By Ben Todd
Last updated at 11:59 PM on 21st January 2011
Home time: Robert Lindsay leaving lapdancing club Spearmint Rhino
He plays a doting – if eccentric – father in one of TV’s most popular and enduring family sitcoms.
So it may come as a shock to his legions of fans that My Family star Robert Lindsay racked up a £1,600 bill at a lapdancing club on a ‘lads’ night out’.
Lindsay, 61, who is married to TV presenter and actress Rosemarie Ford, was presented with the large bill at the end of an evening at London’s Spearmint Rhino.
The actor arrived alone at the venue in Tottenham Court Road earlier this month before meeting friends inside to celebrate the end of the run of his West End play Onassis, in which he starred as notorious womaniser, Greek shipping heir Aristotle Onassis.
He stayed for two hours before departing in the early hours of the morning. Yesterday the Bafta-winning actor, who plays dentist Ben Harper alongside Zoe Wanamaker in BBC comedy My Family, defended his evening out.
And, bizarrely, he revealed he had even spoken to his 11-year-old son Sam regarding the evening.
At lapdancing clubs, the performers pole-dance topless and customers can also pay for dances, in front of a group or a more private show in secluded areas.
Sitting beside his wife Miss Ford, 48, the former co-host of The Generation Game and Come Dancing, at their home in Uxbridge, Middlesex, Lindsay declined to say whether he had a private dance himself. However, he admitted he had a ‘nice evening’, adding: ‘I don’t know what the problem is. This was an end-of-show party. Rosemary and I both have friends who work in the club – servers, not dancers.
‘My wife knew where I was. There is no debauchery at Spearmint Rhino. You are not allowed to. You can have private dances but if you do anything remotely sexual you get thrown out.
‘It’s a high street revue bar. Let me tell you, there are a lot worse places. That’s why we went because there are places in London that are so much more raunchy.’
Lindsay went on: ‘I was having dinner and I went to join my mates down there after. It wasn’t organised by me. I paid for the entire evening. It was my treat.
Spearmint Rhino: the Central London Gentleman's club has become a haven for celebrities and City businessmen to unwind in outrageous style
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‘My wife knew about it, my agency knew about it. You don’t hide something like going to Spearmint Rhino.’
Asked if he had had a private dance himself, he replied: ‘It’s none of your concern.
‘It doesn’t matter what we did. In fact, I don’t think many of us can remember to be quite honest, we were having such a nice evening.
‘I was only there for about an hour and a half. Some of the guys stayed on a bit longer, but it’s not really a problem. It’s terribly harmless.
‘If you want to go out and have some fun in this country, you can have some fun, as long as you don’t do anyone any harm. It’s a perfectly legal club on a high street. It’s not a backstreet brothel, for goodness sake. ‘The guys enjoyed the fact they could take me out and have a joke at my expense. Well, the joke at my expense was that I paid for it. It was a very expensive evening, I can tell you.’
Held: Ex-Spearmint Rhino lapdancer Danielle Spencer is currently in jail in Dubai for having sex outside of marriage
He then added: ‘Even my son knows. We had a joke about it. The kids have got to get used to these things. The stuff you have to keep your kids away from is on the computers. This is harmless.’
According to one source at the venue, two strippers danced in front of him while he drank brandy. A friend of his, however, insisted he did not have a ‘private’ dance with the women – and said he stayed with his main group of friends.
Afterwards one of the lapdancers said of Mr Lindsay: ‘He was funny, pleasant and generous.’
And last night, one friend said: ‘It was a fun and innocent night and Robert, as a treat, footed the bill.’
Lindsay left the venue alone in the early hours. An onlooker said: ‘He came out of the venue, looking slightly unsteady on his feet. He then walked off, heading towards Camden.’
Lindsay rose to fame as Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith before enjoying a stellar career both on TV and in the theatre. He and Miss Ford have two sons, Sam and Jamie, seven. He had a daughter, now 22, with former partner Diane Weston, and was previously married to Cheryl Hall. They divorced in 1980.
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