“I had to wild swim in Coniston Water once or twice.
“And I was in Derwent Water three times…and it was very cold.”
Christopher Eccleston talking to me about his role as former police detective Robert in new ITV drama Safe House, filmed in the Lake District.
“The house is a central character. We do have the sense the ‘safe house’ is ironic. Because it’s not safe.”
“IT is by any measure an extraordinary drama.”
Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys talking to me about Code of a Killer, a heartbreaking, powerful and brilliant TV production written by Michael Crompton.
Revealing the story of how DNA fingerprinting was discovered and then used in a double murder investigation.
It was a real honour to be asked to write the ITV interviews for this moving 2 x 90 minute drama, which begins at 9pm on Easter Monday.
Including an unforgettable day in the very same laboratory at Leicester University where Sir Alec experienced that ‘Eureka Moment’ on September 10 1984.
“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.
I’VE been a regular customer of this local chippie for 35 years.
So Ant McPartlin’s Chiswick story on last night’s (Saturday Feb 14) The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV was of particular interest.
Telling of a past Valentine’s Night romantic surprise for his wife, Strictly make-up supremo Lisa Armstrong.
Taking her to Chris’s Fish Bar in Turnham Green Terrace rather than Michelin-starred La Trompette in nearby Devonshire Road.
August 2014 and I’m sitting on a London sofa with Robson Green.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve interviewed him.
We seem to have been meeting up for decades to discuss his various TV projects.
And it’s always a pleasure to talk to a canny lad who was born not far away from me.
Someone who has done much to put something back into the place he came from.
With a real heartfelt appreciation for his homeland and how it shaped him and his family.
Jan 12 2015 update: Foyle’s War to end. Scroll down for the full announcement.
“I’M a huge Foyle’s War fan.
“I’ve seen every episode and have given dozens of box sets of it away at Christmas to various relatives and friends.
“Now they’re all just dying to see the new series because they’re big fans too and they know I’m going to be in it. It’s a special thing.”
Frasier star John Mahoney talking to me in the car park of Nantwich Town Football Club in Cheshire on a chilly day in January 2014.
‘The Dabbers’ play in the Evo Stik Premier League. But that’s not why we’re here today.
John and I are sitting in his location base trailer during a break from filming Foyle’s War in a very grand house not far away.
In truth, it’s a special thing for me to finally meet the actor who played Marty Crane in one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.
And astonishing to realise that – at 74 – this is his very first role in a British TV drama.
“It is amazing,” he agrees. “I’ve just never been asked.”
Chicago-based John plays Andrew Del Mar, a retired Texas oil tycoon and former chairman of Global American Oil.
Now ailing and bedbound in the London home of his son Clayton (Nigel Lindsay).
He appears in High Castle, the first of three new Foyle’s War films – series eight – on ITV at 8pm this Sunday (January 4 2015).
THE naked truth about the changing world around Downton Abbey is revealed in tonight’s episode. (Sunday October 19)
There are racy headlines in the library as Lady Rose (Lily James) reads out a magazine article about the opening of a “nudist colony” in Essex.
With writer Julian Fellowes making reference to the real life Moonella Group in Wickford, which in 1924 became the first naturist club in Britain with an established home.
“IT is an incredible undertaking to take on something as epic as this.”
The Great Fire executive producer Douglas Rae talking to me on location in Greenwich.
Filming scenes that day in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College – one of the finest rooms in the world.
The next time we meet is somewhere in the countryside near Henley.
Where 1666 London and the River Thames have been re-created for the screen, along with the flames that will destroy a huge part of the city.
Epic indeed.
“IT was a very physical role, lots of running, hanging off bridges and climbing fences, hard work.
“But I must say I absolutely loved it.”
John Simm talking about his lead role as Det Sgt Marcus Farrow in Prey, a three-part ITV thriller written by Chris Lunt.
I spoke to John on location during filming on a cold and wet day at the start of January.
And again later when he had returned from making the first episodes of Intruders in Vancouver and was about to begin work on The Village 2.
While Chris and I chatted at ITV’s new Trafford / Media City HQ on January 6 – the official first day in that site’s history after the move from Quay Street in Manchester.
A fresh and exciting TV writer – currently bound for Hollywood – at the dawn of a new era for ITV in the North West.
You can read my interviews via the link to the ITV press pack / production notes below.
THE latest TV puzzle starts with a crossword.
Plus a flashback to the young detective being shot at the end of the last story.
Endeavour returns to ITV on Sunday for a second series of the Inspector Morse prequel.
It’s May 1966 and the young Morse (Shaun Evans) is on his first day back at work at Oxford City Police with Det Insp Fred Thursday (Roger Allam).
But doubts remain about whether the Detective Constable is fully recovered from his ordeal.
“The light’s gone out of him,” Thursday tells his wife.
Life of Wylie 