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Neil Dudgeon as DI Duncan Warren

Neil Dudgeon was amused and pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't end up on the cutting room floor of the Bridget Jones II movie edit suite.

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In fact, despite having a tiny part - the friendly taxi driver who advises Bridget on her wardrobe - it was his scene with Renee Zellweger that became the worldwide trailer for the film and one of the most popular and memorable scenes in the movie.

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"I still haven't seen Bridget Jones II yet but people kept saying at the time of its release that I was in the trailer which was shown on TV a lot and there was I thinking I have this tiny little role that, as always happens with feature films, would end up on the cutting room floor," he laughs.

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"I reckon there is more of me in the trailer than the actual film!" he continues.

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"It was a lot of fun and they rang up at very short notice and asked if I wanted to do this huge film with Renee Zellweger and I kind of thought I was going to go to the gym tomorrow but I could postpone and go another day!

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"She was fantastic to work with - very normal, funny and chatty and I liked her very much."

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This is Dudgeon's fourth year playing DI Duncan Warren and the murders just keep getting more gruesome.

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"I think the audience keep coming back because it has very high production values and it is beautifully filmed and the length of it doesn't require too much commitment from the audience.

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"They can watch it and know that within three days they will have their answer and be satisfied. We all love 'Who Done Its' and the murders are so gothic and gory that the horror element of it gives people a thrill. We seem to love that frisson of fear.

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"Having said that," he continues, "the murders are so extreme and extraordinary that it wouldn't make you afraid to walk home at night.

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"They aren't everyday occurrences, so while the fear factor is present it is clearly so extreme that it remains on TV and the acting of course is of a very high quality," he adds, laughing.

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"I remember getting the first scripts and thinking I would just read a couple of scenes to get the gist of it and see what was going on; but I read all three scripts in one go and just couldn't put them down which is unheard of for me.

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"I also remember thinking, 'You sick, sick people - how on earth did you think this one up?' But it is a tribute to Robert Cooper and Kate Triggs of Great Meadow Production - who are the driving force behind it - that they deliver scripts that are consistently high quality, which is a rarity with a continuing series," he observes.