Vincent Warren Franklin is an English actor best known for his roles in comedy television programmes. Recent roles include Henry Best in Cucumber and Banana, PR guru Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It, and blunt manager Nick Jowitt in Twenty Twelve.
Franklin studied from 1988 to 1990 at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He is also a founder of the communications consultancy, Quietroom.
Franklin addressed LGBTQIA+ representation in media, the pervasive looking into an actor private life when they play a gay role, and how this does not happen for other aspects of a character.[1]
Of Queer as Folk, Franklin says: “It made us realise that not every gay man was a window-dresser. A relationship is a relationship, and what you go through is what you go through.” And, he argues, Cucumber’s setting also gives it a greater freedom, arguing that queer relationships haven't been codified the same way as straight ones thus offering a wider range to explore how it plays out in a society where gay relationships were illegal until recently. [1]
“What I like about him [Henry],” explains Franklin, “is he likes lighting little fires and seeing what they’ll do. One of his redeeming features is his honesty... he says what he’s thinking and feeling in that moment, in a slightly childlike, immature way, in that not-understanding or never having had to face terrible consequences way. And that’s sort of refreshing – but it’s also brutal.”[1]