I try to channel my adrenaline to enhance my performance, which is physically very demanding. I mostly do live events rather than film work, and sometimes I play themed characters at corporate events. I like doing those, because no one is punching me and I don’t have to fall off anything. If you’re on a film set, you just turn up and do the fight, or part of the fight, and you have to memorise only four or five hits. With a live event, you’re there all day. If you’re doing a sword fight, for instance, you have to memorise more than 300 moves.

My wife Lorna and I moved to Brighton 17 years ago. It’s quite a built-up area, so I sent a mail shot out to neighbours, asking who had a pond and what lived in it. Then I dug two in my garden, one for frogs and the other for toads. Come spring, we now get around 300 frogs, toads and newts breeding here.

We first spotted a hedgehog in our garden three years ago. We started feeding it, then one became three, and later five. Next thing, we started taking in rescues from the local hedgehog carer. It’s so rewarding sitting in the garden at night watching four or five hedgehogs eating food you’ve put out for them. On our last count, we found 26. We’re hoping to get to 50 individuals, because that indicates a healthy, self-sustaining population.

My job can be quite stressful, and I find it therapeutic to make things from scratch. Lorna bought a couple of hedgehog boxes once, but I thought they were a waste of money, so I got hold of some wood and copied the design. Old pieces of decking are best, and I’ve made 17 so far. I give them away; people donate wood and pond liner to make the boxes waterproof. I’ve got five in my garden now and I need to make another 25 for the neighbours.

Most people are happy to have a box in a secluded area under a hedge, or to cut a hole in their fence to allow hedgehogs to pass through. I want to live on the first road in Britain to have a hedgehog box in every garden.

My favourite spot

Without a doubt, by the pond – we’ve put in a couple of seats specially. After a day’s work, I like nothing more than to sit there with a book and a cup of tea. We occasionally get bats in the evenings. When the animals are out, you can hear them coming: a frog leaping in the grass, a hedgehog shuffling in. It’s just so relaxing.

• Interview by Jane Perrone

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