I'm sure that my father becoming seriously ill when I was 14 had a lot to do with my going from chubby to fat.

Because I was always a fat child, I got fatter and fatter, and I ended up 18 stone and with a 40-inch waist.

By the age of 18, I was very fat. My dad would say there's a Spall fat gene. But I was fat because I ate loads. I used to go and buy six or seven chocolate bars and eat my way through them.

If you're a casting director, you're going to be curious to see what Timothy Spall's son is like. But when you get in the door, you have to have something to offer.

I never mind talking about my dad. I'm proud of who he is, and being his son is one of the things I'm most proud of. To be constantly compared to someone so brilliant, who happens to be your dad, is cool.

When you do a film, you get picked up in a car, lunch is free. Theatre is really hard, and you get absolutely no money.