Over The Moon

From Walford to Woking, Shane Richie has left the pub pumps behind to hunt down the Sheriff of Nottingham with his Merry Men. Matthew Williams meets the EastEnders soap star to discuss festive panto fun, country music and his love for life near Reigate

- Matthew Williams

“I TELL you what, I should be the Mayor of Reigate,” laughs Shane Richie, as he relaxes on his bar stool in the lobby of Woking’s New Victoria Theatre.

Having spent the day hard on the Robin Hood panto promo train, the actor, perhaps best known for his character Alfie Moon in EastEnders, has challenged me to ask him something no one else would have thought of – and the topic of his adopted hometown seems to have hit a vein.

“First thing I’d do is pedestrianise the place,” he says, while quickly totting up the details of his political manifesto. “I just think it would take it to another level – can you imagine, a proper café culture with people relaxing outside? We’d obviously have a big music festival in Priory Park too. I love Reigate because it’s still got that village mentality – but it does feel like it’s holding on by its finger tips a little bit, if you get what I mean?”

While he’s quite the man about town in Reigate now-a-days, having helped to instigate annual events such as Reigate On Ice, and he’s no stranger to popping up in local pubs with his band The Prelude, Shane only moved to the area 10 years ago.

“We moved from West London, as my wife Christie was always having to pop back to see her family when I was working in the States. It just made sense to move here,” he says. “I wouldn’t change it for the world and love my trips into town from Lower Kingswood. “It’s also really handy for shows like this, of course” he says, steering the conversation neatly back to the topic at hand.