Times & Star

“I was quite shocked by the original contract for a year. I found it quite frightening. Once I got there, it became so much fun.  And the company of actors and crew all became like a family."

“You get really, really comfortable in that company. Suddenly you turn around and it is six years on.  I’ve never really understood people saying ‘I’m looking for security’.  The whole point of becoming an actor, which I quite like, is the fact that you’ve no idea where you are going to be or what you are going to be over the coming year.

“Throughout your life there is always the possibility of something else being round the corner.  Before Holby City, the longest I’d ever been in anything was six months in the theatre.  A year’s contract seemed frightening – you don’t know if you are going to like it or not. If you go in and hate it, you are kind of lumbered.”

He is also known for another, completely different long-running TV series called The Detectives. He starred alongside his old mate Jasper Carrott as two bumbling detectives in the sitcom that ran for five years in the mid 90’s.  But he is best remembered for playing Christ in the star-studded TV series Jesus of Nazareth.

“Playing Jesus was a double-edged sword,” he says. “It made me known all round the world, I could always get a table at an Italian restaurant, even when it was full! Italy adopted me as a son. It opened all sorts of doors for me and I worked all over Europe doing really interesting art films – so arty they did not get shown beyond the country they were made in.”

He and his wife, former Pans People dancer, Babs Lord, went to Los Angeles but: “Neither of us was completely happy there. It is an odd place, oppressive because it is in a valley, surrounded by mountains and you have this foul air.  But at that time, if you were an English actor, you were offered roles where you were either gay or a baddy.  Basically, the roles American actors didn’t want.  And after playing Jesus, Hollywood’s hotshots had difficulty seeing him play any other character.

He was happy to return to London where he landed the lead role of secret agent Richard Hannay in a remake of the classic The 39 Steps by John Buchan.  The film was a success and Powell won rave reviews. Almost 10 years later, he again took the lead role in two series of Hannay based around his character in the film.

Now 67, the Salford lad lives in Highgate, London and is working with a screenwriter adapting another of Buchan’s Hannay novels, The Three Hostages for TV.  He is also about to start rehearsals for a revival of the original comedy stage play of Doctor In The House along with Joe Pasquale.  He has always preferred life on the stage, even though he is best known for his TV and film roles.  His 30 movies include Tommy, the original Italian Job, The Four Feathers and most recently Colour Me Kubrick with John Malkovich.

He comes to the 'Theatre By The Lake' with A Celebration of Charles Dickens this weekend.

“It is a run through of his life and times, using the books to fill in the background, though we do feature characters such as Wackford Squeers David Copperfield, Mr Bumble,” he says.

Meanwhile, he is looking forward to returning to a part of the country that holds childhood and family memories.

“My parents honeymooned up at the Kirkstile Inn.  I filmed Mahler with Ken Russell round Borrowdale and Castle Crag and we used to go up to the Lakes a lot with school, I’ve climbed all the peaks up there.”

School was The Manchester Grammar where he was bitten by the acting bug as a 12-year-old when he got the lead in a play ahead of sixth formers.  He went on study a law degree, but dropped out when he was offered the chance to join a rep theatre at Stoke on Trent.

“Mixing with actors, almost for the first time in my life, I felt at home.  It is an odd thing, being an actor – I’m more comfortable on stage than I am off it.”

A CELEBRATION OF CHARLES DICKENS
Theatre By The Lake, Sunday 5 February
Tickets £18, £16, £14 (discounts £1 off); Students, U16s £12
Call 017687 74411 or go to www.theatrebythelake.co.uk

Read the online article here