Jeremy Irons: Murder and mayhem can be delightful

In an interview with Parade Magazine, Irons, who is currently starring as the power-mad patriarch in the TV series, The Borgias, said: “Characters who live on the outer edge of acceptable behaviour have always been to my taste.

“We love watching people doing what we don’t dare to do. Murder and mayhem, from the safe positions of our armchairs, can be delightful.”

Talking about what audiences would make of his character in The Borgias, Pope Alexander VI, the 62-year-old Oscar winner said: “He wasn’t a god – he was a man, and man was born a sinner.

“He’s rather endearing in a strange way. He’s pathetic as all men are. They want everything, don’t they?”

Asked whether any of the darker roles he has played made him pause before he took them on, the Reversal Of Fortune star replied: “I knew Lolita would cause fireworks.

“I said to my agent, ‘You’d better get me a wage that will keep me for the next three years, because I don’t think I’ll work much after this’.”

He added: “That was indeed what happened.”