Anthony Daniels has a decent claim to being one of the highest-profile actors in the galaxy: not a household name, but seen on the big screen by more people than almost anybody else, ever. Yet barely anyone would recognise him in the street.

Hear his voice though, in the right tone of impatience, irritation or heightened emotion, and the spark of recognition lights up: wait, isn’t that C-3PO? Yes, it is. For four decades he’s played the golden robot (or “droid”) from Star Wars – the character who provides both the comic relief and emotional linchpin for the sprawling, nine-episode space-Western cum soap opera.