Tom Courtenay: 'Mr Dorrit's like my dad'

Veteran actor Tom Courtenay has told how his own family life provided inspiration for his role as a needy father in Little Dorrit.

Tom plays William Dorrit, who is looked after by daughter Amy while in a debtors' prison in the BBC1 costume drama, based on the Charles Dickens novel.

The Billy Liar star told the latest issue of the Radio Times: "The selfish way Old Dorrit treats Amy is very close to home.

"My father lived 20-odd years after my mother's death (from cancer at 48) and he was quite a weight on my sister Ann, who's a year younger than me.

"When Mr Dorrit asks Amy: 'Where did you go? What were you up to?' I said to myself: 'That sounds like Dad.' I was closer to my mother, but feel very affectionate to my father now.

"I thought of turning down my knighthood (in 2000)... Mother would have been too sophisticated to care, but Dad would have loved it, so I did it for him."

The 71-year-old also criticised the dominance of musicals on the West End.

He told the magazine: "In my day we learned to tread the boards, which is what we wanted, and there were lots of plays on 'the West End stage'.

"Now it's all musicals, which is a shame."