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Actor, presenter and author Stephen Mangan has starred in acclaimed TV comedies such as Green Wing and Episodes, as well as the hit ´óÏó´«Ã½ drama The Split. Stephen’s also had success on stage, including a Tony-nominated run on Broadway. He’s a TV presenter and author too, penning a series of popular children’s books.

Here are eight things we learned from Stephen’s Desert Islands Discs…

Stephen’s parents both left school at 14 and moved from Ireland to London when they were young. “They really blossomed here,” he says.

“They were both very bright and I think they were just bowled over by the food, the theatre, the cinema, everything that London had to offer… And they loved life. They were really happy together, very much in love. We had a very funny, happy household.”

But he and his two sisters maintained a close connection to the west of Ireland. “We were there all the time and we spent every summer there… And once we were over there, often we'd just be left there for the summer and the last uncle or aunt coming back would bring us back.”

2. He studied law before pursuing his dream of acting

“I think I knew within the first three weeks that it just wasn't for me,” Stephen remembers.

Having performed in plays at school, he took up acting alongside his degree. But, his audition for the famous comedy troupe – the Cambridge Footlights – didn’t go well. “I must have got somebody on a bad day, but it just struck me as incredibly cliquey… I just felt so unwelcome and out of it. I thought, ‘I'll just go and be in plays.’ So, I did that. I think I was in 21 plays in my three years.”

The experience led him to consider acting as a career. “My friends there were people like Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, and Nicola Walker (who I've worked with recently on The Split), Rachel Weisz, Tom Hollander. All these people are there saying, ‘We’re off to become actors.’ And you think, ‘Oh, all right, well maybe that is something I could do, if I can get around to telling my parents I don't want to do law anymore.’”

3. Stephen’s mum encouraged his love of theatre

“She took me all the time, and Mum and I would often go see two or three plays in my half term,” Stephen remembers. “I queued up all night to go and see Anthony Sher play Richard III. And then it was so hot in the theatre – and I hadn't slept all night – that I fell asleep in the second half.”

Stephen says his mother was very proud when he graduated from university. However, soon after, she was diagnosed with bowel cancer and died a few months later. Recalling a photo of the two of them on graduation day, he says: “I think how incredibly different my life was from hers… She was brought up in a one-bedroom house. Five brothers and a sister… There was no running water, no electricity, no plumbing… To go from that, to have a child that has the opportunity to end up getting a law degree is an incredible leap. I'd love for her to have had that chance.”

4. When cast as Adrian Mole, he was given a close inspection to ensure he wasn’t too good-looking for the part

In 2001, Stephen was cast as the lead in Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years. He laughs about the unusual way Sue Townsend, the bestselling author who created the character, decided he was right for the part.

The Split: Barcelona – Stephen Mangan (Nathan) and Nicola Walker (Hannah). Credit: ´óÏó´«Ã½ / SISTER

She pulled out a huge magnifying glass. She came up to within six inches of my face, and she scanned me from top to bottom

Stephen on an unexpected casting encounter with author Sue Townsend

“She was so encouraging and welcoming. But when I auditioned for the part, she was starting to lose her sight… and she explained to me in the audition that Adrian is just not a good-looking man… And then she asked if she could have a good look at my face. She pulled out a huge magnifying glass. She came up to within six inches of my face, and she scanned me from top to bottom and said, ‘You’re perfect.’”

Stephen says he felt “delighted to get the part. But yeah, it's not what you imagine when you’re a child in your bedroom thinking, ‘one day maybe I'll be [James] Bond.'”

5. He had a hunch that the comedy Green Wing would be a success

Stephen starred in the surreal comedy Green Wing as the “obnoxious” anaesthetist Guy Secretan.

He says the show was a triumph of teamwork, explaining that “they had eight or nine writers who would each write a version of the scene. We'd then get together, we'd read all the different versions, we'd stand on our feet, we'd improvise our own version. They’d take all the best bits of all of that… and I absolutely loved it. That to me was the perfect way of working.”

The results were wildly creative, and very popular. “You know when you're in a show like that and all you're talking about [is], ‘Oh, you should see what Mark Heap did yesterday: he leapt out of a cupboard in his pants playing the recorder’... We all knew it was going to be good.”

6. After six months on Broadway, his son had a new name for him

Stephen chooses his third disc, Beautiful Boy by John Lennon, for his three sons. “There is that wonderful time after your baby's born… where you just fall head over heels and soppily in love,” he says.

“It's a magical thing. I remember my dad telling me when I was younger that he used to sit on the edge of my cot and just look at me and my sisters, and just cry with joy, overwhelmed at the magic of it all. And I’ve found myself doing the same thing.”

But work has often taken Stephen away from his family for long periods. He remembers, “I got back after six months away. They'd only been able to come out for a week or so. And my oldest, who was then three years old, called me Uncle Stephen.”

He later found out his wife had set up their son to say the joke.

7. Stephen’s sixth disc reminds him of caring for his dad

When Stephen’s dad became seriously ill while he was filming Green Wing, the show’s production stopped for 10 days so he could be with him. He chooses the Adagio from Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major as his sixth disc, in honour of this time. “When Dad and I were alone, we would listen to this track a lot. I think he found it quite relaxing. I know I did.”

Stephen continues: “There's something about it, when you move from the world of the well into the world of the unwell, and they are two very separate worlds, especially when things are getting pretty serious towards the end. You are living from minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day... And there's something about this piece of music, it feels like a musical embodiment of that state.”

8. He’s about to send up Desert Island Discs in a new show

Stephen stars in a new Radio 4 comedy series, The Island, inspired by Desert Island Discs.

The idea is that, fresh from his interview with Lauren, he arrives to find the palm-fringed paradise is not deserted at all. In fact, it’s packed with previous castaways and rapidly descending into “Lord of the Flies chaos and mayhem”.

Stephen offers a quick glimpse into the action: “Everyone's gone very feral. One person is running a particular group with a rod of iron and a reign of terror – that’s Sandy Toksvig. Hugh Bonneville's gone rogue. He's got his top off. He's in the river trying to catch salmon… It's a really fun imagining of the island.”