The ‘My Family’ star is finally watching ‘Game of Thrones’, trying to erect a greenhouse – and keep a Womble out of his bed
What I’m watching
I very rarely watch TV, I don’t know why – my boys joke that I’ve got the attention span of a gnat. I have been dutifully catching up on Game of
Thrones, which they pleaded with me to watch, and I’m gripped by it. We’re working through the entirety of it. I’m now on season three and I still can’t believe the amount of nudity and sex. There seem to be endless repeats of things I’ve done on TV, but I avoid it. I’m not good at watching myself.
What I’m reading
I spend most of my time reading. I’ve re-read
Treasure Island, a book I’ve always loved because my real name is Robert Lindsay Stevenson. If it was up to my mother, I would have been Louis. I’m now reading Oliver
Twist – an edition dated 1860, and a gift from Lionel Bart who I became great friends with before Cameron Mackintosh asked me to do [Fagin in] Oliver! at the Palladium. Lionel came a lot to my house in Buckinghamshire – he used to sit with me and say, “I love it here Bob, you know why? Cos it’s only eight miles from Acton.”
The activity I’ve taken up
Gardening – we ordered a greenhouse online, which was delivered in a week. It’s a flat-pack with probably 20,000 nuts and bolts. If you’d seen me and everyone trying to construct it on the lawn, it was hysterical. I could write an entire sitcom around erecting that greenhouse.
The thing that made me laugh recently
One of my sons has downloaded an app called Sleep Recorder – you put it on when you’re asleep and it records what you say and do in the night. I have heard some very funny moments – including “There’s a bloody Womble in my bed”. What I can’t wait to do once this is all over
I would love to stand on the stage and reopen a theatre. I’ve seen so many big openings. It’s that lovely moment when an actor stands there and announces the new season or new theatre. It would be wonderful if the theatres reopened in the autumn because it’s my 50th anniversary on the stage this September – I started out at the Northcott Exeter, playing a plaguestricken villager in The
Roses of Eyam. But at the moment who knows? When theatres reopen – and we must fight to ensure they are able to – I’ll be there.
I would love to stand on the stage and reopen a theatre