"It came out of the blue, like most good things. The best part is... everything, the whole kit and caboodle. It's great to be in Miami, a very exotic place, and be introduced to new ideas and people."
As the fourth season of Burn Notice becomes available on DVD on Boxing Day, veteran actor Bruce Campbell should perhaps mention that, as veteran navy seal Sam Axe in the sunny-hearted US action series, he also gets all the best lines. Was this written into his contract?
"Ah, I think the writers enjoy playing with that character as much I enjoy playing it," he bellows down the line from his home in Oregon.
"Plus, having met a few of those former navy seal guys, when they're not being shot at, they just want to fool around. It's a gallows humour.
They can switch it on and off. It's a way to keep yourself calm whenever you're freaking out."
Campbell isn't somebody easily associated with freaking out, after several big and small screen incarnations.
"It's funny," he agrees. "Burn Notice has been around for six seasons now, so people are starting to discover me retroactively. 'There's that old guy on Burn Notice' they say. 'Oh, wasn't he that young guy in the Evil Dead movies?' I'm pan-generational and that's fine.
"I'll have a father come up with his son, and he's passing the series on to his son. I've had kids named after my character Ash. At conventions, I start by asking 'Who's got an Evil Dead tattoo?' and about five hands will always go up."
Campbell is one of those faces that you recognise without realising why, but it's in most part due to his enduring iconic status at the helm of the Evil Dead series. Has this given him the most professional satisfaction?
"It was satisfying, but it took four years to make the movie," he reflects. "It did not get a US distributor, it took the UK and Palace Pictures to put us on the map overseas, nobody was really interested before. So I have great allegiance to mother England for helping us to launch.
"They're very discerning, very insightful," he adds as an aside.
"That was a long road. But I have nothing but fondness for those movies, I never tire of talking about them..."
For his role of Ash and other scenery-chewing roles, Campbell became famous as much for his chin as his acting. It doesn't seem that large to me. He agrees:
"This is nothing that has anything to do with me. Blame the reviewers... 'the square-jawed Bruce Campbell', 'the pointy-chinned Bruce Campbell'. When you play some hero type, it always falls into the same category. I've tried to play against the chin, you could say."
Another ingenious attempt to play against type involved Campbell spoofing himself in My Name is Bruce. While this is familiar fodder for fans of Warwick Davis in Life's Too Short, it seems this meta-depiction was a reach too far for some of Campbell's more die-hard fans:
"I wouldn't advise actors to do it," Campbell explains. "If call yourself Bruce Campbell, you're now making it a meta-movie. So your persona is a movie hero, but in real life you're a big moron, and unfortunately there'll be some guy in Iowa who now thinks I drink whisky out of the dog bowl.
"It probably confused people more than it was worth. But I felt like I could do it, I had the right to make fun of my fans, of myself. The reaction from fans was interesting... for the most part, they said 'hey you don't get to make fun of yourself, that's our job.' I think I snuck into their territory."
Despite this misunderstanding, Campbell's fans will be delighted to learn he has now plan to retire any time soon. What's his secret to long-lasting B-list success when other more high-faluting careers have gone by the wayside?
"I just keep coming back," he shrugs.
"There's not as much to crash and burn. I just did a role in Sam Raimi's epic, the Prequel to Wizard of Oz, and just to walk onto that set with all the size, scope, craftsmanship and professionalism, blows me away.
"But I like the pace of Burn Notice too, because by lunchtime, we've already gotten into a fight with the bad guy, paid some money and said goodbye to the guest star."
Burn Notice Season 4 is available on DVD from 26th December. Watch our exclusive clip below...