DH: Do you mind talking about your time as Mr. Bronson?
MS: No, I’m doing it all the time!

DH: Other than Grange Hill, what part would you say you are recognised the most for?
MS: Oh, Star Wars.

DH: Do you still keep in touch with the other cast members of Grange Hill?
MS: Yes. You know, paths cross and Gwyneth Powell’s a chum of mine. I had a jar with Danny Kendall the other day.

DH: What’s Danny Kendall up to these days?
MS: He’s a journalist I think. An investigative Journalist. Technical journalist I think is the word.

DH: What would you say was you most enjoyable film role?
MS: Oh, that’s difficult. Very difficult. I’ve done so much. I think . . . (pauses to let the dog out) you’ve got to put everything together for that. I’ve got something out of every part I’ve played . . . except one.

You put the script, the part and the location together and usually when I’m asked that question at convention Q and A’s, I come up with a movie called Escape to Athena. Which had some lovely people in it and was made on Rhodes and so on. I would say that that certainly was enjoyable, but a lot of them, all of them, bar one, have been.

DH: What one was that then?
MS: Ooh No. You’ll have to read the book to find that out.

DH: Escape to Athena. Wasn’t that the film with Roger Moore?
MS: Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, Claudia Cardinally, Stephanie Powers, Elliott Gould, the lovely, lovely David Niven, Richard Rowntee was in it as well. And it was a most enjoyable, happy time. That’s one of the reasons why Roger Moore did the foreword to my first book.

DH: Do you have any plans to write any more books?
MS: There’s another one just going off. Well, I’ve had the first hundred pages back from the proof-reader and she already has the second hundred pages and the last sixty odd pages are almost ready to go off to her. So it’ll be with the publishers by the middle of January. I haven’t done the photographs yet or anything like that. It does take time.

DH: Would you say the first book was more about Grange Hill?
MS: Well, the first one was my career. I wouldn’t say it was Grange Hill, although Grange Hill played a very important part in my life. Yes, the first one was my career; the second one was angled more towards Sci-fi. And the third one, taking its title from what has now become my speciality at conventions, is called Yes, School’s Out. So it’s much more about conventions and parties and the lovely people I’ve met at these different functions.

DH: How many conventions do you attend each year?
MS: Oh, gosh. That’s difficult. I will do them whenever I can, and it’s not meant to sound pompous but it does afford me an opportunity to say thank you to a representation of the lovely people who have written to me over the years. I do enjoy them. As often as not, my wife, who is an artist, is away at weekends anyway. So I toddle along to . . . where was the last one I went to? I was in Blackpool last week. Derby the weekend before. Plymouth the weekend before that and then I was out in Canada and Germany and so on and so forth. It’s very kind, because people invite me back. As somebody very kindly said, the first time you’re invited to a convention is because of the part you play and the second time is because it’s you. Do you see what I mean?

DH: Are these mainly sci-fi conventions?
MS: Err . . .Yes, yes they are. (Pauses) I hesitate because there was a Robin of Sherwood convention and as far as I know . . . I don’t know much about Hercules and all that lot. Are they Science Fiction? They’re all connected with. But the ones I know obvisouly are the Star Wars ones, the general ones and also Star Trek, because it’s difficult getting too many Star Trek guests over. So they make do with the odd Star Wars, if you see what I mean.

DH: Do you ever get any fans coming up with any unusual requests at signings?
MS: Well, I don’t call them fans incidentally. I have a new word, which is appreciators, because ‘fans’ stand for fanatic, and 99.9 % are not fanatical. They hold down very responsible jobs and so on and so forth. Well... I think it was Blackpool, one of the organisers in a white T-shirt decided to get us to sign it, so you sort of sign it in as near daring places as you can. I’ve on occasion been asked to sign a girl who was wearing a dog collar, could I please sign that. But yes, you get the odd request to sign in strange places. I’m going back there again in January to Cork in Ireland and I did the charity auction there and sold an Irish 20p piece for thirty-six quid. It was held at the bar, the auction I mean, and then I signed it the following morning. I’ve signed trucks, and you name it really, one’s signed it over the years.

DH: You lived in Germany didn’t you?
MS: Did I? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I see what you mean. No, I did a series over there. Wherever you go on location you have to stay on site, so to speak. It was off and on for quite some time.

DH: So of the directing, writing and acting, what would you say do you most enjoy?
MS: They all fill different purposes really. I enjoy the writing. I was asked … oh, gosh. It most be nine years ago now I can’t remember really. I was asked by a publisher. They wanted a book about the business from a different angle, and they said you’ve done 800 tellies and 43 feature films, and we thought you might be the one to do it. And it’s a wonderful relaxation. I find it a little irksome when you get to the end. Today for example, whilst I was waiting for your call, I put spell check on, because when the book first comes out I do a lot of book signings in WH Smith’s, and I suddenly saw when I was putting in the correction from the proof-reader that in some places I had put WH Smith’s without any punctuation. It’s a bit pedantic to do it the other way round, but I dunno, maybe I was feeling grand at the time or something, but on several incidences I put W.H. Smith and that looked wrong so I had to go through the whole document to make sure that it was all the same. But that is a relaxation. It’s a lovely way to recharge batteries when you’re remembering happy times. Obviously, the same goes for conventions as well. Directing, I do enjoy it. If I have any regrets at all, which I don’t, I would have enjoyed doing a bit of directing earlier on. But at the end of the day it’s a great feeling when you’ve got a take right. Maybe in the first take. And the bulk of my work has been acting, which I thoroughly enjoy.

