My father was a television director and I always knew I wanted to be in the industry but I had thought my role was behind the camera as opposed to in front. My brother Robert wanted to act from a very early age and there was always a part of me that said we couldn't have two actors in the family because our parents would go mental. So I became a runner for the Robert Stigwood Organisation and, one way or another, worked my way up to movie publicist. That was great – I got to go to work and see movies for free – but really I knew that it wasn't for me. So then, by chance, I fell into the acting thing.
My brother Robert was the catalyst. He had seen me act and said I should think about it and told me what I needed to do. One thing led to another, like a domino effect, and before I knew it, I was at drama school. In many respects, drama school became my university and I had a really great time there. I finally felt, yes, this is what I want to do. It was definitely that "coming home" feeling.
My parents might have been worried to begin with – "Oh shit, a dynasty?" – but it's actually fine having two actors in the family. I do think that if you have family in the business and they are all doing all right, it can be tough to break into it. I look at my eldest and think, if you want to be an actor and earn some money, become a barrister. You can still wear a wig and get dressed up, but you earn. So let's get down the Old Bailey for a taster! It is a tough one because you don't want to stand in the way of anyone's ambitions and dreams but equally you know how hard it is in this business.
Bringing up children in this day and age is a tough responsibility but I'm very lucky because my wife [the actor Beth Goddard] is amazing. I have to give her the credit because I'm mostly away working, so a lot of the time she's a one-parent family, which is the hardest thing of all. It might sound all politically correct but she is extraordinary.
When people say our kids are great it's lovely, because that's testament to Beth. Because we've got two girls, I'm a big soft dad and they wrap me round their little fingers, to be uncurled by Mum. That Beth has combined being a mum with her own career is all the more impressive. I don't see how having children isn't the defining thing of anyone's life.
When you are working on a TV show or series you just get into the routine. You get used to getting up early. It takes a few days, but once you are up and running you get used to going home late and it becomes this very repetitive cycle. People think it's glam but it really isn't. It's not packing shelves and it's not being on the frontline in Afghanistan, but the reality of your day-to-day work is actually quite banal. I mean, in terms of that process and the repetitiveness of it. So you get used to it, and that's your job.
Then you go back to your family, the real world, when you finish the job. You break that cycle, go home remind your children that you are their father, do the school run … and that's what you do. Acting is just a job at the end of the day and it's a very strange one. Sometimes you think, "You're a 48-year-old man with children! What in God's name are you doing? They're the ones that should be playing and you come to work to play." But fuck it – I wouldn't change it.