Actor Jack Fox, 36, on Brits being red-faced about sex, his new TV series and his rivalry with outspoken brother Laurence.
Your new series, Cheaters — why are the episodes just 10 minutes long?
It’s like television tapas. You watch an episode and then you don’t necessarily want to watch another hour or half hour of TV. But you can always take another 10 minutes.
Are we all developing shorter attention spans?
I don’t know whether it’s a case of short attention spans or an incredible anxiety about the fact you’re not doing something you need to be doing but if I’m anything to go by, then yes! But I think you can fight that.
My fiancée is a musician and she plays albums to me from start to finish, such as an entire Led Zeppelin album, and you can just see the journey.
That’s something I’d never appreciated before — that these albums are a piece of work in themselves. It was like pulling teeth when I started, but I can now listen to a whole album all the way through.
Presumably Cheaters is about people getting up to no good?
It’s a comedy drama about the messy nature of relationships and how there are things that aren’t talked about unless you’re a couple of drinks in with your friends. It’s about forgiveness and the dynamics of how a relationship works.
It’s also an encouragement to people in relationships to talk openly about what they feel and what would make them more satisfied.
Your character, Zack, isn’t a big one for discussing his feelings.
He’s quite repressed. Is that a stretch for me as an actor? I don’t know.
I come from that stiff-upper-lip British tradition of not talking about sex and covering your eyes when you watch it on television. I guess I have that in me.
Talking of sex, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of interest in the bedroom department, does he?
He’s an American living in London and he wants to work hard and make a living. He has a very high-pressure job and when he goes home, he doesn’t want to have any stress. He’s fanatical about exercise and takes comfort in that. He’s quite uptight and closed off.
Growing up as a member of the Fox acting dynasty, did you always want to perform?
When I was 11, we went to a New Year’s Eve party. I was running around stealing hors d’oeuvres and probably wine, and somebody approached my dad about me being in Harry Potter as Draco Malfoy.
But my mum and dad weren’t so keen. My dad [actor James Fox] said, ‘If you get a degree and you still want to act afterwards then I’ll support you.’
I didn’t find out about the Harry Potter role until I was 21.
Is there any rivalry with your brother Laurence and your cousins Emilia and Freddie?
I love my family and we all want the best for each other. Fortunately, we’re all in different casting brackets.
But if the nominees came in for one category and we were all in it, I’m sure it would be different!
Has the Fox name been a blessing or a curse?
Sometimes I don’t get into rooms that I should get into because of my surname and other times I get into rooms that I shouldn’t get into.
But I’m always going to see it as a positive thing because I’m proud of my family history and surname.
What was lockdown like?
It was tricky. My mum passed away in lockdown, so that was hard. She’d not been very well for a while.
I came back from France and I spent some time looking after her and then, when she got very ill, myself and my now fiancée moved in to look after her and my dad.
Then when she passed away, we holed up with him and looked after him.
Your fiancée’s dealt with a lot…
None of it would have been possible without her, she was just extraordinary. We met two years ago and got engaged in lockdown.
When you have extreme stress in life, you work out who you want to go to war with and certainly she is the person.
She’s a musician — a producer, a writer and performer. Her name is Eleanor Fletcher but she goes by the name Eleanor K. She also does deeply amusing TikTok comedy videos.
What else do you enjoy doing?
I read a lot. When my mum passed away, I decided to read War And Peace. When I opened the front page all of her notes fell out, which was very poetic, and I saw that as a sign to continue to read. I also play a bit of tennis and walk my dogs.
What’s coming next?
I’ve just finished filming two new back-to-back series of the historical drama Sanditon, which will be on BritBox in March and will then come to ITV next year. I’m also getting married in July.
Do you have a bucket list?
I’d love to play someone physically tough — either an action hero or an action villain.
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All episodes of Cheaters are now available to watch on BBC iPlayer
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