David Attenborough

The actor, 48, on Star Wars, bubble baths, and doing the Spitting Image voice of Priti Patel.

The closest I’ve come to death was on a plane recently. On my first day on set, there were Stormtroopers in the desert. In America, they think I’m very together and quite posh, then a stream of swearing comes out and shocks them. It’s a pity we become mistrustful of people. I was pretending to be Princess Leia in my infant school playground. Even if you’re in a bad place, the world keeps turning and the flowers keep blooming. I’m liberal with the C-word and F-word. Sometimes it’s deeply inappropriate. I do the voice of Priti Patel for Spitting Image. I mean, it’s not very good. I strive for contentment and believe in the world of small things. My mum would leave me in Bath’s public library on Saturday mornings so she could go and do the shopping. It’s incredibly surreal being part of the Star Wars franchise [Varma plays an Imperial officer in the new series Obi-Wan Kenobi]. It’s the backdrop to my life. It’s not like that any more, but it taught me to be tolerant and non-judgmental.