Monday, 14 January 2008

My Secret Life - John Barrowman

Age: 40
Occupation: entertainer
Marital status: married

I have a flat in Chelsea and a place in Cardiff, too, because I spend seven months of the year there filming Doctor Who and Torchwood. The flat in Cardiff’s beautiful. It overlooks the bay, so every morning I look out at swans and sailboats.

When I want to get away from it all, I go shopping. When I’ve got a hectic schedule there’s nothing like treating myself to something frivolous to relax.

My partner Scott [Gill] is my best friend. He says I’m at my worst when I’m at home doing nothing – I like being busy.

The best piece of advice I’ve been given is: don’t want things too quickly. Also, do things because you want to do them; if you fail then you can’t blame anyone else.

My guilty pleasure is a slap-up breakfast. I love bacon, egg, hash brown and black pudding squeezed together in a roll with brown sauce. We had those every Friday when we were filming Torchwood.

If I need something to pep me up, I prefer an ice-cold vodka tonic and a hot man with nice pecs to sit next to me!

I can’t live without my cars. I have a Toyota Prius in London and in Cardiff I have a Porsche, a Mercedes ML Class and a vintage Mercedes 380SL. I like my cars.

My earliest memory is singing at my parents’ parties when we lived in Glasgow. I’d use a measuring cup as a microphone and I’d sing and entertain the guests.

People would be surprised to know that I’m a real bargain hunter. My worst vice is shopping. I can’t go past a TK Maxx without going in. If you need accessories for the house, go to TK Maxx – it’s amazing.

I very rarely lose my temper, but if I do, you’ll know about it!

I haven’t done it in a long time, but my party trick used to be ‘shooting beers’. You pop a hole in the bottom of a beer can, open it and the beer fires into your mouth at an excessive speed. It takes 15 seconds to down it. You’re likely to throw up immediately afterwards, though.

If I had a lost weekend I’d go to the Maldives for the first time. Richard Branson invited me on one of Virgin’s inaugural flights there and I couldn’t go because of work, so I’d like to make up for it.

Series two of Torchwood starts on BBC2 at 9pm on 16 January

Waterworks
I pee in the shower in the mornings.

Clothes
In my winter wardrobe I have a Belstaff wax coat, a couple of winter suits, loads of Abercrombie & Fitch jeans and cashmere sweaters from Costco.

Film
The last film I watched was The Bourne Ultimatum. I loved it. Not only was Matt Damon gorgeous, but the bad guy was hot, too! I’m a big fan of action films because you sit down and totally lose yourself in them.

Phobias
I’ve recently become claustrophobic. I had to do a scene where I was in a box and when the lid was closed I had a total panic and had to be taken out of it.

Books
The Outsiders by SE Hinton was a huge influence on my life. I really related to the main character, a young man who’s dealing with issues in his own life as well as social issues.

Television
I’m obsessed with Ugly Betty, Prison Break and Heroes. I don’t get much of a chance to watch TV, so I download them all on to my iPod.

I’d like to shamelessly plug the new series of Torchwood, my album Another Side, my autobiography Anything Goes [£18.99, Michael O’Mara] and my new TV show The Kids Are Alright. I like to keep busy!

Feature Karen Dunn