executives sitting around a desk. I'm very bad at auditions but this was one of the worst. There wasn't a laughh, so I was sent out with the director, Rod Holcomb, who worked with me for a while. When I returned, for some reason, my performance was funnier and everyone was rolling around the floor. I don't know what I did differently but it worked.

I based Murdock on a garage attendant I came across in Beaumont, Texas. He wore a little blue hat and followed me everywhere, making peculiar motions - he even stood next to me while I used his phone!

Initially, the show's bosses didn't like my portrayal of the character and planned to fire me. They didn't think the audience would be able to deal with me. I was devastated. But then they conducted an audience test on the pilot and everyone liked charaacter, so I was rewritten back in the series.

When it was first shown in the US, the show was a big success. Mr. T [B.A. Baracus] was famous because of the Rocky films and the show reached number one in the ratings. It was popular everywhere, including Britian. It didn't take itself seriously and there was something in it for everyone. Surprisingly, neither the critics nor NBC. liked it, and where horrified at its success.

We were even accused of creating a drug problem in schools. Teachers, thinking it was violent, got children writing letters complaining. It was a senseless attack on an entertaining show after all, no one ever got killed.

The New York Times saind it would die aninstant death, but it's still shown around the world. It became so popular, people asked whether I could visit them in my helicopter and if they could hire The A-Team.

I enjoyed playing Murdock and made more money than I'd ever made in my life. Alought I was able to live decently, we didn't earn mege bucks in those days. I certainly didn't become a millionaire, as some people thoght.

A successful show must have a contingent of writers who stay with it, but we had a changeover every season and the lack of continuity eventually affected it, so we were allowed to die a pleasant death.

I got on well with everyone in the cast. I'm close to Dirk Benedict [Face], who's still acting. Of course George Peppard sadly died in 1994, but I don't keep in touch with Mr. T.

When the series finished, I had s steady stream of roles. I played LT. Barclay in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and have appeared in Weird Science, Babylon 5, The Outer Limits and Diagnosis Murder. I also worked with Pual Newman on the 1989 film Fat Man And Little Boy. Nowadays, I mostly do voice work on video games and cartoons. Until recently, I also co-hosted a radio show, Dark Matters.

There's still alot of interest in The A-Team. I've been interviewed for the forthcoming Channel 4 tribute shoe Bring Back The A-Team, and for many years, there has been talk of a film. It hasn't quite got off the ground, so I don't think I'll be involved if it does.

When I'm not working, I live in Claifornia with my wife Wendy, who runs her own therapy business. We met on a blind date in 1979 and married four years later. We're both Keeping busy.