David Scarboro
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David Timothy Scarboro[1] (February 3, 1968 – April 27, 1988) was a British actor who was best known for portraying Mark Fowler in the popular British soap opera EastEnders.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
David made his acting debut in the television film Good Neighbours in 1984 which also featured future EastEnders star Michelle Collins. The film focused on racism between a white and black man who are neighbours and how eventually they learn to become friends and put aside their differences. After this in 1985 he appeared as an extra in Series 7 of the school drama series Grange Hill which incidentally also once featured Todd Carty who went on to replace him as Mark Fowler in EastEnders.
[edit] EastEnders
From its inception in February 1985 until April of that same year, Scarboro played the part of Mark Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The actor did not respond well to the sudden fame the role brought him, and later became very concerned when the writers decided that the character of Mark should become a racist. David strongly believed in racial equality and was worried that if he played a racist character on television, people might think he was a racist in real life.
Things came to a head one day when the script called for a scene where Mark was to deliver racist abuse to Paul J. Medford's character, Kelvin Carpenter; David firmly refused to play the scene, and it was decided that David should leave the show for a while to give him time to decide what to do next. In December 1985, he returned to the series in a special storyline where Mark was reunited with his parents who had travelled to visit him in Southend-on-Sea where he had settled with an older woman who had children from an earlier relationship. However his return was brief and he never made a permanent return since even though he occasionally appeared for brief stints in 1986 and 1987. Scarboro's last appearance in the series was on Christmas Day, 1987.
[edit] Media intrusion and suicide
Elements of the UK tabloid press reported that Scarboro had been sacked for turning up late for filming and being uncooperative on set, which was untrue. Away from the series Scarboro initiated libel proceedings after several national papers published inaccurate and damaging stories about his private life, but the press continued to pursue him and his family as his mental health deteriorated. The News of the World discovered that Scarboro was in a psychiatric unit, and published photographs of the place. Scarboro subsequently left the unit because he could no longer get the treatment that he needed there, and inaccurate stories about his condition were being published.
He committed suicide in 1988, at just twenty years old, by throwing himself from Beachy Head. His parents subsequently left the country, appalled by the apparent impunity with which the press were able, as they saw it, to "get away with" the destruction of their son.
The role of Mark Fowler was subsequently taken by Todd Carty in 1990 and continued in EastEnders as a regular character until 2003.
[edit] References
- My Brother David, a film presented by David's brother Simon and produced by Roger Tonge for BBC TV
[edit] External links
- Jempson, Mike, Time for a culture change (Word .doc file) -- about the press complaints system in the UK
