During the day, hes on set playing The Prodigal for the second season ofNetflixcosmic horror seriesThe Sandman.
So who is The Prodigal?
Millions of keenSandmanfollowers know the answer.
Barry Sloane (centre) in Boys From the BlackstuffBaz Bamigboye/Deadline/Alistair Muir
The others are Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium.
Because The Endless are omnipotent, he adds that they are the yin and the yang.
They are Destruction and Creation.
Tom Sturridge as Dream in The Sandman. Image: Liam Daniel/Netflix.
Laughing, he adds: And Steve Coogan plays Barnabus, my dog.
So its me and Steve having these, just talking to a dog, kind of conversations.
Sturridge and Gwendoline Christie return to lead an ensemble cast.
Filming started in June last year but the shoot was halted due to the SAG dispute.
Its limited run ends there on August 3.
The Bleasdale-Graham show has been an important role for Sloane because its set in his native Liverpool.
Sloane was a babe in arms whenBoys from The Blackstuffwas first broadcast on BBC TV in 1982.
I knew a lot of the characters from this.
So I never felt like it looks onBoys From The Blackstuff.
But when I look at it, when I see pictures, I go, Oh, okay.
I can see it now.
His grandfather was a painter and decorator from the Merseyside suburb of Speke, bordered by Garston.
Theyre like rival places right next to each other, Sloane notes.
So my mom was from Garston and my dad was from Speke.
Its akin to being Catholic or Protestant or Liverpool or Everton [soccer teams], he explains.
Or, Romeo and Juliet.
But they got together and so it was a mishmash, he adds.
Hed visit each set of grandparents in the competing towns and never the twine shall meet.
Everyone sang and performed at family get-togethers, he says.
Nobody did it professionally, but everyone would get up at parties and have a great voice and sing.
Shaking his head, Sloane reconsiders.
There were a lot of performers in my family, they just werent gettingpaidfor it.
But as Sloane grew older he knew that he had to escape.
It was the first time Id been told that I was good at something.
For a long time he resented the artful comment, but hes reconsidered that view now.
At the time I was like, f**k you.
But now I completely understand what he was doing, technically proficient, whatever.
But I was jumping around like Kurt Cobain and smashing guitars and screaming at people.
He played music at a mates house where there were instruments.
Later he took guitar lessons and his father purchased him his first bass guitar when he was 14.
And I didnt get John, but I got to be a part of this Beatles film.
It was Vaughan who introduced the two future rock icons to each other at a community fete.
Ill return to this in a moment.
Also with this business, you need luck as much as talent.
Sloane wasnt instantly able to handpick jobs.
He was almost echoing Yossers Gizza job?!
Turning to his parents for money wasnt in his DNA.
And some jobs were more dangerous than others.
So that was kind of exciting, he says with evident glee.
Much like those portrayed inBlackstuff,it wasnt in his blood to be a slacker.
And the longer Ive gone into my career, you realize that at a certain level everyones got talent.
Everyones talented, but not everybody wants to work with everybody and thats key.
it’s crucial that you be a gentleman along with everything else.
One hundred per cent, he nods.
Sloane played Troy Whitworth, a nasty piece of work.
On Broadway, pool tables were installed.
All the guys shared dressing room quarters.
Sloane understood thatJerusalemrepresented a sublime shop window for his talents.
I made it count.
I got there and I was like, I need to get representation.
I need to get people in to see this.
And then it twigged.
I was like, this is big.
Later he booked TV movie pilotGothamthat starred Megan Ketch and Brian Cox.
It wasnt picked up for series.
So far three have been made and plans for a fourth are being drawn up.
But the people who are making it love what theyre doing and its so collaborative.
But you come back and play one of these scousers and it is kind of like a box ticked.
Then, after a 12 year absence, it returned to the Apollo in 2022.
That was the trick.
Coming back and doing that, that was fascinating.
I wasnt even a father.
Smiling, he clarifies that he was almost a father.
Theres sadness too associated withThe Boys from The Blackstuffbecause the themes it explores are still relevant.
But theres a broken masculinity thats in Yosser.
And that was something about Yosser.
It was like a man in 1982 really didnt have anywhere to turn, anyone to speak to.
And McCartney just wishes that had held him and told him that.
Scot Williams, the shows director, also has connections with Fab Four lore.
Ian Hart played Lennon and Stephen Dorfman was Stuart Sutcliffe.
I remember meeting them all on set.
Sadly, we know what happened with John, but yeah, its a labor of love.
Its been a long time getting it put together.
The long and winding road of Barry Sloanes career has led right back to his Merseyside front door.
