Patrick Freyne

When I was about 12 because my dad was one and it looked cool and I thought, you know, maybe I could be, like, a tough soldier man as well.

Yeah.

Were you the type, like...

No, I was terrible at sport and I was flaky about those kinds of things.

And my head was like in comics and music and art and stuff.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you're a writer.

Your brother, David, is a very successful director.

He made Dating Amber and people might have seen Eternity recently, which is a big hit.

So was it a very cultured house growing up?

It sounds unusual for two army brats to go into that world.

Yeah.

Dad has the exterior of a very tough, macho man, but he's actually quite sensitive and a very gentle man in a lot of ways.

And my mom was a teacher, so there was loads of books.

So really early on, I was reading a lot and listening to music a lot.

So yeah, I think like a lot of teachers' houses, there's like lots of culture floating around the place.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I never felt any pressure to be macho or to be like a, you know, a tough army man.

Oh yeah, it wasn't like your disappointment to your father?