I owe my wife to Simon Cowell,' says Robson Green

At 43, Robson Green is perhaps the most successful small-screen actor of his generation.

Back on ITV1 next Friday with the new series of Wire In The Blood, his CV boasts an impressive combination of longevity and variety.

It's almost 20 years since he first popped up as a hospital porter in Casualty, although it was Soldier Soldier which lodged him firmly in the public consciousness and took him and co-star Jerome Flynn to the top of the charts.

Domestic bliss: Robson met Vanya Seager when she was working as Simon Cowell's PA

Since then, Robson has worked almost continuously, starring in TV hits from Reckless and Touching Evil, to Wire In The Blood, now in its sixth series.

He says he's proud of everything he's done but it is Wire that perhaps pleases him most, not least because it's made by Coastal Productions, the company conceived by Robson and based in his native Newcastle.

In Wire, Robson plays Dr Tony Hill, an introverted profiler who builds up a picture of the type of person capable of committing the grisliest of crimes.

Based on Val McDermid's best-selling books, the show has been a global hit, especially with U.S. audiences, something which pleases Robson immensely.

Cracking the American market could be his passport to a film career there, an ambition that moved up a notch with the one-off, feature-length episode shot in Texas last year.

We meet in central London on his one day off between finishing Wire and starting filming on Clash Of The Santas, an ITV Christmas special in which he and Mark Benton, his adversary in Northern Lights, slug it out to find the best Santa.

'Physically,' says Robson, 'Mark and I are like Laurel and Hardy, particular comic heroes of mine. We plagiarised their routines with all the subtlety of a crowbar.'

The action culminates in a competition, based on one that takes place annually in Norway.

'It involves establishing which of us can get down a chimney the fastest, who can "Ho-Ho-Ho" the loudest, who is most adept with a sleigh and so on. Great fun!' he laughs.

Robson Green is a man full of twinkly charm, and one who's success can be put down to his appeal to both sexes. Men want to have a pint with him and women love his roguish good looks.

Certainly, he's far removed from the hard-drinking, skirt-chasing Geordie that his upbringing might lead you to expect.

Formidable team: Robson Green with his Wire in the Blood co-star, Simone Lahbib

Fighting spirit: TV show Solider Soldier lodged Robson, pictured with co-star Jerome Flynn, firmly in the public consciousness

Raised in straitened circumstances, Robson is the third child (and elder son) of a couple whose marriage was, at best, volatile.

His father, like his before him, was a miner, and 'an exploited man', according to Robson. 'He hated it but he had no choice if he was to keep a roof over our heads,' he adds.

Robson was 11 when his parents split. 'And what a relief! No more arguments, no more screaming. I just wish they'd done it sooner. If it's not working out, I'm a fan of divorce.'

But those years inevitably left their mark. 'I developed a public persona. I can see that now. I was making out everything was fine. I wasn't lying exactly, I was acting, escaping into a role I'd created for myself.'

This fantasy became a reality when Robson discovered a latent talent for acting and started appearing in a number of amateur productions.

By now, he was working as a draftsman at the local Swan Hunter shipyard. But his heart wasn't in it.

Then he got the chance to play the lead in a professional theatre company production, an offer he couldn't take up if he was to keep his day job.

'This was 1984 and I was earning £158 a week, good money in those days,' he says. But he didn't hesitate.

Fast forward a quarter of a century and Robson can pick and choose his roles: ITV know he is TV gold.

Even in a difficult economic climate, advertisers have no qualms about booking space in a Robson Green vehicle.

There was also the rumour, which Robson will neither confirm nor deny, (so I think we can take that as a yes) that ITV implored him to accept the Simon Cowell role in Rock Rivals, their fictional series set behind the scenes of a talent contest much like X Factor.

He declined. In the end, the part went to ex-Coronation Street actor Sean Gallagher and the show bombed.

Roguish good looks: Robson has starred in a string of TV hits including Reckless, in which he appeared alongside Francesca Annis

Nothing to do with Gallagher, adds Robson. 'It was the script. And you know what they say: if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.'

