James Nesbitt on Justin Bieber, family life and Don't Tell the Bride
The Secret actor sips wine while watching drama - but it's beer for football...
I see James Nesbitt at his princely ease in front of giant screen TV. An accurate picture?
Very inaccurate is how I would describe that statement. After filming The Hobbit I came back to London and had to furnish this new, empty house. I went to Currys and bought a big flat-screen TV, brought it back to the house and it was about four sizes too big. I have a smaller one now.
Do you have to share it with the kids?
I am separated from my wife. Our 18 and 14-year-old girls spend some of the week with their mum and some with me, so they have two houses and many televisions.
Have you always tried to watch their programmes?
I found toddlers’ programmes are much better than teenagers’ programmes. When they were young I knew everything about Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, a great kids programme, which had my favourite theme tune. But, with watching teenagers’ programmes together, it’s embarrassing for them and for their father if it’s something dealing with puberty.
How interested are the girls in Dad being on the television?
It is one of the least interesting things in their lives I am very happy to report. They were into The Missing but that was nothing to do with dad really, they thought it was a good story. They are well-balanced, bright children and able to appreciate good drama. That’s a tribute to their mother’s parenting skills.
And your parenting skills as well?
I hope so, though I can say with certainty that I have seen more of Don’t Tell the Bride than any man of my age should ever see. I also know much more about The Kardashians than I ever intended to in my life.
Perhaps a glass of something to take the edge off The Kardashians?
I am no stranger to a glass when watching television. It’s in my hand as much as the remote I would say. I love wine when I’m watching a good drama, The A-Word for instance. If I am watching football – I have a separate room and television for watching sport – it tends to be beer. That’s quite a shallow illustration of how I think – football means beer
And what about playing sport yourself?
I train quite a lot and I do have Spotify. I love guy Guy Garvey, the Arctic Monkeys, old stuff like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Mozart – everything. I have even listened to Justin Bieber when I’m working out. The girls had been listening to his new album in the car, and I put it on in the gym and found myself working up quite a sweat. Bieber was good.
A dangerous thing, Spotify . . .
It took me a long time to figure out how it works and not just think it’s a miracle the way my mother used to think radio was a miracle – that it was magic, almost witchcraft.
Any digital space that that is purely yours?
I use weather apps for no apparent reason than seeing what the weather is like in obscure places around the world. I like AccuWeather though I have found that to my chagrin that it is quite often in-AccuWeather. If you going away on holiday you look up the different weather apps to get the forecast you want then stick by that and get very angry with it when you realise that he other nine were right. It’s a cycle of torment actually, the checking. Everything is addressed, confronted and moved on through the weather app.
So, you are using weather apps to address deep-lying psychological issues
Yes.
