0:00:00 > 0:00:02Welcome to A Taste Of My Life,
0:00:02 > 0:00:05the show that takes a culinary stroll down Memory Lane,
0:00:05 > 0:00:08dishing up and tucking into people's lives on a plate.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Food can be incredibly evocative.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34By simply tasting the food of one's life,
0:00:34 > 0:00:36memories can come flooding back.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Which is why we're going to be feasting on the smells, tastes and flavours
0:00:40 > 0:00:42of another very famous life.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Today's guest has had the British public roaring with laughter for decades.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49He first came to prominence in the '60s,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52as a newly-wed in one of our first-ever sitcoms.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56- Sorry, I forgot my key. - Where have you...- Is Helen OK?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59- Of course!- I'd no idea it was so late.- Kate, this is...
0:00:59 > 0:01:00DOOR SLAMS
0:01:00 > 0:01:04In the '70s, he embraced the green way of life
0:01:04 > 0:01:06before any of us knew what organic meant.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09You know that hen that sounds like Max Wall?
0:01:09 > 0:01:10Glenda, yes.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14She's never had any chicks. What's wrong? She's a healthy hen,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17- we've got a healthy cockerel.- Lenin.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Yeah, all right, Lenin. So what's wrong?
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Obviously a clash of little personalities.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Chickens don't have personalities!
0:01:25 > 0:01:29And in more recent years, he's captivated audiences
0:01:29 > 0:01:31by taking on more serious roles.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32Hey, hold your horses!
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Dad!
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Wait! Let me help.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Yes, of course. Today's special guest
0:01:41 > 0:01:45is that much-loved national treasure, Richard Briers.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Coming up in today's show:
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Richard's first TV wife, Prunella Scales,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52reminisces over a creme brulee.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Richard is a beautiful actor.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Daughter Lucy challenges us to boil the perfect egg.
0:02:00 > 0:02:01That should be all right.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07And Richard recalls the most traumatic curry of his life.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09You don't feel hot. It goes dead.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18Richard Briers, welcome to A Taste Of My Life.
0:02:18 > 0:02:19Thank you very much.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24- Now, you were born in 1934 in Raynes Park, in London.- Yes.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28And I'm intrigued to know what home was like.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Mum was very artistic. She was a pianist.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36She would, I think, have got a bit further had I not arrived.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39My father wasn't a great earner and so we lived in a flat
0:02:39 > 0:02:41in Raynes Park.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45My bedroom was... There was a car park immediately outside my bedroom,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47then the Rialto cinema.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51And so I could hear James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart's voices.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It was touch-and-go for the bills,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58but we lived in a genteel poverty, myself and my sister and mother.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00I think they loved each other very much,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03but there were tensions, always financial tensions.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05What was food like, then?
0:03:05 > 0:03:08My father was quite a good cook. He would do the Sunday roast.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12But it was cheap cuts, you see, cos money, money, money.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14This is very different
0:03:14 > 0:03:18from the sort of food that your grandparents knew.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20- Yeah.- Weren't they in India for a while?
0:03:20 > 0:03:26Yes. The Indian connection. My grandfather was in the Secretariat in irrigation in Delhi.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28And they had servants.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31So the girls, my aunt and mother, were never taught anything.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34- It was assumed they'd never need to cook.- Right.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37They went out before breakfast and rode horses,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40a thing we'd never do, certainly not in Raynes Park!
0:03:41 > 0:03:44A dish that became popular when families such as Richard's
0:03:44 > 0:03:46brought it back from imperial India,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50the word "dhal" actually means "split pea".
0:03:53 > 0:03:57A lot of "dhol" and rice, they used to say, it's "dhal", I believe,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00that was a sort of staple diet, really.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05'Always, always, gently fry your spices first
0:04:05 > 0:04:07'to release their aroma.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'Avoid the common mistake of adding spices to your dhal
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'once everything is already cooking.'
