Neil Morrissey has no plans to retire.

Neil Morrissey has no plans to retire

Neil Morrissey has no plans to retire

The 61-year-old actor opted not to celebrate his most recent birthday by taking his partner Emma Killick and some friends to Barcelona and joked that he doesn't have any plans to quit acting just yet because scriptwriters always need "old blokes" for television.

He told Metro newspaper's SixySeconds column: "I had a big 50th rather than 60th. I went to ['Men Behaving Badly' co-star] Martin Clunes's 60th and that was a lovely big show. My 60th, I didn't want the pressure of that. I was in Barcelona with Emma and two other friends. Emma is Australian and they were friends from Australia who were visiting so we had a great time. We had dinner, drank too much wine and had good fun.

"The great thing about this job is they always need old blokes, don't they? I suspect I'll be wheeled out on the odd occasion to be Old Bloke Who Dies In Hospital or Old Bloke Who Is Run Over, or someone's grandad. Actually, I've already been grandad. I'm moving into great-grandad territory now... I imagine I'll be doing it for a good while longer."

Meanwhile, the former 'Waterloo Road' actor is now appearing opposite Sally Lindsay in the Channel 5 drama 'Love Rat', which follows a divorcee who falls victim to a con artist on holiday.

Neil loved getting the chance to work with former 'Coronation Street' star Sally, 50, and thinks the audience will also relish in her performance.

He said: "It was exciting to go and work with someone who you hope is going to be great and of course she was. Sally's such a hard worker. She puts everything into it. It was difficult for her because every single scene is her being oppressed, being attacked, being chased, having to deal with the emotional issues and carrying the storytelling of the drama. Some people are going to think her character is an idiot. Other people are going to be going, 'Go for it, girl!'"

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