At 73, Geoffrey Palmer seems to have got his priorities right. Any
acting job has to be special to tempt him away from his favourite pastime, fly-fishing.
'I've turned things down because they got in the way of my fishing, but there isn't often much of a clash -- the fishing's usually more important than the job!' says Geoffrey, who's best known as Judi Dench's other half in As Time Goes By and as Wendy Craig's husband Ben in Butterflies.
'Being as old as I am, the pressure's off a bit now. The mortgage is paid off and the kids are grown-up.
'I actually find working quite stressful. So I think another year or two will see me out. A voice-over or a couple of days on a film would be good.'
Luckily for us, a role in The Savages - the new sitcom from Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye - tempted Geoffrey away from the riverbank. And, in this comedy about the stresses of family life, Geoffrey plays the type of character we know and love him for - a grumpy old man.
Geoffrey is Donald, father to dishevelled cartoonist Adam and grandfather to five-year-old Nicola and three-year-old Luke. Irritable and reserved, Donald's in denial about the fact that his wife of 34 years ran off with a younger man.
'He says things like, "When your mother died,"' explains Geoffrey, 'and Adam has to remind him, "Dad, she's not dead. She's in New Zealand."
'Donald's very English -- introverted and screwed up. He's got nothing to do to fill his day, but he'd never admit it, which is true to life,' says Geoffrey, who lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Sally. 'If someone invites me to anything I'll say I'm busy, to give myself time to think about it. When Sally and I were first married, I'd say to her, "Don't get to know those people. I can see they're a pain in the neck. If you say yes, we'll feel we've got to ask them back!"' Geoffrey admits that, like Donald, he lacks a natural affinity for children.
'Donald doesn't know how to cope with his grandchildren. Well, I've never known how to deal with children. I've coped with my own two, but as for other people's kids - what do you say to them?'
Geoffrey's own children - Charles, 36, and Harriet, 35 -- may be all grown up, but there was a new addition to the family 18 months ago, when Charles's wife gave birth to Billie, Geoffrey's first grandchild.
Geoffrey sees his children and grandchild as much as he can, while making sure he gets the balance right between work and his beloved fishing...
'The river's a lovely place to be,' he says. 'With luck there aren't many people around -- anti-social as I am! And if I actually catch a fish, hopefully it's unharmed and I can slide it gently back into the water and say. 'Well done. You win."'
Thanks to Maree Wilson for sending me this article which appeared in the April 28 - May 4, 2001 edition of What's on T.V.