Thanks for all your questions for Joe Tracini who plays DK in Coming of Age. It was really tough picking just a few of them but I tried to choose questions that quite a lot of you were asking. I managed to grab some time with Joe as he arrived at Elstree studios.
Alan Lea: Where do you get all your inspiration for your raps? Or are they written for you? If not, will you write me one :)
They are written for me I don't write them. Musically that's all me! I take a couple of minutes on my own in the corner, just listening to the likes of Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder and taking as much inspiration as possible to make it musically pleasing to the ear. But I don't have as dirty a mind as our writer Tim Dawson! And if I had actually written them myself I'd be quite worried for my sanity!
Yungahh Tempzz: Where can I get the lyrics to your raps? Balamory!
As far as I'm aware unless someone has actually taken the time out of their day to create a site writing out all the lyrics, I don't think you can get them on the internet. What you're just going to have to do is record it, rewind it, play it and write it down line by line. And if anybody does that please put it on YouTube and let me know because I'd love to see someone who's taken all that time to learn them.
(´óÏó´«Ã½ Three - We're launching our new ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three website soon with a brilliant new blog so perhaps we'll have a word with the writer Tim Dawson and collect the raps together on there. Stay tuned rap fans....)
Georgia Keers:Ìý I love Coming of Age and you're so hilarious! My question for DK is why Balamory at the end of every rap? I love it but it's still strange...BALAMORY!
Hello Georgia, I don't have a clue! I don't listen to popular music, I listen to musicals and things from the fifties so I don't know where it's coming from. But all I can gather is that a lot of rappers have a tag and something that they say. And DK, being the silly little sod that he is, thought it would be cool to name a well known CBeebies children's programme. So that's all I can gather. Maybe it's his favourite show and he wants to spread the word a bit about people watching Balamory because it's very good. It's about a policeman and it's very accessible to the younger mind.
Samantha Pilkington: Where does DK get his tracksuits from coz they're just awesome? You guys are just wicked to watch :)
I imagine DK probably gets them from some sort of boot sale, some sort of very chavvy boot sale. And his mum probably goes down to JD Sports on Boxing Day and just buys them all. But I actually get them from the lovely costume lady called Sarah, who's a bit of a hippy and goes out and finds the nicest tracksuits she possibly can for DK to sport on a weekly basis.
Todd Carruthers: What does DK stand for and where can I get a dinky DK?
DK stands for Darren Karrimore. Dinky DK was made by all the props team and he definitely got pretty broken by the end of that. So unfortunately you're going to have to make one yourself with some wellington boots, some PVA glue and some goat.
Lee Stuart: How on earth don't you burst out laughing in the middle of a scene?
Hello Lee, the answer is we don't, we do just laugh. Because we film in front of a studio audience if we find something funny we'll just laugh. And what's annoying is if we've been rehearsing it for a week we know if someone's gonna do something we find really funny. So we know it's coming and we laugh about four lines before it and our floor manager, Jo, she gets very angry because it can take twenty minutes sometimes. So yes the answer is we do and thank you very much for the compliment.
William Beech: How do you manage to do so many rude scenes in front of the camera crew etc.??!!!
Very nervously! I don't like getting naked and it happens so often. What they're very good at, is if people don't need to be there they keep as few people on set as possible. But when you have a scene where you are completely naked, covering your genitalia with grapes, there isn't much getting around it. But we were filming that in a college and it was open to students and they were blocking off the corridors. At the end of one of the scenes I walked out, covering me penis with grapes, and I just walked out into the corridor and there were a group of students, about seven of them, just walking towards me casually. I was too embarrassed to do anything so I just kept my head down and walked past them. It was very embarrassing and definitely not worth the money.
Dwain Holdcroft: What are the differences and similarities between you and your character DK?
The similarities are the fact that we both like women and we have the same face. But that's pretty much where they end I'm afraid. From meeting people I'm generally aware that people are quite disappointed when they find out that I'm not like DK. But DK has his tracksuits and his funky way of talking and his confidence, where as I'm slightly quieter at times. And I dress like a banker that's just left work.Ìý
Ãngæl Kayla: Will DK ever get a girlfriend as everyone else is in a relationship lol?
Hello that's a lovely name. DK might get a girlfriend, well I'd like to think he'd get a girlfriend. I know there was talk of it at the end of last year but we went a different way with it. I hope he does because he's a lonely little bugger. But at the moment everybody's quite happy with all the other relationship problems and DK just turning up week in week out, acting like a tit and then leaving.
Andy Grant: How did you get into acting? I really want to start! Got any advice?
I got into acting because I'm crap at everything else! I tried doing various different things, I even worked in a joke shop and just none of it worked. I started doing magic when I was two and I started doing magic professionally for four years. I won some competitions and finished doing that and then decided that I wanted to take the acting more seriously and I went to college and trained. And I've been pretty lucky actually. I've really, really enjoyed it but as I say it's really because I can't do anything else! So as long as people keep employing me doing this I won't go and work in Ikea.
Danielle Clough: I was watching Prove It the other week and I saw you were doing magic!! I thought it was brilliant! Ha ha it made me giggle. Just wondering if you still doing magic and just to say you're one of the reasons I watch Coming of Age! It's amazing :)
Yeah that was a fun day. I was about 14 and I had to travel up to Glasgow for one day. That was a very long, tiring day!
And thank you very much that is very kind of you to say. I do still do magic but mainly when I'm drunk. I don't do it as a job anymore; I just do it to keep myself interested. When I was little when everybody else was out playing football with the tennis ball in the middle of the street I was just sat on my own in my room playing with cards. I was very cool!
Kirsty Madhead Graham: You're class mate! How many series are we expecting off ya??
Hello, thank you very much and I don't know! As long as people keep watching them then I imagine they'll keep making them. We really enjoy it and we have a great time when we make it. We all get on so well and I know we'd all like to come back and do some more. So as long as people keep watching it then hopefully we'll keep making it.
Don't forget you can catch Coming of Age every Tuesday at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three.