We’d get up, my mum, dad and sister, Lorraine, at two o’clock in the morning and travel through the night. Dad liked to have a late breakfast at a restaurant called the Trocadero, near the beach, on our first Saturday morning.
We stayed at the same bed-and-breakfast place, which was run by a gay couple. They must have been ahead of their time, because homosexuality was not widely acceptable back then. It was immaculate and always well run. 

We looked forward to it for weeks and talked about it for weeks afterwards. But dad decided one year that the journey wasn’t long enough, so we went to Spain, on our first holiday abroad, by coach. We went with a company called Cornell’s, in Sheffield. My dad was scared of flying  and still is. So off we went from our home to Lloret de Mar. The coach was driven onto the ferry, from Dover to Calais, then we drove through France and Spain. It took for ever, but was very exciting. 

Now I can afford to go on holidays wherever I like, I’ve almost forgotten what they’re for. They’re meant to be relaxing, but it’s only recently that I’ve rediscovered that. I’ve had several holidays in the past 20 years by linking working trips to a break. When I was filming Sharpe, we went all over the place, like India, and I would simply stay on after filming was finished.

Maybe I find it hard to relax. When I was in New Zealand to film The Lord of the Rings, it was a project that went on for a year and a half. It’s a beautiful country, but when I’m filming, I’m thinking only of what I have to do in front of the camera. I was also travelling back and forth to England to see my children and to stay in touch with life here, so it never once felt like a holiday. I don’t mind being abroad, concentrating on work, because there’s nothing else to do. I miss home, but that’s part of the job. 

I used to go on holidays to Portugal when my eldest two daughters, Lorna and Molly [with his second wife, the actress Melanie Hill], were young. Albufeira was a favourite. I can’t say, looking back, that I was ever that relaxed. With my third wife [the actress Abigail Cruttenden] and our daughter, Evie, we went to a friend’s cottage in Devon and, yet again, I was reminded that I should take more proper time off. 

So, with Georgina, I’m trying to have proper holidays again. We went to Sicily last year, which was very beautiful, very friendly and hot. We were in Taormina, at a small, family-run hotel, just the two of us. We could see the lava from Mount Etna glowing at night, and they served some great lobster meals. I’d go back there again like a shot. 

I also like Rome, and northern Italy in general. There’s a feeling that they make enjoyment of life a priority and feel no guilt about taking time off. That has always been a problem for me, if I’m honest, since childhood. I always want to be doing something, even if it’s gardening or working in the garage. 

I’m always trying to get the same buzz out of holidays that I do from acting. One of my favourite moments was playing a footballer in When Saturday Comes [released in 1996]. We had time on the pitch to re-create match-day scenes at half-time at a game between my team, Sheffield United, and Manchester United. My dad and grandad were there, and the crowd got behind me so much that I couldn’t come down to earth afterwards. I had 16 pints of lager, felt stone-cold sober and was still buzzing with excitement. A holiday can never give me a thrill quite like that.