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been a postman, joined the navy, worked for Club 18-30, then stacked shelves in Safeway.

“It was nerve-racking at first, acting with Barbara Windsor and Wendy Richard. But you soon get used to it.”

Extras

After EastEnders, work offers dried up. This was a worry for Shaun.

Landing a role in Extras with Ricky Gervais was something of a godsend, but it did mean poking fun at his own career. Was that a wise move in such a cut-throat industry?

“I know what you mean Mike, but when they sent the scripts I thought, ‘This is good.’

“And I really didn’t mind. People like Kate Winslet and Ben Affleck were doing it. Then for the second series I was in scenes with David Bowie and Robert De Niro.

“Even now, I’m still getting work off the back of Extras. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!”

And does the 53-year-old look back so fondly on his time in 2017’s Celebrity Big Brother?

“I needed the money,” he admits. “It’s not a great thing for an actor to be seen in, I don’t mind saying that. But however successful you’ve been in the past, it doesn’t matter to a mortgage broker if you can’t prove what you’ll be earning next year.

“My wife Adele and I rented for a few years. At my age that’s no good. So Big Brother, in fairness, got me the down-payment on a house. I couldn’t have done that without it.”

Shaun has a role in an upcoming BBC One sitcom, Mister Winner. And he does stand-up comedy, singing gigs and after dinner speaking.

Shaun acknowledges that his two biggest roles, playing Barry for a decade, then poking fun at that on Extras, have had their downside.

“It’s cost me a credible career in drama. I realise that, I’m not stupid.”

But he remains optimistic. I suggest perhaps he’d love a role in Corrie or Emmerdale.

“I would,” he says. “I wouldn’t mind another 10 years in a soap. I’d be a bit more grateful this time.”

Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz starts tonight at 10pm on Quest (Freeview 37/114, Freesat 167, Sky 144, Virgin 172/217).