Trivia

He studied law at Cambridge University and qualified as a barrister before becoming an actor

He was born in Ghana, then moved with his family to Dublin when he was 8, later relocating to England.

He was considered for the role of James Bond in Tuer n'est pas jouer (1987) before Timothy Dalton was cast.

He met his wife when he was aged 28, at a dinner party.

His wife, Victoria Threlfall, is an artist

He realised at the age of 13 that he had a flair for acting.

He has four children with his wife: Matilda, Clemency, Oriel and Honor.

He auditioned for the part of Rimmer in Red Dwarf (1988).

He has one brother, Nicholas and one sister, Charlotte.

He is no relation to Peter Bathurst, another distinguished British actor with an extensive screen career, who died in 1989.

In his twenties he made up two fake credits on his CV, and has continued to use them throughout his career: "The Odd Thing" and "Loads of Tosh".

He is occasionally mistaken for actor Jeff Daniels.