Veteran actress Sheila Hancock has revealed how she puts adoring fans off her husband John Thaw - by getting them to meet him.
The 67-year-old says she has mastered the art of deterring would-be groupies who expect the Inspector Morse star to resemble his charismatic on-screen persona.
Speaking to Radio Times, the former Rag Trade star said: "When they fall in love with him, as they occasionally do, I make them meet him because I know they'll go off the idea.
"They expect this amazing, sexy, swashbuckling thing, and then he mumbles at them - he's not at all like Morse, and even less like his character in The Sweeney.
"It doesn't always work, mind you. He's great fun, but so bad at communicating with other people." Ms Hancock, who plays Timothy Spall's mother in the new ITV comedy-drama, The Thing About Vince, added that she still feels envious that Thaw is offered more new roles than herself.
She said: "But I'm delighted for him because he's so good. He doesn't realise it. He only ever seems to read reviews which say he's rubbish."
Ms Hancock, who has campaigned with the Greenham Common women and fellow actress and political activist Vanessa Redgrave, also told how she regretted the lack of protest among today's young people.