The Merlin star talks dressing up, Little Britain and those coffee ads... What do you enjoy about playing King Uther in Merlin? “He has so many levels, and that makes him fascinating. We established early on that he wasn’t just a two-dimensional baddie, and now his past transgressions have manifested themselves, which is great fun to play. I also get to wear the cloak and the sword, which reminds me of dressing up as knight when I was a child.” Merlin is shown all around the world. Have you seen it in other languages? “Yes, and it’s fantastic seeing it in Japanese, Italian or French because you are watching another artist interpret your character and transport him into a completely new world. At some point I hope to see it in every language.” Why has it captured the public imagination? “From the outset I thought that it was one of those shows about which people would say: ‘Why the hell didn’t we do that?’ It’s such a brilliant idea and it gives you a whole new palette to paint this wonderful story with. I hope the purists who were against the idea of mixing the Arthurian legend up admit that, even if it’s not reverential to the original myth, Merlin at least pays lip service to it.” You’ve become a cult icon with Merlin and Buffy. Do you enjoy it? “Yes, it’s lovely. We went to the Comic Con convention earlier this year, and it’s great walking out in front of 2000 people and feeling the love. People come up and say, ‘I grew up with you,’ because Buffy was such a formative series for them. It is nice that Merlin has slipped into that world and the same people can embrace it.” Have you had any strange experiences with fans? “I inherited a fan from my brother Murray when I took over a stage role in Chess that he’d played a year earlier. I’d just moved into a new flat and put my number in the phone book, which wasn’t the brightest move, and this lady kept calling me. She told her mum we were going to get married.” What sort of roles would you like to do more of? “I’d like to do more Shakespeare. I did The Tempest last year and I really enjoyed it. He was the most extraordinary writer and I understand why people think that no one man could possibly have written all that, but I really think he did.” Will we see you in the new Matt Lucas and David Walliams series Come Fly with Me? “I would love to have breezed in as the Prime Minister, but I think they want to keep a distance from Little Britain. I enjoyed working with them and they are incredibly talented and inventive guys.” Do you mind people still talking about those Nescafe coffee ads? “No, because it was part of people’s lives. It’s marvellous that a commercial can have so much impact, and it was a groundbreaking and cleverly handled campaign. It led to the most extraordinary change of fortune, because in limiting my choices in England it opened up opportunities in America. If I hadn’t done the ads, I wouldn’t have done Buffy.”
