“He’s incredibly bright, is extremely well versed in visual language, and is an unfailing detector of the inauthentic or the approximate,” he asserts, before the self-mockery gene kicks in once again. “God, I’m good when I get going, aren’t I? I should be a Lib Dem I could take them down any day. It has a domino effect, and everything ends up unsatisfactory, even if it makes you money or gets you elected.”He pre-empts my next question. “Will New Labour-ites squirm while watching this? Yes, they might well reposition their posteriors or redistribute their weight on the sofa. They might be seen crossing and uncrossing their legs more often then usual.”Nighy goes on to pay tribute to Stephen Poliakoff.

It puts everything else out of alignment, as it’s a kind of perversion. “Gideon’s depression is the result of the world he inhabits,” Nighy muses. “The film is a telling comment on the way we’re all dominated by spin these days It’s a profound meditation on PR and its effect on everyone. It’s taken over our lives because it’s been developed into a system.”People now prefer it to making decisions – it’s easier just to apply the system. It is true that he does sometimes seem to be on a mission to snatch James Brown’s crown as the hardest-working man in showbiz. “It could have come under the title of ‘overkill’ – which could be a bit vulgar.”I did a lot of work over four or five years – The Young Visiters, State of Play, Love Actually – which all came out at the same time. By then, people were either going to say ‘I can’t take it anymore’ and kick me off the island or pat me on the back and say ‘Well done’.

Luckily, they didn’t kick me off the island.”The praise should be pouring forth once more when Gideon’s Daughter premieres on BBC1 next Sunday. In this poignant film, Nighy gives a moving performance as Gideon, a government PR guru who, unbeknownst to his acolytes, is on the brink of total emotional collapse.One of the principal reasons for Gideon’s breakdown is his disenchantment with the spin that increasingly seems to govern society. I could speculate to be sociable, but I just look up to the skies and thank my lucky stars.”I don’t experience the effect of fame very much,” he drawls insouciantly (he does a lot of insouciant drawling, which made him perfect casting as the voice of Dylan in the recent cinema version of The Magic Roundabout, and may be another reason for his status as a blue-rinse heart-throb) “Nothing much changes around here But professionally, it’s all to the good It makes me more castable. But I’m not secretly thinking it’s because I’m incredibly talented I haven’t suddenly become the greatest actor in the world I don’t know why it’s happened. “The odds are against it, aren’t they?” says Nighy, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses back up on to the bridge of his nose “You work away and try to keep your nose clean I’ve had a healthy career for some years. Touch wood, I’ve always had a gig, and I’ve been very lucky that it’s accelerated mightily in recent years.