Steve Nallon

Leeds-born Steve, 61, is best known for playing Margaret Thatcher on TV’S Spitting Image.

What was your first TV memory?

Daleks! And specifically The Evil Of The Daleks episode which had a happy, human Dalek. It aired in 1967, the Patrick Troughton era, and the BBC lost it.

But it was recently revived by the BFI as an animation.

What was your first TV appearance?

On a Newsnight report on the Edinburgh Fringe in 1982. I made my debut as Mrs Thatcher in 1984. I got offered a part in Coronation Street the following year but it clashed with Spitting Image. That’s my “what might have been” moment.

Who was your first TV crush?

Emma Peel. I met Diana Rigg years later and I was on my knees! She was wonderful. I also had a crush on The Fonz – I’ve always been a bit “Betty Both-ways”! Both wore leather, not sure what that says about me.

What is your favourite current show?

I’m addicted to Springwatch. It’s perfect television – no other medium could do it.

Which TV show would you take to a desert island?

The Avengers. I thought about Dad’s Army and Bewitched and I’d love to watch an uncensored episode of Till Death Us Do Part, but the Avengers is my show. I loved its humour and peculiarity.

What TV show would you like to put out of its misery?

24-hour rolling news – entire channels with nothing going on.

Guiltiest TV pleasure?

Tipping Point. It’s perfect. It’s got questions, it’s got the counter and it’s got jeopardy. I always want the contestants to win.

What are you up to at the moment?

My novel is out now, it’s the first in a series. Book two is finished and I’m writing book three. Never know, one day it might end up on TV in the Catweazel slot.

Steve Nallon’s debut novel The Time That Never Was is out now. More details at luath.co.uk

GARRY BUSHELL