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Delicious. And probably quite unusual
0:04:15 > 0:04:20for somebody at that time, in that area, to be eating that sort of food.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Absolutely. I liked it because it was sludgy and sloppy and nursery,
0:04:23 > 0:04:30- which I still love.- It is very comforting and very soothing.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Although frighteningly simple to make,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36avoid the temptation to mix old lentils with new.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Older ones from the back of the cupboard
0:04:39 > 0:04:41will take much longer to cook.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50My mother did have this sort of love of making rock cakes
0:04:50 > 0:04:54which she seemed to do very quickly.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59She used to put the dough - use her hands in the proper way -
0:04:59 > 0:05:03- but it was lumps.- They have to be lumpy to be rock cakes.- Right.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08'Traditionally made with sultanas or currants,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'older recipes for rock cakes suggest using lemon zest
0:05:11 > 0:05:15'and even brandy to give them even more kick.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17'I don't mean to labour the point,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21'but do avoid every temptation to make the mixture smooth.'
0:05:21 > 0:05:26She'd have pink icing, which is bad, but it was a feminine thing about her
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and she'd put a blob of pink icing on.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32'If your icing's in need of more liquid,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34'try a squeeze of lemon juice.
0:05:34 > 0:05:40'Even squeezed orange or rose water can give icing a hidden surprise.'
0:05:40 > 0:05:44But to eat they were pretty heavy and pretty solid.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Quite hard to eat.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49I like the idea of the pink icing, though!
0:05:49 > 0:05:53A nice touch, isn't it, for Raynes Park? Jollied things up a bit!
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Are these like the ones that your mum used to make?
0:06:01 > 0:06:06They're a very good copy, except you notice they're quite a weight.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10My mother had a very great skill of making them half that size
0:06:10 > 0:06:14- but weighing the same, which is quite a gift!- Yep!
0:06:15 > 0:06:16Mmm!
0:06:16 > 0:06:21I'm intrigued to know if there was a moment when you thought, "This is what I want to do.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25- "I want to be an actor." - It's always been a love of words
0:06:25 > 0:06:27and phrasing for me.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30The words of the Bible excited me. Dramatic and Baroque.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I used to actually recite aloud,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37privately, in the kitchen of our flat in Raynes Park, which had an echo.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Of course it made me sound quite a little star,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44because my voice had more presence.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48So my lust for self-importance
0:06:48 > 0:06:51was probably born in that kitchen very near the Rialto cinema.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00- Now, how did you first start acting? - I became an amateur actor at 14
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and did the odd play every year.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04I was completely ruined by nerves.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07I had a very quick brain and I talked so fast
0:07:07 > 0:07:12that I actually got sacked from an amateur dramatics society which takes some doing!
0:07:12 > 0:07:16If you want to be a professional actor... Not only was I talking at 500 miles an hour
0:07:16 > 0:07:21but also my head would constantly do that when I'm talking to Nigel Slater!
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Because I did want to impress you so much! That's a terrible mannerism.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27And then I just muddled through
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and got into RADA when I was 20.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35Now, you met your wife Annie very early on, didn't you?
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Oh, yes. I'd only been in Liverpool for six months and we were married.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43- And she's been with you ever since. - She has, bless her heart, yes.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47She's a very, very strong and wonderful woman.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49I've got a little message from her.
0:07:49 > 0:07:50Oh, right?
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Richard came up to join the company,
0:07:54 > 0:07:55this was in 1956,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57not good about his food,
0:07:57 > 0:07:58really and truly.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02He looked after himself terribly badly.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06So I used to occasionally take him under my wing.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09In return for that, one day he asked me to go round for supper.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11First of all, we had soup.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15We'd got into the habit of not having tins of soup.
0:08:15 > 0:08:22Much more the thing to do was to have Florida vegetable soup.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Florida spring vegetable soup.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28JULIO IGLESIAS BALLAD PLAYS IN BACKGROUND
0:08:28 > 0:08:31I love the soundtrack!
