Actor Rory Kinnear on Bond, Sony leaks and a new series of Count Arthur Strong

One minute he's chief of staff in a Bond movie, the next he's the straight man in a sitcom, and Rory Kinnear's somehow still found time to pen a play. But mixing it up is how he likes it, as Susan Griffin finds out

The son of the much-loved character actor Roy Kinnear and now an established thespian in his own right, Rory Kinnear could be forgiven for feeling a little jaded by the industry - but he's far from it.

"It's always exciting," exclaims the 36-year-old.

No doubt it is, when you're papped alongside Daniel Craig while speeding along the River Thames for the next Bond instalment - Spectre - due for release later this year.

"It was chilly, but there was this beautiful sky and we were out there just looking at the sun rising. I'm unbelievably lucky to be involved in something that reaches so many people," says the Londoner, who reprises the role of Bill Tanner, MI6's chief of staff, for a third time.

Paparazzi shots are one thing, but the film recently fell victim to the Sony studio scandal, where staff emails, stars' salaries and even scripts were hacked and leaked to the public.

"I haven't followed the story," insists Kinnear. "It obviously hasn't bothered us within what we're doing. Most people want to go to the cinema with some level of surprise in store, anyway. If you turn up knowing everything that's going to happen, it's a bit of a disappointment, really."

As glamorous as it is filming the 007 franchise, Kinnear asserts that the buzz he gets is no different to when he's performing on stage at the Royal National Theatre, or shooting a TV programme like Count Arthur Strong, which recently returned to screens.

The series stars Steve Delaney, also the show's co-writer, as the titular character, an elderly 'resting' actor with delusions of grandeur. Kinnear plays Michael Baker, a shy writer who's tracked down Count Arthur Strong, the former partner of his late father, to assist with his dad's biography.

In this new series, Michael is once again drawn into Arthur's world of ill thought out, innocent but poorly executed scams, schemes and best-laid plans.

"It has an incredibly big heart, one that puts together slightly lonely people who discover that, despite their differences, they all need each other and look out for each other," says the actor, of the comedy that started out on the radio, moved to BBC Two and was then promoted to BBC One for the second run.

It's filmed in front of a live audience; no doubt the appeal is, in part at least, down to nostalgia - a way of transporting Kinnear back to the days when he'd watch from the sides as his dad appeared in studio sitcoms.

Plus, "it's an exciting way of working", he notes, describing how the cast turn up on a Monday for a read-through, hone the script until Thursday and then learn it for filming on Friday.

"There aren't that many jobs, particularly in TV, that are like it. It's a bit like putting on a new play every week, and everyone's involved in getting it tighter and better and funnier."

His son, with actress partner Pandora Colin, is too young to watch the series, though he did catch a snippet of a DVD - and "was a bit confused why they were calling me Michael".

"But as I walked down the street with him the other day, there was a chap with glasses on and he said, 'Look dad, that's your friend', and I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'It's your friend, Arthur'. So he's obviously taken it in, in some way."

Kinnear was only 10 when his father died from a freak riding accident while filming The Return Of The Musketeers, but his influence, along with his mother's, the actress Carmel Cryan, is clear.

After reading English at Oxford, he trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and soon established himself as a serious theatre actor before receiving on-screen acclaim as Denis Thatcher in the TV series Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk To Finchley in 2008 - the same year that he appeared in his first Bond movie, Quantum Of Solace.

Other notable credits include a Prime Minister forced into a compromising position in Charlie Brooker's satirical drama series Black Mirror, a womanising journalist forced to report on his hometown, following a spate of shootings in 2013's Southcliffe, the title character in Lucan, a drama depicting the Lord's infamous disappearance, and this year he'll be retuning as Frankenstein's 'Creature' in Sky Atlantic's gothic horror drama Penny Dreadful.

In 2013, Kinnear also turned playwright, with his debut play The Herd being performed in the capital. He'd like to pen more. "Yes, that's the plan," he confirms. "Family life does take up quite a bit of time, as well as the acting, so I guess it's finding the time, because it's something I want to do more of."

Variety is key for Kinnear. "Once I've done a play, I'm interested in doing a film. Once I've done a film, I'm interested in doing some telly. Once I've done some serious stuff, I'm interested in doing some comedy," he says. "I guess that's slightly pendulum-like. I just swing from the opposite of what I did last time."

Count Arthur Strong continues on BBC One on Tuesdays