Indeed, one of the reasons he's so proud of Wire is precisely because he's 'grown' a small clutch of writers who now generate original scripts based on Val McDermid's characters.

Coastal Productions, in the process, has become a flourishing cottage industry, employing some 150 local people on each episode of the series.

So it irritates Robson beyond measure, he says, when people tell him how lucky he is. 'I get up at five in the morning if the schedule demands it and with all my lines learned.'

Unsurprisingly, he's contemptuous of any perceived laziness.

Six young actors from the north-east recently auditioned for a small part in Wire. Each had been issued in advance with an A4 sheet of paper containing their half-dozen lines.

'And yet, not one of them had learned those lines. Nor could one of them tell me any other programme made by Coastal.'

But Robson insists despite his uncompromising work ethic, he's always game for a laugh. 'I think I captain a good ship,' he says.

Despite the relentless diet of murder and mayhem on Wire - or, perhaps, because of it - there is much purging laughter on set.

He cites a favourite story in an episode that involved his character, Dr Tony Hill, being accused of a sexual assault on a woman.

'The young police doctor had to tell me he needed a sample of my DNA,' recalls Robson, 'and a swab from the most private part of my anatomy.

'The actor playing the medic duly asked for the swab but then, without warning, added: "It's not for me. It's for my mum. She thinks you're great."'

Robson rocks with laughter at the recollection. 'I had no idea he was going to say that and, of course, everyone cracked up. The boy certainly had bottle. He's called Jason Thorpe. Remember the name!'

Robson's career success is matched by his blissfully happy home life, for which Simon Cowell is partly responsible.

It was Cowell who persuaded Robson and Jerome Flynn to record Unchained Melody after the dashing duo sang the Righteous Brothers' track on Soldier Soldier in 1995.

They followed one chart topper with another, hitting Number One again with their version of You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, which shifted an astonishing 1.8 million copies.

At the time, Vanya Seager, a former model and bit-part Bond girl in For Your Eyes Only, was working as Cowell's PA at RCA Records.

Robson - who had recently separated from occupational therapist Alison Ogilvie after eight years of marriage - and Vanya formed a friendship that subsequently blossomed.

'It is no exaggeration to say,' says the romantically-inclined Mr Green, 'that Vanya and I would never have got together had it not been for Unchained Melody.'

The couple's son, Taylor, was born in 2000 and they married in 2001. Robson says Taylor is the 'best thing that's ever happened' to him.

'He's given me a proper sense of perspective, of values, of realising there's more to life than poncing about in front of a camera.'

What if Taylor wants to follow him into acting one day?

'I'm determined that Taylor should become interested in something other than acting,' says Robson, firmly.

'I don't want his aspirations to be all about fame. It would be wonderful if he wanted to be a teacher or a doctor.

'But, if he does follow me into the profession, it must be in the knowledge that he understands what it's like to be an out-of-work actor, as I once was, and with a skill on which he could fall back.'

The family live in Surrey, a world away from Robson's own upbringing, but he still retains his love of the great outdoors.

'In Surrey, we're surrounded by countryside and wildlife. And I love my garden. My father was never more at peace than when he was in his garden. I've inherited his green fingers.'

He also uses the space to let off fireworks, another of his downtime pursuits and a direct result, he thinks, of never being allowed to have them when he was growing up.

It's this simple existence, and Vanya, that keep Robson's feet on the ground.

'She's very good,' he acknowledges, 'at helping me keep all my ducks in a row. I'd go off the rails without Vanya.'

Certainly, there's little he likes better than closing the door on Fortress Green at the end of a demanding week and losing himself in domestic pleasures.

A keen cook, he was looking forward to all the Cantonese dishes Vanya would be serving up.

'She was born and raised in Hong Kong,' he explains. 'But she quite quickly took me to one side. She was much better, she confessed, at kissing than cooking.'

Robson Green doesn't appear to be complaining.