Interview: Todd Carty, actor, Spamalot, Grange Hill, EastEnders, The Bill

Hardly surprising considering the 47-year-old, who tours to the Capital in Spamalot next week, has hardly been off our TV screens for more than three decades.

"When I get recognised it's a generational thing. It's akin to buses coming along. You might get one Todd, then three Tuckers come along at the same time, and then it might be a Mark or even a Dancing On Ice," he laughs.

Eric Idle Interview: How Spamalot finally earned Python blessing

Yes, let's not forget his hilarious exit from Dancing On Ice in 2009, in which the nation watched him shoot across the ice, out of the rink and out of the show.

"Cab drivers in London are still taking the p*** out of me about that" he grins. "I only did it the show because my youngest son Thomas wanted me to. So I got through the first round, the second round and then on the third week all went fine until the live broadcast.

"I think Susie, my partner, must have pulled me a little bit quicker than normal and I just lost my timing and forgot all the basics. I flew through the tunnel out of the rink and fell on my arse. Then the three guys who tried to pick me up fell down. There was more drama off camera than on. When they got me up they pushed me back onto the ice so hard that I was even more wobbly as I returned... the rest is history."

Carty was more steady on his feet when viewers first met him as a cheeky 14-year-old in the BBC kids series Grange Hill, although by then he was already practically a veteran.

"I started my career when I was four years old," he reveals. "I used to go to a Saturday morning improvisation class. Producers would come along looking for cheeky kids and I had a cheeky face back then - I had my own hair and teeth, wonderful days. That's how I got my first job, a Woolworth's commercial. My first words were, 'Here's your change mummy.'

"I never looked back, then Grange Hill came along all those years later and completely changed my life. I owe Tucker Jenkins more than just a few pints, I think I owe him my mortgage."

However, as Carty reveals, it could have all been very different. Initially he had no intention of auditioning for the role that would make him a household name.

"I'd already been to three auditions that day when news of the Grange Hill one came through. When we got there, another 400 kids were already waiting. I just wanted to go home to see West Ham. So I thought, 'I know how to get out of this. I'll jump the queue.' I did, and the director, an Edinburgh man called Colin Cant, caught me. He said, 'You pushed in didn't you?' I said, 'No I didn't sir,' and he replied, 'Yes you did, get to the back of the queue.' I had to wait another two hours.

"Little did I realise that in episode three of the first series of Grange Hill, Tucker pushes to the front of the queue and says exactly the same thing. Twenty years later Colin told me that was why he gave me the part. So I got myself a job for being a cheeky little bugger like Tucker."

Tucker reappeared in the spin-off Tucker's Luck after which EastEnders followed, along with the challenge of taking over the role of Mark Fowler, which had previously been played by David Scarboro, who tragically ended his life at the age of 20.

"When you take a job like that you have to have a certain amount of respect for the bereaved," he reflects. "It was awful, but everything was all sorted out before I came in. They asked the cast if they thought it was a good idea to bring the character back. They asked David's parents how they felt about it. Everyone gave it their blessing and they reassured me that it would be okay.So I did it, but not without thinking about that poor young man and his family."

Thirteen years on Carty's next career move saw him switch to the dark side to play The Bill's PC Gabriel Kent, a man capable of blackmail, rape and murder.

"During a three-month sabbatical from EastEnders, ITV called and asked if I'd like to have a chat about a dodgy character called Gabriel Kent. So I had a conversation over a cup of tea with another Scot, then producer of The Bill Paul Marquess. He said 'This character is a copper. He's very dark.' Later I realised that was the understatement of the year because this guy has an affair with his step-mother, has sex with an ex-girlfriend, then rapes and kills her, kicks to death a paedophile, traps a rapist.... Any actor worth his salt would be salivating at the thought of a role like that, so I said, 'Where do I sign?'

Up until then viewers had seen Carty as 'the boy next door.' All that was about to change.

"I was in Marks and Spencer in Muswell Hill and this elderly lady came up to me and said, 'We don't like your type in this area.' I said, 'Madam, what do you mean? I've been living here for 30 years." Without a moments hesitation she replied, 'I don't care, pack your bags and get out now'," the father of two recalls with a laugh. "But I can't tell you how wonderful a part he was to play. In a strange way, people love to hate a nasty character. I'd go to work and guys in vans would say, 'Morning murderer.' I was in Brighton recently and they told me that they were all cheering when Gabriel threw himself off the 60-storey building."

Thankfully, in Spamalot Carty is back to his loveable best as King Arthur's simpleton steward, Patsy.

Monty Python's Spamalot, Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place, Monday-Saturday, 7.30pm (Wednesday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm), 12.50-39.50, 0844-847 1661