'You often wonder about your career... what if I had said no to Victor Meldrew?'

It's an obvious way to start an article about the man who played Victor Meldrew, but it's true. Richard Wilson is exceedingly nice, friendly – and not the least bit grumpy.

The very first thing he says, sitting down in the bar of the Crucible Theatre with a piece of chocolate cake and a cup of tea?

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?"

Wilson is at the Crucible because he is, of course, so much more than Victor Meldrew, but it is that character that seeped into the national conscience. The grumpy pensioner in a flat cap who was regularly moved to utter his disbelief at the modern world is as iconic a television character as Del Boy or Hyacinth Bucket.

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"There was a time when One Foot was at its height, I remember Mark Lawson writing an article saying (series creator and writer) David Renwick was the Samuel Beckett of situation comedy. And he was right, of course," says Wilson.

Wearing a multicoloured, smart shirt, Wilson is having a lunch break during rehearsals for That Face, the regional premiere of which he is directing at Sheffield.

Maybe it's the sun outside, maybe it's that he is in his element in the theatre – perhaps it's just the chocolate cake – but the 73-year-old actor and director is in remarkably high spirits.

We meet the day before England take on Slovenia in the World Cup and Frances Barber reveals she and the rest of the cast are hoping to take advantage of the director's good cheer to convince him to let them watch the football.

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"There is a move afoot," he says. "To watch the match tomorrow. I think I'm going to capitulate. They'll have to work at night... but I think I'm going to give in."

Born in Scotland, Wilson was something of a late starter, beginning his career as a research scientist before turning, at 27, to acting and attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

On graduation, he began the life of a jobbing actor. He was in My Good Woman with Leslie Crowther and Sylvia Sims, Only When I Laugh with James Bolam and Peter Bowles in which he played Dr Gordon Thorpe, and he appeared in dramas, single episodes and on both stage and screen.

In 1986, he played the part of a newspaper editor in the short-lived London Weekend Television sitcom Hot Metal, written by former

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journalist David Renwick, who had also written the series Whoops

Apocalypse, in which Wilson also had a part.

When Renwick wrote a new series about a miserablist forced into early retirement, he knew just the man for the role.

"Apparently, he wrote the part with me in mind," says Wilson, laughing and raising his eyebrows when asked if he considered it a

compliment. "I'm not so sure. Certainly, it was unflattering.

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"When I first saw the scripts I said no. The producer rang my agent and said 'does Richard know it was written for him?'

"I simply said that I didn't, I was very flattered, but no thanks."

But Wilson did eventually don Victor's flat cap, so what changed his mind?

"It's very simple – they sent me more scripts and I saw much more what he was getting at. I went in to see David and the producers and of course I knew as soon as I went in I was going to do it.

"It would have been very silly not to, of course.

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"That's the other thing. You often wonder about your career – what if I had said no, what would have happened? Would I have had any success at all?"

Since leaving One Foot in the Grave, Wilson has continued to take on high-profile television roles, including the part of Gaius in the BBC's Merlin, Doctor Who and has developed his career as a director and stage actor. The suggestion that he has Victor Meldrew to thank for his career is met with raised eyebrows on this side of the interview table, but Wilson is insistent.

"I'm not being falsely modest. Luck is extremely important in this business and being in the right place at the right time is very important too."

In 2000, more than 10 million viewers tuned in to see Wilson's alter ego killed in a hit and run. The same year. his career as a director hit its stride when he helmed the Royal Court production of Simon Stephens' play I Just Stopped By To See The Man, which was a hit.

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Since then, he has continued to appear on television and on stage, working regularly as a director, primarily of new writing.

His reputation in theatre circles was such that he was recruited by Daniel Evans, artistic director at Sheffield Theatres, as one of three associate directors last year.

His first play for the Yorkshire theatre is That Face, which begins previewing tomorrow at the Sheffield Studio, with the premiere next Wednesday, July 7.

"People ask if I'm a director or an actor, or which I prefer, and I always say 'both'," says Wilson, who has had his filming schedules for the next series of Merlin worked around his rehearsal schedule. "The reason I was so thrilled when Daniel asked me to be an associate here was that because of television and theatre I have been doing a lot of acting – I haven't done any directing for about three years so I was very keen to do some ."

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That Face, written by theatre's latest wunderkind, Polly Stenham, when she was just 19, is a dark story of a deeply dysfunctional family. Wilson saw the premiere of the play in London, but is excited to be following Evans's vision of bringing work that has been seen in the capital to audiences in Yorkshire.

"In our industry there is this London centralisation that is not very healthy. Sheffield Crucible might not be as handy for me as the Royal Court, but I believe the same thing as Daniel – that it is important for audiences here to share the experience of seeing a play like this," he says.

"When I was doing Whipping it Up in the West End, people asked if I would tour it and, without wanting to sound too pompous, my fanbase is in the provinces, the people who watch One Foot and things like that. Ian McKellen agrees with me on that, he is a great believer in going out into the provinces and I agree that it is the actor's job to do that."

Surely by this stage in his career, Wilson is in a position to pick and choose his work. At 73, he might believe in bringing work to "the provinces" but as willing as the spirit is, is the flesh not weak?

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"It's a common myth, but it is of course a myth, that I can pick and choose where to work. I think people think, for example, that I must have situation comedies flooding through my letterbox, but that's not true at all," he says.

"For older actors and actresses in particular, it can be tough. I'm really privileged that my – shall we say notoriety – means I do get offered work, but at my age it can be sparse.

"You could say well you don't have to work that much, this is true, but I enjoy it still and that's what I trained to be, an actor and a director. I also think to some extent it keeps me young to be working."

At this point in the interview, a group of schoolchildren wander into the Crucible foyer, led by a man dressed as a rabbit and several attendants dressed as cats.

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Wilson sits back in his seat and looks over the top of his glasses.

"Now what on earth is happening here?" he asks.

In a scene worthy of a certain 1990s sitcom, the surreality is

perfectly explained – it is a workshop for Alice, the show based on Alice in Wonderland – and easily misunderstood.

It's obvious how Victor Meldrew would react to this sight. He would

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have uttered a certain catchphrase. Do people still shout "I don't believe it" at him?

"They do and I just wave and walk on," he says.

"It can be annoying – drunk people you avoid like the plague – they can be persistent.

"The extraordinary thing is that people seem to think they are the first person to say it."

n That Face, Sheffield Studio, to July 24.