I am a huge fan of the Indiana Jones films – they were a big reason I became an actor, and Harrison Ford is somebody I’ve always loved, and I read that he said it’s best to have the actor performing stunts wherever you can because you see the jeopardy in their face; you see the emotion of what they’re going through.

Stunt people are there for a reason; they’re the professionals and they take the big risks. But I think sometimes when you cut to that wide shot and the audience automatically goes ‘stunt person’, you sort of lose a connection and the emotion of what the character is going through. So as an actor I love to get involved.

On the other end of the scale, Mayflies is much more low-key, but above everything else it just feels like a really touching portrayal of long-term friendship. Why did that appeal to you in terms of getting involved?

It’s such a well-loved book, and the scripts were gorgeous, but a huge part of it was working with Tony Curran, who is a dear old friend of mine. We’ve been close friends for, Jesus, nearly 15 or 20 years now. That would have been difficult to do with another actor because the turnaround was so quick, but when I saw Tony’s name on it, that just made me excited to do it because not only do I love him as a person, I really respect him as an actor.

He’s an effervescent nuisance. He’s just a big ball of energy. You’ll do six, seven hours together in the morning crying your eyes out and you get back to your trailer to get five minutes rest and then he’s in and you spend your whole lunch together eating and him talking and then you’re back to another, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. You know, he’s magnetic to be around. And it was perfect casting for him to play Tully.

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