Jay Griffiths - Emmerdale actor- National - Friday

0:00I am Jake Griffiths. I play Celia in Emmerdale. Don't boo. Thank you. I'm the baddie. And I was consultant in casualty for quite a while. So lovely to see you at Crosse. I know you're a regular visitor to the show, aren't you? Because you're a dog lover. I am. I have two of my own. A wippet called Ernie and an Italian greyhound called Elsie. And we have furry overlords. Basically furry overlords. I've got furry overlords. That's a great phrase. I am the star. Have you done any formal training with them? Are you good dog owner? I think I am the worst dog owner on the planet. When you say formal, they have good recall Elsie has excellent recall. Ernie, if he sees any wildlife, like fesins or squirrels,

1:01he is immune to recall. But then he's a hound. They know the basics it down stay. Do they do them? Sometimes. So who's in charge? Do you know what I understand? Is it the 30th? Yes. So this morning, I'm in the bathroom at 6am. I am washing my hands and I hear, and I think there's been some dramatic event. I rushed into the sitting room and Elsie is sat down looking at Ernie's under a blanket and needs the staff to lift the blanket so she can get in beside her. Nice. And what do the staff do? They lift the blanket so she can get in beside him. I mean, that is control. How do you walk on your side? The rod I have made gets longer every day. As we've said, you come here every year and you get to have a walk around. You've got any particular areas of the show that you go back to. Discover dogs. Because either there are

2:02a few breeds I had never heard of, but also you get to see everybody else's love. You know, somebody has walked up to that stand because that is the dog of their dreams. May not be mine, but I love watching how that love that they will light up when they see that dog. And it is a joy. And the fact that those people volunteer to sit there for the hours of day for four days with those creatures that get bored out of their skulls, it's just fantastic. And it gives everybody an opportunity to see the realities of owning that particular breed, to talk to people who are experienced, who have immense knowledge about that particular breed, that buying it just because you like the look of it is never enough. Do your research come to discover dogs? Absolutely, perpetuating the idea of good dog ownership, responsible dog ownership, going to people who know what they're talking about is fundamentally important. You've had a

3:04walk round to discover dogs. How many of them would you like to take home with you and any particular breed? Did you know only about 80 percent of them? Yeah, very. Because I have standards. I mean, every time you see, look, there we go. Two beautiful golden retrievers walking past the studio. Yeah, I mean, I'd take those home. Elsie would have a hissy fit. And they'd be back. No, gorgeous. Every time I see a new foundland. Oh, every time you like the new fish, I love a new thing, a burnings, a bourgeoisie, a wolf hound. I'm putting you in a picture of you with all of these dogs, like some mad dog woman who's got hundreds of them. I came across a breed I didn't know much about, which I wanted to speak to a chap yesterday. Is that double A? At A-W-A-K-H. I don't. It looks like a cross between a whip it and a greyhound. Right. It's a sight-hound from North Africa.

4:06Right. It does a dog. Yeah, it's by the tour egg. Right. For hunting. Beautiful, beautiful things. Very aloof, though. And till it's comfortable with you. Couldn't get it in the bag to take it home. And that's why we have security here now people. The other thing is, are you a shopper because even outside of our studio here you can be filling your handbag with stuff, couldn't you? There are so many opportunities to buy stuff for your dogs. I don't know what you mean. Have you got a carry bag on the table? I've got two carry bags, but they're back in the car, so it looks like I haven't bought anything. What do we bought? Oh, goodness gracious. I bought innumerable treats because yeah, I've got two dogs. They got new toys, like they need another toy. They were on sale. What are you supposed to do? And they're adorable and they'll love them. They will eviscerate them, but they'll love them. Lovely. Now, you mentioned not to boo because you're the baddie. Yes. What's it like playing a baddie?

