But his latest TV venture is a highly personal documentary about caring for his demented mother, Phyllis, during what turned out to be the final stages of her life. Robinson's father, who suffered from Alzheimer's, also died as a result of dementia.

The experience has made him determined to expose the taboo of lack of care for the elderly.

Read the interview with Tony from Body&Soul here and his answers to your questions on dementia, Alzheimer's and caring for older people below.

There are no joined-up services for dementia patients and their carers. It's frustrating, time consuming and most of the time near impossible to get straight answers from the professional services. What in your opinion can be done to ensure there is national policy that gives everyone coping with this horrendous disease a full level of support in both personal and medical care? Name and address withheld

Politicians won’t start moving until ordinary people are sufficiently fired up and organized. Don’t let’s blame them; their priorities are dictated by the various pressures they are under. It’s up to us to make sure we’re no longer the soft option. There’s no doubt that decent provision for the infirm elderly will cost a lot of money. But then protecting our environment costs a lot of money and politicians have had to put legislation in place to do it because the public feel so strongly about it.

I work in healthcare (and will shortly become a qualified nurse on a Dementia Assessment Unit) and I'm a big advocate of "humour and laughter therapy". As a comedian yourself, may I ask do you find using humour and laughter can help with caring? I have shared many a joke with patients and feel that it has excellent therapeutic value. Neil Baxter, Bolton

Yes I do. I have never thought that laughter was the opposite of seriousness. The opposite of seriousness is triviality which is a completely different matter. During the course of my film, we had a lot of laughs and I’m not embarrassed about that. It’s one of the ways we recognize the humanity in each other.

I too watched my mother die from Alzheimer's. It took twelve years and, like you say, no-one seems to care. It was like she had gone away and left her shell behind. It is a terrible thing to watch. How did you cope? Anna McDougall, Crawley

I wouldn’t presume to give other people advice. I’m just another person in a situation shared by tens of thousands of people who’ve probably dealt with it much better than I did. But the one thing I’ve learnt is that when you’re caring for someone with dementia it’s ok to feel exhausted and frustrated and depressed and angry. We wouldn’t be humans unless we did. Its only by allowing ourselves such moments of anger and frustration that we can let other more positive emotions bloom.

My mother was diagnosed two years ago with early onset dementia at the age of 54. Due to mum's age, she is not able to apply for some of the benefits so dad has received little in the way of hard cash. The house is falling apart around him while he treats mum to weekends away and nights out while he still can. This is a major worry to me financially, although I do understand why he does it. Do you think trips out are beneficial? Mandy Penman, East Kilbride

Some of the time the trips out we made were great for all of us. Other times they were very frustrating, particularly if they went wrong or if mum was in a lousy mood. Trips take such a lot of planning and its easy to feel resentful, if they go awry. This is to be expected and should not put you off them.

I am the daughter of an 85-year-old wheelchair-bound widow who has dementia and Parkinson's disease. She is in a nursing home and has to pay nearly £30,000 a year to be looked after, although she is not a rich woman. Do you believe it is right that people with dementia who have over £20,500 in savings or property should have to pay for their care to the tune of £20k plus per year? Should it not be funded by the NHS, or, at the very least, should the savings thresholds not be raised? Brenda Cookson, Liverpool

I believe financial thresholds should be raised. I was lucky in that I could afford to keep my mum in a care home. But there are tens of thousands of people whose life savings are decimated by having to shoulder the financial responsibility. We must not forget that the generation who are now in such homes are those who fought the Second World War on our behalf. They were encouraged to save and be prudent so they would have something to pass on to their loved ones. It’s a pretty poor recompense to hijack their savings to subsidise the health service.

My 85-year-old father has dementia and my mother who is 84 is his carer. After watching the toll it was taking on my mother, I tried to find out what I could. I contacted various groups and met their GP. The Alzheimer's Society has been really supportive and we now know more about their entitlements, e.g. attendance allowance, council tax rebate etc., and carer's courses which are excellent. All this should be more easily accessible. What organisations and sources of information would you recommend? Pamela Jacques, South Croydon

There are great organisations out there such as Alzheimer’s Society, Action on Elder Abuse and Age Concern. But I guess if any one organisation had the website that would provide us all the answers we need, we’d have found it by now. I’m hoping my show will make a contribution to kick-starting the debate so that more people do set up the kind of support networks we all need.

My mother was resident in a private care home; as her dementia worsened, so her "care" lessened. She was rushed to hospital with severe dehydration, malnutrition and bedsores. She died one month after being admitted. We thought this terrible case must be unique; how wrong we were. We were horrified to read via the internet lists of vulnerable elderly people in care homes paying between £2,000-£4,000 per month to receive treatment just like my mother's. Dee Sedgwick, London

I’m horrified by your story. It must have been impossibly difficult for you. I’m convinced that such abuse will only stop when care for the elderly is at the top of the national agenda. At the moment, there aren’t enough people who really care about it so it’s easy for it to happen in the shadows. The other issue, of course, is that care workers need better pay, more training and a proper career structure.