Danny John-Jules

Danny John-Jules has played the role of Cat and Cat's alter ego Duane Dibbley in the cult science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf since its inception in 1988.

I really didn't have to do that much, it was all written, I mean whatever you saw in episode I was what was written by Doug Naylor. It was just a matter of finding the right language, accent and then what he looked like. The character was every catty character I could think of, I went through a whole list of people that would have been cats: Cab Callowway, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Screaming J Hawkins, Little Richard... there were so many of them.

Richard Pryor was pretty much the rhythm of the Cat's character, facial expressions and his rhythm of talking. I just took the best of all of them.

My favourite Cat outfit is always going to be the original pink suit and that's really what started the ball rolling which was an exact copy of the suit I wore to the audition but in salmon pink. When we starting doing the shows following that, it was all about trying to out do the pink suit and Howard has been trying to get me to say "I'm not wearing that" and he's been trying for about twenty years and he's yet to make it. There's nothing that he has put in front of me that I have refused to wear. That's why they keep getting more and more outrageous... he's not going to beat me, I'll go out in a skin diving suit with the bottom cut out.

He also starred in the children's spy series M.I.High and played Barrington in the children's series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men.

In 2016 John-Jules Directed his short film Bucky... about a five year old boy who stopped speaking after the death of his father and who has just moved with his family to a new neighbourhood. In an effort to build new friendships and find joy once more he has to bring a toy gun to the park so as to join in all the fun and games with the other children who frequent there. A series of spontaneous events brings the much wanted gun into the hands of Bucky but unbeknown to him it's no toy.

It is a film I have been meaning to make for about six years. When I was fourteen I made a film called Seven Green Bottles which showed how seven kids fall from grace one by one. I thought what if we had to make that film today, what kind of film would it be and what sort of crimes would be occurring in todays youth.

Filming Bucky was an experience and a half, I had to shoot 20 minutes in 3 days including night shoots with a 6 year old star. Now anyone who works with children, will know it's a nightmare when you've got millions of pounds behind you... but when you've got no money behind you - it's a nightmare.

Danny also played policeman Dwayne Myers in the BBC TV Series Death in Paradise from it's start until 2018.

In addition to his acting career, he has made various appearances both as a dancer and a singer. In 2018, he was one of the celebrity contestants on Strictly Come Dancing.

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