The Dirty Rotten Scoundrel who walked out on TV's hottest show - Robert Lindsay and Samantha 社債 on returning to the 行う／開催する／段階

• Robert Lindsay and Samantha 社債 return to the 行う／開催する／段階 in a new musical - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
• Robert 明らかにする／漏らすs why he chose theatre over a 役割 in Line of 義務
• Both actors have their 疑問s about whether theatre was the 権利 direction for them

By Nicole Lampert for the Daily Mail

Published: 21:49 BST, 28 March 2014 | Updated: 21:49 BST, 28 March 2014

As Samantha 社債 is talking me through the items in her dressing room that she uses to help 戦闘 行う／開催する／段階 fright, her Dirty Rotten Scoundrels co-星／主役にする Robert Lindsay walks in.

'These are my worry 石／投石するs that I talk to if I get into a little panic,' she says, pointing to a box of almond-形態／調整d 石／投石するs with 注目する，もくろむs stuck on.

Robert doesn't bat an eyelid. 'And there's a tile my 甥 made me last year with a picture of cake on it; if I'm 脅すd I look at it and think, "It's a piece of cake!"'

Robert Lindsay and Samantha 社債 return to the 行う／開催する／段階 in a new musical, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Robert has his own superstitious methods of 対処するing with the terror of going on 行う／開催する／段階; every night he still uses the same make-up box his carpenter father made for him nearly 50 years ago. But 権利 now he has other things on his mind.

'This is bigger than 地雷,' says Robert, his 底（に届く） lip curling as he looks around Samantha's dressing room.

'Oh, don't start sulking,' scolds Samantha before telling me with a smile, 'This is Robert Lindsay all over. He walks in and starts moaning.'

She looks at him. 'How many stairs did you have to climb?' Samantha is three flights up at the 最高の，を越す of London's Savoy Theatre, while Robert's dressing room is next to the 行う／開催する／段階. 'I didn't notice any stairs,' he shoots 支援する.

Robert's wearing sungl asses, which he keeps on for the hour we spend together. He is, by his own admission, not in the best of moods.

He plays the lead character Lawrence Jameson, a smooth but jaded conman who's made a fortune preying on rich women in the South of フラン, in this new musical 見解／翻訳／版 of the 攻撃する，衝突する 1988 film that starred Michael Caine as Jameson and Steve ツバメ as fellow scoundrel Freddy Benson.

Robert (centre) and Samantha (left) with the cast of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Rufus Hound (above left), Jon Marquez (above 権利) and Katherine Kingsley (権利)

The cast of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 提起する／ポーズをとる for a photo during rehearsal

The show, which is still in previews and opens this Wednesday, 伴う／関わるs a lot of singing and dancing - 特に for Robert. It would be hard work for a young man let alone one of 64.

'I was really 苦しむing with the heat last night,' says Robert as he flops into a 議長，司会を務める. 'The lights were so 激しい and I lost a lot of fluid. When I got home I was feeling really strange, like I'd run a マラソン. The director's still making changes and I'm on my toes all the time. I feel real achy today. I think I'll get one of those oxygen canisters to keep in the wings.'

Samantha looks at him as if he's mad. 'I don't know whether you're 存在 serious or not. You'll be as high as a 道具.' Robert laughs. 'I'm 存在 serious. 明らかに they're fantastic. You get this 抱擁する 発射 of energy. いつかs when I finish a song I'm out of breath. Singing and dancing at the same time is h ard.'

Samantha raises an eyebrow. 'Do you know what the 集団の／共同の noun for actors is? It's a "whinge". We always find something to 不平（をいう） about.' Robert grins, 'It's true. It's because we're 攻撃を受けやすい. We're delicate souls.'

Samantha, 52, who 設立する fame as 行方不明になる Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan 社債 films and as two TV aunties - Auntie Angela in より数が多いd and Lady Rosamund Painswick in Downton Abbey - appears in the musical as 豊富な 離婚 Muriel Eubanks, who is fleeced by Lawrence. She's been in showbusiness for 32 years, but this is her first West End musical.?

Samantha 設立する fame playing 行方不明になる Moneypenny と一緒に Pierce Brosnan in the James 社債 films

'When I was a child I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be Ginger Rogers,' she says. 'When this （機の）カム along I thought, "Is this the 権利 thing to be doing after 32 years in the 商売／仕事?" But then I thought I may never be asked to do a musical again. I fluctuate between 存在 wildly overexcited and 絶対 terrified - overexcited because I've never done anything like this before, and that's also why I'm terrified.

'I still don't really know how I got the part. After the audition I rang my husband (actor Alexander Hanson, who played the 肩書を与える 役割 in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Stephen 区 musical) and said, "That was the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me: I couldn't even look at any of them as I sang." By the time I'd driven home to west London (where she lives with Alexander and their two children) I'd been 申し込む／申し出d the part.'

She and Robert were already friends. They both work for the actors' charity the 王室の Theatrical 基金, which 寄付するs money to actors who've fallen on hard times, but this is the first time they've 現実に 行為／法令／行動するd together.?