0:08:35 > 0:08:39I remember one Christmas we'd got down to our last few pounds.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42And so when people sent us presents,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45we used to wrap them up and send them off to other people.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49- Yes.- 'Just to be able to give them a present.'
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Put that on as well.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55The first time I remember him,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59he stood there with one eye slightly shut cos he was so exhausted.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02So he didn't look terribly good-looking at that point!
0:09:03 > 0:09:06And he also had some spots on his face
0:09:06 > 0:09:10because he didn't know how to look after himself, as I've said,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14and he was frying everything, including scones!
0:09:14 > 0:09:17He presented the whole thing very well,
0:09:17 > 0:09:22although it was really... There wasn't a lot of cooking involved, was there?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24But he presented it very nicely.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27It was lovely. It was very sweet of him.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34I sort of felt I wanted to mother him a bit, really and truly.
0:09:34 > 0:09:3750 years ago. It's unbelievable.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Dear, oh dear.
0:09:41 > 0:09:48Hello, darling. I hope you liked the reconstruction of that meal you cooked me all those years ago.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50It reminded me of lots of things
0:09:50 > 0:09:52and I hope you have a lovely day.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53That was wonderful.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55I shall treasure that.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03- So really, Annie came and rescued you from...- Yes, from starvation!
0:10:03 > 0:10:05- Yes.- And from fried scones!
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Yes. Not bad, is it?
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Now, very early on, you had a young family.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Yes, it was about five years before Kate arrived,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and Lucy about five years after that. We have two daughters.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26I was not absolutely potty about having children.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31I was frightened to repeat the process of having children without having an income.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36- Yeah.- A proper income. For actors, it's very tricky to start families
0:10:36 > 0:10:38until you've got established.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43- And one of them has gone on to follow you into the profession.- Yes.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Lucy Briers, who's jolly good.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48I have a nice little surprise for you.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51- No!- Yes, another one. - Another one!- Afraid so!
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Well, I'm about to actually boil an egg for my father.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01This is because on the rare occasions when Mum was working,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06my dad would try and cook my sister Katie and myself breakfast.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08And it was always a disaster.
0:11:08 > 0:11:14Yes, I think I learned from the horror of my father's egg boiling!
0:11:14 > 0:11:18I learned how awful it is to have a bad egg.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24I used to get very irritated by friends of mine at school when we were little.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27When The Good Life came out, I was six or seven years old.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32Friends of mine at school would say, "Have you got goats in your garden? I saw it on TV."
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I was like, "It's a TV programme!"
0:11:34 > 0:11:37I used to get really annoyed!
0:11:37 > 0:11:39"That's not what my dad does."
0:11:39 > 0:11:43- Imagination.- I don't have a watch. I'm going to have to...
0:11:43 > 0:11:46maybe ask you to time it!
0:11:48 > 0:11:54Four-and-a-half minutes from the time of boiling. I'll start timing it with a watch I don't have!
0:11:54 > 0:11:58I'm wondering whether I could go and get my watch and you could film the egg!
0:12:00 > 0:12:03"Film the egg"! Fascinating!
0:12:05 > 0:12:07I have the watch!
0:12:07 > 0:12:10People will go, "Why didn't she butter the whole?"
0:12:10 > 0:12:12It's a complete cock-up!
0:12:12 > 0:12:16- And I'm thinking that as well. - Comedy runs in the family!
0:12:16 > 0:12:20I don't know why I didn't do that. We're getting close. OK.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23We can count it down. Another 15 seconds, I think.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26It's really getting exciting now!
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Then you just do a rather dramatic... Like that.
0:12:32 > 0:12:33So I'm just gonna check.
0:12:35 > 0:12:36Mmm. Oh, that's good.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39- Lovely.- Dad, I have a challenge for you.
