Mark Valley: Keen on London

Keen Eddie star Mark Valley, 38, can relate to his character's culture shock as an NYPD cop living in London. However, unlike Det. Eddie Arlette, this easy-going Pasadena and Days of Our Lives alum's future doesn't hinge on his job across the pond. Here, Valley talks to TV Guide Online about headlining his very own TV series, those lovely British birds and his real passion...

TV Guide Online: "Fish-out-of-water" is a term often used to describe your character. When you were shooting Eddie in London, did you feel the same way?
Mark Valley: Yeah, I did, sort of. I can't figure out these English women. They're strikingly good looking, and they're much cheaper dates. They'll go out and have a beer with you.

TVGO: Were there cultural differences that surprised you?
Valley: I had a problem at first with their sense of humor, and I started to take it personally. I find that they generally don't want to look like they're making a lot of effort. They try to look like James Bond, like it all comes very easy to them... If you do show an effort, or talk like you're making an effort, you better be ready to have the p--- taken out of you.

TVGO: Pasadena was cancelled so early on. Do you feel there's an ax over your head on Eddie?
Valley: I don't really feel like I'm on a hit television show right now, if that's what you mean. I don't feel the pressure. I basically feel like we made a good 13 episodes. I'm hoping things go well, but I'm not getting ahead of myself. Pasadena didn't get nearly the [promotional] push this show is getting.

TVGO: You were in the Army for five years. What do your old buddies think of your acting career?
Valley: I was more surprised than they were. I thought, "Wait till my friends hear this, that I've become an actor." I tell them, and they say, "Oh, great. It's about time." [In the army], I used to be running around and entertaining people.

TVGO: Have you thought of making a military movie?
Valley: No. It's funny, I just watched Black Hawk Down, and I think if I'd been offered a role in it, I would have done it, but it would have been hell to do. I didn't go through a combat situation like that, but just the training for it, the waiting and the not knowing if you're going to be sent — it's a knot in your stomach. I want to do other things now; I want to be a cop and a doctor and a lawyer.

TVGO: So what else is in your long-term career plan?
Valley: I just want to do what I love doing. Unfortunately, making pottery doesn't quite pay these days, so I'm going to have to keep acting.

Keen Eddie airs Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET on Fox.