Michael Hurst: Heroes, Hercules, and much more...

Michael Hurst is an acclaimed theatre actor and director, who has also featured in a broad range of television and film roles, including his long-running gig as sidekick Iolaus in the American TV series Hercules. In the mid-90s Hurst also began directing for the screen, initially on episodes of Hercules and Xena, but also helming the feature film comedy Jubilee, and TV mockumentary drama Love Mussel.

In this ScreenTalk, Hurst talks about:

• His early days in theatre, and his first television appearance in 30 Minute Theatre - Tinkling Brass

• His first major TV roles in the Sunday Theatre one-off Casualties of Peace, and rock band drama Heroes

• Making his movie debut in the 1984 David Blyth splatter film Death Warmed Up, where he hated seeing himself in the film and thought he had 'made an appalling job of it'

• How his work on 1993 classic Desperate Remedies made him 'love film again'

• The story of how he won the part of Iolaus in Hercules, and of his on-going connection to the role through Hercules and Xena fan conventions

• How Hercules and Xena led him into television and film directing, including the feature Jubilee and the television mockumentary Love Mussel

This video was first uploaded on 18 April 2009, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview - Clare O'Leary. Camera and Editing - Leo Guerchmann