Top 32 Quotes & Sayings by John Nettles

Take vicars; there are often village vicars in 'Midsomer Murders', but the village vicar in England was killed off long ago.

But, in real life, I'm not a sex symbol. I'm popular with female viewers, but television is fantasy land. People watching don't see the real person; they see a romanticised image.

I have enormously fond memories of working on 'Bergerac.'

Midsomer' is a throwback to the old detective tradition, in which everything happens in the head of one man. Everything depends on his intuition and experience.

You need someone to ground you because if you start believing that your public persona is your only and real persona, then you're looking at a very long and lonely old age.

I get a lot of letters from French lady admirers - and gentlemen. 'Midsomer' is a huge hit in France, and it's all down to the guy dubbing me into French - a middle-aged balding fellow.

We were on a fairway shooting a scene in 'The Dogleg Murders' when I was asked by the cameraman if it was safe to film from where he was standing. I said, 'Yes, it'll be fine.' I then managed to slice the ball 90 degrees into the camera.

Midsomer Murders' is more about character and atmosphere. It portrays a kind of idealised rural England, just as the French like to imagine it.

It's so good to get up in the morning and see a donkey - they're just unbelievably beautiful and funny. My donkey Hector laughs when I walk towards him; he knows mortality when he sees it.

I've done so much drama on television that it's very hard to sit down and watch other actors work. I find my interest is more in the real world.

Actors have become much more savvy about the nature of television celebrity these days. We were not. The kind of celebrity culture that exists now didn't exist in the 1980s.

Never underestimate the effect you can have on certain sections of the audience, though. You should see some of the letters I get.

I mean, dear old 'Bergerac', or dear young 'Bergerac' as he was then, he had a gammy leg, he was going through a nasty divorce with his wife, he was a recovering alcoholic, it's a wonder he can get up in the morning let alone solve any crimes. And he also had to drive that ridiculous car.

I'm flattered to be called a sex symbol and, on occasion - if I've had a nice bottle of Beaujolais - I can imagine myself really being one.

I'll have been doing 'Midsomer Murders' for 14 years by the time 'Barnaby' leaves. I've formed familial ties with the people involved in the show and they will be hard to break.

I remember Tom Baker once said to me many years ago: never go back, particularly with TV shows. This is because the track record for characters returning to series they've left is not very good.

The whole of Cornwall has become antiseptic. When I was growing up in St. Austell, the county was wonderfully rough and workish. These days it is polite and Disney-fied.

People who get OBEs are people like firefighters and lifesavers - these are real-life heroes.

I don't know why 'Midsomer Murders' is so popular; I've asked this many times and I've asked the Germans particularly because I've become very fond of them, to be honest. And they say it's the irony, the sense of humour and so on.

I have just written a book on the occupation of the Channel Islands, which is being published in Germany. Pursuing the Second World War is my passion because it's the most extraordinary period in history.

Age is full of regrets and most of them are about treating people unkindly.

I have a legion of friends and the best ones are my immediate family, which is very cliched but true.

You do get your stalkers and obsessives though, and it's a huge problem sometimes. When I lived in Jersey, I used to have a middle-aged lady who, when I'd wake in the middle of the night, I'd see her van parked outside.

Domestic violence is often ignored as it usually happens behind closed doors and it can seem easier not to get involved. Yet, domestic violence continues to affect 1 in 4 women at some point in their lifetime, regardless of their background, career, race or age, and it is vital that we do something now to protect those directly affected by abuse in the home.

On my days off I pick up our chicken's eggs. My wife and I have five chickens called The Spice Girls. Five lovely chicks. And no, we won't be eating any of them for Christmas dinner.

Football is my guilty pleasure.

Guitar is the most expressive instrument in the world. I don't play much any more. Maybe a bit in private.

I've not really had a bad Christmas. Apart from serious things, like when my father died. He rather spoiled the party and I've never forgiven him for falling off the twig on Christmas Day.

My nearest and dearest have always been very careful. I've never had to send Christmas present back yet.

I don't think anyone takes the deaths in Midsomer as seriously as in say Wire In The Blood or Silent Witness. We're part of the old British 'whodunnit'. We're much more gentle and the deaths are sanitised, in a sense.

I suppose I'm not quite the oldest detective on the block - David Jason is. When's he going to retire and give rest of us a chance?! No, his Touch Of Frost is terrific and a wonderful antidote to the po-faced detective shows around at the moment. Anyway, I can't retire. I have a wife and five chickens to feed.

I'm always impressed with the way the writers find new and creative ways of killing people. But my favourite has to be the hat pin through the ear.