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Nigel Havers is one of the country's best known actors thanks to his roles in Chariots Of Fire, Passage To India, Man Child and, most recently, in Little Britain and Brothers And Sisters.

In Lunch Monkeys Nigel plays Mike, a senior solicitor in the firm, who has the unenviable task of trying to marshal the backroom staff to actually do some work.

Speaking about his character, Nigel says: "Mike is the long-suffering boss of a group of people who work behind the scenes in the post room of obviously quite a big and important solicitors firm. He has to deal with these youngsters who are quite mad.

"He is actually quite a nice character but I think he always looks as if he is slightly burdened and tired. There is nothing these guys could do that could surprise him, he has a hang dog look at life – he has seen it all before."

For Nigel, the legal setting of Lunch Monkeys was a familiar one, having come from a high-profile legal family. His father Lord Havers famously defended Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on drug charges in 1967 and become the Lord Chancellor during Mrs Thatcher's government.

But, despite this pedigree, Nigel was never tempted to enter the profession himself: "No, my brother did, so I suppose he did it for me, but I do know enough about it.

"I mean, this is not about the law, except it is quite interesting that it is set in a solicitors firm. It's the seriousness in a way, the contrast of a comedy being based in a serious place.

"I think the audience will watch it and think, hang on, but then get the whole point of it really quickly."

In Lunch Monkeys Nigel worked closely with a young cast, which is one of the reasons he was attracted to the role: "That was one of the big attractions for me, and they are all very talented. They have either grown into their characters or their characters have grown into them, and they seem to all know exactly what they are doing.

"Also, it is very funny, it made me laugh out loud reading it. You have to remember and have faith in the fact you laughed when you first read it because the business of making it is different altogether, comedy is a very serious business."

Mike is the object of office manager Gloria's (played by Sian Reeves) affections but Nigel is adamant that Gloria's love will remain unrequited:

"No, there is absolutely no way, not if I have anything to do with it. He was obviously drunk at the office party once and something happened but I don't think he can remember that. You never know, she may get her act together but I doubt it!"

Nigel recently featured in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Four's I Haven't Seen Star Wars during which he got a real tattoo, ate a Big Mac for the first time and had to provide a critique of The Smiths.

He is also well known to many comedy fans as The Leader of the Opposition in Little Britain (also directed by Matt Lipsy). So, was taking a role in a new ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three comedy a conscious decision to continue to appeal to a younger audiences?

"It was in a way and I wanted to do something between doing episodes of Brothers And Sisters in America which is a different environment altogether and I didn't want to do theatre in that gap because it takes me away, so this environment is perfect."

Lunch Monkeys was filmed on location in a mill in Stockport, a far cry from the glamour of Hollywood where Brothers And Sisters is set, but Nigel didn't mind the contrast:

"To be honest with you, at the end of the day, you are in front of a camera doing the same thing so it's nothing to do with glamorisation – Hollywood does sound very glamorous but it's not – I try and get back home as soon I can."