Tim Pigott-Smith

I would say that the money that was invested in me by Warwickshire Education Authority, which they did for five years, has been repaid a hundred times over. I have paid a lot more back to them in tax than they paid in support to me, but they helped me on my way - they launched me; they got me going.

After a West End run, in which I was promoted to Laertes, I joined the RSC in 1972. I had fulfilled my dream.

Villains are always the best roles, but that meant that for months afterwards, all I got offered were absolute cads and bounders and really nasty pieces of work, as well as a lot of people who only had one arm. Such is the limited imaginative power, you see, of a great many casting directors.

After 'Jewel In the Crown,' I hardly worked at all for about six months - which came as a bit of a surprise, I have to admit.

Performing King Charles in Mike Bartlett's astonishing play in London and New York has been one of the high points of my career.

I'm quite sharp but not particularly academic.

Of course there is a danger of typecasting, and since 'Jewel in the Crown' appeared, I have had countless offers to play sadistic policemen and middle-class misfits.

I seem to get cast as one of two extremes. Either I play the butch heavy or totally nice guys.

When I have a good performance, I'm wrecked at the end of it. I feel completely empty, and tears are pouring down my face - I'm just gone.

People wrote about me and started calling me a star, and I just hated it. There are aspects of it that are great - I mean, you can ring up any restaurant and get in, can't you.

Drama at Bristol was an academic course: you were judged on your A-levels, and there were no auditions. I did a BA General degree.

By early 1971, I had been acting professionally for 18 months - theatre work and my first telly, an episode of 'Dr. Who.'

The Almeida's artistic director, Rupert Goold, brought me Mike Bartlett's 'King Charles III' with the slightly apologetic warning that it was in blank verse, but, of course, that appealed to me.

When 'Jewel' was screened, old friends from school and university got back in touch. More than one of them told me that their partners hated Merrick so much they could not think of having me in the house. This kind of audience identification does not happen in any other medium.

It's not legally possible to put an image of a member of the royal family on the Tube!

What a wonderful life I've had - absolutely amazing.

Slower television actually credits the audience with a higher level of intelligence.

The worst nickname I ever had was Tim Pig-ears-Smith. I had big ears. When I was younger, it was more pronounced. So I felt huge sympathy towards Prince Charles over that.