Kevin Whately had been to the dentist before our interview so I wasn’t sure whether we’d manage a conversation at all.

Fortunately, there had been “no drilling involved” and it was nice to speak to Kevin again, and fascinating to find out how he feels about the end of Lewis, for now at least.

Last time I interviewed him, I was wedged into his trailer on the Lewis set with a gaggle of other journalists, courtesy of ITV, something he was obviously ill at ease with. But today Kevin’s happy to chat away.

Currently preparing to come to Oxford, where he’ll be doing a reading alongside Joanna Lumley and others at Christ Church’s famous festive service to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, Kevin can’t wait. “I’ve never taken part before, but I’m not worried about doing a reading, it’s public speaking that I hate,” he admits. “And my wife is a big Macmillan supporter.”

You may have caught his wife Madeleine reading poetry during his daughter Kitty’s mezzo soprano recital at Oxford Lieder Festival in October. So where does Kitty get the musical gene? “Not from me, although I was a folk singer when I left school,” says the actor, who still likes to play guitar.

“But Kitty has been into classical music since she was at school, when a teacher picked up on her talent and signed her up for singing lessons, which almost certainly wouldn’t happen now.” So does Kevin spend his life sitting on hard chairs in cold concert halls watching Kitty perform? “A fair amount, but I really enjoy it, she’s at the English National Opera tomorrow doing The Pilgrim’s Progress,” he adds proudly, to make sure I know just how good she is.

A far cry from his beleaguered character Inspector Lewis, and his microwave meals-for-one then? “That works in my favour actually, because it means I get cast more as the boy-next-door, or man-next-door,” the 61-year-old corrects himself. “Which I suppose is my niche and it means I’ve never stopped working. “But Kitty’s the workhorse – she works far harder than me.”

But obviously Kevin is no slouch and thanks to the success of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Peak Practice, Morse and Lewis, Kevin Whately has been a constant on our TV screens for decades, until now, “I haven’t had a summer off for 32 years,” Kevin admits.

So when he and Lewis co-star Lawrence Fox announced they had decided to take a break from Oxford and its endless supply of detective work, it was big news: “We finished filming about three weeks ago, so Lewis is now in post production. “But yes, we have stopped it, so I won’t be working at all next year,” Kevin says happily.

Won’t he start climbing the walls after a few months? “No,” Kevin says. What about all the other acting projects he’s always wanted to do? “No, that’s the point. I don’t want to do any acting at all. Quite the opposite. Because we’ve been doing Lewis for eight years now and Lawrence wants to go to America, so we’re not exactly waiting to be recommissioned,” he laughs. “Although we will have a rethink in spring 2014.”

Still a massive decision though.

“Absolutely, because we had all the cast and crew to consider and Lewis is still one of ITV’s biggest exports, which made it more difficult. So we might come back to it. I just want to get back to real life and it takes months. It’s time for a change and frees me up to play golf and do some charity work.”

He won’t miss Oxford then? “Well I’ve been going there for 26 years now, because there was Morse as well of course, so it’s part of my life.” Whether Kevin can remember what real life is like or not, one thing’s for sure, he’s dying to find out. “It’ll be a different ball game – not getting up at 5am, filming all day and then learning my lines until midnight.

“It also means I’ll have time for the charities I support which I don’t have when I’m filming. “And I’ve been doing bits of radio and stuff, reading stories, having a life.

“But, I’m looking forward to the concert too,” he says with a satisfied sigh, “and the rest...”