and Molly, told in the 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg as the spirit medium.

And audiences still can’t quite get enough of the couple who cause cause clay to melt, despite one of them being dead.

Ghost is now a theatre musical, and the pottery wheel action is still very much of the story.

Andy Moss stars as Sam, the banker who uncovers some dodgy trading going on in the accounts section and pays the ultimate price for it.

The Manchester-born actor says the part of the recently departed Sam was too good to pass up.

“When I got the score and the script for Ghost, I thought “Yes, I need to play this part.

“We all know the film, and Patrick Swayze leaves big shoes to fill, but they’ve done a whole new rearrangement of it, cutting out some of the special effects and making it really streamlined and filmic.

“Each scene slides from one to the next seamlessly.”

Andy loves the story of the dead man who contacts his love via a medium (played by Jacqui Dubois) despite the fact his character tends to hover around a lot.

“Sam, my character, unfortunately gets killed quite early on, but it proves love is timeless and goes on no matter what.”

He adds, smiling; “There are all kinds of twists and turns, and so many elements.

“It’s supernatural obviously, and you get the thriller element when Sam comes back to avenge his death.

“Plus there’s the romance (played by Carolyn Maitland) when he’s making sure the love of his life knows he’s still there for her.”

Andy, who has starred in TV dramas Hollyoaks, Doctors and Cutting It, was bitten by the acting bug from a young age.

“A drama scout came into our school when I was 11. I

“ was always a bit of an extrovert, but I hadn’t thought about acting. I wound up with NK Theatre Arts in Manchester for about 12 years. They encouraged me to believe I could do it.”

Andy listened to his parents telling him he needed a back-up plan, just in case.

“I tried to go to real college, studying French and English alongside drama,” he offers, “but I realised pretty quickly the academic side wasn’t for me.”

Andy left Hollyoaks in 2102, having played Rhys Ashworth for seven years, until he perished in the soap’s mini-bus crash disaster.

But he didn’t step back onto the acting carousel straight away.

“After I left Hollyoaks I decided to have a break. I went to India, went travelling, came back and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.

“I thought maybe have a go at directing or something. But then I landed a role on Doctors straightaway, a really nice part.”

But he also had a hankering to try his hand at musical theatre.

“I’d seen a few musicals while I was away, and thought ‘I’ve trained to do this and I’ve never done it - I’d love to try a big production.’”

Yet, he had never sung on the professional stage.

“That’s what I was most nervous about - I said ‘I want as much help as you can give me, whether that’s extra sessions or coming in early to rehearse.’

“I still wasn’t quite finding it, and I was so aware of all these amazing, highly trained people around me.

“Now I’ve amalgamated my band voice and more of a theatre one, and I’m really thrilled to be getting a good response for the songs.”

Andy agree it’s all about bringing truth reality to a performance.

“Yes, I’m trying to find the realism,” he agrees, grinning.

“Even though I’m playing a ghost.”

*Ghost The Musical, The King’s Theatre, March 27 – April 1.