EXCLUSIVE: Actor Nigel Havers appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2010.

Nigel Haver’s appeared on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2010 (Image: ITV)

Acting legend Nigel Havers claims to take every job offered to him. This explains how he found himself heading to the Australian jungle in 2010 to take part in the tenth series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here. However, it was to be a rare misstep for the now 74-year-old who left ignominiously just one week in after objecting to being subjected to an electric shock in a challenge called Kangaroo Court. At the time he told producers of the ITV show: “I don’t do electric shocks. I’m leaving. I cannot waste another second of my life. I will probably do something drastic, like go. If you are gaining something, that’s a fantastic thing. But if you’re not gaining something…”

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, with the benefit of hindsight, he admits his appearance was a mistake. “I hadn’t watched the show, I didn’t know anything about it,” he says. “The boredom got to me in a big way, and I wanted to kill someone. Rather than go to jail had I killed them, I thought it best to leave, really.”

Despite this, friends have told him he should appear on the show of the moment, The Traitors, although he admits there could be a problem with that.

“My wife said she’ll kill me if I do another one of those reality shows,” he quips. “I want to stay alive. I do not want to be killed by my wife.

“If I’m asked to do The Traitors, I’ll have to make sure I see an episode first,” he said.

Fortunately, Nigel is still very much in demand as an actor – and, increasingly, as a TV presenter. In recent years, he’s presented BBC One’s The Bidding Room and Channel 5 series Posh Hotels with fellow Coronation Street alumni Sally Lindsay.

Nigel Havers starred as conman Lewis Archer in Coronation Street (Image: ITV)

He continues to enjoy a phenomenal career at the age of 74, and has had roles in shows such as Coronation Street and Benidorm confessed his success didn’t come without sacrifice.

He confessed one regret is not spending more time with his daughter, Kate, now 48, by his first wife Carolyn Cox in her formative years. “I was never really there for a long time, which was a shame, but in my job you have to take the opportunity when it comes, and that’s what I did,” he said.

His latest opportunity sees him take his one-man show on a tour of the UK. Asked what people can expect, he simply says: “Me!”

Elaborating, he said: “I’m 74 and people kept saying, ‘You must do your one man show’ and I thought, ‘No, no, I’m far too young’.” He erupts into laughter. “Then I realised that I wasn’t.”