Articles Where Are They Now? Random Shoes Cast by DJ Forrest

Originally broadcast 10^th December 2006

Random Shoes told the story of one of life’s losers, Eugene Jones. He was an ordinary bloke who grew up with the stigma that his father had left because Eugene had let him down – during the Maths tournament at school.

Eugene was fascinated by alien artefacts, which stemmed from the kindly teacher who gave him a Dogon Sixth Eye, that he’d found during a golf game. Convinced that the aliens would one day come back and reclaim their eye, Eugene decided to auction it on eBay, in order to help out a friend, and was surprised when the bidding upped to £15,000.

Arranging to meet up with the prospective buyers – the aliens – he was surprised to find his mate Gary, and Josh sitting in a booth at the Happy Cook on the A48. Determined not to give either mate his ‘Eye’, Eugene swallows it with the help of a large glass of banana milkshake and legs it out the door and across the field, and out onto the road, suddenly feeling very alive – then is hit from behind by a drunk driver and killed.  

Throughout the episode, realising he is dead, he follows Torchwood back to the Hub, manages to get inside Gwen’s head, and uncovers the truth behind his Dad and the alien marble, and just before he ‘walks into the light’ saves Gwen from the same fate that befell him.

Paul Chequer

‘Eugene Jones’

‘Apart from a buzzing in my ear where Josh whacked me, I felt good. I was running across a field on a Saturday morning. The smell of exhaust and banana milkshake, a slight nausea, heart beating too fast cos I wasn't that fit. All the stuff that tells you you're alive.’

Eugene Jones worked with Gwen to piece together the events that led up to his untimely death. He finally entered the hallowed ground of the Hub and saw the amazing and wonderful artefacts laid out before him. He saw his own body on the morgue table and saved Gwen’s life when it really mattered.

Since Random Shoes, Paul Chequer has played a variety of characters in known television dramas from Darren in Hotel Babylon, Steve Atwell in Law & Order: UK, Nathan Merceron in Whitechapel, DI Dimmock in Sherlock and Arnold Letts in Casualty in 2017. Check out our interview with Paul on our Interviews Page.

Luke Bromley

‘Young Eugene’

“Dad took the day off work to come and see me, but when the moment mattered, I blanked, let the side down, made a mess of it. Everyone blamed me for losing the final, but it must have been what happened afterwards that started this whole thing off.” (V/O by older Eugene)

Young Eugene sulked throughout the tournament and even afterwards, sitting in Garrett’s classroom while the old man talked about aliens and eyes falling out of the sky.

Luke Bromley, Hogwarts student - check out our interview with Luke to find out more – only has credits up to 2013, when he played Young Oliver in the film The World’s End (brilliant film), as well as playing Charlie Thompson in Silent Witness, and an Autograph hunting Teen in the series documentary Dark Matters: The Philadelphia Experiment/Ape-Man Army/Zapped to Death.

Nicola Duffett

‘Bronwen Jones’

‘He went cos of his job. He has a very important job. He works for a big corporation in America.’

Poor Bronwen, thought she knew her husband well enough that he was indeed doing well for himself in America, when in fact he was working as a night cashier at a garage on the Filey Road. One thing was for sure, she did love her children, and it broke her heart when Eugene was killed.

Since Random Shoes, Nicola Duffett, who played Debbie in Eastenders back in 1993 – 1995, has played an array of different characters, some memorable, some less so, from Poppy’s Mum in Doc Martin, Phoebe/Zapphia Sharon Feeney in Casualty, Big Mo in Dustbin Baby in the same year, Daisy Skelton in Waterloo Road, Mrs Bird in Corrie, Geri Wakefield in Holby City in the same year. Played Alice Stone in Collateral in 2018, and Mrs Driscoll in Rémi sans famille currently in post production. (2018).

Roger Ashton-Griffiths

‘Mr Garrett’

‘I play golf, and one day when I was playing really badly, I was stuck in the first bunker whacking away at all the sand, and this fell out of the sky. And landed, plop, beside me. It looks a bit like a golf ball, so I picked it up and put it in my pocket. But when I had a proper look later. I realised it was an eye. And I thought, well, Where could that have come from? It fell from the sky. Isn't that amazing?’

Mr Garrett was a kindly teacher, someone who could turn a frown upside down – someone who you wish was in all your classes at school. He lifted Eugene’s spirits with tales of a Dogon Sixth Eye, that led the boy on a journey of alien artefacts.

Since Torchwood, Mace Tyrell, I mean Roger, has appeared in many well known television programmes, often in period costume. From Roman Mysteries as Tascius Pomponianus, General Doppet in Heroes and Villains. Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant as Cardinal Wolsey, Sir John Hutton in The Tudors, an Elderly Priest in The Musketeers series. He played Quayle in the Doctor Who episode Robot of Sherwood back in 2014 and played a neurosurgeon in Corrie. For 2 years Roger played Mace Tyril in Game of Thrones series, playing a man of the cloth again in the television series Quacks as Bishop of Lambeth and plays Ralph Butterworth in the new Christopher Robin film currently in post production.

  

Steven Meo

‘Josh’

‘Eugene, man. I'm as partial as the next guy to a bit of sci-fi but, what, a green geezer with six eyes? Get real, guy. I checked the bid history. Mister C Blackstaff is a collector of alien ephemera and Nazi memorabilia. Also Beanie babies. Teeny bit cuckoo, but endearingly rich. And if he's willing to pay fifteen thousand…’

Josh was one of those greasy characters you were never going to be mates with, and after pushing the other bidder out of the picture, Gary and Josh waited in the Happy Cook for Eugene to arrive with the Eye. He was happy to hand over a tiny portion of the cash for the Eye, but when Eugene refused, and promptly swallowed it Josh was determined to try the Heimlich manoeuvre in order to retrieve it. It wasn’t to be.

