“SORRY I’m late,” says former EastEnder Nigel Harman.
We’re at the launch of The Outsiders, a 90-minute ITV1 pilot for a possible series along the lines of Department S, The Persuaders or The Avengers.
On screen a week today, it’s not quite up there with Spooks but shows potential. Nigel plays Nathan, who is, of course, a cool man with a mysterious past.
Now rehearsing Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, which opens next month at The Crucible in Sheffield, Nigel confesses, “I can’t see myself pursuing an action hero line. I would find that too safe and a bit boring.”

Whether he wants them or not, Nigel attracted millions of female fans when he played Albert Square’s Dennis Rickman. And, sure enough, just a few minutes in to The Outsiders, he’s got his top off. ITV want those fans to keep watching.

You may also recognise Nigel’s co-star Anna Madeley, who plays fellow spy-fi agent Erica. She was posh student nurse Samantha Beaumont in The Royal and recently appeared in the one-off BBC1 comedy drama Aftersun.
Anna hopes Oxford graduate Erica will return. “I loved doing the fight scenes. They are quite exhausting. I got a few bumps and bruises while we were filming, but nothing too bad.”
Just before making The Outsiders in Liverpool, she filmed the lead role in The Secret Life Of Mrs Beeton, due on BBC4 soon.
Dead at the age of 28, Isabella Beeton was not a cook at all but a talented young journalist and editor – married to a publisher.
The result was the creation of one of the most enduring products of the 19th century – the now online Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
Click on the link above for a taste of a very different age.
And click here for today’s MEN feature interview with Nigel Harman.