The face is unmistakable in its message - the end of the world is nigh. "'Lugubrious' is the way it is usually written about," says Geoffrey Palmer. "You've used 'lugubrious', have you? Well, there you are. If the cap fits, then I suppose I have to wear it.""Face my fortune? I think that's part of it. Years ago, the odd sort of bus driver would look out and say: 'Cheer up mate, it might not happen.'
"Apparently, I don't seem to smile a lot. I think that's absolutely untrue. I've questioned my family about it. They seem to think I smile."
When Palmer does smile in 'As Time Goes By', the comedy series he shares with Judi Dench in their roles as Lionel and Jean Hardcastle, it is mostly as an aside to the audience, not to the other characters. In fact, the dour look is laid on a bit thick, a useful comic device and a reflection of his attitude to TV comedy programs.
"I hate the sort of perfomer who smiles to show that he is either being funny or being charming. I hate the sort of person who is being endearing, or screaming out for sympathy, or pointing out by his facial demeanor that he is being funny. 'Nudge nudge, wink wink, I'm being funny - so go on, laugh.' I find that absolutely appalling.
"I would rather a writer's clever line to play itself and come at you as a surprise."
So it suits Lionel Hardcastle to be straight-faced. "Yes, pretty dour." And he gets the best lines. "Do you think so? I don't know."
The series that ends tonight is the seventh. It rations out the jokes with an aura of pleasantness and skilful timing and seems indestructible, but how long can time keep slipping by?
"The BBC very much want us to do some more," says Palmer. "The only problem is that Judi Dench, who is about the busiest actress in the world, is getting busier. She and I and the rest of the cast would be happy to do more, the director (Sydney Lotterby) and the writer (Bob Larbey) would be happy to do more, but the problem is finding the time."
A series of seven episodes takes nine or 10 weeks. "We have about a couple of weeks to do all the exteriors, all the car driving, whatever it is, and then it's an episode a week."
Palmer himself is content to take things easy. Or what he regards as easy. Yesterday, he says, he was out fishing, last week was spent in the Isle of Man playing the part of the White King in 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' ("I think I fit the part, don't you?"); now he is spending a couple of days doing charity work for the aged. Next week, he goes back for more White King.
"A bit strenuous," he says. "I don't want to be that busy. I'm too old to be busy (he is 71). I don't want to work every day, so I don't do everything that's offered. I go fishing instead.
"I'll be up on the Tweed River in a couple of weeks' time."
The partnership with Judi Dench has blossomed. They had met only twice before they did 'As Time Goes By', but had never worked together.
"In the last two or three years I have done a reading of 'Winnie the Pooh' on cassette with her, I did a radio play with her, and the Bond film 'Tomorrow Never Dies' (he played Admiral Roebuck), and then along came 'Her Majesty Mrs Brown'.
"That was a delightful thing to work on. It was a beautiful script and it had started off as just a little independent film for the BBC."
'Mrs Brown' was a hit. Judi Dench's Queen Victoria won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA award and went close to an Oscar.
"Indeed she did," says Palmer. "When I read the script, I said to my wife:'Oh Christ, she's going to get more awards.'
"I thought what a wonderful part, but I couldn't imagine anyone on Earth doing it better than Judi.
"It was one of those things that...one shouldn't go as far as say they're 'proud' to be associated with, but 'happy' to be associated with. It was quality."
Geoffrey Palmer has been an actor for nearly 50 years. There have been many television roles; one of the earliest listed on his career chart is an episode of 'Coronation Street' in 1960. He was in the famous 'The Kipper and the Corpse' episode of 'Fawlty Towers'.
"I wasn't the corpse. I was Dr Price asking for my sausages." Earlier there had been two episodes of 'Doctor Who'. He died in both of them.
Thanks to Rachel Connor for posting this article to the list in January, 1999.