Neil Pearson: You ask the questions

(Such as: how did you end up playing so many womanisers? And have you ever considered having a new haircut? Perhaps a Beckham?)

Neil Pearson was born in 1959 in south London and began acting while at school in Suffolk. He trained at the Central School for Speech and Drama and rose to fame in the newsroom sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey and the police drama Between the Lines. He has since appeared in several films, including Bridget Jones's Diary. In 2001, he played John Diamond in the BBC drama, A Lump in My Throat, which charted the journalist's struggle with throat cancer. He lives in south London.

Ever considered a new haircut? A Beckham perhaps?
Aliya Al-Hassan, by e-mail

I have the same attitude to my hair as I do to my back garden. I just let it grow until it gets too unruly and something has to be done. I can't remember the last time I went for a haircut. What I do is get it cut at the behest of whoever's employing me. It makes sense, if you've got long hair and you're playing a skinhead, they can do something about it. But if you've got short hair and you're going to play a rocker, you've just consigned yourself to an extra two hours in the make-up chair. I've still got all my hair, so that's reason to be cheerful.

In Dirty Work, your character was a gambler. Is it true that you're one?
Simon Norris, London

Yes, I am. But in a very minor-league way. I like gamblers, even the dislikable ones. There's a great confederacy of outcasts in casinos. But I don't play poker for the same reason that I don't play golf. If I did either of them once, I'd do them exclusively for the rest of my life. The playwright Patrick Marber is always on at me to take up poker, largely, I think, because he sees me as a human cash-point. I tend to stick to blackjack. How good am I? Well, I'm still here, but I'm still working.

I was very impressed by your portrayal of John Diamond in A Lump in My Throat. How different was the man himself from the character you played?
Cathy Peters, Southampton

John was someone I didn't know very long but got to know very quickly. Life tends to speed up in those situations. We met and found we had a lot in common. We both loved books and gadgets and we both had a hatred of quackery and cant. The original idea was for John to be in A Lump in My Throat. He was going to play himself and I was going to play his larynx. Sadly, that wasn't to be. And I was the last to be convinced that it was a good idea to go on without him. But looking back, I'm glad I was because, if for nothing else, I think that it has brought a greater readership to his work. I was worried, as I think John was, that he would come to be defined by his disease, and he was very keen to ensure that that didn't happen. I really wanted to show the man that was still there, even though the paraphernalia of the terminal illness was surrounding him. And I think that we managed to do that.

Is Bridget Jones your kind of woman?
Jenni Jones, by e-mail

Oh, god no. When was lack of confidence ever listed in the top-10 sexy characteristics, for either sex?

How did you end up playing so many womanisers?
Polly Townshend, Hitchin

Baffling, isn't it? But, to be honest, I can think of only three in a 20-year career. So, perhaps I should ask: How did you end up remembering me playing so many womanisers?

I see that you're in Michael Frayn's play, Benefactors. Was the experience of touring it anything like touring his other play, Noises Off?
Sam Wilding, Northampton

Sadly, it was neither as eventful or childish or petty. It was all disappointingly grown-up. But I do prefer touring to being in one place. I've got quite a short attention span, so a week in each place suits me down to the ground. I explore the bookshops and the countryside while I'm there.

Is fame a burden?
Sandy Turner, Dunfermline

There are all sorts of different types of fame. I fall into the slightly famous and the occasionally famous categories. I'm occasionally famous when I've got something on telly. That's not in the same league as the perpetually famous, like Madonna or Tom Cruise. I would hate that. But I can live with this. Normally, by the time people have done the double-take, I'm gone. It's an occasional side-effect of what I do for a living, so if I worried about it, I'd stop. But it's not something I look for. You could go to the Met Bar, you could go out with Jordan. I do my job and go home.

Is it true you went to boarding school? What about your socialist principles?
Chris Ryan, Littlehampton

Yes, it is true. But I think you're assuming that boarding school means the same as public school. What I went to was a state-run school funded by the Inner London Education Authority for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. It was certainly privileged in that I had a great time there and got a great education, but it wasn't paid for by mummy.

What's next? Stage or screen?
Roger Lutyens, Bangor

I'm going to do a new TV comedy written by Andy Hamilton, who co-wrote Drop the Dead Donkey. It's all about a sports agent.

When did you first appear on stage?
Ursula Prince, Harrogate

1967, Wix's Lane Primary School. I was the second shepherd. Or perhaps it was my performance of "Frère Jacques" on Clapham Common bandstand, for which I received my first and only acting award – a copy of Niko and his Mule. I think everyone got one.

You supported Ken Livingstone in his bid to become Mayor of London. Do you still think he's great?
Paul Gates, Lancaster

Yes, I would vote for him again. Despite the best efforts of the Evening Standard, Ken's success or failure as mayor will depend on how he tackles London's transport problems. We knew at the beginning that the mayor would have virtually no say on health, education and housing. Now we find that his power over transport is severely limited. If, as a result of that, we realise that we're not being grown-up about this – we're certainly not as grown up as the US, which is perfectly prepared to see immensely powerful mayors in New York and major towns across the country – then something good will come out of it.

As a Spurs fan, did you secretly enjoy seeing Seaman's vulnerability to the long lobbed ball shown up again?
Sam Collin, Maldon

Well asked, that man. You rightly guessed that there are few things that bring me more pleasure than remembering Real Zaragoza's Nayim lobbing Seaman from the halfway line. But while I'm always happy for that to happen when he's wearing an Arsenal shirt, when he's wearing an England shirt, I, like everyone else, react by putting my head in my hands. Last Friday was a sad day, but Brazil were better than us. I was glad that we were drawn against them, because winning the World Cup without beating the Brazilians would've seemed tarnished. On the other hand, we did neither.

Neil Pearson stars in 'Benefactors' at the Albery Theatre, London WC2 (020-7369 1730), booking to 28 September