5:11It is immense. You turn off all your empathy, all your sympathy, and you swan about, because she was overly familiar with violence. You could not scare her, because all the bad things you think can happen had already happened to her, so there was nowhere left to go. So she was immune to you getting upset, to you, and she rarely got upset because she would just explain your situation and the facts and give you a choice because you do this, this will happen, and this isn't a discussion. There is no argument. These are your choices entirely up to you, but this will happen, and that makes you very powerful when you simply don't care. To sort of affect how people see you in the street. Oh, people shout at me off of you. Oh, no, it's happened here. What does it say? We don't like you. That's not bad actually.

6:12Okay, compared to what they might have said. Indeed, but they're in public. No people, yes, people have quite strong opinions about Celia, and she heard a lot of people. Yes, and yes, a lot of people. She did very bad things. Okay. Well, maybe the next role you take on, you'll be all lovely and nice. You know, I'll be all Marshmello-y and staffed. From a professional point of view, as an actor, all the baddie roles, the ones that everybody wants, because you can genuinely, in your case, particularly, become something that you're not, because you're a lovely person as well. But I mean, you then go deep into the acting, you know, professionally. It is very interesting what happens to you as a human psychologically when you don't care. That your opinion on anything is simply not valid, only mine, and only what I want matters. What you want is entirely irrelevant, and that is a very lonely

7:16place to exist in, because there is no consideration ever given to anyone ever. And yet, invulnerable, nothing can hurt me. And, God, it was magical. What would be ideal then for you, Jay, would be to be in some sort of program where there are dogs involved, and you could be either a judge or showing, because it's competitive, is showing, isn't it? Yes, yes. But it is competitive, and then you could bring it under the side of you. But what happens if I didn't win? Oh. Silly has access to weapons. I can't see the kind of club sanctioning that one, if I'm on it. Not on a Monday. No, best in show. Silly, the rhymes on the shot go. I think I'll be winning. Yes, that's a split, which is best. Yeah, I don't think we'll be doing that. So what else coming up for you, anything else on the

8:20horizon that you can tell us about? I can't tell you, though. Okay, this is secret. No, but you know, life is lovely. Yeah. And I've got two dogs to go home to. Him indoors has got them. Have you, and I may have been watching on TV, or you've seen some of the things that are going on, so you've got the agility and the fly ball, and we've got the vegans, and all of those things. But last night we had two great winners, Tibetan Mastiff, who was reserved, best in show here last year. Wow, with the whip it. No, the Tibetan Mastiff. Yeah, but the whip it one last year, didn't it? Yes, so the reserved best in show has now won the group, so it goes through to best in show again. She's Sunday, and a corgi, a pemberich corgi, is through as well, which was quite something. So, I love a corgi. It's a nice, it's a lovely dog, it's a lovely dog. My dogs play with a corgi called Olive, and she's a pemberic sure, I think, which might be a cardigan. Gorgeous animals. Gorgeous, I'd have one of those. That'd be coming home. Just finally, before I let you go, if there's anybody listening,

9:25you think, I don't know whether I want to go to Croft's or not. I can see your ramped up to go for this. What would you say to them? How would you say, Croft's is a great day out. Just come. If you have any dogs in your life, come to the mecca of dogs. Come and see, there is so much adoration here, everybody, everybody has the best dog, and that is its beauty. Your dog is fantastic, but my dog is immense, and that's its beauty, and that's its attraction. You just see people loving their dogs. Even in the showroom, actually, especially in the showroom, yes, of course they want to win, but actually, they want to take their pet home, and that's it's just come. You're going to love it. It's a great day out. In fact, one day isn't enough, is it? That's the problem. There are five hot walls now, hall eight as well, so technically six halls. I have walked 11 and a half thousand steps since I've been here.

10:29That's not bad going. It covers the space of about 25 football, which is awesome, isn't it? Croft, it's a man's. Do you come? I'm getting old now, so I'd be profaned gel for my hip when I'm walking around with you. I have no proxy. Don't tell. It's a secret, don't worry. Absolutely marvelous. Lovely. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming in. Are you just here today, or are you going to come on a hound today? Are you going to watch the judging the evening? On the telly. Fair enough. And I love best in show. Oh, sit there. That's going to be a great one this year. It's going to be superb. Oh, thank you so much. Always a pleasure. Thank you very much for coming in. My pleasure.