Sir Derek Jacobi has admitted Vicious is “Marmite TV”, but it has enough fans to balance out the haters.
The 76-year-old actor stars opposite old friend Sir Ian McKellen in the ITV sitcom about bickering gay couple Freddie and Stuart, which is returning to ITV for a second series.
Derek admitted: “I think somebody involved actually said that about it – you either love it or loathe it. There are enough people who love it for it to come back, but at the same time there are people who don’t like it, and that includes gay people who don’t like it. As Ian has said, it’s farce, it’s kind of beyond comedic, it’s unreal.”
But people who do love the show can be very excited when meeting the stars, Derek admitted. He plays sweet-natured Stuart, while Ian plays his partner, acid-tongued jobbing actor Freddie.
Derek revealed: “I went to a weekend birthday bash for a friend, it was her 50th, and they’d taken over this big basically bed and breakfast house, and it was run by two gay guys. I’d just got in the door when they both greeted me. And as I walked in the door one of them screamed, ‘I’m you, he’s McKellen!’”
The veteran actors met as students at Cambridge – where Lord Of The Rings star McKellen had an “undeclared and unrequited” crush on his pal – but had only worked together a couple of times before Vicious came along in 2013.
“Vicious has been really wonderful, it’s kind of neatly bookended the career,” said Derek.
Vicious returns to ITV on Monday, June 1
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