He's popular, too, because of his wacky sense of humour and the clowning he gets up to on set.

 

Tony, who plays Adam Chance in the show, explained,  "There's a lot of tension in a TV studio.  Everyone is trying so hard to do things right that nerves are constantly jangling.  That's why I fool around.  It makes people laugh and that way they can relax."

 

A popular trick he plays on extras - the people who play characters wandering through Crossroads Motel foyer, for instance - is to put weights in their luggage.

 

"During rehearsals their suitcases are empty," said Tony, smiling.  "When it comes to the dress rehearsal, which is done in front of the cameras, they expect them to be the same.  When their backs are turned I fill the cases with anything heavy that I can lay my hands on," he laughed.  "It's a picture to see them when they come to lift those 'empty' cases."

 

But being known as the resident joker has its drawbacks.  Folk tend to get revenge.  That was the case when Tony left the cast for a spell some time ago.

 

"Everyone knows how much I like mints.  I suck them all the time," he said.  "So when I was leaving Crossroads for a while other members of the cast filled my car with mints - thousands of them.  For weeks I was finding more of the things in the car.  I'd pull down the sun visor and mints would crash down on me.  It certainly put me off eating mints for a long time," he said.

 

Tony drives a sporty black Porsche car.  And he did own a Rolls - for six weeks.  "It had been my ambition to own a Rolls, so I bought a second-hand one just so I could say I'd owned a Rolls.  Anyone who wanted to take a drive in it could do so.  It was amazing how many folk asked to take a spin.  I hardly ever drove the car.  I spent most of my time sitting in the back with a tin of polish in one hand and a duster in the other.  After six weeks I couldn't afford to keep it any longer and so it had to go," he said.

 

Tony's home is a 57 foot boat called Seaway.  He shares it with his mother Winifred Adams, herself quite a celebrity.

 

"My mother played hockey and ice hockey for England," Tony said.  "She was also a four-handicap golfer, has cups for swimming, diving and tennis and once travelled up the Amazon in a canoe.  On top of that she was one of the first women to fly solo and won the King's Cup in 1930.  She was the only woman to have won that trophy until just a few years ago.  She was also mad keen on boats.  I suppose I've inherited her love of boats.  Seaway is a dream.  She's what I always wanted.  She was built in 1928 and has enough room to sleep eight people.  I have one end of the boat and my mother has the other."