Inspecting Lewis

He has just arrived at the Lewis base camp for a gruelling day and night’s filming for the episode The Dead of Winter, part of Series Four. ”At the moment we are doing lots of night filming and split days to make full use of the darkness, so it is tiring,” he admits.

Perched on the faux leather lounger in full stage make-up and his police inspector’s suit, Whately has steeled himself for this chat, knowing that the publicity side is all part of the job. And yet Kevin doesn’t make for an easy interview because he doesn’t see anything unusual in what he does. “It’s just my job,” he says shrugging.

Neither does the 58-year-old give any great insight into his character Lewis, who is, after all, one of TVs favourite detectives.

“I made him as close to me as possible” he tells me, as if it was an obvious question, and nothing to do with his acting abilities.

But don’t be foiled. Talk to the rest of the cast and they all agree that Kevin is the unspoken team leader. The daddy of Lewis, his quiet demeanour hides a steely determination and dedication, and they all look up to him, listen to him and respect him deeply.

And what he says goes, in the nicest possible way. Whately has also helped make Lewis one of ITV’s most successful shows, and biggest global exports, so he’s an important man.

But try to crack him, or get him to open up and you’re in for a hard time. What you see is what you get, both on screen and off, his matter-of-fact manner he blames on his Northern roots (he hails from Northumberland although he now lives in Woburn with his actress wife Madelaine Newton). He answers your questions nicely and politely, while revealing absolutely nothing.

Ask him what he does between gaps in the Lewis filming schedule and he mentions a new ITV wartime drama with Robson Green, before adding: “They don’t feel like gaps anyway because you have to do all the publicity and read the new scripts as well. After all, Lewis is the equivalent of four films a year (each of the four Lewis episodes are nearly two hours long).”

Kevin is however well aware that Laurence Fox, who plays Detective Sergeant Hathaway, is much more of a marketable media star. Whately is also canny enough to realise that regardless of the plot, what makes Lewis work, as a series, is his relationship with Hathaway.

“As for Laurence and myself, our relationship has a life of its own, between the characters, rather than what’s written down in the script, and that seems to be what people are interested in,” he admits.

Their real-life affection for each other is palpable, and together they have pulled off what no one thought possible – making Lewis work after John Thaw died and with him, Morse. “I couldn’t see how it could work and it took me completely by surprise,” Whately says admitting he was hugely sceptical when initially approached to do Lewis four years ago, after 13 years and 33 episodes with Morse.

“But I had to trust them (the producers) and go against my instincts, trust the story lines and hope to keep the viewers interested,” he says. “And ITV hasn’t hacked away at the budget. We’ve been lucky like that and it shows on screen, which is why Lewis sells so well, because the Americans love it.”

So how does his global Lewis fame infringe on Kevin’s personal life? “Go to a restaurant in New York and the maitre d’ will know who you are,” he smiles “or half way up the Atlas Mountains and someone says ‘I recognise you from the TV’. It’s an odd experience but I’m relaxed about it. I didn’t like it at all at first though. It takes some getting used to.”

In other words the father-of-two has taken his burgeoning fame in his stride. And being a well known face isn’t a new thing for Kevin anyway, having starred in Auf Wiedersehen Pet for nearly 20 years on-and-off, as well as films such as The English Patient.

So how does he feel now about Lewis’s success? “Speechless,” he says smiling, “and we still never know what to expect from a script. But we always make sure the scripts hold water because it’s important that there’s some logic.”

He does care you see, he just doesn’t make any bones about it. He also acknowledges that Oxford is an essential part of Lewis’s continuing success and his fondness for the city is palpable. “We love it here and know it so well. From the staff at The Randolph to the crew at The Holiday Inn we are made to feel welcome and they know us really well.

“But Oxford has always been very accommodating to us – we are totally reliant on the bursars letting us into their colleges for example. And to me, Oxford is what draws Lewis out of the ordinary, because it’s so photogenic here.

“On a more personal level, my mum and dad were both students here so I do feel as if I’m following in their footsteps. I love it here, working in Oxford and I really enjoy it.”

And with Series Four about to be launched in the spring, things are hotting up. So what can we expect then? Will Lewis finally find himself a decent woman and settle down? “Oh there’s a bit more of that “ Kevin grins, “and a bit more flirting with the pathologist.”

So what about the rumours that Lewis was going to be axed? “It never was,”Whately says heatedly. “It was just something The Express picked up and ran with, which had no substance,” he says bitterly. “Why would ITV do that. Lewis is their biggest export?

“And when the tourists are here in the summer, we get mobbed because lots of them come to Oxford as a result of Morse and Lewis and then can’t believe their eyes when they find us filming, they just can’t believe we are actually here,” he says.

‘I know how they feel,’ I think as I fold up my notepad and step out into the cold as Kevin prepares to go on set. And as I am ushered out of base camp, I wonder whether, despite our conversation, I have actually come any closer to the real Kevin Whately?

And then I realise that if you really want to see him in action, you need to tune into Lewis later this year, because that’s when he really starts to make sense, and it’s the best glimpse you’re going to get.