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Here’s a bit of the chat:

Q: It’s been long time since you played Fitz, what happened to bring him back now?

Coltrane: (He laughs) Why would you not want to play him again? It’s the best part an actor can get offered, really. The way Jimmy (McGovern, the creator) and I left it, we always said we would do three series. We wanted to leave the audience wanting more, but we said if either of us ever had a great idea we’d phone each other up and look at it again. Jimmy had a great idea, so here we are.

Q: Since it’s been so long, did it take awhile to get back into character?

A: About 10 seconds. I wish I were as smart as he is, but I’m roughly the same size.

Q: You have a whole new legion of fans with the Harry Potter films. Does life ever get really crazy?

Coltrane: It’s not too bad. The only time I have trouble with kids at the airport is when their parents have told them who I am. I’m unrecognizable to them out of the makeup. They haven’t seen all of my other stuff, which is too scandalous for them to stay up and watch. So, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had about three careers.

I started off in comedy and sketch shows, and I sort of moved to “Tutti Fruitti” and all that. So I’ve had several careers – as sort of a young, dangerous, lefty comedian, as a kind of straight actor and then as a guy who did stuff that was kind of very near the line, now I’m suddenly a children’s friend. And it’s lovely to be able to do that.

Q: I’m not quite sure how to put this, but Fitz looks remarkably healthy in this new episode. Has he joined a health club?

Coltrane: Well, Fitz and I share the same body and I’ve been behaving myself. Fitz has been off in Australia writing books and living the life of an academic. He’s living a straight and proper life and then he comes back to Manchester and he’s right back in it.

Q: Would you ever do an American television series?

Coltrane: I would love to do it, but they want a five-year contract. And you have to do 22-episodes a year. I have children who like living in Scotland. It’s a personal decision for me. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I have this terrifying vision of my children with a platinum card in Los Angeles saying to the maitre d’ ‘I’d like…’ The very thought terrifies me.

Now, they say things like, “It’s raining here again, Daddy. I think we’ll put on our heavy boots.” That’s more of the childhood I’d like my children to have.

“Cracker” hits BBC America on Monday.

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