Jared Harris admitted becoming an actor helped him meet women

He said: “Obviously, we all want to impress our parents...

“It’s intense. You all have this common goal that you’re trying to achieve, the adrenaline rush is fantastic and…[It gets you women?]

“That was another positive, a big positive, yes: you can meet women. Yeah. I left that out, you’re quite right."

Before then, the 59-year-old star - who is married to Allegra Riggio and was previously wed to Jacqueline Goldenberg and Emilia Fox - admitted he was "completely useless" around women, having been educated at all-boys' boarding schools from the age of seven.

He told Sunday Times' Culture magazine: “Completely useless. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no game whatsoever, never really ever acquired any at all, I would say.

"I had these foolish ideas that were all based on the stories and the films and the books that we read. I just didn’t know how formidable women were, and how they have totally different tools and weapons at their disposal that men don’t have. They can just flatten you in seconds.”

The 'Beast Must Die' actor hated boarding school and agreed with his stepfather Jonathan Aitken's assessment that it's a similar environment to prison.

He said: “I would not send my kids to boarding school at the age of seven, no way.

“I was recently talking to my mother’s husband who, as you know, spent some time as a guest of Her Majesty. He said that boarding school was a wonderful preparation for that.”