0:12:39 > 0:12:45I'd like you to battle with Nigel and see who comes up with the best boiled egg.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47My God!
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Now, what is coming up next?
0:12:50 > 0:12:52I think probably a challenge!
0:12:52 > 0:12:55- Oh, God!- The perfect boiled egg!
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Clearly, Lucy's challenge is for us to come up with the perfect egg.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Yes. That should be pretty easy.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09To be honest, I'm out of my comfort zone here.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12You don't like eggs?
0:13:12 > 0:13:16- I don't like eggs.- Lovely eggies! - I've never cooked a boiled egg before!
0:13:16 > 0:13:19You've never cooked a boiled egg before?
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Can I choose the egg?
0:13:24 > 0:13:26That should be all right.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- I really won't be able to put it in my mouth.- Right.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36All right, we'll have to recast!
0:13:38 > 0:13:40There's no other way round this.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Oh. I know it's got to boil first.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47- Oh, no, it doesn't...- No, it's...
0:13:47 > 0:13:48You see...
0:13:49 > 0:13:53- I told you I've never boiled an egg before!- I bring it to the boil
0:13:53 > 0:13:55- and then do three minutes.- OK.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00- You've cracked it.- It's not cracked, is it?- It's cracked.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Oh, no. Oh, God, it is!
0:14:04 > 0:14:08We should have now just under three minutes of profound boredom!
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Nearly coming up to one minute. We have one minute.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Whose idea was this? Oh, Lucy's. That's lovely soldiers.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23I'm doing this with sheer feeling now. Emotional feeling about this egg.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Right. That's mine. Two-and-three-quarter minutes.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31If I took that... This is what I really hate. Put it in there.
0:14:31 > 0:14:32That's it.
0:14:34 > 0:14:35- Eugh!- Look at that!
0:14:38 > 0:14:40- Here you are.- No!
0:14:41 > 0:14:44With great authority, you have to take a piece out of that.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Smell it!
0:14:47 > 0:14:50You have to do it quickly. You've done it. You can go from there.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Pick it up. That's it. I think you've done it.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55You've got a lovely egg.
0:14:55 > 0:14:56Eugh!
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Yes. You see, that's a little bit overdone there.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Very well done there, Nigel.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05- Sorry to make you feel a bit icky. - Thank you.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09We've wrapped that up for you.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Still to come on A Taste Of My Life:
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Richard Briers' favourite sandwich leaves me cold.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18It's horrid!
0:15:19 > 0:15:22His friend and actress Prunella Scales
0:15:22 > 0:15:24rustles up a very sweet creme brulee.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27The creme has won over the brulee!
0:15:28 > 0:15:31And Richard shows off his limited flair for cooking.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- Lovely movement. Did you notice? - I did.- Lovely.- I did.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Your first real big break, certainly TV-wise,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45was, of course, with Marriage Lines.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Black and white, with Prunella Scales.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Again playing what covered up a lot of these faults in me,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54was playing highly-strung nervous young men.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58So a lot of it was me being nervous on television.
0:15:58 > 0:16:04Because of that, people said, "He's very natural. Highly-strung, but natural."
0:16:04 > 0:16:07And it was just me going, "Oh, my God!"
0:16:07 > 0:16:08What did you say?
0:16:08 > 0:16:11I'm going to have twins.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Clever girl!
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Thank you, darling.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18Well, we've both been clever.
0:16:18 > 0:16:19Yes!
0:16:19 > 0:16:22I suppose you could look at it that way, yes.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27In those days, it was incredible being on television. Now everyone's on television.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Everybody. The people who are amazing are those who are not on TV.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33People used to say, "Oh, look!
0:16:33 > 0:16:36"That's Richard, um... He's on television!
0:16:36 > 0:16:40"What's his name?" It was quite a thing to be on the telly.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Now it's, "Not very good last week, Dick!"
0:16:42 > 0:16:44And you think, "It's just a job."
