THE man behind Britain’s Got Talent’s legendary character The Witch has revealed he almost DIED during a backstage incident that was never shown on TV.
Martin Portlock recently came forward as the person underneath those terrifying prosthetics, over a year after terrifying the nation on the ITV1 show.
As well as the main show, Martin also revived The Witch for the spin-off, Britain’s Got Talent: The Ultimate Magician, and that’s where he had a terrifying brush with death while rehearsing for his performance with a snake.
Martin exclusively told The Sun: “One thing you didn’t see on TV was that I nearly died. I did this performance where a snake comes out of this teddy bear, and when I was backstage, I tried to handle the snake, who was called Kevin, for the first time.
Now, I'm not an animal handler, and this this thing came up to me and it absolutely loved the heat of my neck. The next thing I know, this massive snake coiled itself right around my neck and went so tight, I was almost strangled. I was praying it wouldn’t do the same to me on the stage!”
The 41 year-old actor took over the creepy role for the semi finals of the show after the original actor- who still chooses to remain anonymous – pulled out after the audition.
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And Martin revealed that keeping his identity a secret backstage involved a covert operation.
“A couple of the producers knew my real identity so that I wasn’t turned away when I arrived at the studio but then noone else knew. I had my own dressing room so I could transform in secret with the prosthetics team and then the whole time backstage, I basically stayed in character.”
And while the judges had no idea who he really was, he admits he did let them on the secret MONTHS ago before publicly outing himself earlier this month.
“The judges absolutely had no idea who I was at the time – when we do the rehearsal before the live show, producers sit in on the panel in the place of the judges – but I did reach out to them a few weeks after the show and thank them because it was one of my regrets at the time that I never got to thank them on stage as I had to stay in character.”
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Would Martin reprise his iconic character on a future series of the show?
“Never say never,” he smiles. “Part of the reason I didn’t go public when the recent series was on was because you never know if you are going to get the phone call asking you to come back. I think it would be amazing to bring The Witch back.
“Im also a very creative person and I always have ideas for new characters too, so perhaps you’ll see me in a different guise next time…”
Martin admits he didn’t make a penny as The Witch as acts on the show are not paid, but he has got some very exciting projects in the pipeline – on both the big and the small screen.
“I’m one of the leads in an upcoming British film called Gallowmere,” Martin, who welcomed a son in October last year and has another baby on the way, explains. “It’s a dark fantasy epic. We took it to Cannes and there is a lot of interest in it. We’re still filming at the moment and it should be out next year.
“I’ve also written and filmed a comedy pilot that we're looking to pitch to television networks, called call Fred and Marv. It’s in the vein of those old school British comedies like Men Behaving Badly and Bottom, so that’s exciting.”
For more information on Martin, go to martinportlock.com or follow him on instagram at @martinportlock and @witch_bgt
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