A family to be proud of

I’m the eldest of four brothers [Paul, Stephen and Mark McGann are also actors], and while we’re all very independent people, we do watch each other’s backs and give whatever support we can. I’ve never claimed to be the leader by virtue of age and certainly don’t tell the others what to do. Occasionally there’s feuding, as in any family, but it always peters out; the bond between us is too strong. For that we must thank our mum, who’s a dear friend to all of us and whom I speak to every day. She’s a very modest person, but I’d like to think she’s fostered in all of us the same innate decency that’s at the heart of everything she does. She was only in her forties when Dad died, but at 74 is as fit and alert as she’s ever been. She runs her local Cruse bereavement counselling group and is more adept with a computer than I am.

As mums go, she’s really cool and a great example to all her boys.

Getting answers to my questions

Success spun me out. When you’re in a show that regularly attracts 19 million viewers [the Nineties TV comedy The Upper Hand, in which he co-starred for six years with Honor Blackman] you lose your anonymity, and I hated that. I’ve long had a propensity for depression and it culminated in what I suppose was a classic midlife crisis. I was asking all the big questions – Where?, What?, Why? – but didn’t have any satisfactory answers. I had to take a step back, rethink my place in things. It was a practical, sensible, necessary decision, rather than a brave one, and I’m just so glad I had the time, wherewithal and support to do it. It’s odd in a way that it should take me 45 years on Earth to learn anything of real significance, but there you are. Better late than never.

Finding my place in the world

For a while I thought Spain might be the answer and tried living in Andalucia. It was the other English people there who put me off it, though. It was very much an expat, drinking culture and I remember one guy telling me proudly, “I’ve been here 15 years and still can’t tell a taxi driver where I live in Spanish.” Not for me. Then I realised that what I really needed was solitude and found it living in the middle of a 5,000-acre forest in Wiltshire. There I was able to stay away from stuff that was no longer satisfying me, reflect on my life and relationships and learn for the first time how to look after myself properly. Since then, thank goodness, I’ve gone from strength to strength. I’m married now to a wonderful woman and am fit, well, contented and complete. My life is the best it’s ever been.

An appetite for work

Some actors wax lyrical about the artistic choices they make in their careers. More power to them, but I’m a working-class lad from Liverpool and that kind of talk doesn’t come naturally. I think of work in terms of staying employed, and to that end I’ve endeavoured to be as versatile as possible, embracing every opportunity that’s come my way. I’ve been blessed in terms of what I’ve done and whom I’ve worked with and if it carries on I’ll be a very happy, grateful bunny. I certainly wouldn’t willingly give up on what I do. I’d hope to be like Tommy Cooper and die in harness. To just keel over on stage one day and have them drag my boots under the velvet curtain would suit me fine.

Joe McGann stars in Fiddler on the Roof, which is touring the UK. It is at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking today (0870 0606645), and at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre from July 29 until August 2 (01274 432000). For further dates, visit www.ukproductions.co.uk