Andy Newton-Lee’s Next Stop…Tinsletown!
Posted on March 14th, 2009 at 11:50 am by Sean Borg
After watching my pal, fellow Brit’ Andy Newton-Lee on ITV1′s documentary series, Piers Morgan on… Hollywood the other week, I couldn’t help thinking how brave he was to even take part in such a show, I’m sure the ratings were alright, but to sit under Piers Morgan’s “cynical” spotlight takes a hell of a lot of guts (I actually chickened out and decided not to take part in it… wisely!), but “our” Andy bravely took it on and came off quite well I thought.
Newton-Lee, who recently starred in BBC1’s hospital drama Casualty, is fast becoming one of LA’s hot new faces about town and last night the well known British actor threw a party to celebrate the success of his new company Next Stop LAX, which he runs with sister Katy and immigration lawyer Bernie Sidman. Next Stop’ facilitates British entertainment folk planning to live in Los Angeles – arranging anything and everything from visas to car hire and even dinner reservations, I am told recent clients included actress Michelle Collins, Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle and singer Samantha Mumba.
One thing I love about attending Hollywood parties thrown by Brits is that the booze flows all night, we certainly never scrimp when it comes to the liquor, and one sure sign that Andy and Katy’s business is thriving was there was no expense spared when making sure everyone had more than enough free drink inside them.
The party was held at the luxury “7950″ complex on Sunset Boulevard and in true style the Newton-Lee’s guest list was a colorful one indeed. When I arrived at the swanky apartment block in the heart of West Hollywood I could tell this celebration was going to be a good one, a doorman, a guest list and a bunch of people outside insisting they were on it, but “ha-ha”, most of them were not! One hopeful even had the cheek to shout out to me, “Sean, tell Andy I’m outside will ya!” – “sure!” I said, though I didn’t even know who this person was, but at least I was in!
Katy Newton was the first familiar face I saw, greeting me with a hug, a big kiss and glass of champagne (nice). Inside I spotted the former Hollyoaks actor Simon Cole, lending his hand at the bar along with that cute little singer from S Club Seven, Jon Lee.
And of course these days no LA bash would be complete without the presence of top British fashion designer Julia Clancey, who as I have said in my previous blogs seems to be everywhere right now. I spied “fancy Clancey” (as I call her) running round with “Sad Boy” film producer Simon Boyce and Samantha Mumba, who also seemed to be thriving on the night’s festivities, posing happily in pictures with her lovely mother, Barbara. I also had a chance to catch up with my good friend, British litigation lawyer Steve Heath, who was giving me some friendly advice on the law (he’s really good)… Hopefully I’ll never need to practice it!
One obvious point highlighted in Piers Morgan’s series, and something I have been saying for ages, was how so many Brits have decided to try their luck in Hollywood, so it wasn’t any surprise at all to hear so many British accents coming from every nook and cranny, many of those industry lovies convened around the pool area sipping on cocktails getting outrageously drunk and gossiping about the state of the showbiz industry, here and back home. I actually overheard one say, “I’d rather be out of work here living in the sunshine than freezing my bum off in London!”
Too true I say, I mean seriously LA is a great place and clearly for us ex-pats living here, the UK has rather past its sell by date, so I have no doubt that business for Next Stop LAX will thrive. Another sure sign that things are going well was seeing the Newton-Lee’s splashing their cash during a recession, Andy and Katy spared no expense and this party had all the trimmings – well booze-wise anyway, however shame on them for not throwing in a few sausage rolls… Now that would have made the party, the mucky buggers!
