Actor simon callow: we all have things in life that drive us mad

Is Henry based on a real character? He’s based on the writer’s (Andrew Birch) father who was very much under his mother’s thumb when he was a boy and then under his wife’s thumb as a man.

When she died he broke out and that’s what Henry’s done.  What makes you angry? We all have things in life that drive us completely mad. For example, waiters who put napkins on your lap when

you enter a restaurant – even before you’ve started eating! How is Henry different from Royston, your character in your latest film Golden Years? Royston, like the others in Golden Years,

are all respectable people who’ve been cheated out of their pensions by their financial advisors and they devise a plan to get their money back from the banks. In a sense, there is anger,

but it’s contained. What are you working on next?  A film called The Viceroy’s House, in which I play Sir Cyril Radcliffe who drew the line that divided Pakistan from India. He was an

interesting and formidable man.   What’s the best party you’ve been to? I’m not such a great party-goer. But I played Mozart on stage in 1980 and got nominated for an award. Afterwards I met

Judi Dench, Michael Williams and Placido Domingo and some of us went on to a party where there were a whole gang of amazing writers including Willy Russell and Peter Nichols. Do people

still ask you about Four Weddings And A Funeral? They do and I’m delighted, because it’s a film I liked and enjoyed making. However, it’s a little regrettable when they think I am Gareth and

immediately start dancing in a kilt because I draw the line at that. I really am not like Gareth! _THE REBEL CONCLUDES THIS WEDNESDAY AT 10PM ON GOLD._