Rhames turned to wife for Kojak help

Pulp Fiction star Ving Rhames used his wife's experiences as a Los Angeles police detective to prepare for his new role as the rejuvenated Kojak.

The tough movie star will take over the cop role Telly Savalas made famous on TV in the 1970s when the new series of Kojak premieres on America's USA Network last night. And, although he admits he didn't watch the original series, he had everything he needed for research at home.

He explains: "My wife is a former homicide detective, LAPD. The wonderful thing that I was able to capture is my wife's experiences from human and professional and how do you deal with some of the atrocities that happen in LA and not bring them home.

"How do you cut off the human side and just maintain being professional? So what I've done is I've incorporated that with Kojak - there's times when he allows the human condition, the human experience, to integrate into him, as a professional."