JOINT EFFORT: Derek makes sure he stays fit after hip and knee surgery (Image: The Mirror)
“I’ve got a metal hip as well,” he says, adding with a laugh, “My boys call me the ‘Bionic Man’.
“It’s my own fault. I spent many happy years as a stuntman for films and TV… jumping off buildings, falling off horses and down stairs, acting out fights.
“And before that I was working in Smithfield meat market, up at four in the morning carrying heavy packs of meat.
“I never thought it would affect me long-term, but of course it did.
“In 2004, just four years after joining the EastEnders cast, I started getting pains in my knees. I was diagnosed with arthritis and the specialist recommended knee replacement surgery. That’s where they slice open the knee and replace the weight-bearing parts of the joint to relieve the pain.
“I came around and found 42 staples right up and over the knee joint. It was the first time I’d been in hospital since I’d had my tonsils out as a kid.
“I had the left knee done first, in 2010, and the right one done a year later. It’s taken the pain away and made walking a pleasure again.”
IN 2016 Derek tripped over his front doorstep in Hertfordshire, injuring his right hip so badly that it, too, had to be replaced.
“The funny thing is I’m aware of the knees but I never notice the new hip,” he says.
“I don’t even know it’s there. You feel the kneecaps. They’re like wearing shin guards but they don’t hurt.
“I’ve told my twin sons Jonathan and David that when I die they must have me cremated and then nip around the back and rake through the ashes because I must be worth a fortune in scrap metal.
Derek as Charlie Slater with on-screen daughter Kat (Image: BBC)
“The only problem it causes is at airports. As soon as I step through the metal detector it goes off like crazy. I tell the security men at Heathrow. ‘Come on you know me, do I look like a terrorist to you?’ But I still have to get checked out.
“I’m definitely still fit for work though.”
Derek, 85, gave up stunts after he broke his collarbone filming Elizabeth R for the BBC in 1970. “They just put my arm in a sling and sent me home,” he shrugs. “After that I decided to give acting a go.”
Parts in Z Cars and Doctor Who followed and he spent 16 years as the cabbie Charlie Slater before his character died on screen in January 2016.
But Derek hasn’t changed a bit.
“I like to keep active,” he says. “I swim 1,000 metres a week, 333 metres every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and in between on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do an hour-and-a-half in the gym near where I live in Hatfield.
“I do weights and then have a sauna. My son got me to join the gym five years ago. He insisted. He said, ‘It’s to keep you alive’. I love it. Everyone is friendly and you feel you’re doing something positive to stay healthy.”
Derek will appear in A Confession, which also stars Martin Freeman, later this year.
At 5ft 10in (“I’ve shrunk as I’ve got older – another 10 years and maybe Game Of Thrones will come knocking,” he jokes) and 17 stone he has to watch what he eats, particularly as excess weight takes a toll on joints. “But I’ve lost 4lb since Christmas,” he says. “I’ve been eating salads for lunch and normal food in the evening. I like my grub.
“I’ve a good constitution and I put that down to the food my gran used to cook me, fantastic stews and rice puddings.
Derek, 85, gave up stunts after her broke his collarbone filming (Image: Getty)
Luckily, he doesn’t have to worry about excess calories from booze.
“I’ve never been a big drinker,” he says. “A cup of tea does me. Maybe the occasional glass of wine with a meal, but just the one.
“I’ve only been roaring drunk twice in my life and both times it was over women. Once on two-thirds of a bottle of neat Pernod and the second time on Southern Comfort – 12 shots one after the other. “Never again.
“I don’t smoke either. Moderation is definitely the key, moderation in all things.
“I keep my brain active too. I love quiz shows. I watch all of them. I got through to the final on Pointless Celebrities and beat CJ on Celebrity Eggheads.”
“I just want to keep on going.
Metal Marvels (Image: NC)
I want to go out like Tommy Cooper did, mid-performance.
“I feel fit. I feel positive and I feel healthy.
“At my last check-up my doctor said to me, ‘You’re going to get a telegram from the Queen’.
“And who doesn’t want to live to 100?”