When the BBC decided to bring Doctor Who back as a feature film a few years ago, one national newspaper ran a poll to ask its readers who should be the new Doctor, and I topped it.

Roles like this and his part in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought him a wider audience than his many critically acclaimed stage appearances. 4) composed by his friend Stephen Oliver. It was while watching actors rehearse that he realised he wanted to act.

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor musician writer and theatre director.