The 5-Minute Interview: Adrian Lukis, Actor

Adrian Lukis, 50, is best known for his role as Mr Wickham in the 1995 BBC adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice'. He played Dr David Shearer in 'Peak Practice' for two years and is starring in 'The Last South', showing at Pleasance Courtyard as part of the Edinburgh Fringe

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

In rehearsals.

A phrase I use far too often is...

"If all goes well."

I wish people would take more notice of...

Their fellow men.

The most surprising thing that's ever happened to me was...

The complete mental brainstorm that produced my decision to set off on a bicycle ride across Australia in 1981 with no spare tyre, no experience and not a clue what I was in for. I completed it though!

A common misperception of me is...

That I'm a nice guy.

I am not a politician but...

I get very frustrated when English people feel they have to run themselves down, we should be a little happier with what we've produced. It's seen as intelligent to have a deeply cynical view of our country. There's a deep unease in the English psyche; we just assume we're shit.

I'm good at...

Hopefully, being a good father.

I'm very bad at...

So many things that I don't know where to start. Car engines, plumbing, mathematics, holding on to the fragile self-belief one needs as an actor.

The ideal night out is...

With a group of very close friends and family rocking quietly on a deck on a tropical sea on a cloudless night - with a good supply of booze.

In moments of weakness...

I have a rather reckless tendency to try to break monotony.

You know me as an actor but in truer life I'd have been a...

Writer. I wrote my first play when I was 17. I must get back to writing.

The best age to be is...

Middle aged. Agonisingly slowly a certain amount of wisdom is finally beginning to appear.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is...

Find out who you are and live by this knowledge.

Emily Gosden