Actor Neil Pearson may have made his name playing the hunky heart throb but now it seems he is developing a new niche as an on-screen dad.

The 41-year-old actor is back on television playing Jack Green, the head of a family, in a new series of BBC1's The Magician's House and his next project will see him playing dad again, opposite Amanda Burton, in the thriller The Whistle Blower.

'I once told somebody that I had spent most of my career either swearing or getting naked,' laughs Pearson, looking slightly embarrassed. 'So it's nice to play to a different audience.'

In fact when we meet he is sitting next to his screen children, Olivia Coles and Steven Webb, looking every inch the new man.

'I think we get on very well as an on-screen family,' he says. 'I don't think you can act as if you have a sense of camaraderie or have a family bond that is not really there.'

Although he is happy playing the family man on screen it seems that in real life Pearson is remaining resolutely single.

In the past his name has been linked to some of the most beautiful women in the business, yet he has never been tempted to tie the knot. Past partners include Drop The Dead Donkey's Susannah Doyle and Scottish actress Siobhan Redmond, his co-star in Between The Lines. He also lived with the actress Frances Barber for five years.

Six years after their relationship ended, the pair were together again, but only on stage, when they co-starred in the West End smash hit play Closer. But Pearson remains evasive about the current state of his personal life.

Although The Magician's House is set in the valleys of Wales, both series have actually been filmed in Canada.

'It's the only job I have ever done where we have had bear and cougar warnings,' says Pearson.

'There was all this advice about what to do if you came across one and they had this tag line which said, 'You don't have to run faster than a cougar just the people you are with'.'

Pearson admits that compared to the younger actors in the show he had a pretty easy life filming the second series.

'I had a blast,' he admits. 'I was out in Canada for five weeks and had about 12 working days.

'I think kids have to work much harder on these shows. In The Magician's House they had much more to do and when it was term time they got whisked away for four hours' tuition while we would all go off to nibble biscuits and gossip about each other.'

Despite the location, the actors did not have the chance to feel isolated during filming. 'You couldn't move for actors out there,' he says. 'I think that is partly because it's cheaper to shoot in Canada than America.

'There was one memorable moment when one of the children shared the hotel lift with Darth Vader and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.'

The Magician's House is on BBC1, beginning Sunday, November 12, at 6.15pm