How do actors cope with having their defining line shouted at them in the streets – for decades? Richard Wilson, Maureen Lipman and Tony Robinson tell all

When it happens to Richard Wilson, he gives a wave and keeps walking. Maureen Lipman, on the other hand, tends to assume an expression of weary resignation, which she calls her “dead sea bass” look. Tony Robinson is a bit more forgiving: he might even play along. “You don’t want to be a dick about it,” he says.

What each of these actors has in common is a catchphrase that has dogged them for decades. Wilson played the curmudgeonly Victor Meldrew in the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave from 1990 to 2000, and it’s rare now for a week to pass without someone calling out his character’s incredulous catchphrase – “I don’t believe it!” – or pleading with him to repeat it.

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