Interview: Neil Morrissey talks about his Barlaston pub Plume of Feathers, Line of Duty and returning to his roots

At the height of his acting career, Neil Morrissey was best known for playing daft Tony Smart in Men Behaving Badly and as the voice of children's favourite animated builder, Bob.

But what he's perhaps lesser known for is his passion for real ale, good food and his local roots in Staffordshire.

When we heard that Neil had relaunched the menu at his pub in the county, we wondered what else has been happening in his life?

And with tasty new meals on the menu, we didn't need much convincing to pop in for a chat.

Earlier this year, health inspectors highlighted nine breaches of regulations in the pub's kitchen, and the bad news hit national headlines. But just like Bob, Neil was keen to fix it and the team have been working hard to turn things around.

"We've waited three months for our new head chef Bruce Mackie to come on board and my God it's been worth it. The man is so inventive. He never even raises his voice in the kitchen and that I really respect, especially as I was the one putting the starters together!"

We'll get on to food in a while, but first we wanted to hear about how Neil is juggling business with his acting.

The 54-year-old was born in Stafford, and grew up at Penkhull Children's Home.

We wonder how he managed to propel himself from those humble beginnings to becoming a household name.

At the tender age of 17 he worked at a retail unit in the town to raise money to attend his first acting auditions despite the negative comments of one teacher.

Neil recalls: "I always remember that one teacher said to me, 'you don't have the aptitude to be an actor'. I'm still trying to work out what that 'aptitude' is."

After studying at Thistley Hough High School in Penkhull, Neil went on to study his A-Levels at the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College before landing a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Since then, the star has appeared on stages and screens around the world, most recently in hit dramas Line of Duty, as corrupt cop Detective Constable Nigel Morton, and The Night Manager, where he took the role of Harry Palfrey as one of head-honcho Dromgoole's dubious supporters.

Neil is also well known for his performance in police drama Boon. The series ran from the late 80s into the early 90s and saw Neil join in the second series as Rocky, which was his first major television role. The ITV programme, which revolved around the life of ex-policeman Ken Boon, could perhaps be attributed for setting the star in good stead for his most recent work.

The Line of Duty, written by Brummie Jed Mercurio, saw Neil as the lynch pin in what becomes a massive police corruption scandal, involving the sexual abuse of young boys in children's homes.

Speaking of the role, Neil says: "I had people come up to me in the street so enthralled by it, and so desperate to speak to me but they'd cover their ears as soon as I'd start talking and shout 'no spoilers, please no spoilers!' They were so gripped, and that's such a great thing to see.

"I think what we see in the latter series is how Morton is just intent on keeping out of it all, keeping his nose clean.

"But of course, he's the one that knows everything, all of Dot's (Detective Sergeant 'Dot' Cotton, played by Craig Parkinson) secrets. The fact is, right now, nobody knows who the black-clad men in the Jeep were at the end of the series.

"And the final shot of my character just mowing his lawn – well it's a move back out into the suburbs, where all this became hidden. But basically, it is just a man mowing his lawn, looking like he got what he wanted."

Line of Duty and The Night Manager recently brought Neil back into the limelight for his portrayal of characters a little more sinister than perhaps his viewers were used to.

"They were really stealthy, steely characters," he muses.

"We don't get the scripts until a week or two before we start shooting, unless there's a long interview scene to learn, so it keeps us in the dark really as to how things will play out. That makes it really authentic.

"We have such a laugh on set though. You'd think with such a dark storyline we'd be serious all the time, but as soon as that camera is off we're all in stitches – someone has nearly always got something hilarious pinned to their back, or there's a fart machine on the go somewhere. It's cathartic, to have that release."

Neil also talks about his time on Bear Grylls: Mission Survive.

The show saw eight celebrities embark on a 12-day mission into the wilderness of South Africa. Neil says: "I got to a point where I was lying on my back on hard ground in the middle of nowhere and I thought, 'I'm too old for this'.

"It was such a challenge. The whole thing seemed to be designed to put you under pressure and make you reach the point where you'd break. I just thought, 'I don't know how much further I can go without being rude to someone!'."

The actor also revealed that he has been approached to take part in other reality TV shows though he is unsure as to whether he can fit them into his busy schedule.

He says: "It's been pretty much constant already this year, with so many different things in the pipeline. It's incredibly busy. But I can't complain. I'll be spending at least six weeks in Sri Lanka filming in September – topping up my tan!"

It's a fascinating run-through of his latest projects, but real ale and his pub are his passion. He's visited several well-known real ale pubs throughout the West Midlands – we thought we'd take the opportunity to grab a guide.

"There's the Post Office Vaults in Birmingham and the nearby Wellington. I was inspired by the Wellington and the way they listed their ales, with the description and everything about them. I've adopted that in my pub, so people know exactly what they're having, from a hearty dark stout to the lighter Morrissey Blonde!"

Returning to Stafford for the launch of his new menu at the Plume of Feathers, Barlaston, Neil is full of all the vibrant enthusiasm that made him a household name in the early noughties playing Tony.

The walls of the pub are adorned with artefacts and photos from his career, though the focus is very much on delivering good home-cooked food – even with an oatcake on the menu, just with a twist. We had to indulge.

"Everything in here I've helped to choose and had a say on the design and layout so it is very much my baby. But our new head chef, he's just been presenting me with these fantastic dishes and I've tried each of them and immediately said 'yes'!"

On the menu now are four special courses of light but wholesome meals which show how Stafford still plays a part in this actor's life and work.

Heritage tomatoes is the first course, comprising of wasabi mascarpone, toasted pine nuts, basil and sour dough bruschetta. Neil was drafted into the kitchen himself to help prepare the exotic starter, carefully assembling the ingredients to appear almost like a flower bed on the plate.

"The pressure is on in there, I can tell you," he says. "Learning lines is nothing in comparison to that, although the guys all keep so calm and methodical.

"I was struggling a bit because the work surface is so low and I'm tall so I'm practically bent double. In my own house I have a built-up work surface so it's not so bad. Thankfully the guys in the pub's kitchen are shorter than me, so it's perfect for them!"

Shredded Gressingham Duck followed the initial starter, made from a traditional Staffordshire oatcake, with hoi-sin sauce, spring onion and cucumber. Next up was potted Loch Duart salmon, with pickled cucumbers, watercress mousse and ciabatta crackers. The Morrissey Blonde ale pie was the main event, with creamy mash and roasted veg, with a selection of homemade desserts to finish. When he's not sampling his Morrissey Blonde real ale at the pub, which is by far the best seller at the family-orientated, reasonably priced venue, he's jet-setting it across continents to film his latest venture.

"I've just finished filming Midsomer Murders, then I'll be working on the next series of Line of Duty. In September I'll be in Sri Lanka for the filming of a new ITV show where I play a bar owner on a beach – a role I think I have enough experience of to be good at!"

After chowing down on the delicious food, Neil reveals he is later travelling back down to Soho to meet up with fellow Men Behaving Badly star, Martin Clunes.

"We're going to have a Chinese in the same place we have done for the last 30 years. It's a boys' night, so if we end up in the Groucho Club having a few drinks it'll have been a good one!"

Though London has its draws, there's no place like home for Neil.

"This place has always had such a hold on me – it's the place I grew up, the place I really come from. I spend my time between here and London and wherever I'm shooting, but it's always the place I come back to."

And with an exciting menu and enough good beers on offer, we think we'll come back to the Plume of Feathers too. The equation for pub happiness is pretty simple.

"It's just about bringing good food and good ale," Neil says. "What can be more Midlands than that?"

By Jessica Labhart