Samantha recently appeared in Downton Abbey as Lady Rosamund Painswick

'She's posh totty, you see,' he says. 'Yes, and he's terribly ありふれた,' laughs Samantha. 'I am very, very ありふれた,' nods Robert, who grew up in a 会議 house in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

His mother （機の）カム from gypsy 在庫／株 although he only discovered that when he took part in BBC1's genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are?.

'She used to have a 水晶 ball in the pantry which she hid from my dad because he couldn't 耐える anything to do with the occult,' he says. 'She'd read the cards, cook up cures, and she had a foresight that still 脅すs the pants off me.'

'I'm ありふれた too, really,' says Sam, who was born in London's 豊富な Kensington and whose father was The Onedin Line actor Philip 社債.

'I think actors' children are of no class.' Robert agrees. His daughter Sydney Stevenson, from his long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 関係 with actress Diana Weston (he now also has two sons with his wife Rosemarie Ford), is an actress too.

He says, 'She speaks terribly 井戸／弁護士席, but then most kids in 演劇 school are from the middle classes. A lot of working-class kids can't afford 演劇 school any more - not that they're really working class any more. What I mean is poor kids.'

I ask Robert - a former 社会主義者 who famously played hapless Marxist 革命の Wolfie Smith in 70s sitcom 国民 Smith and who once turned 負かす／撃墜する dinner with Margaret Thatcher because of his beliefs - to explain.

'Oh, I wish I hadn't got into this. All I'm trying to say is it's difficult for kids to 表明する themselves theatrically now because you need money; I 財政／金融d Sydney through RADA and it cost me a fortune. Anyway, Sam has a 評判 for 存在 posh but she's as ありふれた as muck too.'

Samantha's got a 堅い few months ahead of her; while she'll be on 行う／開催する／段階 every night, by day she'll be going up to Highclere 城 in Berkshire to film the next 一連の Downton.

'I did the same last year when I was in a play in the West End,' she says. 'It's very tiring but I やめる enjoy the challenge. I do my show at night, then a car will 選ぶ me up and 運動 me to the hotel 近づく Highclere. Then, after filming there, another car takes me 支援する to London at 4pm.'

Robert Lindsay with co-星／主役にする Zoe Wanamaker as his most famous 役割 as Ben from My Family

Younger fans will おもに know Robert for the sitcom My Family, but he was a big musicals 星／主役にする in his younger days. His 業績／成果 in Me And My Girl in the 80s was a big 攻撃する，衝突する, but this is his first one in 16 years.

'What made me want to come 支援する? 井戸／弁護士席 that Samantha 社債 is an 極端に attractive woman,' he flirts. '現実に I was terrified too. It's been a long time but I think it will be a big 攻撃する，衝突する. All my mates adore it. It's just 完全にする escapist souffl?.'

Robert happened to be filming a movie on the French Riviera when the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels film was 存在 made. 'One morning I had breakfast with Steve ツバメ and he said, "I'm making a film with your Michael Caine." They always say "your" when it comes to him. I said, "He's not my Michael Caine. What's the film about?" He said, "It's やめる funny and we're improvising a bit but your Michael's not so keen on the improvising."'

Robert's not known for 存在 the easiest person to work with. Indeed he walked out on the 最近の 批判的に acclaimed series Line Of 義務, 述べるd as the best thing on television this year, just a few days before filming was 予定 to start.

He says he took the 職業 as 副 長，指導者 Constable マイク Dryden after 存在 説得するd by his スパイ／執行官, but only saw the finished script on 始める，決める. 'Once I got there and saw it 疑問s started to creep in. I got on 井戸／弁護士席 with the writer but he could see I wasn't happy. I just didn't want to do it. I didn't like it and they didn't like me. So I said, "Bye", and I think they were very relieved. I'm not into police 演劇s. It was a mistake to agree to do it. And they knew I'd made a mistake and they made it very obvious.'

Samantha's looking at him open-mouthed. 'You're a constant source of amazement,' she tells him. He shrugs. 'It's happened four times in my career. You either stick with a 決定／判定勝ち（する） or say, "I'm not happy" and leave. I've got to an age now where it's pointless wasting everyone's time, and someone's money, if you're not happy. It's better to walk away before it's too late. I think I can be 公正に／かなり honest now. I'm like my dad; he was pretty blunt.'

He says he's lucky enough to be able to turn 負かす／撃墜する more work than he takes up these days, but he hasn't yet been 申し込む／申し出d a 役割 in Downton. 'I'd love to be in it but it's too posh for me,' he says. 'We do have ありふれた people,' 主張するs Samantha. 'Not as ありふれた as me,' says Robert. And with that he puts on a cockney accent, 'I'd like to play a chauffeur or a villain. Bit of a cad. Maybe with you?'

A scoundrel indeed.?

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: The Musical is at the Savoy Theatre until 29 November. www.scoundrelswestend.com.