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Pru has sent a little message for you.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52Oh, Lord. One of my first television wives! I've had dozens of 'em!
0:16:56 > 0:16:58It's a creme brulee
0:16:58 > 0:17:01with, I'm afraid, tinned raspberries.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04I first met him in telly
0:17:04 > 0:17:08where I was playing a bar maid and he was one of the leads.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10We had a little scene together.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16He said to me, "I'm just going to do a comedy series
0:17:16 > 0:17:20called Marriage Lines. Would you like to audition for the part of my wife?"
0:17:20 > 0:17:24So I said yes, and I did and I got it.
0:17:24 > 0:17:30During the second series, I'd got married and was pregnant with our first baby.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Whereupon I went into hard labour and I said, "Where's my husband?"
0:17:35 > 0:17:38So they rang home. My parents were there but Tim wasn't.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41They rang some friends and he wasn't there.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46Eventually, between spasms, I said, "Try Richard Briers."
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And there were Tim and Richard knocking back the whisky,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53saying, "Isn't it terrible what women go through on these occasions?"
0:17:53 > 0:17:55And Richard is Sam's godfather,
0:17:55 > 0:18:01in tribute to the whisky, the mid-labour whisky!
0:18:01 > 0:18:02What I cannot bear
0:18:02 > 0:18:06is the way both the business and the public put people into categories.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09If you have a success in a comedic series,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13people put you into that category.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Richard is a beautiful actor.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25- 'It's a huge creme brulee, isn't it? - Enormous!'
0:18:25 > 0:18:29The creme has won over the brulee!
0:18:29 > 0:18:32But hope you enjoy it, Richard!
0:18:34 > 0:18:36Ah, this is Pru's...
0:18:45 > 0:18:49- It's a triumph, Pru. Like you! - Thank you, Pru.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55But Richard really hit the big time in the mid-1970s,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58with the massively successful sitcom, The Good Life.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02The Good Life eclipsed everything in its path.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04We didn't know. We thought it was a nice little show.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10I read episode one and I thought... You get very pretentious when you're young,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14and I thought, "Shall I be a serious actor?" Go to the RSC and starve!
0:19:14 > 0:19:17The next day I checked the bank balance.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21And I said to Annie, "I think we're going to have to do this, love."
0:19:23 > 0:19:24'And thank God I did!'
0:19:24 > 0:19:28What happened to the nit lady that used to come round the school?
0:19:32 > 0:19:35What happened to proper footballs with laces
0:19:35 > 0:19:39that used to cut your forehead open when you headed them?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41'Richard, is there one particular dish'
0:19:41 > 0:19:45that you associate with that feeling of being a success?
0:19:45 > 0:19:50Things like fish which in my childhood were always dull, grey and flaccid. Yuk!
0:19:50 > 0:19:54And to have something like sea bass cooked really well.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57In a restaurant it costs a lot of money, of course,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59so I get Annie at it at home.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02So those sort of rather exotic things,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04which are expensive.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Once a month you treat yourself to something really super.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10And this is a nice simply-cooked sea bass
0:20:10 > 0:20:13with a bit of beurre blanc.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15'For freshness, make sure your sea bass
0:20:15 > 0:20:17'has bright eyes and glistening skin.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21'Then it's just seasoned flour and fry for a few minutes.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23'Simple but effective.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26'To ensure your sea bass doesn't curl up in the pan,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28'fry skin-side first
0:20:28 > 0:20:30'and resist the temptation to push it around.'
0:20:30 > 0:20:36It's wonderful when you taste real food and you think, "My God, that's different. Oh..."
0:20:36 > 0:20:39"Oh!", you think, like Frankie Howerd.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45And you think, "That's the best thing that would have been about being a film star."
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Cos you would have that sea bass every day.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53'Beurre blanc is a classic French white wine and butter sauce.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56'Although it's thought to be difficult, it's not.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58'If you ever find it curdling on you,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01'add just a little water and stir vigorously.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04'Of course, if you prefer, you can use red wine
0:21:04 > 0:21:06'and try making a beurre rouge.'
