Roger Allam is perhaps best known for his role as DCI Fred Thursday in the ITV Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour.
For a decade he acted alongside Shaun Evans in the series inspired by Oxford author Colin Dexter, in episodes written by Russell Lewis.
Like Mr Evans, the actor prefers to stay away from the celebrity spotlight, but he has shared some details about his family life.
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The Murder in Provence star is married to actress Rebecca Saire.
The 69-year-old and his wife, who is 59, have never even revealed what year they tied the knot and neither of them appears to wear engagement or wedding rings.
They are parents to sons William, 23, and Thomas, and Rebecca and William once appeared in an episode of Endeavour.
The secret of their long-lasting relationship, according to Mr Allam, is being able to laugh and be "ridiculous" with one another.
He told the Radio Times: "My wife makes me laugh so much, I sometimes think I’m going to die laughing.
"I love that. Laughing, liking, loving, and giving each other room to not have to do everything together all the time."
He added: "But honestly, sometimes marriage is just about the silliness, the freedom with each other to be silly and ridiculous.
"And then also serious about things that are more serious, and also just about practical things that have to be done."
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The last episode of Endeavour - series nine was the last - was shown on ITV last month, with millions of fans watching.
While Shaun Evans has started filming true crime drama Delia Balmer, alongside Line of Duty actress Anna Maxwell Martin, his co-star Mr Allam is to play a former media mogul.
He has taken on the role of Robert Maxwell, who once ran a publishing company in Oxford, lived at Headington Hall and was chairman of Oxford United.
Mr Allam is set to appear as Mr Maxwell in Apple TV+'s new Cold War–era thriller, Tetris.
The biographical film tells the true story of when Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton) discovered the video game Tetris in 1998.
The film follows the Dutch video game designer as he "risks everything by travelling to the Soviet Union, where he joins forces with inventor Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) to bring the game to the masses," according to the synopsis.
Mr Allam looks transformed in his new role, which required him to spend four hours in the makeup chair to get into character.
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The Murder in Provence star appeared on ITV's Lorraine last year to chat about the part, explaining how the prosthetics helped him in his portrayal of the disgraced media mogul who died in 1991.
He said at the time: "I'm very glad that the film wasn't about Robert Maxwell because I don't think I would have survived getting up at four in the morning to have all that put on every day.
"But having all that done, I found, really helped because they could use another technique of green screen, projecting stuff onto you."
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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