Back

Stefan Dennis on Paul behind bars

Stefan Dennis chats about his character's experiences on the inside.

Paul has been found guilty, how is he going to deal with this?

As far as he’s concerned he’s not ever going to get out of prison. He’s been given a very long jail term which can be cut down to 14 years if he’s a good boy - but Paul's of the opinion he’s got nothing left in the outside world. He’s shunned his family, nobody loves him. So he has literally given up, for one of the very few times in his life he has actually totally given up and resigned to the fact that this is it now and he will spend the rest of his days in jail. He’s just kind of psyching himself up for that and you see a very downcast and defeated person. What’s it like portraying scenes of a character in prison? How do you relate to that situation?If you haven’t been to jail you just get told all the stories. You hear all the stories about being careful in the showers, watch who your cellmate is, you’re more than likely going to be beaten up in some sort of initiation or whatever. So there’s all those sorts of things that you know about. America’s Hardest Prisons and all of that sort of thing. That gives you a slight glimpse to what it actually is like.

Paul

Paul’s a pretty ruthless business man but has a wicked sense of humour, which side of him do you most like playing?I think both. They both go together so well with Paul. I always describe him as deliciously evil. I still recall the best time I had on this show with Nat Bass, I call them the Izzy years. You had these two scheming evil people, who just had fun all the time. That was just great, any actor would love doing that.

Looking back at Paul’s history, what do you think are his biggest regrets?Marriages… five wives, eight weddings. Three were to one woman, Gail and two were to Rebecca. The shortest one was to Lyn Scully, that one lasted three hours. His biggest regrets are the things he’s done to his family, pushing his family away for whatever reason, greed or non-compassion. Paul, as much as he’s a big business man and all of that, his greatest asset to him is his family. So when he messes that up, that’s a regret big time.