Neil Morrissey admits to losing "millions"

TV star Neil Morrissey has admitted that he is in millions of pounds of debt after a property scheme he invested in collapsed. The actor - most recently seen in BBC1's Waterloo Road, told the News Of The World that he has lost £2.5m after putting money into a string of hotels and pubs. However, he said he would not be filing for bankruptcy and intended to pay his creditors in full. "People advise you to take the easy route - it'll only last a year and you'll be back up and running," he said. "But I just thought there are too many good people who've lost their money on these deals, and I wanted to repay them as much as I possibly could. "I feel morally obliged. Afterwards I'll feel better about myself. Now I'm working very, very hard. Every second out there to earn another penny. I don't sit around and get depressed about things. It's not my character." Morrissey set up a property company five years ago, which bought pubs and hotels around the country including Brown's Hotel in Laugherne, Wales. However the company overstretched itself and collapsed, forcing Morrissey's partner to declare bankruptcy. The actor has now made an arrangement that all his earnings, minus his living costs, will go to his creditors for the next three years. Morrissey is taking to the stage in a new theatrical production of the hit film Rain Man this month.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.