Andrew Lincoln has revealed his wife thinks he's daft for staying in character while filming his hit US TV show The Walking Dead.

The British actor has found major success as police sheriff Rick Grimes in the modern-day zombie series set in America's Deep South.

The 38-year-old has decamped his wife and two young children to nearby Atlanta and, from the moment he sets foot off the plane to when he flies back to Britain for his breaks, talks in an American accent.

Andrew said his wife thinks he's "an idiot" for staying in accent for so long.

He recalled: "The first time she came on set she was like, 'Andrew, what are you doing?'

"I said, 'This is it for the next six months, I'm afraid'. And also, I have to do this because most of the crew think I'm American, and if I change now it's going to freak them out!"

With roles in seminal series such as This Life and Teachers, Lincoln became the poster boy for turn of the century British television, and his new double life as an American star is one he's enjoying.

"I feel a bit like a spy, because most of the time that I'm not working, I'm back here in England," he said.

"But then I fly over there, I don't have a mobile - I have a cell phone, I have a different dialect which I stay in all the time, and I have a different currency. I have, thankfully, the same wife, but it's an extraordinary schizophrenic lifestyle. I love it."

:: The Walking Dead starts on FX on Friday, February 17.