Despite a thin on the ground resume according to IMDB, Steven plays Huw in the Peter Stray film Canaries, about alien activity in a quiet mining village in Wales. Prior to that, Steven has been the voice of Pilot Kelvin in the Doctor Who: The Infinity Quest animated series, played Hoffman in the series High Hopes. Played Grant in Grown Ups and also in the series Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, was Owain Hughes in Gavin & Stacey, played Rich in the Baker Boys, Franklin Ward in Doctors, a mixture of characters over 8 years in Casualty, and Mike in the series Drifters.

Celyn Jones

‘Gary’

‘I’m not proud of what I’ve done. I created three or four online aliases and used them to inflate the price. At first, just to cheer him up. He was miserable. But then the bidding took off and we got, I mean, I was involved at first. I was just helping Eugene make money, and then one morning…’

Gary, was a mate of Eugene’s, but he was also Josh’s mate and although Josh had the emotional range of a teaspoon, Gary felt bad about Eugene’s death, and how the bidding had got out of hand, and how Eugene had been led to believe that aliens were going to be collecting the Eye from him.

Celyn Jones has appeared in a lot of television drama series’ since 2006, from The Bill, Casualty, Above Suspicion, Leaving, Jo, Shameless, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, Inspector George Gently, Da Vinci’s Demons, Castles in the Sky, A Touch of Cloth, as well as playing Brother Alan in Stella. He has two pre and two post-productions for 2017/2018 playing Kipper Jones in Say My Name, Sgt Willis in Six Minutes to Midnight, Born a King as Winston Churchill and in Manhunt and is currently filming Gareth Jones.

Robyn Isaac

‘Linda’

‘He wouldn't talk about it. Anyway, I was fed up too because Craig had. Well, anyway, I said, I'd love to get away from it all and go to Australia. Eugene suddenly got very excited. He said, yes, you've got to go. I said, but I haven't got the money, and he said he'd get it for me.’

Linda worked in Passmore Telesales, alongside Eugene and Gary. Eugene decided that selling his Eye would give Linda the money she needed to travel to Australia.

Since Random Shoes, Robyn has played an Immigration Receptionist in The Last Enemy mini series, Cynthia in Expectation Management 2, a film short, a girl in XIII The Gift, another short, and Red in I Tides.

Gareth Potter

‘Shaun Jones’

‘Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling from glen to glen and down the mountainside. The summer's gone and all the flowers dying. Tis you must go and I must stay behind. But come ye back When summer's in the meadow, or when the valley's hushed and white with snow. And I'll be there in sunshine and in shadow.’

Shaun Jones, was Eugene and Terry’s Dad, who had led them all to believe he was working in a corporate job in America and not as a night cashier in a garage on the Filey Road. At the funeral he wished he could have seen him before it was too late, and sang a haunting rendition of Oh Danny Boy as Eugene’s coffin lowered to the cremation.

Since playing Shaun in Random Shoes, Gareth has played Oscar in Y Pris, a Museum Attendant in Young Dracula, A wounded Soldier in Caesar and Cleopatra, Lewis in Made in Wales, and a Slaughterhouse Worker in Hinterland. In 2017 he played a man in film short Fire in My Heart.

Joshua Aaron Hughes

‘Terry Jones’

‘He's dead. He may have been able to square the root of the square friggin' root, but he couldn't cross the friggin' road.’

Terry was Eugene’s younger brother. He retaliated verbally when his mother continued to believe her ex husband worked in America and put her straight without holding back.

Since Random Shoes, Joshua has played a Scouse School Boy in the television mini series Mobile, and played A Villager, an Arcade Customer and a Student for Uncanny X-Men in 2014.

Amy Starling

‘Waitress at Happy Cook’

‘Well, that's just not acceptable behaviour. Not at a Happy Cook. They were making a public spectacle of themselves. And that was it, he was out the door and gone.’

When Gwen visited the Happy Cook the waitress remembered serving Eugene and his two friends. She was surprised to see Josh and Gary back enquiring after Gwen who was just out of shot of them seeing until it was too late.

Since Torchwood, Amy has only played two other characters – Mercedes Jones in Caught in the Act, and Karen in I Vituoso. Since 2014, there’s no mention of her.

Leroy Liburd

‘Café Owner’

(When asked if he knew Eugene Jones)

‘No, what can I do for you, love?’

The Café Owner served Gwen as she came in to ask about when the video store was open. Eugene was alarmed that the owner didn’t know him, since he’d been in to order two eggs, ham and chips every day.

Leroy’s acting credits began in 2002 when he played Paul Eccles in Holby City, since then he played a Detective Constable, Café Owner and a Security Guard. His acting credits take him only as far as 2007.

Ryan Chappell

‘Pete’

‘No. Who’s it for then? Shit. Can you rub it out?’

Pete worked in Passmore Sales, and had often signed cards for members of staff, so unwittingly wrote ‘Good Luck in your New Job’ in the card for Eugene’s Mum.

Ryan Chappell has no further credits since playing Pete in Random Shoes.

Helen Holman

Policewoman (uncredited)

Since Torchwood, Helen has played a Junior Doctor, a Waitress, a Wedding Guest, a Church Member, a Golfer and Interventionist, a Woman walking to Church, Emily, Sadie, and Laura, from 2006 – 2013.