0:21:08 > 0:21:10That's a lovely sound, isn't it?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Your very good health and many thanks.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Yours too. Cheers!
0:21:14 > 0:21:16See you tomorrow at the same time!
0:21:16 > 0:21:20I mean, this is proper restaurant food, isn't it?
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Sea bass and beurre blanc.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Lovely. Sea bass is a great fish, isn't it?
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Do you think that the gauge of success has changed?
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Now, of course, it's shaven heads, the odd ring,
0:21:32 > 0:21:37sometimes in the most alarming places! I won't go into detail, we're eating!
0:21:37 > 0:21:42I don't find that because I'm old. I find it pretty charmless.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44The Office I found terribly unfunny.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48I thought he was brilliant, and the cast, but I didn't laugh.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52I thought, "Am I old?" It wasn't just that. I had four years in an office.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55- Yeah.- Where everyone hated each other's guts!
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- Richard Briers!- Right.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00'Despite not appearing on our screens in a comedy for some time,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05'Richard was recently seen in the follow-up to The Office, Extras.'
0:22:05 > 0:22:06- DOLL:- Is he having a laugh?
0:22:06 > 0:22:09- ..loving wife... - Is he having a laugh?
0:22:09 > 0:22:13'Extras, of course, is a bit nearer home to me.'
0:22:13 > 0:22:15I've never been an extra, thank God,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18but I know people who have and it's a very tough job.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Is he having a laugh?
0:22:26 > 0:22:30I've got a little taste here of what appears to be heaven and hell.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33- I can't believe you can like all these things.- No!
0:22:33 > 0:22:35- These sandwiches.- Yes?
0:22:35 > 0:22:36They look a bit spooky.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40It's very white bread, isn't it, which I don't have now.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Cheese and strawberry jam, you see.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44It's horrid!
0:22:46 > 0:22:48- These look good.- Can't fault.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Give me those!
0:22:51 > 0:22:55- Little almond cakes.- Almonds are the best thing I think we have.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Tell me a little about Monarch Of The Glen.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00It's 26 weeks out there,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03you're old, your grandchildren are in East Sussex,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06you're doing 500 miles with, of course, British Rail,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08and an inherent fear of flying.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12- So you just stay there and get- BLEEP!- ..I mean, drink!
0:23:12 > 0:23:14There's not a lot of joy in it.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17HMS Glenbogle, do your worst!
0:23:23 > 0:23:24'So I got out of it.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26'I gave them a year's notice.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31'I said, "Try and make it humorous, my death." So they blew me up.'
0:23:31 > 0:23:32Useless?
0:23:35 > 0:23:36Ah.
0:23:36 > 0:23:37EXPLOSION
0:23:37 > 0:23:41- Did you choose the way to go?- No, I left it to the creative people.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44I'm only a giant interpreter of the work!
0:23:45 > 0:23:48And that most burning of questions...
0:23:49 > 0:23:52So tell me, sprouts or not?
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Not. I think they're best in brandy.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Cos that kills it right off!
0:24:00 > 0:24:04'And so how would Richard sum up his life with a final feast?'
0:24:04 > 0:24:09- Richard, your great meal, your final feast.- Yes.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11- We're tucking into curry.- We are.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18- Do you feel comfortable about the term "final feast"?- Yes.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21- I think "final feast" is an unfortunate phrase.- Yes.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24You couldn't eat with that hanging over you.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Quite big flavours for your last meal.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30I don't recommend anybody have curry too hot.
0:24:30 > 0:24:31I had it in a restaurant.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33I had a curry called Chicken Phal.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36They said that is the hottest curry you can have.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39I thought, "I can take it. I'm a man. I can take it."
