Terence Rigbywas one of Harold Pinter’s favourite actors – memorably creating Joey in The Homecoming and Briggs in No Man’s Land – and Terence Rigby’s television work ranged from the dog-handler Sergeant Snow in the police series Softly Softly to the rough-hewn spy Roy Bland in the great Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guinness. His performance as the newly created character Albert the Horse in Alan Bennett’s version of The Wind in the Willows at the Royal National Theatre was widely praised and gave voice to Rigby’s deadpan humour in his native Brummie accent. But this very public and exuberant actor retained a deeply private life, a mystery even to the agent who served him throughout most of his career. In her biographical memoir of Terence Rigby the dramatist Juliet Ace offers a rare glimpse into his private world while exploring his work and artistic process. It is a picture of an actor’s life that is at once intimate and professionally revealing, ranging from the privacy of repeated encounters over Juliet’s kitchen table to the memories of his contemporaries and colleagues, ranging from Peter Hall and Michael Gambon to fellow students from his RADA days, spiced by Rigby’s own notes and letters. Book is as new.