Sir Derek Jacobi On Lockdown, Literature And The Love Of His Life

The lively legend of stage and screen, Sir Derek Jacobi, opens up about the beginnigs of his career, the meaninglessness of awards and meeting his now-husband, Richard Clifford

- Nicola Venning

SIR DEREK JACOBI is feeling a bit chipper. After a terrible year which has devastated the entertainment industry, things are looking up. Lockdown has now ended, venues are reopening and Derek is itching to get back to normal. “I cannot wait to go to the theatre and have dinner with friends afterwards. I cannot wait”, says the scion of stage and screen. At nearly 83, he has already been offered a film role, shooting this July. “I think it would be silly to say no after all this time”.

Softly spoken, charming, with a dapper sense of dress, Derek has been acting royalty for decades. He had already forged an illustrious reputation in the theatre before he shot to fame playing the stuttering, reluctant Roman emperor in the TV series I, Claudius for the BBC in 1976. Despite skimpy sets and a low budget, it was an unlikely hit and kept the nation entranced. “Having hardly done any telly, I was suddenly being fed into people’s homes twice a month [in the TV series].” The role and his performance poured rocket fuel on an already sparkling career.

“Within two years of I, Claudius, I was starring on Broadway, that’s the kind of game-changer it was. Every actor wants a few peaks like that; I have had a couple of big ones [Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac], but the really big one was I, Claudius.”