Massive meltdown...

Tom, who was at the Royal wedding with his wife, Claudia, left, remains silent over the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ battle with the press much about the things you can’t control, or about fate, he says. “Worrying about what threats are going to come round the corner tomorrow often makes people determined to try to control their fate by being driven and bullish. The problem is that no-one controls their fate.”

He treats writing as a hobby and is half way through Triple Cross, the third book in the series. The trilogy has been optioned by a producer and he’s hoping it will end up as a TV series.

After going through his own crisis, he says: “I do less. I’m careful not to overface myself and I think about things differently.

“I don’t worry about what the reviewers are going to say about my book or if it’s going to get into the bestseller list.

“I’ve trained myself to live for today more.”

His profile was raised last year thanks to his interviews with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during the making of the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, in which the couple laid bare their unhappiness.

Today, although he is still friends with both Harry and William, he is keen to distance himself from the debate.

“The anxiety around that was that you don’t want to let anyone down. “I know Harry and Meghan, and William, and I found myself dragged into a maelstrom which I didn’t particularly enjoy and which was quite stressful.

“You find yourself wanting to do the right thing, which becomes very difficult because you become caught in someone else’s argument.” He won’t be drawn on how he feels the Sussexes have been treated by both the press and the royal family. “I think I’ve said all I’m going to say on that.

“I’m a working journalist and not going to get involved with their battle with the press. It’s not my argument. “They have got their story to tell and one day they may tell it. I just don’t want to be involved any more.” His Covid-19 bulletins may be depressing, but he is much more aware of how he can avoid plumbing the depths of despair again.

“The way out of any mental health crisis is to concentrate on today and this minute and try to worry a lot less about what’s going to happen tomorrow. “Today the sun is shining, who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow? I could be hit by a car.

“There are other things I’m more likely to die of than the coronavirus.”

■ Double Agent by Tom Bradby is published by Bantam Press, priced £12.99