Actor never took sides during his childhood in Northern Ireland

Jamie Dornan refused to pick sides growing up in the shadow of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The actor has said it was impossible to not be affected by the violence and division and that he understands the dynamics and motivations of the conflict.

Dornan, an avowed atheist, has revealed he refused to declare his loyalty to either side in the sectarian struggle between Protestant unionists and the largely Catholic nationalists.

The 36-year-old actor has returned to his Northern 0 Jamie Dornan says he understands the Troubles

Irish roots for BBC Two period drama Death And Nightingales, which is set in Fermanagh before the partition of Ireland, although it features the religious and political divisions which would turn into paramilitary violence.

Dornan has said although he had experience of the Troubles, he had no partisanship to draw on for his role as a Catholic tenant, having been “lucky” to mix with both sides of the religious divide while he was growing up.

He said: “You can’t live and grow up in Northern Ireland in that time, that time I did, and not be affected by the Troubles even in the smallest of ways.

“Although I don’t think there was anything small in any way to be honest. I have a very good understanding of it, but I’m an atheist and I always was growing up. I have never felt that I have any loyalty to either side.”