Two top stars are coming together for Taking Sides, a gritty drama based on a true story.

NEIL PEARSON plays Major Steve Arnold, a man out to nail composer Wilhelm Furtwngler, played by JULIAN GLOVER. We didn't want to take sides so we interviewed them both!

JULIAN GLOVER

JULIAN Glover is best-known for his villainous roles but it is up to the audience to decide whether his character in Taking Sides is or isn't on the dark side. The popular actor of stage, film and TV that played numerous roles including baddie Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Kristatos one of 007's arch-villains in For Your Eyes Only and, most recently, the voice of Aragog the Spider in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Taking Sides tells the story of an American officer's interrogation of Germany's outstanding conductor, Wilhelm Furtwngler, accused of being a Nazi sympathiser.

Glover is delighted to be playing Furtwngler opposite Neil Pearson in Ronald Harwood's play at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley.

He said: "It's one of the most entertaining plays I've ever seen in my life. When I saw it the great Daniel Massey was playing my part.

"It is set in po-faced post-war Germany. I'm the only real character in it, the others are fictional and represent people's attitudes.

"Furtwngler was completely devoted to music. He thought the Nazis were a blip. He had tunnel vision and said I'm going to maintain musical standards'. There was conjecture he benefited from the Nazi regime but he also managed to get some Jews out.

"It is a confrontation between the two Neil has to prove I'm a Nazi. He uses very base language and ideas from mid-west America contrasted to my educated aristocratic speech. It's terribly funny with very dark humour."

Being a music-lover himself, Glover talks passionately about owning rare recordings by Furtwngler, which are used in the show.

Names of famous conductors fly from his lips. "Herbert von Karajan, a very famous conductor, was a real sycophant although he was cleared of Nazism. We wonder how he got away with it."

It might seem odd an actor best-known for his villainous roles should receive so much fan mail but Glover proves it is not just heroes which attract fans.

He said: "I get a great deal of fan mail for Star Wars, For Your Eyes Only and Doctor Who. In Harry Potter I only played the voice of Aragog but, my goodness, do I get mail for it! It's unbelievable!"

While his favourite play was Henry IV, for which he won an Olivier Award, he says favourite film roles are not so easy to chose: "With movies you never know if you're enjoying it or not. It is a more extended experience than a play, which is a complete experience every day."

And having just returned from a 14-week stint in Mexico making Troy, with Brad Pitt, where he plays Triopas, another villain, it looks like his mail bag will be bulging again.

NEIL PEARSON

FUNNY and forthright, Neil Pearson is one of the UK's best-loved and most-respected actors. His impressive CV includes Drop the Dead Donkey, Between the Lines, Booze Cruise, Closer, Benefactors and now Taking Sides at Bromley's Churchill Theatre.

Pearson is a passionately private man but there is no denying the impact he has on women.

"It was ridiculous 10 years ago when I was in Between the Lines, it is even more ridiculous now," he laughed.

Written by Ronald Harwood, Taking Sides is a gripping drama based on the true story of the post-war interrogation of the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwngler.

Pearson plays an American ex-insurance fraud investigator turned employee of the British and American De-Nazification Tribunals who is determined to nail the composer for collaboration with the Nazis.

"Wilhelm Furtwngler was a major, major star in his day. He was the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic but he remained in Germany throughout the war," explained Pearson.

Furtwngler's fate is well-documented he was humiliated and dogged by misfortune for the rest of his life.

But Pearson says the play maintains its suspense right until the end.

"Harwood's writing is so good and such is the strength of the opposing argument that the pendulum of opinion swings to the side of whoever last spoke. It whips up into a fair old finale as a result."

The 44-year-old actor was born in Battersea in 1959 and developed a love of acting at school. After training at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, his big break came in 1990 as the lecherous Dave Charnley in the cult -comedy Drop the Dead Donkey. Fortunately, Pearson seems to thrive on the insecurity of the actor's life.

"I think the reasons why people like acting are also the reasons why other people don't I like the uncertainty. I like not knowing where you're going to be from one week to the next."

Pearson finds the role challenging and says he works from the "inside-out" to achieve authenticity in a role.

"In the case of Arnold, his determination to nail Furtwngler stems from his need to see someone called to account for the things he has seen and from things he has done himself. He constantly refers throughout the play to events from his own past and that is part of what drives him."

So what next for the housewives' hottie? Well, he is waiting for the release of the second Bridget Jones film. Colin Firth, Hugh Grant and Neil Pearson all in one movie? It is too much!

You can see Neil Pearson and Julian Glover in Taking Sides at the Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, Jan 19-24, Mon-Sat 7.45pm, Thu & Sat mat 2.30pm, £24-£18, 0870 060 6620.