It's xenophobic, Pauline Hanson sort of stuff.

We do eight episodes in nine days. Now, because there are roughly 40 actors in the show, it doesn't mean to say you're in every scene. So you bob in and bob out, a bit like a jigsaw. I've never done that before.

Mr Benn was quite iconoclastic and is probably the most remembered thing I've ever done. Even now, nearly 40 years after we made them, people say, 'God your voice always reminds me of it'. The show had something about it which allowed it to endure. I don't understand what it was, but it was great.

Joe sees a reflection of his wife in Pauline. That was his first instinct which attracted him, and it remains the underlying reason for his affection.