Stephen Mangan: I’m happy playing Postman Pat, not square-jawed hunks

Comedy actor Stephen Mangan says he is resigned to never playing James Bond, as he adds Postman Pat to his CV of uncool characters.

The Green Wing and Episodes star, who voices the character in Postman Pat: The Movie, which has its London premiere on Sunday, said: “You can’t do a more quintessentially English story than Postman Pat. He’s also the nicest lead character in a cartoon, though possibly not the sexiest.

“My wife [the actress Louise Delamere] is married to Postman Pat and Adrian Mole, who is hardly the raunchiest of fictional characters. But you’ve got to work with what you’re given. You can’t be thinking you’re going to be James Bond. I play the characterful leading men, not necessarily the square-jawed hunks. I’m Postman Pat. But you’re not going to catch me complaining.”

Mangan, 41, said it was lovely to voice a film he can watch with sons Harry, six, and Frank, three. “Children weren’t catered for when I was young. But some of the best films now are animations like Toy Story and Up and Finding Nemo and Frozen. They’re masterpieces,” he said.

Other voices in Postman Pat: The Movie include Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint, David Tennant and Ronan Keating. The film follows Pat as he enters a national TV talent competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale. It is released on May 23.