Article - Ralf Little

The eligible young actor talks to Graham Keal

Eligible young actor Ralf Little is currently single, but he does have love in his life and it involves beautiful curves and moments of blissful contemplation in his Hammersmith bedroom. That's because his cherished black Jaguar XKR is usually parked across the road.

 

"Having a car like this isn't the be-all and end-all by any means; it's not the most important thing in the world. But, when I look outside my window and see my car, it makes me happy," he says wistfully. "I'm not a petrolhead. I don't really know that much about engines and cars - I don't know how any of it works. But what I do understand is a car that looks beautiful and goes quickly. To me that's enough."

 

At 24 years of age Ralf is much younger than you might expect a Jaguar driver to be, which is partly why the former Royle Family star has one. Jaguar offered him admission to its VIP lease scheme, which promotes the Coventry cars by tempting young, trendy talents to drive them: "It's not a free car. I pay a certain amount a year and everything is covered, including insurance. I think Michael Owen is actually paid to drive his, but I'm quite satisfied with my deal. Michael is considerably cooler than I am."

 

Soccer players apart, it must be said that few men of Ralf's age could afford to buy or insure an XKR, of which more later, but he has put more than 7,000 miles on the clock in six months, and powered through 20,000 equally trouble-free miles in its predecesor, a platinum XK8.

 

That's not to say Ralf hasn't had the occasional scary moment, hardly surprising when you hear that the only other cars he has owned are a Fiat Uno 1·6 diesel and a 1·1-litre Ford Fiesta. There are no statistics on how many young men graduate from a Fiesta straight to an XK8, but I suspect Ralf is unique. He took his test at 17 after only 12 lessons and failed over a moment's confusion: "I was so furious with myself that I booked another test that afternoon and passed with two minor faults."

 

He bought the L-reg Uno from an uncle with savings accumulated from four years of teenage TV work, but rushing down a rough, single track country lane near his Lancashire home one Friday night, late for a date, he cleared some woodland and rounded a bend to be blinded by a flash of summer evening sun. An oncoming Mondeo ended the Uno's life, though no one else was hurt.

 

"I was really annoyed with myself for the predictability of being an 18-year-old male driver who'd written off his car. It was my fault, but all I could do was apologise and take down the insurance details." Ralf bought the £2,750 Fiesta at auction with the insurance payout and stuck with that until a chance meeting in a pub with a man from Jaguar introduced him to grander possibilities. "I'd been wanting to upgrade anyway and I'd rung all the insurance companies to get a quote for an Audi TT. That's not the fastest nor the poshest car in the world, but I thought I'd treat myself and spend 30 grand on a car.

 

"Most companies wouldn't insure me at all and the lowest quote was £22,000 a year - a year! Can you imagine that?" Then the smooth-talking Jaguar man told a sceptical Ralf that he and his then girlfriend, Lisa Rogers, would be good image-bearers for the brand. The company would be in touch. "So when Jaguar rang I said: `Oh, I can't really afford to insure it.' They said: `Don't worry, it's all covered.' I thought: `Somebody pinch me!' "Even if I paid £22,000 a year for this I'd still be better off - and I pay nowhere near that."

 

Even better, the deal allowed Ralf's friends to drive the XK8 with his permission, provided they were over 21 and had held a full licence for three years. "That made me very popular... Then a letter from Jaguar said they were changing their insurance across the board and my friends now had to be over 28 to drive it. My mates were gutted."

 

Ralf moved up to the £56,700, 4·2-litre, V8 supercharged XKR automatic six months ago, and after one or two self-confessed close shaves in the XK8 (he once hit the anchors after catching himself doing 140mph on a quiet night run to Runcorn) reckons he has learnt to handle power with responsibility. "It's a second quicker from 0-60mph than the XK8 and you can feel the difference. Put it into sport mode and put your foot down and it's brilliant, even a bit frightening. But the only ticket I've had was when a speed camera got me for doing 50 on the North Circular. I was upset because I hadn't meant to be speeding.

 

"I do have fun in it: if I want to get past somebody I'll use the kickdown or I might beat somebody away from traffic lights. But because it's such a beautiful, beautiful car, you feel a responsibility not to damage it. You don't want to hurt it, so you take care of it."

 

No doubt about it. This must be love.

 

• Ralf Little stars in a pre-West End tour of Billy Liar, currently at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. Subsequent dates are: Windsor, June 7; Brighton, June 21; Richmond, June 28; Milton Keynes, July 5; Stoke, July 12.

 

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