Imogen Stubbs has said Neil Dudgeon “hasn’t changed at all” since their time together at drama school, as they reunited on Midsomer Murders.
The veteran actress, 59, attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art years before her friend became DCI John Barnaby in the hit drama.
Stubbs, who has a guest role in an upcoming episode, said: “Neil was like a much loved head boy at Rada.
“He was the centre of the year, everyone wanted to be in a show with Neil, Ralph Fiennes hero worshipped him and everyone wanted to be his friend… except in dance classes.
“We had an elderly lady who taught us a dance to the Eurythmics and although he wasn’t in his comfort zone, Neil still really enjoyed it.
“We did lots of shows together, he played my father a few times, and we did Heartbreak House in which he was the older sea captain and I was the young Ellie Dunn and they shared this spiritual love affair.”
She added: “One time we had to pretend to be trees and I remember thinking to myself, oh I like this guy, because we all just stood there on one leg and stuck our arms out, but Neil did this weird thing where he went all low down and looked like he was doing some strange dance, and when they asked him what he was doing he said he was a tree growing from sap.
“His dry humour was always amazing and he hasn’t changed at all.”
Stubbs will appear in the episode The Sting Of Death.