Watching Starsky and Hutch battling the hoodlums and screeching around Bay City in their Torino back in the seventies, you'd never imagine that one half of the world's favourite cop duo would end up living happily in a north London suburb not a dozen miles from you.
That's where David Soul, best known as Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson to millions, has ended up and he's got a very good reason.
"The longer I'm here the more I appreciate the sense of community," says the actor, former pop star and sex-symbol, who left the States to settle here more than six years ago. "This is one of the last places where people are still holding on to those traditions and values.
"That's certainly dissipated in the States. I guess I'm one of the last generations to have grown up with that because so many changes have led to the weakening of community there."
Sensitive words from the blond, blue-eyed actor who made his name as a fast-living, cool cop but having said that, the smoochy ballads like Don't Give Up On Us Baby with which he hit the charts in the 70s betrayed his softer side even then. But David's determination not to let traditions fall by the wayside is actually swayed by his choice of career.
"Things like pubs, football teams and theatres are what makes this country different," he says. "Those identifying factors mustn't be allowed to continue eroding slowly away."
He's certainly doing his bit for theatre. Though he'll always be a huge TV and film face and is continuing his screen work over here with, most recently, an appearance in Holby City, he's made a name for himself in the West End in Comic Potential, hit the Edinburgh Festival with Fool for Love and already toured the UK with several shows.
The latest, a new production of Ira Levin's long-running Broadway suspense thriller Deathtrap, is an artfully plotted whodunnit in which David plays playwright Sidney Bruhl, whose writer's block leads him to hatch a plan to kill a young protg for his script.
"Sidney's a lovable rogue," smiles David. "He's a desperate man after an 18-year dry period, but at the same time he's the kind of person you'd love to have at your dinner party the best raconteur in the room.
"It's all about human weakness and the lengths people are capable of going to when they find themselves in a difficult situation."
David's suffering from a sore throat as a result of 'talking solidly for two hours' each night of the play, which has been touring the UK since January. But he's enjoying it.
"We're such a tight company," he says of his co-stars, A Touch of Frost's Susan Penhaligon and Casualty's Gerald Kyd. "We look out for each other."
It also gives him a chance to see some more of his beloved Britain. "I love meeting the different communities and being part of the theatre," he adds. "Being on the move all the time is draining, but the rewards make up for it."
No matter what he gets involved in, be it more films, TV, theatre or even his new production project working to combine video and live shows, he'll always be Hutch to so many people but he doesn't mind a bit.
"How many other shows can you say have spanned 25 years?" he points out. "I'm proud of having done it and it gives me a really warm feeling to know that the show meant so much to so many people over so long.
"After all, who do we do it all for, if not the audience?"
Deathtrap is at Richmond Theatre from Monday to Saturday April 27. Call 8940 0088 to book.
