Kevin Whately

I'm not particularly fond of the past, but I do ramble on about it quite a bit.

I initially thought 'Lewis' was a terrible idea. The character had very much been Morse's work donkey and sounding board. But I was persuaded to do it, thinking if it was a flop, at least ITV would stop asking me. But the pilot took off, so we got back on this moving train, and we've never looked back.

When I came down south, I went to one of the early Wigan Challenge Cup victories at Wembley, and I was totally hooked from then.

I'm not interested in more money for the sake of it.

Being in Oxford can be a bit like being on holiday - there's plenty of time spent in the pub.

I honestly don't think I sought fame. It wasn't something I courted or wanted, particularly.

When you get to the end of a TV series, you feel totally out of sorts as an actor. You feel unfit; your voice box has collapsed on you because you've spent all day muttering into a microphone that's two inches from your head, and you feel desperate to spread your wings and do a bit of real thesping.

Put me on telly, and I think I have a relaxation on camera that makes an audience relax, too. It's not a conscious thing. Cameras don't bother me, whereas other people try to perform to them.

You're very aware in the theater by the response you get, but not so much on television, obviously.

I'm fascinated by politicians, because I suspect the huge majority of them go into it full of ideas and for the best possible reasons but end up being hijacked.

I wanted to be a stage actor but I got stuck on television. It took a couple of years to get used to.

Dementia is often regarded as an embarrassing condition that should be hushed up and not spoken about. But I feel passionately that more needs to be done to raise awareness, which is why I became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society.