“SUCCESS is a terrible mistress.”

Martin Clunes is about to star on screen as Sherlock novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

With Arthur & George starting on ITV at 9pm on Monday (March 2).

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Julian Barnes.

Before starting work at the end of March on a seventh series of Doc Martin.

Both TV dramas produced by his wife Philippa Braithwaite.

You might think life is simple for a successful actor like Martin.

Aside from having to answer yet another tedious question about whether Men Behaving Badly will ever return.

I’ve heard him being asked that dozens of times over the years and the answer remains, of course, no.

But despite always putting on an entertaining show during interviews, usually with a bit of edge, he can be – like most actors – a sensitive soul.

So it was no surprise to learn at the ITV launch for the new three-part drama that Martin has previously “bailed out” of other productions.

Even after signing the contract to appear in them.