Mr Big happy to return to his lawful roots

Vincent D'Onofrio, left, and Chris Noth right New York's wrongs in Criminal Intent.

As one of TV's biggest commitment-phobes, playing Big on Sex & the City, it seems odd that Chris Noth would rekindle the flame that burned him more than 10 years ago.

"Well it seemed like an interesting idea," he explains of his decision to reprise his role of Detective Mike Logan for the Law & Order franchise. "And the schedule is probably the best you can get on TV, frankly."

As Law & Order's most popular character, a role that lasted from 1992 to 1995, Noth's screen presence was undeniable. Even though the crimes took priority over personal drama, it was thanks to his solid performance that Logan evolved from a loose cannon-copper to a complex, troubled man.

When Logan eventually lost his cool and threw a fist at a murderous, homophobic congressman, he was sent into exile, marking Noth's official exit from the show.

Despite cries of protest from fans, executive producer Dick Wolf blamed the lack of friction between Noth and Jerry Orbach's characters for the departure, and replaced him with the younger, sleeker, Benjamin Bratt.

Noth's response, at least to one journalist at the time, was brutal. He slammed the show's writers, claiming the quality of the show had slipped. But as Logan brooded on Staten Island, Noth scored another role, this time as Carrie Bradshaw's boomerang boyfriend on Sex & the City.

Now it seems the actor has let bygones be bygones as he returns - albeit to the crappy desk in the office - in Law & Order's second spinoff, Criminal Intent. Noth was hired to alternate episodes after lead Vincent D'Onofrio was hospitalised with exhaustion.

Wolf has since clarified that was partly because D'Onofrio wrote, directed and produced a short film during his hiatus.

"It wasn't the best use of his time," says the producer.

"It's a heavy workload and it's totally involving," Noth agrees. "There's not much time to even breathe. You're always exhausted, frankly."

Even today he says he's feeling "raspy", although it's hard to tell if that's just another word for moody. Though impeccably polite, he's not shy about discussing the drawbacks of procedural, technical drama.

"You really try to play against it a little to bring some of who you are to it. That's the hard part."

Things are a little different for Noth, second time round. He has fond memories of Law & Order's early days, before the TV industry spawned a slew of crime shows.

"It is established now, but before, no one quite knew what this new phenomenon was, this procedural drama where you're not going inside the homes, the lives of the characters, you're cutting away to the meat of the scene instead of driving up to the door and ringing the doorbell.

"It's accelerated action. Each scene goes to the very heart of what it's about. It doesn't pussy-foot around." 

And New York has changed, to Noth's despair.

"Some of the things we did in the first five years we can't do because the city doesn't have the same character. It doesn't have the same danger. It's been cleaned up a lot.

"You could do a whole thing about crime in 42nd Street, in Times Square and the sort of shabbiness of that, with the peep shows, hookers and pimps and all kinds of colourful characters.

"Now it's a tourist centre. It doesn't have the underbelly any more which is very interesting. I think that's a global phenomenon but for New York to become suburbanised, it's tragic."

He points out that Criminal Intent takes a unique approach to the genre in that the criminals aren't necessarily disaffected youth, drug lords or nefarious gang members. They are educated, affluent office-workers who kill over money.

"Racism is still a topic but it's a much more divided city in terms of the haves and the have-nots. You just don't see the have-nots as much as you used to."

He likes the fact Criminal Intent, which focuses on the criminals' actions rather than the prosecution process, requires effort on the part of the viewers.

"They're thickly plotted stories so you have to be able to articulate all the twists and turns. We're illuminating the story for the audience in a way that is not totally mechanical, because this is very procedural in many ways."

He finds it exasperating to watch his early L&O episodes, and told TNT magazine, "I'm practically screaming, 'Look at me! I'm a character!' "

You couldn't get further from the truth when it comes to his Sex & the City role as Big. "Chris doesn't like talking about Sex & the City," the publicist warned, pre-interview, which only fuelled the desire to ask, why not?

"I get reminded of it every day of my life," Noth explains, frustration hovering at the edge of his voice. "It's sort of reached an annoying point for me, unfortunately. I hate to sound like Scrooge when it comes to that but I'm a little more wary of it. I had fun doing it, I just didn't realise what it was going to become.

"I'm talking about being on the street and people yelling it out at you. You're like a moving target. Instead of tomatoes, they're throwing a name at you. I think that's a relatively new phenomenon, where people look at you instead of who you are.

"My name is Chris, y'know what I mean? Why would I want to be called, y'know - [he can't bring himself to say Big] - the character's name, constantly?"

So there are no ardent Mike Logan fans out there who throw name-tomatoes in the street?

"No, it's a whole different thing. But anyway," he sighs, "there's nothing I can do about it so I just move on."

Who knows - he might feel differently in 10 years if Sex & the City ever gets a spinoff.