DH: Would you consider returning to your role as Mr. Bronson?
MS: Oh, no, no, no. You can’t go back retrospectively. With one small proviso …it’ll never happen now, but I think it was 1988, the 20th anniversary and Gyneth and I and some of the children, who are no longer children of course, we did every live show there is. This Morning, GMTV and so on and so forth. I was asked the question you’ve just asked and I put forward the possibility that they always have something at the end of each school year, like a fun run or sports day or a fancy dress I suggested that they could have a reunion. Now if they had a school reunion they could get masses of the children coming back and masses of the teachers and they just need to say good morning or something like that. That might be a possibility, but nothing else.

DH: Do you still watch it now?
MS: No, I don’t have the time. Somebody was talking about it the other day actually . . . Well, I don’t know. I think you better make your own mind up as to what it’s standard is like now.

DH: What plans have you got for future film or TV projects?
MS: Well, Funny you should say that, because the last I heard was that the green light has been given, and the money, for the pilot to this new series First Frontier. Then there’s another lovely film called Acrodamarno Days (?) which hopefully will go next year, which is set in Ireland about the making of a film called the quiet man, which was made in 1952. There’s also a radio series with Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes and so on and so forth. And I’ve commissioned a play actually for the lady who played Shirley Valentine for me. To be perfectly honest there are so many legalities tied up with getting a play on the road if you know what I mean. Agents, and agents of agents, and so on and so forth, so I thought blow this for a load of monkeys. Because I wanted a play to go to the Edinburgh Festival, so I commissioned one which we start rehearsing shortly. So it still goes on very busily I think the word is. On top of that.

As I mentioned, I’m going back to Cork, and then I’ve got Starfleet ball in Bournemouth, then I’m going back to Canada, then I’m doing three conventions in America. This is always assuming that they can fit in with filming commitments of course. There’s a heck of a lot going on. When I look out of my window now at the sea and the rain has at last stopped, it’s nice to be able to say this is the first weekend, in fact, that I’ve got production meetings for the play, but it’s nice to think that maybe I can get back in time to watch a bit of Sport for a change.

DH: What sort of sport do you enjoy?
MS: Oh, gosh. I’m just an armchair sportsman. Not too keen on rugga but everything else is great. I enjoy it.

DH: Is it true you were doing a voice over for an animation?
MS: Yeah, that’s right. That was a series called Manic Moonsters. It was the pilot and presumably it’s still there. They’re waiting to get the all clear to go ahead and make a series. It was good. It was fun that, actually.

DH: Who would you like to work with again?
MS: Oh, I don’t mind who I work with. They’re all great. Well, 99.9 % again. It’s a very loving profession. We all get on very well.

DH: I know you’ve been in Doctor Who several times.
MS: Yes, that’s right. Except for father Nick Courtney, but he played the same part everytime. So it’s a little bit… easier if you’re playing the same part, but I have worked with more Dr Who’s than any other actor playing a different part each time. And I’ve just done an audio with Paul Mcgann, so I’m keeping up the averages.

DH: Did you find you were typecast?
MS: Oh, good Lord, no. No, no, no. It’s not like doing Eastenders or something like that. It’s very different. I suppose it could be classed as a soap but it isn’t because it goes out at a different time and it’s more a series. Don’t misunderstand me, as you quite rightly said at the beginning, I’m recognised as Bronson. Even after these years. One little girl the other day, I was passing in London and she looked up and said ‘Hello Mr Bronson!’ She must have been far too young to watch it, but apparently it’s on all the time though. It’s now running on UK GOLD 2, I think. I didn’t even know the channel existed, but there you go.

It’s very nice. It means that something worked if you know what I mean. It’s called acting as I keep on telling everybody. It’s fun . . . and that’s why I corrected you when you said the first book was more about Grange Hill. It isn’t. Except, it’s a big, important part in my life and that’s why there are about 40 pages devoted to Grange Hill, certainly.

DH: Was it true you had a bad experience filming at sea for Raiders Of The Lost Ark?
MS: Filming at sea for Raiders? Only because the mock up they’d used in Ads Boat, the German series, was a barge really and there were no stabilisers underneath so it rocked about like there was no tomorrow. Then of course at the end of the day, when they had to go off to Tunisia, the part never existed. Well, it does just actually, but through no fault of anybody’s. They had to go to Tunisia because of the weather and I was committed to do a television series. So we never got that bit filmed.

DH: Would you take part in a soap?
MS: I’ve done The Street [Coronation Street] three times and I’ve done Emmerdale Farm. I’ve done take the highroad and I can’t think what other ones there are to be honest. But I’m not averse to going in and playing a part that appears in a story, if you see what I mean. The last time I did the street it was Emily Bishop's boyfriend, and then he did the dirty on her because he was already married, so then he leaves. But that wasn’t your question, you were asking whether I would I go into a soap for a very long time? No.

DH: Thank you for your time.
MS: Not at all, mate.