‘Everybody feels fragile’: Guy Pearce on fame, family pressures and fatherhood at 50

Long before Hollywood actors were falling over themselves to appear in television series, there was a clear, snobbish line between film and television. “I remember, years ago, when I was on a television show and so many serious actors would sort of scoff and go: ‘Why would you do a thing like that?’” remembers Guy Pearce. “And now everybody is on television.” Does he feel vindicated? “Yeah. Well, it still doesn’t raise the quality of the show that I used to be on.” He laughs. “I’m not naming it, in case I get myself into trouble.” I hope he doesn’t mean Neighbours – Australian institution; after-school viewing ritual; launchpad, in Pearce’s late-80s glory years, of the careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, too. “Well, it was great,” he concedes, “but it wasn’t the highly innovative, cutting-edge stuff we see now.”

Is he surprised that, 30 years on, people still talk about his role as the teacher Mike, he of the good nature and knife-edged cheekbones? “A bit. I know it was huge at the time and people adored it. I feel really proud of it and thankful to have been part of it, but it’s not even that people go ‘Ah, yeah, I remember’; it really