The Long Firm

Sir Derek Jacobi is Lord Teddy Thursby

A politician embroiled in the criminal underworld as defined by mobster Harry Starks proved too irresistible a role for Sir Derek Jacobi, one of Britain's best-loved and respected actors.

 

"I thought Jake Arnott's novel was beautifully written with wonderful dialogue. I loved it. It was sexy, funny and enjoyable to read.

 

"I play Lord Teddy Thursby, a married politician who has a strange relationship with his difficult wife Ruth [Judy Parfitt],” explains Derek.

 

"Teddy is also gay. He meets and falls for Harry Starks, not in a sexual sense, but he sees a fellow traveller in Harry.

 

"Harry is dangerous which is part of the attraction and the charm - the power and the money.

 

"The circle of friends Harry has and the life he leads are all way beyond Teddy's. Teddy is quite eager to jump into that particular pool with him.

 

"My character gets banged up a bit by Harry who is a bit outraged with Teddy. But Teddy survives!"

 

Born in London's East End, Derek is probably best-known for his Bafta award-winning performance as the emperor in I, Claudius and for his role in the ITV drama series Cadfael.

 

Derek studied History at Cambridge University where he also indulged his passion for amateur dramatics, before graduating in 1960. Other luminaries included Corin Redrave, Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Trevor Nunn.

 

"As far as I can remember, acting is something that I had always wanted to do," smiles Derek.

 

"I suppose because I was an only child who had no siblings to play with, I lived in my own fantasy world.

 

"As part of my education, I had the opportunity to be taken to see productions which really confirmed what I had already subconsciously thought, so there was never really any great revelation.

 

"I had no other talent for anything else, and I suddenly realised that people would pay me to do it. My parents were very encouraging. They were wonderful."

 

The world in which the book is set, the juxtaposition of criminal underworld and showbiz glamour, is a million miles away from Derek's personal experience of Sixties London.

 

"The book takes place within a certain framework of people and the criminal classes," comments the 66-year-old actor.

 

"I knew the Kray twins were around ruling the East End and were dangerous violent celebrities, but it wasn't part of my world at all.

 

"My world in the Sixties was the theatre and I was just starting out as a professional actor.

 

"I was getting my feet on the slippery ladder, so this particular world that Jake Arnott wrote about I knew was going on, but I wasn't part of it at all.

 

"I think we are a species of voyeurs," says Derek about the human fascination with the criminal underworld.

 

"Gangsters do the things that are hidden in all of us. They are violent and wicked, and they break the law. They conduct themselves in a way that we would all like to think that we are capable of.

 

"We enjoy watching other people do it and then give ourselves a pat on the back when they get their royal comeuppance!

 

"Usually they are very charismatic, sexy, likeable characters in their own right, who do their business with a lot of charm."

 

With more than 100 film, television and theatre productions under his belt, Derek's CV reads like a roll-call.

 

But Derek explains why the theatre remains his favourite medium.

 

"It gives the most job satisfaction but it is also the most frightening.

 

"At the end of the show the feeling of elation and the immediate response by your audience is something that you can never get in a studio.

 

"In the studio, the director, technicians, and the editor choose which bits of you the audience see, but in the theatre they can see all of you, all of the time. You are totally exposed. If anything goes wrong they see it go wrong."

 

For his service to the industry, Derek was knighted ten years ago, but the title of Sir does not easily roll off his eloquent tongue.

 

"It was something that I completely wasn't expecting," says Derek.

 

"I was very flattered and honoured, and still am. I was very excited and also worried, so I thought long and hard about it.

 

"I didn't want it to affect how people perceived me, particularly how other actors perceived me because when I was a young actor I was a bit scared of the Sirs and the Dames, and I didn't want that to happen.

 

"Then I realized that it was really about how I conducted myself.

 

"I find it very difficult to actually use it. If I ring up to make a booking in a hotel or a restaurant and they ask for my name, I just say Mr Jacobi.

 

"It is a bit difficult to say well this is Sir so and so. I find it quite hard to get my mouth round it. I am much happier when it is just Derek or Del," he laughs.

THE LONG FIRM