of course not! you've been in the gladiators, nanny mcphee, i, and i still enjoy it. i don't think i can do much stage work any more. that's. ..

that's become a bit scary for me. tricky... the lines? with the camera, i can stop. yeah. of them in a big... hopefully. ..hopefully, in a big theatre. not a good thing. you were just in gladiator ii. yes. obviously... was there something

about inhabiting people resonated with you? and... right from school days — i played hamlet at school when 0k, is there a line from hamlet that particularly, "to be, or not to be, that is the question.

that's a bit of... it's still there. i mean, you did take on these great classics, and you went into it very much with a mind of doing theatre. actor in the role? in the... yes. "derekjacobi is the classical shakespearean actor "of our generation." is that... is that something you intended to do? that never occurred, no. you know... to kind of make an actorspecial, if...

actors are... i was an east end boy, you know. butl... somehow, i was born to be an actor. that's what i feel. that's what i wanted. that's what i enjoyed. and it was the... it was the giving of an act. i can't act on my own. do you think if you had been

born in leytonstone 30, — the pantomime at the london palladium. university and all that. so they were very chuffed, very proud of that. cambridge, stjohn�*s.

what did they think young derek was going to become? they never... they had no knowledge of at all, "acting? but it all changed when i got my firstjob, you know, they thought, "well, he's enjoying himself. "he's earning a living.

you know, "people are... our son's an actor!" ihad... "the world is your oyster. "you're going to be an actor? "you've got to earn a living, son. absolutely. an accountant. oh, well, that would have been the ace. yes. "but you're going... they laugh of course not,

but it wasn't my scene at all. and if fame meant more work, fame was good. it... of course, there's a... there's a little tingle when somebody says, "oh, mrjacobi, i saw you in this. "can i have your autograph?" but that's all... you know. it was to muck it up. and, i mean, look at

young actors today. i mean, stars are made in the space of one movie yeah. what... is it... pretty face. or, "0h, 0k. no, actually... you go through a period of... but it doesn't stay because you know what...

i mean, i'm thinking of those young actors did you think when you were in your 20s and 30s, i'm not saying that they're no good.

mmm. for seven years. greats. it was amazing.

the reason i was asking about how you looked and how was cos you have spoken a lot about luck. you've written about luck in your life. you have struggled. you've... you into the hollywood movies. yes. right. ..to find the company that he wanted to create

at the old vic to play the supporting actors. but maybe you'd have become... with that much talent? does that much talent go unnoticed? mm—hm. you've got to be seen. i still think somebody... you were too good, derek.

if he hadn't been in the audience that night, somebody else would have been in the audience, or somebody ithink... interesting. and thereby maybe get better. "successful in that world."

life it's going to be. how much of a struggle was it being gay at a time erm... yes... i didn't struggle. i was always... i knew that something was... that something was different. mm—hm. as a teenager, i had the girlfriends, and... but i knew, i knew something was... i knew exactly what it was.

you were quite young. yes, i was a young teenager. and her reaction, god bless her, was, "you're 16. against what she didn't want. and obviously... well, this was the 1950s. yes. she went off and told dad, i expect, and they talked and... they accepted it. you know, they totally accepted it.

i was very discreet, i suppose. mmm. head as a disease... ..as something wrong with me. i was very... i was so lucky. oh, god, i... you're still acting... thank god.

87. ..of 87. yeah? and you slow down. your brain... but that's all. i can still walk, talk. only recently, only in the last, i would say, 18 months... ..but...

is much more likely, she's in my ear and i can... ..take her cues and speak the lines. but i am not the only one. it's... i need assistance.

yes. yes, yes, that's a very good analogy. or is that...? i'm very... for which i am deeply grateful. i've really had a charmed life. from...

in the second world war. when war broke out, i was about...four, three, four, and i was evacuated. i had a wonderful time. i had a year and a half in a pub. and i adored theatre. nothing... sort of nothing went wrong. thank god, survived. butl... i have had a charmed life.

derek, thank you very much. pleasure. thank you. was it all right? lovely. for many of us, meteorological winter was really dull, so it was nice to end with some blue skies.

and heading into march, there'll be some sunshine around this weekend. most places will be dry, but it will be cold at night where we have the clear skies, and there's the risk of some fog as well. and rain to scotland and northern ireland, and the vale of york — that fog will lift through the morning. the rain is tending to peter out, and it's more a band parts of england. to weaken, keeps some cloud

in places overnight, heading into sunday, which will bring in sheltered eastern areas. and here in eastern scotland temperatures could reach 12 or 13 degrees. almost a repeat performance as we head into monday. this is where we'll see more cloud, but again, it looks like we'll see some sunshine in sheltered eastern areas. those temperatures

widely ii or 12 degrees.

are not in position. you don't the cards right mums] now. with us, you start playing i now. with us, you start playing gifif- i’y very serious. you're gambling with the lives of millions of people. a meeting between the leaders of the us and ukraine

hello, i'm carl nasman. welcome to programme. kyiv�*s relationship with the united states the vice president, jd vance, was the first to raise his voice — opposition democrats have in support of ukraine and its leader. our north america editor sarah smith has this report.