The Stage

Home truths - Patrick Stewart

Published Wednesday 1 February 2006 at 13:15 by Liz Thomas

Patrick Stewart’s return to the UK has put the actor exactly where he wants to be - a star of Hollywood as well as mainstream British TV, hears Liz Thomas

It has been 18 months since Patrick Stewart left LA and the Hollywood glitz and glamour to return home to Britain. By all accounts it was one of the best decisions of his life.

The actor, who moved to America to play Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation back in 1987, says: “If I had fantasised about how I’d like to be spending my time on my return, this past year would have been it.”

Quite frankly who can blame him? Last he year he starred in David Mamet’s widely-acclaimed A Life in the Theatre at the Apollo, put in a guest appearance in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s popular TV comedy Extras and also wrote and performed in his one-man show A Christmas Carol at the Albery Theatre.

He is currently on screens in ITV1’s science thriller Eleventh Hour as Ian Hood, a physics professor serving as a special adviser to the government. The role reunites him with Extras co-star and comic actress of the moment Ashley Jensen. The pacy show tackles gritty modern issues such as bio-terrorism and cloning and while Stewart admits things have been controversial, he says they are also true to life. He explained: “It has nothing to do with science fiction whatsoever. No aliens anywhere in sight, no space time continuum. There have been disturbing images but it is all about the real world, the world of today.”

Stewart will soon be on the big screen as Charles Xavier in multimillion pound movie X-Men 3. However, Stewart is refreshingly circumspect about his billing as a Hollywood A-lister. He explains: “I’ve never thought of myself as being anything other than just an actor looking to interesting and hopefully important work. I never wanted to waste my life or whatever talent I’ve got and it just so happens that I’ve been blessed to be in a situation where I’m invited to move between the world of huge budget studio movies, television such as Next Generation and back in mainstream British television, which is one of the places I’ve wanted to be.”

While Eleventh Hour has so far pulled in reasonable ratings, it is unlikely that Stewart will be in the next run, unless it is put off for at least another 16 months. The former furniture salesman, who trained to be an actor at Bristol Old Vic, is returning to do a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company after more than 20 years. He first performed with the RSC in 1966, where he appeared with actors such as Ben Kingsley and Ian Richardson, before moving to the National Theatre in the early eighties.

He says: “Going back to the RSC is the culmination of a dream that I’ve had for years and for a long time I thought it would not happen. I’m going to play Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, and Prospero in The Tempest and anything else they throw my way in the next 16 months. We are doing the entire canon of 37 plays, so as a member of the audience you could hear every single line that Shakespeare may have written in the next year or so in Stratford.”

Despite becoming a household name through film and television parts in America, it is clear the move back to England and lots of different roles for theatre have put a spring in the 65-year-old’s step. He says: “Don’t get me wrong, what happened in the States was absolutely fantastic. I wouldn’t change any of that but I was pining for England. Coming back has been like restarting a love affair.”

While he is rarely drawn on his private life - he is seeing 26-year-old actress Lisa Dillon - it is clear the twinkle in his eye is as much about personal contentment as professional. While he is working with the RSC until 2007, he is working on other projects. He says: “I am a recurring character in Family Guy and I’ve done two voiceovers for Japanese animated movies. I’m doing another animated movie called Steam Boy, which is a Japanese film set in Manchester and London.”

And it seems the old Star Trek suit may yet still come out of the closet as he revealed that US film executives are in the process of talks for another intergalactic production. Stewart admits that he is open to the idea of returning to hyperspace at some point, but for the moment he says he is more than happy where he is.