Neil Morrissey

says one of his greatest-ever co-stars is the dog in The Syndicate.

The actor, who plays gambler Frank Stevenson in the BBC show, says: “It was brilliant working with Ava. There was even a section in the script where it says I’m on the phone and Duke is licking my face and we were thinking, ‘How are we going to get the dog to lick my face?’ And we were thinking about rubbing bits of mackerel all over my face, but unprompted and on cue, which probably proves that she can actually read, she licked my face. It was incredible.”

Neil is clearly good at taking the ruff with the smooth.