Miranda star Tom Ellis has recalled the time that he and Miranda Hart realised Americans were as obsessed with the BBC sitcom's Gary-Miranda love story as us Brits.
Tom, who plays Detective Inspector Bland in this week's Poirot mystery, Dead Man's Folly (ITV, Wednesday, Oct 30), said: "People are just fascinated by Gary and Miranda's relationship - the reaction to their love story has been quite bonkers.
"Once, when I was in America, Miranda was on her way back from a trip she'd been on and we met up in Los Angeles. We went for a walk together along the boardwalk on Venice Beach thinking how nice it was because we knew that if we did that back in the UK we'd get mobbed.
"We thought we'd gone in under the radar and we were sitting on the beach having a sandwich when, one by one, people started to come up and say: 'Oh my god, it's you guys off that show'. We thought we'd got away with it."
Tom, who's separated from his actress wife Tamzin Outhwaite, credits the sitcom with the success he's enjoyed both here and in the States. "Miranda elevated me into people's consciousness at a time when there are a lot of parts around for my age group," he said. "So I've got a lot to thank her and that show for."
