Fresh Role John's Crack At Kiwi Life

'Home Is Where My Wife and Daughter Are'

- Amy Prebble

For self-described workaholic John Rhys-Davies, playing an amoral, narcissistic author in TVNZ’s new black comedy Fresh Eggs was a gift.

Not only did the Welsh actor have enormous fun with the part, but working in New Zealand also meant he got to spend more time with his wife, former Good Morning presenter Lisa Manning and their daughter Maia.

“Home is definitely where my wife and daughter are. I would like to say that I’m very much a home person, but the real truth is I spend most of my time living in hotel rooms and I am a worse man for that,” he says ruefully.

The actor, who also owns a home on the Isle of Man, where his eldest son Ben (50) lives, travels the globe for work.

“I love getting up at four in the morning and going to work, and I have no intention of retiring. I reach 75 in May, so I’m expanding the range of things I’m doing. I’m writing more and producing a little bit, and hoping to make a more intelligent contribution to civil dialogue in the world.”

John, who read English at the University of East Anglia, has a great love of literature. He peppers his chat with the Weekly with quotes from TS Eliot and Aristotle, extols the virtues of Milton, and reveals a deep affection for Jane Austen. He says it was the script for Fresh Eggs that grabbed his attention. “I loved the writing.