Under the microscope Interview by ANGELA WINTLE

CALL The Midwife actor Stephen McGann, 53, answers our health quiz

YES, I trot up the stairs in the Tube, which is a great health gauge. I enjoy walking at home in the Essex countryside — ideally for at least 30 minutes every day. We’ve always been a wiry bunch in my family, and we’re well blessed genetically, so our bodies treat us kindly as long as we don’t mess with them.

GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?

I DO. I love my vegetables and I’m crazy about fruit. I particularly like grapes, which are packed with antioxidants, and I eat them like other people chew gum. I also love citrus fruit and spinach.

EVER DIETED?

NO, THOUGH I have to be careful. I’m 5ft 11in, 11st 10lb, and about 23 on the body mass index (BMI) scale, which is where I should be. When I was younger I had a high metabolism and could eat like a horse, but now that I’m in my 50s I have to watch what I eat.

ANY VICES?

I STOPPED smoking in my early 20s and gave up drinking 15 years ago, so my only vice is probably coffee because my wife [Call The Midwife writer Heidi Thomas] and I drink a lot, although I stop by early afternoon. I say probably because medical scientists can’t decide whether it’s good or bad for you. I await their wisdom while drinking my strong Java.

ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?

ALL the boys in our family have dodgy left knees. My brothers [the actors Joe, Paul and Mark McGann] and I can’t play football the way we used to — twisting our knees doesn’t agree with us now — so I’ve given it up.

WORST ILLNESS?

I HAD pneumonia when I was seven and was in hospital for two weeks. I remember lying in bed, surrounded by an oxygen tent, and had terrible chest pain because I had fluid on the lungs.

POP ANY PILLS?

NO, I refuse even to take headache pills, although, contradictorily perhaps, I have an almost religious belief in the efficacies of Lemsip — it could cure a broken leg in my opinion.

HAVE PLASTIC SURGERY?

ABSOLUTELY not. As an actor, your face — however leathery — is a part of who you are. The only circumstance where I might consider it is if I had a facial injury and a doctor recommended it.

IS SEX IMPORTANT?

IT’S wonderful! It makes the world go round and enables our species to continue. But great as it is, it’s not everything.

EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?

I USED to get quite down as a teenager. When I left school, I couldn’t find work and didn’t know where my life was going, which made me feel inadequate.

HANGOVER CURE?

THE best is the one I follow — which is not to drink. Everything else is snake oil.

WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE?

DID I say the right thing? Have I paid that bill? Generally though, I sleep OK.

LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?

ABSOLUTELY not. Nothing would be worse than having to listen to my internal monologue for eternity.

DOCTOr Turner’s Casebook (based on Call The Midwife) by Stephen McGann (Simon & Schuster, £20).