Then they eventually put their finger on it, most people recognise Fox from Lewis, ITV’s Morse spin-off drama, in which he played Detective Sergeant James Hathaway, Kevin Whately’s sidekick, for seven series. Others will know him as the husband of Billie Piper, the popstar-turned-actress, to whom he has been married for six years. “I’ve never called myself that; it would sound weird,” insists Fox. “At Lewis, when I’m being naughty, they say, ‘Oh look, Mr Billie Piper’s being a d—.’ They know that will make my hackles rise.”

Despite his escalating profile, Fox, 35, is a family man. He’s most at home chopping wood and fishing for pike near the ramshackle West Sussex cottage he shares with Billie and sons Winston, five, and Eugene, 18 months. The downside to doing eight shows a week in London is being away from it all. “Theatre is great until you start doing it and then you go, ‘God, I’m missing my family,’” he says. To make things easier, the Foxes (plus their two dogs, Baxter and Peggy) have moved to the capital while he’s on stage.

Theatre, he says, is a “happy place” – in part because it’s where he met Mrs Fox, in a rehearsal room backstage at Treats, Christopher Hampton’s play about a love triangle, in 2006. The pair fell in love and were married the next New Year’s Eve, followed by a honeymoon in Mexico, during which they indulged in the ultimate act of modern romance: tattoos of each other’s names. Winston was born the next year, and Eugene arrived in April 2012.

Becoming a father, admits Fox, changed him – changed them both – entirely. “You’re not the most important thing any more and that’s nice,” he muses. “Up until that point you feel like you’re the centre of the universe – at least I did. And then you have a child and it’s the centre of your universe and you’re the centre of its universe. It’s sacred.” Winston is more like him, while Eugene takes after Billie, “the boss”. “They’re amazing kids,” he smiles. “It’s hard being able to spend all my time with them and then none, because of the job.”

As Winston reaches school age, the dreaded state-vs-public debate has come up – last year it was reported to have sparked a row in the Fox household. “We have had the chat but it wasn’t quite like that,” he insists. “I’m not against public schools at all, but what’s the point of paying taxes if you don’t use the benefits? The bit I didn’t like about it [Fox went to Harrow] was the structure of isolating boys from girls. It’s so obsolete.”

At home, the Foxes don’t talk shop. “We wake up to the kids shouting at us because their porridge is too hot; that’s how glamorous life is,” he laughs. Though both are working full-time (Billie is filming the Irish period drama, Penny Dreadful), Fox says family life is “cool and sorted” right now. Privacy is important to them – Fox was cautioned for assault after losing his temper with a paparazzo in 2007 – and they stay out of the public eye as much as possible.

“I can’t deal with crowds; I find it too much,” says Fox. “I like being at home, looking at the robin in the garden. I like knowing people walking up and down the street. If I lived in Birmingham in a cul-de-sac, I’d be that person peeking through the curtains going, ‘Ooh, who’s that, then?’” Had he not been an actor, Fox would be a gamekeeper, a farmer or a woodsman. “I don’t even really enjoy being outside – I just like the thought of it,” he grins.

A rumoured move to the US is off the cards for now. “We got visas and then we couldn’t be arsed,” explains Fox. “One day, maybe. But at the moment I don’t want to uproot.” All his friends and family, he says, are here – and, of course, there’s the Queen.

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