Andrew Lincoln says his Love Actually character is 'a stalker'

You heard it from the man himself.

Valentine's Day is bound to rustle up that old Love Actually argument amongst a few couples: is, or is it not, incredibly stalkerish of Mark to show up to his recently married friend's door with a series of cards silently declaring his love for her? That's after she discovers the footage of her wedding he filmed, which turns out to be mostly intense zoom ins on her face?

Now, it seems as if the actor who played Mark, Andrew Lincoln, has waded into the argument. Reflecting back on his 2003 role, The Walking Dead star has admitted that, yes, he thinks Mark is a little bit of a creep, too.

"He is a stalker," he told The Wrap. "That was my question to Richard Curtis, ‘Do you not think we’re sort of borderline stalker territory here?’ And he said, ‘No, no. Not with you playing it, darling. You’ll be alright.'"

"I quite like the fact that I’m in one of the most romantic movies playing the only guy who doesn’t get the girl," he continued. "It’s like I did this film called Moonshot. Everybody else got to the moon and I was the only guy who didn’t go. So I think it’s a running thing in my characters. I’m the guy who doesn’t get the girl or go to the moon." Does that mean he'll be the one guy in The Walking Dead who doesn't get killed by zombies?

Lincoln's admittance follows claims by a researcher at the University of Michigan that romcoms like Love Actually may make women more likely to accept the "stalker myth".

Lincoln reprises his role as Rick Grimes when The Walking Dead returns to UK screens 15 February, 9PM on Fox.