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Robert Lindsay: It's time to step out of the spotlight
VETERAN Ilkeston actor Robert Lindsay has spoken to the Advertiser about the release of his autobiography and the need he feels to return to his childhood roots.
The GBH and My Family star said he was inspired to write the book after the death of his mother in 1999 and the realisation he had been running away from his Derbyshire roots.
He said: "As you get older you realise you spend your childhood running from your roots but when you have children of your own, you go back to them, you have to rely on your own upbringing to bring them up."
Describing Ilkeston in the book – entitled Letting Go – he writes: "Since the demise of the town's industries, alcohol and drugs have taken their toll on the young, many of whom are single parents."
He later told the Advertiser: "Those comments are written through my dad's eyes, he can see the changes that places have gone through and I can't say I don't agree with him.
"But I can't judge, my marriage split up and these things happen, changes in society are more apparent to my dad's generation.
"The comments don't just apply to Ilkeston, the same can be said about a lot of working class places."
The book documents Lindsay's childhood, his school life and his break into the acting world after winning a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London, and even tells of when he spoke on the phone to Michael Jackson's pet Chimpanzee.
The actor, who has twice played former Prime Minister Tony Blair in television dramas and regularly visits his father in the town, said: "I enjoy coming back to Ilkeston, it's an honest place and people there know who I am but they don't pester me.
"I was in Tesco on Saturday and no one was asking what TV show I was doing next, they wanted to know how my dad is.
"There's a great sense of community here for such a big town and an honesty I've never experienced anywhere else. I've lived all over the world, America, London, Australia, but you just don't get the same community spirit."
Lindsay revealed that the series of BBC sit-com My Family he is currently filming will be the last and that he is taking a break from television when he completes the show in February.
He said: "My Family has given me a secure regular job for ten years now, it's meant that I can have time to spend with my family.
"But I've been on TV since I was 19 or 20 years old and I want to get some anonymity back, disappear into the background."
lRobert Lindsay will be signing copies of Letting Go at Waterstone's in Derby on Wednesday November 25 between 4pm and 5pm. Advertiser readers who would like a signed copy of the book but can't make the signing can pre order their copy for next day delivery by calling 01332 296997.
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Weather for Ilkeston
Saturday 04 February 2012
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