JENNY Agutter is currently starring on stage with Harry Potter wizard Daniel Radcliffe in West End drama Equus.

But she says dancing with David Jason on a boat as it cruised past the London Eye was just as magical an experience.

"David comes over in all his work as a larger-than-life character. He's an extraordinarily reserved person, in fact," she smiles.

"But he has a lot of humour and a great deal of charm and he's not worried about who he is and what he appears like. There's certainly no ego in that at all. That's part of his charm."

Jenny guest stars as Vanessa in the first of three new Diamond Geezer (ITV1, Easter Monday, 9pm) films, following the successful pilot episode in 2005, featuring David as gentleman thief Des Parker.

"Vanessa tells Des that she is a journalist, but there is a little more to her than meets the eye. She's a very forthright, feisty character - an extremely independent, single woman doing her own thing," explains Jenny.

"She does genuinely like him. There is definitely a spark there. It was a very glamorous role. It has the feeling of The Italian Job and those 1970s films."

Not so glam was working near the end of the month-long shoot in Leeds.

Nightmare

"The penultimate scene was a nightmare to film. We were filming up on a skyscraper and there were 60mph winds. We had to stop because we were doing stunts, and for safety reasons we couldn't continue.

"We filmed it two weeks after we were supposed to have finished in a mock-up of the set created in an office building. With the magic of cinema, it was made to look exactly the same."

The former Spooks and The Railway Children actress even wields a firearm in one scene.

"I've never held on to a gun before. They're pretty scary. They're very strict and serious about it on set," she says.

David made the three episodes with the same Yorkshire TV team he has worked with for 20 years, and hopes there will be more to come. "This has got a good feeling and a good future," he says. "It's a series about a guy who is a master of disguise and a bit of a villain. We've got a good piece of entertainment that will keep the audiences happy, which is, after all, the main objective of the exercise. One must never forget that."

The first story, written by Manchester-raised Caleb Ranson, involves the theft of a diamond from Buckingham Palace. In one scene, David almost crashed into a tree.

Sequences

"There's a couple of sequences where we should have had a stunt double. When they pulled me up into the trees - that was me doing that, because I prefer to do what I can. I think it makes it more genuine."

Des gets into the Palace grounds via a wall at the back of the royal garden. The crane driver involved in the stunt tested it first with a stand-in stunt man.

"For half a dozen times it was perfect. Then on the take when I was doing it, he pulled me right through the trees and nearly took my head off," he says.

"We then did another scene where Des was running through Buckingham Palace. He runs down a corridor and goes through a door at the end.

"But because we were running out of time and we were under a lot of pressure, they said, `Go straight through the door.' Which I did. But they failed to tell me that behind the door was a huge scaffolding plant. I went crashing through the door and I nearly broke my silly neck."

George Cole also guest stars as Gerald. "I play a very old getaway driver who's in a care home," explains the actor, best known as Arthur Daley in Minder. "He's the best wheels in the business, so Des wants him for the job."

At one point Gerald manoeuvres his car into a tight parking space after a hair-raising driving demonstation.

"I was very impressed with my driving when I saw it on screen," adds George. "But I was on a turntable in the car. I just had to turn the wheel and they turned the turntable. By the magic of television, when It is all put together it looks like he is weaving through traffic."

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For all the latest news from the world of television, check out Ian Wylie's blog,  The Life of Wylie.