Dogged by 102 little terrors

There was, you would think, one obvious prerequisite for an actor auditioning for a leading role in 102 Dalmatians. So it comes as some surprise to hear Ioan Gruffudd admit he is terrified of dogs. "Never been around them in my life," confesses the Welsh heart-throb. "In fact, I've always been frightened of them."

Which explains a certain apprehension when Gruffudd went up for the plum role opposite Glenn Close in the sequel to the live-action Disney film 101 Dalmatians. "You've never seen anyone convince a director so much that he loves dogs," he laughs. "To my horror I turned up at the screen test to find they had brought along the dogs I'd be working with. And one of them was a bull mastiff. I just had to smile and let them play all over me."

The aversion therapy worked; sort of. "They were adorable really," he admits. "I fell in love with the mastiff, Bob, who's called Drooler in the film. But I did enjoy the fact that, at the end of the day, I didn't have to feed them or walk them or take them home."

You don't expect such a lily-livered reaction from a rugby-playing boyo who's best known for playing hunky sailors (Titanic, Hornblower and the forthcoming film Another Life) and hunky soldiers (Warriors) and is currently playing a hunky policeman in another feature film, Happy Now.

The irritating thing is that such vulnerability probably just makes him even sexier to the legions of women who already find him irresistible. And to top it all, he's a really nice bloke. Sitting in a suite at the Dorchester, dressed in blue jeans and a rumpled white T-shirt that could do with a good iron, Gruffudd displays an easy-going charm and a sparkle in his eyes that make a man feel he would be great company over a lads' evening of rugby and beer, which is his self-professed idea of a perfect night out.

He has lived in dishevelled domestic bliss in a flat in Kilburn for the past eight years - ever since he left Cardiff at 18 to study at Rada - with his old school friend and fellow Taffpack member Matthew Rhys.

But please don't get the wrong impression.

When he starts describing his domestic arrangements and his delight in housework, in particular, his female publicist (who dates Rhys) becomes a little concerned at the image he is putting across. Particularly as he and Rhys recently teamed up as a pair of gay Welsh shop owners (Hob and Nob) in Sara Sugarman's new comedy Very Annie Mae.

Despite his heart-throb status, Gruffudd has been single for more than a year and claims he's usually the last to know when a woman fancies him. "I don't see the signs. If I am attracted to somebody it makes me shy and I try to hide the shy-ness. I think my biggest fault is that I go a bit goofy and a bit childlike. And the type of women I go for don't find that attractive - they tend to go for the colder, harder types of men."

Cold and hard are not words you would apply to Gruffudd, who seems content with watching rugby and going to the pub with his gang of old mates from Cardiff. When the right girl does come along and he has a family, however, he is adamant that he would move back to Wales so his children could go to school there, speaking Welsh - as he does - and learning about Welsh culture. "It's my home and I would regret it all my life if I didn't do it; I'd never forgive myself," he says. "It's something in your blood that you cannot explain. One day I'd love a cottage in the Welsh countryside with a bit of land and some horses - and some dogs."

Dogs? He really is a changed man.