Ramon Tikaram has never had sex with a man, 'I feel really bad about that,' he says. 'Somehow I feel it means I'm not justifying my existence as Ferdy.' Ferdy probably wouldn't mind: Ramon's scenes with Warren and later with Lenny look pretty convincing - but Ramon himself wouldn't know: 'I've never watched my sex scenes in the show. I just can't. I can shag a man in a scene - no problem. But watching myself do it, that's quite different.'

Born of a Fijian Indian Officer in the British Army and a mother from the Sarawak rain forest, Ramon grew up in - yes, you've guessed it - Dover. He hated the place.

Ramon wanted to be an actor from an early age and applied to the National Youth Theatre. He went on to university and to a degree in English - and then back to acting. Ferdy hasn't been his only leather-clad character, he played a trendy pirate in the film Cutthroat Island. Ramon is also a musician. It runs in the family: his younger sister is the singer Tanita Tikaram.