MICHAEL GARNER, THE SUN, THE TV MAG, JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 2 2001.

POP GOES THE WEASEL

Becoming a dada has a smile on the face of Blue Watch misery Poison Pearce.

Things are improving all the time for Geoffrey "Poison" Pearce, London's Burning's misery guts. The Blue Watch loner couldn't believe his luck when fanciable Fiona walked into his life and married him. And this week, the couple are blessed with a beautiful baby daughter.

"He's got plenty to smile about these days," says Michael Garner, who has played Pearce for 7 years.

Despite still trying to fight the fire that started last week; Pearce finally makes it to the hospital to hold baby Eve - and celebrate with Fiona (Helen Anderson).

However, things start to go wrong for Fiona. "There's always an assumpition that women will take naturally to motherhood but that's not necessarily the case." says Michael, 46.

"Fiona is knocked sideways by the baby and has a major wobble. But Geoff is a bit emotionally retarded when it comes to women's feelingsand refuses to believe anything is wrong.

"He thinks she should get on with it - although Geoff does become quite good at changing nappies."

Michael is enjoying this new side of Pearce, nicknamed Poison because he sucks up to his superiors - like Station Officer John Coleman (Edward Peel) - and upsets his Blue Watch collegues.

"He was alone for so long that he finds great joy in his new situation," says Michael, whose early credits include EastEnders. "And he still can't believe he ever found a nice woman, so he is still on cloud nine, despite Fiona's problem."

The birth of Eve brought back memories of his own two children coming nito the world. Harry was born nine years ago, and daughter Maeve came along four years later - during filming of London's Burning.

"We literally stopped working, then I jumped in a car and was wizzed to hospital," says Michael, whose wife, Irish actress Paula Hamilton, was in Steven Spielberg's Empire Of The Sun.

"Paula had to have an emergency Caesarean section - as does Fiona - and Maeve was born half an hour later."

Michael and co - star Helen first filmed with the baby who plays Eve when she was less than 24 hours old. "You forget just how tiny babies are at that stage," says Michael, who lives in north London.

Family life may have put a smile on Pearce's face. But it'll be some time before people start to address Michael differently. He says: "The most common phrase when people see me is 'Oi, misery - give us a smile.'"

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