0:24:39 > 0:24:42My entire mouth was anaesthetised.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45You don't feel hot. It goes dead.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47It's quite frightening because it's so hot
0:24:47 > 0:24:49that the taste buds are killed.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Frightening. It took several pints of beer to bring me round!
0:24:53 > 0:24:57I love chopping things up. I can't cook, but I love chopping things.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Of all of the things that you've done,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03is there one part that's a favourite?
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Malvolio is sort of best.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10It's Shakespeare's language, and he's a figure of total ridicule.
0:25:10 > 0:25:11A bit like Tom Good, in a way.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16- He had this idea, this dream, that he could be self-sufficient... - Yes.- ..in suburbia.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18I didn't like him very much.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23He was so rude all the time to Margo.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26But he was always on the touch at the same time.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Something... There was this wonderful undercurrent,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- an almost sexual undercurrent between Margo and Tom.- Yes!
0:25:33 > 0:25:37You were almost waiting for them to tear each other's clothes off.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41People got that idea. I didn't. And I know Penelope Keith certainly didn't!
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Bless her!
0:25:43 > 0:25:48But some people nowadays even, 30 years later,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50see a sexual aspect in The Good Life.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53- I did.- Well, that's extraordinary!
0:25:53 > 0:25:56- The chemistry between... - Isn't it funny?
0:25:56 > 0:25:59- ..Margo and Tom...- The last thing I ever sold in show business was sex!
0:26:07 > 0:26:10- Lovely movement, that. Did you notice?- I did.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12- Lovely mover.- I did.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Oh, look at that dusting.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21- We want something to drink with that.- There's always beloved beer.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- It's in the fridge!- Well done, sir!
0:26:25 > 0:26:26Ah!
0:26:26 > 0:26:30I'll just have half with you for now. I'll have the other eight pints later!
0:26:30 > 0:26:32'Richard Briers' final feast.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34'A lovely Methi curry,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36'a simple baked treacle tart
0:26:36 > 0:26:40'and a chance to reflect on the day over a beer or two.'
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Oh, beer!
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I'm intrigued to know what the future holds for Richard Briers.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48What's the time now?
0:26:49 > 0:26:53I don't know. Things are pretty good which gives me a little trepidation,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55when things are going too well.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58That means there might be something
0:26:58 > 0:27:03to "take the edge off your bliss", as Samuel Beckett put it.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05It would be very nice, ideally, at 72
0:27:05 > 0:27:10to live fairly healthily to about 138.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15- Anything you haven't done that you'd love to do?- Sometimes you get silly. Actors get silly.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19I think, "Why didn't I take up gardening in a big way?"
0:27:20 > 0:27:24"Why didn't I spend my life doing more natural things?
0:27:24 > 0:27:27"Rather than unnatural things?" Being locked in a tiny room,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30in a dressing room putting bits of paint on your face
0:27:30 > 0:27:33and then standing on a platform and shouting?
0:27:33 > 0:27:37It can't be a job for anyone really sane.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40You can't really say, "That's a well-balanced person."
0:27:40 > 0:27:43You have to say, "Actually, they're mad!"
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Which is sad.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48I think that kind of... When you've done a lot of it,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50you think, "What a funny thing to do!
0:27:50 > 0:27:53"You know, pulling faces!"
0:27:54 > 0:27:59So one would prefer to have done something more natural like creating a garden.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01You know, like Gardeners' Question Time.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Those marvellous people get it right all the time!
0:28:04 > 0:28:09That would be nice. A more natural life rather than an artificial life.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12As Laurence Olivier said, "Acting is lying."
0:28:12 > 0:28:15You're lying in an artistic way.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Oh, I'm feeling a bit better, now!
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Richard, thank you very, very much
0:28:20 > 0:28:23for being a guest on A Taste Of My Life.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Great pleasure. Thank you so much, as they say, for having me.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28I'm always available!
0:28:48 > 0:28:50CLATTERING
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Was that my liver?
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media - 2007