Sir Tony (he was knighted in 2013) is probably best remembered as the terrific Baldrick in Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder, in which he came complete with the ''I have a cunning plan'' catchphrase.
Since his Blackadder days, he has been most prominent in the Time Team series, doing time-limited archaeological digs in a show that was always entertaining and informative - a couple of key ingredients for good documentary-type programmes.
Besides all that, he has been active in the British Labour Party since the 1980s.
But most important of all, Sir Tony has visited Dunedin.
And when he came, a year ago or so, he was just lovely to deal with.
The staff of a small Dunedin television news channel rang his media lady to see if they could have a chat on camera, and were told ''Sure''.
Sir Tony was just driving in Caversham, and would come over straight away.
That led to plenty of heart palpitations, with newsroom staff giddy with excitement, and unable to think of any questions to ask apart from ''Do you like us?''.
The whole event ended very well, as Sir Tony, as I mentioned, is a lovely man.
He was in Dunedin to film Tony Robinson's Tour of Duty, in which he looks at the war histories of Australia and New Zealand.
Dunedin was just one city he visited on a tour that included Auckland, and various spots in Australia.
The series that resulted from the visit begins on the History Channel at the end of March, with the Dunedin segment screening on May 19.
Dunedin, he tells us in Tour of Duty, has ''a proud military heritage which has always been at the heart of New Zealand's war service''.
The show features the stories of local war heroes, includes the story of Archie Baxter, his pacifism and brutal treatment as a conscientious objector in World War 1, and that of Archie McIndoe, the pioneer World War 2 plastic surgeon.
It ends at Otago Boys' High School, where plenty of the public turned up to show their memorabilia and tell their stories.
And, gee, don't we look like people out of Antiques Roadshow - nice dressing up Dunedin.
Meanwhile, Fortitude is the latest best thing on television.
The British-Scandinavian production murder mystery/psychological thriller is filmed in Iceland in a tiny, frozen town, and stars Michael Gambon (he's been in everything, but let's pick the Singing Detective) and the best person ever from Denmark, the wonderful Sofie Grabol (she was sublime in Forbrydelsen).
It's on Soho, and is up to episode three, but who's stuck to TV schedules any more?
Find it, and enjoy.
• Charles Loughrey
