James Nesbitt: Hair transplants helped me get ahead in career

The Cold Feet star underwent the highly publicised transplants across several years and believes the treatment has benefited his career.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Nesbitt, 52, said: “I was very happy to be open about it. I just thought, ‘Come on, somebody is going to say it before I say it’.

“It was something I struggled with. And that was probably the vanity in me. But also career-wise it had an impact; in terms of the range of leading roles I’ve had since then it’s probably helped.”

Asked if he thinks that men are now under the same pressure as woman to stay youthful, Nesbitt agreed, adding he thought it was a shame that young men consider plastic surgery.

He said: “There always used to be the sense that age adds character. You look at Samuel Beckett when he was older, Richard Harris, but I think with younger men it seems to be a big pressure.”

Nesbitt recently split with his wife Sonia Forbes-Adam after 22 years of marriage, and the father-of-two said he regrets the amount of time he has put into work.

“I certainly regret things, but I’m also aware that I can’t change them. You can try to learn from it. I regret any pain that was caused.”

He added: “I think separating has an impact because you look at why it happened and you see mistakes that were made.

“I’m lucky enough to be able to look back at stuff and say, ‘Oh well that was then, I’ve had a good lash at that, and this is now’.”

• This week’s Radio Times is on sale today.