I feel quite affectionate towards Solihull as I had an aunty who lived close by and we'd stay there at Easter. It was an expression of those boring postcard places, but that didn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It had Beatties, one of those fabulous, independent, provincial department stores that stopped in time in 1950. They sell more William Morris wallpaper there than anywhere else in the county, which may have something to do with it.

I can remember as an early adolescent when the curse of flamboyance started to manifest itself like a growing tumour, if I wanted to make an impression, walking through the shopping centre would have an amazing effect.

In Solihull they are rather good at looking at people in that Mediterranean type of way - in cultural terms it's like the West Midlands fused with St Tropez. Go anywhere else and no one bats an eyelid, but in Solihull you quite literally stick out like a sore thumb.

While filming there I managed to find - quite inappropriately, I felt - a little stable clock designed by Sir John Soanes in 1905. That was bringing the area down, you don't want to blunder onto a piece of Soanes in Solihull. You want it to be absolutely as you see it - a little bit Abigail's Party with the warm embrace of that mid-70s, young, executive existence.

When I'm there everyone is very pleased to see me and as a mark of respect I may wear something made by William Morris, so as to bring the two great pastimes of Solihull together: first, looking at someone who is extraordinarily dressed and secondly, looking at someone who is extraordinarily dressed wearing William Morris. Mothers scoop up their screaming children in horror as you walk towards them.

Solihull is, without doubt, the place to be flamboyant.

Interview by Gavan Naden