The footage shows Mr Blake saying he was getting on well with wife Bonny Lee Bakely at the time she was murdered.

Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels said the statements contradict previous remarks made about his wife.

The 71-year-old denies shooting his wife. His trial was recently postponed after a lawyer's computer was stolen.

Prosecutors have said the evidence is central to a circumstantial case being arranged against Blake.

The interview with Barbara Walters on the ABC network was first aired in February 2003, and shows Mr Blake talking about arrangements to move his wife's family to Los Angeles.

Ms Samuels claims the actor was lying and making an attempt to convince the public that he had a good relationship with his wife.

"You don't go on TV to lie unless you have a reason to lie, and you don't lie unless you really did it," she said.

The lawyer says the interview contrasts with some recorded conversations Mr Blake had in jail, in which he was heard to disparage his late wife's family.

Postponement

The actor, who won an Emmy for playing a maverick detective in the 1970s TV cop drama Baretta, could face life in prison if convicted.

Bonny Lee Bakley's body was found in Mr Blake's car in May 2001 after the couple had dined at a nearby restaurant.

The actor says his wife was shot by someone else while he left her alone in the car to go back to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he had left behind.

Mr Blake's trial was expected to begin on 6 December, but has been postponed by at least two weeks following the computer theft.