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This interview is adapted from one in HEAT MAGAZINE (Issue 34). Heat is an entertainment magazine that has supported The Royle Family all the way, having features about it for every week the second series was showing. Top!

DID THEY ALWAYS HAVE YOU IN MIND FOR THE ROLE OF JIM ROYLE?
Yeah, I'd met Caroline years ago at the Royal Television Society - one of these award things. She walked past me and said "Hiya! You're gonna be my dad!" and I didn't have a clue what she meant. Then a year later I got the call. I didn't have to audition or anything.

DID IT STIKE YOU AS QUITE A DARING I DEA AT FIRST, JUST THIS FAMILY SITTING AROUND TALKING?
It did but I loved that. I don't know how they sold the bloody idea to anyone, because it's so different, so unusual... It's got nothing that any other show's got and yet it's got everything they haven't got. And I particularly loved the fact that it wasn't infront of an audience. I think working in front of an audience in TV is really inhibiting. When there isn't one, if you ad lib something and it's good you can keep it, which we do all the time.

I NOTICE YOU GET A CREDIT FOR "ADDITONAL MATERIAL". DO YOU WRITE A LOT OF YOUR LINES?
No, thats just Caroline being generous. I put in a few sayings and a few expressions of my own and she gives me credit for that.

YOU'RE CHARACTER IS OBSESSED WITH GOING TO THE TOILET - DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE JIM ROYLE EXPRESSION FOR HAVING A CRAP?
Well, a lot we put in as we're going along - "going for a Tom Tit", "Brad Pitt", or "Pony and Trap". But there's one from the new series which I can't tell you but it's absolutely hilarious. IT's one of Caroline's, and it's poetry.

HOW DOES THE SECOND SERIES MOVE ON FROM THE FIRST?
I think this one will be much funnier. We've all found our characters now and we all know each other so well, so we're comfortable and we can experiment with it even more.

HOW DO YOU ANSWER CRITICS WHO SAY THE SHOW IS PATRONISING?
Well, I don't think it is. It's real life, warts-and-all stuff, and sometimes when you have realistic stuff, people can't take it.

DO YOU THINKS SOMETIMES IT'S SO REALISTIC THAT VIEWERS MIGHT FORGET YOU'RE ALL ACTING?
Oh yes, I think so. Mind you, it affects me sometimes. I mean, there's only me and my partner at home, but I find myself moaning like Jim Royle when the phone bill comes. I think that's because I really get into the role. I have a little quirk that I don't get my costume washed when I'm filming the series because I want to feel the dirtiness on me. I don't shave until the job's done either.

YOU'RE OWN VERSION OF DE NIRO STYLE METHOD ACTING...
I suppose so. Actually, I did meet Robert De Niro and it was a disaster! I was at a party... and I went up to De Niro at the bar, not recognising him, and asked him if he was in the buisness! I can't remember what he said, I was probably pissed...