Michael Sheen has just realised he’s got a problem. He can no longer enjoy his favourite weekday quiz show the way he used to. He and his partner Anna Lundberg had a routine when it came to House of Games. “We put the kids down to bed. They’re four and seven, and are usually asleep by 8.15pm. We come downstairs, put the TV on and watch House of Games on iPlayer. It’s going to be a very different experience watching it now.”
We meet at the House of Games studio in Salford’s MediaCity. Sheen has just done a day’s filming (they record the week’s five episodes in a day), and he looks very much at home in the iconic red tub armchair, which he’s still sitting in. As a presenter, he adopts Osman’s gentle manner, but gets a tad more animated when everything’s to play for. At 57, Sheen is shabbily handsome, with a lilt so serenely seductive it’s tempting to close your eyes and think of Wales when he’s talking.
As a quiz show buff, what does he see as the particular appeal of House of Games? “It’s comfort viewing in lots of ways. You can watch it and just relax. At the same time it’s got an edge to it because you are taking part; you play the games. And it’s really fun seeing people enjoying themselves. There’s always a nice camaraderie between the guests.”
Sheen, though, has a rich and varied acting CV, as well known for playing real people with eerie accuracy (Brian Clough in The Damned United, David Frost in Frost/Nixon, Tony Blair in The Queen, Prince Andrew in A Very Royal Scandal, Chris Tarrant in Quiz) as for his roles in the Twilight and Underworld movie franchises.
Sheen says the notion that doing light entertainment makes you unsuited to play a Shakespearian tragic hero is nonsense. Are there people who still think that? “There might be, but I don’t really care about them. Doing whatever, being on The Traitors or presenting House of Games is not going to take away from me being able to play King Lear. They are completely different things, and they draw on different parts of you.”
“I remember being really influenced by Ian McKellen. At a certain point in his career, he was like, ‘I want to do panto, I want to do Coronation Street.’ He was just doing whatever he wanted to do. To have the confidence to go, ‘I don’t care whatever anyone says about me, I’m going to do this and enjoy it’, I was really affected by that. I liked that.”
Then again, in recent years we’ve become increasingly used to seeing Sheen as Sheen. He was wonderfully open and engaging as the first guest of The Assembly, the interview show where a large group of autistic, neurodivergent, and learning-disabled individuals interrogate celebrities. He was a team leader on the Sky panel show There’s Something about Movies. And in August, he appeared in the hard-hitting documentary Buried, investigating the dumping of “forever chemicals” in Wales by Monsanto, leading to an apparent rise in cancers locally.
He means if it’s proved that the chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls, have damaged people’s health. “There needs to be a national or multinational programme to look into this and make sure that what needs to be done is done and that there is sufficient funding to carry out remediation without individual councils being held responsible.”
What did he mean by that? “I suppose I was trying to say that I was interested in being as supportive as I can of the social enterprise business model; the idea of using whatever profits you make to put back into the work you’re doing and to try to support other causes and organisations. Over the past 20 years I have used the money I make from acting or whatever, to support other issues or organisations. To start projects and programmes and initiatives.”
Does he still regard himself as a not-for-profit actor? He smiles. “I’m still paying for certain things that I put money into, so I guess that means I’m still a not-for-profit actor because I’m not making that much profit. When I was part of putting on the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff, I had two properties at the time and I remortgaged both of them so I’m still paying off that.”
And the money that comes in from House of Games will be very handy. “It’s not just about money, though,” he stresses. “It’s also to do with profile. It’s more that than anything to be honest. The more familiar people are with you, the more willing they are to watch something that’s very different that I’m doing, or it opens doors, brings people together and makes things happen. So that is as important if not more important than the financial stuff.”
If someone asks what his job is, what does he say? “All of the above, I guess. I do all those things, so I’m not sure what I’d describe myself as.” He laughs. “I’m sure a few people have choice words to describe me, but I don’t know. I just do what I like doing and they all inform each other in a way.”
“Yeah, absolutely. The other things I do are fascinating and have lots of meaning in them for me, but they might not be quite as much fun. This is a fantastic thing to be able to do.”
“Richard did an amazing job. He made it look so effortless. I used to joke and say I’ll make it my own by making it look really full of effort. It was so synonymous with Richard. The idea of taking over from someone who’s made it so much their own and had been so beloved by people was nerve-racking. So I was nervous, and still am – whether people will be comfortable and happy and accepting of me doing it. But I hope my love of the show comes through and that wins people over.”
“I think he would be really happy at what I’m doing now. I think that version of me would be surprised at how many different things I do and really happy about that.”
House of Games airs weekdays at 6pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.
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