Colin Baker, the former Doctor Who, actually started off as a solicitor before emerging on our TV screens as a bonafide actor. Although, by the sounds of it, he wasn't a very good one because he always sympathised with the underdog rather than his clients.

"Yes I remember one of our clients, a rich aristocrat who had a lot of property and wanted to knock down a few streets to develop, and boot out his tenants. So I phoned all the tenants and told them what was going on because I thought it was a very shoddy way to behave," Colin chuckles.

"And I always concentrated far harder on the local amateur dramatic society than my law exams."

That was 40 years ago, because soon afterwards Colin ignored his father's wishes and jumped on the acting bandwagon anyway. Parts such as the scheming and universally loathed Paul Merroney in The Brothers and the sixth Doctor in Doctor Who, right, followed, and Colin soon found himself a household name. So does he tire of the Doctor Who claim to fame?

"No, I expect it, and without it I'm sure you wouldn't be interviewing me now," he says.

"And besides I loved that part and still do the Doctor Who audio-drama series."

And what of the Doctor Who conventions which he occasionally attends?

"They are the people who gave me a living for half my life and if they want to celebrate my work from 20 years ago it seems churlish not to make an appearance," he says, "and very few of them are actually barking mad," he says defending the fanatics.

And while Colin says actors never retire because they can't afford to, one suspects the good Doctor still loves every minute of it. Which is why, when he was offered the lead part in Noises Off, top, the hilarious Michael Frayn play, he jumped at the chance.

"It's like sitting in the cockpit of a jumbo jet," Colin explains. "You wonder how on earth they fly these things. But I must admit when I first saw Noises Off 20 years ago I thought 'thank God I don't have to get up on stage and perform it because it's so complicated,' and now here I am having to do it," he laughs.

For those of you who haven't see it, Noises Off is about the antics of a second-rate touring theatre company as they stumble from dress rehearsal to disastrous last night of a traditional British comedy, while a real-life farce unfolds backstage.

And while Colin holds his hands up to finding learning his lines hard, he says that once he has learned them, he never forgets them.

"My wife (Liza Goddard) used to learn them in a day which was very annoying because it would take me weeks.

"We met in the play Private Lives and the next morning she already knew her lines," he says in admiration. The pair have split, but remain great friends and have four daughters, who live with Colin in Buckinghamshire.

Two are starting at university — Colin says he will be bereft.

"I think mothers look forward to the time when their children leave home and it's the fathers who are the sentimental ones," he adds.

But with a panto to get on with in Bath as soon as Noises Off is over, he'll be too busy to notice, surely.

"Well, my wife stayed at home while the girls were growing up and I went out to earn us a crust, but if somewhere is within 100 miles I'll always drive home afterwards.

"And no actor works 52 weeks a year so we probably spend more time at home than most nine-to-fivers who work in the city."

So does he not fraternise after the shows?

"Well when we're in Glasgow I won't be commuting," Colin laughs.

"But it's a funny old world because you spend three months getting very close to a group of people who then part ways and you might not see them again.

"And while you make some great friends along the way, most people become acquaintances.

"That's why actors always call each other 'darling'. It's because they can never remember each other's names."

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