‘Meeting Alan Bates at the beginning of my career I could barely manage to say hello,’ says Robert Bathurst
Guilty pleasure? Mrs Brown’s Boys, which is vulgar, rumbustious and the closest thing we’ve got to music hall. I was in an episode of the TV show and appeared in Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie.
Where is home? Sussex.
Career plan B? If I changed career now, I would like to manage woodland.
Who would play you in a movie of your life? Jeff Daniels – I have been mistaken for him a few times.
Biggest bugbear? When disasters change from being news into titillation, whether it’s 9/11 or recent atrocities.
As a child you wanted to be… Dan Dare from The Eagle comic.
Earliest memory? Walking across Minchinhampton Common in Gloucestershire when I was three.
Secret to a happy relationship? Everything comes down to trust.
Your best quality? I’m quite friendly.
And your worst? Sometimes, I’m too friendly, which can lead to unwanted invitations.
Most romantic thing you’ve ever done? Proposing to my wife Victoria. We had been going out for a couple of years and it was the first time marriage had ever been mentioned.
Last meal on earth? Crème caramel with condensed milk.
Dream dinner-party guests? My late parents, to give them an update on what has been happening. They both died in 2009.
On a day off we’d find you… Watching horse racing in the winter and cricket in the summer.
Starstruck moment? Meeting Alan Bates at the beginning of my career. I could barely manage to say hello.
Big break? Appearing in Noises Off in the West End in 1983, my first proper acting job.
Career highlight? Joking Apart, a TV sitcom I did in the 90s. I always talk about it and will continue to do so until the BBC repeats it.
Most embarrassing moment? I think that I suffer from prosopagnosia, which is an inability to recognise familiar faces. Bizarrely, I seem to forget casting directors most often, and they’re the most important people in the business.
Favourite tipple? A delicious cocktail called the Queen’s Cousin.
Hangover cure? Don’t fight it.
Top of your bucket list? To sail round the Hebrides in a beautiful, wooden boat in the early autumn.
Secret skill? I can recite the Greek alphabet.
One thing that would make your life better? To be able to recognise every bird by its song.
Last film that made you cry? Addicted to Sheep, a wonderful documentary about a year in the life of a hill farmer.
Where would you time travel to? A bread queue in 1980s Poland to experience what it was like.
First record you bought? David Bowie’s Hunky Dory.
Most extravagant purchase? A cashmere overcoat.
Your biggest regret? That I didn’t live closer to my parents when they were older.
Philosophy? Nobody owes you anything.
Celebrity crush? Julie Christie in Billy Liar.
Happiness is… You’re only as happy as your least happy child [Robert and Victoria have four daughters].
Robert stars in the new series of Cold Feet on ITV1 on Fridays at 9pm