Biography

Wrote the tv series Don't Wait Up and Executive Stress.

Became an Associate Member of RADA.

Graduated from RADA.

Educated Belle Grammar School . Hon D Literature.

Member of the Lord Taverners Society of Stars.

[on leaving It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974) after the first two series] I was in a low state, my first marriage broke up, I had two kids and maybe my judgment was skewed. But I don't regret it. I did other things and I had plenty of work, so in some ways it was quite good. But I've never laughed so much as in rehearsal for that show.

Actors don't retire; the phone just stops ringing. And I've had more bloody agents than any actor in Britain! I'd leave for the stupidest reasons. I'm not proud of it. My current agent doesn't earn a penny from me, poor sod. The last thing I went up for was a Call the Midwife (2012) Christmas episode, which was a part made for me – but I didn't get it. So I thought, 'That's it, I'm not doing any more'.

It doesn't make you happy, being ambitious. I was always chasing my next job. But I'm a short Northerner; of course I had something to prove.

[on Doctor at the Top (1991), co-written with Bill Oddie] It was a vanity project for me, but it was a nightmare. My character, Paul Collier, was supposed to be loathsome, but our all-female crew didn't get it. All we heard in rehearsal was, 'Oh God, what a pig'. And then Bill discovered they were changing our scripts without telling us. It was a shame, because it could have been very funny. We were appalled. It left me deflated and fed up.

[on Michael Bates' casting as Rangi Ram in It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974)] Michael wouldn't have got the role today. Quite rightly, it was a different time. But it was not The Black and White Minstrel Show (1958), which was appalling. It didn't feel that way with Michael, who was born in India, had a connection with the place and spoke the language.