Trevor Eve: "I upset some people but I was only difficult because I cared"

In a career spanning more than 50 years, he’s juggled award-winning stage work with screen roles, including The Politician’s Wife and all nine series of Waking the Dead. He and his wife, fellow actor Sharon Maughan, have three grown-up children, including Hollywood star Alice Eve.

In I, Jack Wright (U&Alibi), the new drama from Unforgotten creator Chris Lang, he plays the eponymous self-made billionaire whose death sparks a bitter feud among family and friends fighting for a share of his fortune.

It’s no spoiler to say that, despite being the title character, you don’t last very long in I, Jack Wright. Is it the shortest role of your career?

It absolutely is. There are some people, like Sean Bean, who are always dying, but I haven’t died much at all on screen.

So what made you want to do it?

Chris Lang. I’ve worked with him three times – I played an Alan Sugar kind of character in Unforgotten [as Sir Phillip Cross] – and Chris sent me an email saying, “I need you to do this and these are the reasons.” I don’t think I even saw a full script, so I’ve no idea what happens after I die.

Could you see yourself as a captain of industry, if you hadn’t become an actor?

I’d be absolutely pathetic. I dabble in business with the production company [Projector Pictures] that I run with my wife and I’m always told in meetings with lawyers and people who cost an enormous amount per minute, to cut the jokes and not get emotional. Which is the opposite of acting.

Jack wants his kids to go into the family trade. Did you encourage yours to follow in your footsteps?

No. I started life as an architect, and never had any intention of being an actor. With Alice, I insisted she go to university and she went to Oxford. In the creative arts, you’re dependent on approval, which is a weak position to be in. But my daughter is very, very successful, so she’s fine.

Last year marked your 50th year as an actor. What’s your secret?

For so long it was everything to me. I worked really hard, probably too hard for some people. It meant so much to me. I loved it beyond belief and was determined to make things as good as they could possibly be. You strive for perfection. I learnt that from people like Olivier. He’d ask to look at your script, to make sure you’d covered it in notes, and if people didn’t perform in rehearsal, they were fired.

Do you think that’s why you may have earned a reputation for being difficult to work with?

I upset some people. But I was only difficult because I cared. It was never about the size of my trailer or my car being late. It was, “Why are we doing this?” I rewrote a lot of my stuff, because I was taught to believe if there’s something you don’t want to say, don’t say it. But I stopped doing that about 10 years ago. I just thought, “OK, send me the script. I won’t change a word.”

Interviewers often describe you as quite scary, but you seem perfectly friendly to me…

You’d heard I wasn’t a nice bloke? Most reputations are unfounded, in my experience. One of the first interviews I ever did went badly – there was an objectionable journalist and I told him he was being rude. And then that particular newspaper chain published all these articles about all the appalling things I was supposed to have done, to get back at me. I’m not sure that doesn’t stick around.

The recent Bergerac reboot has been a big success. Didn't they only make the original because you didn't fancy a third season of Shoestring?

That’s right. As John Nettles says, “I owe my entire career to Trevor Eve.” I’m still waiting for him to buy me that pint.

Would you like to see Shoestring get the reboot treatment?

I’m not sure who has the rights now. I had them for a long time. But Bergerac was on for so many years. I’m not sure Shoestring had the same impact. Mind you, there isn’t a day goes by when someone doesn’t ask me about it. And that’s fabulous. I remember being quoted as saying I hate people mentioning Shoestring. But I’m very proud of it.

You caused a kerfuffle a few years ago when you were quoted as saying the BBC was spending too much money on Doctor Who…

I never said that! That was [journalist and critic] Adrian Gill, God rest his soul. I adored him, but he was such a little stirrer. I think he mentioned Doctor Who because he didn’t like it himself. Then it got printed in Radio Times, and I got a right load of abuse. There was a Doctor Who actor [Matt Smith] who went into print, criticising me. But I never cast any aspersions on Doctor Who, and I would like that to be corrected. I love Doctor Who! I wonder if that’s the reason I’ve never been asked to play a villain..?

The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.

I, Jack Wright is coming to U&Alibi on Wednesday 23rd April at 9pm.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.