Jamie Dornan wants to see what a united Ireland “looks like”.

The 41-year-old actor won plaudits for playing a hard-up dad in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winning ‘Belfast’, in which his character dreaming of a life in Australia away from the explosion of the Troubles in 1969 and a crippling tax bill.

Northern Ireland-born Jamie told the latest issue of the Radio Times magazine when asked if he is in favour a united Ireland: “Jeepers! I’d be very intrigued to know what that looks like.

“The wrong language has been used for too long and they need to tell people how it would look for health and education and economically, and the actual everyday things of life, rather than the sentimentality of it, the flag in it, and all that (rubbish) that’s been wrecking the place for many, many years.

“There’s more of a willingness to talk about it than there has been in my lifetime and I’m very open-minded to the idea of it.”

Jamie – who has been married to his composer wife Amelia Warner, 41, since 2013 – also said he is acutely aware of seeing Irish stereotypes on screen and is aiming to do as much work as possible back home.

He added: “I’m very sensitive to all that… I love working with Irish crews because you know everyone’s on the same wavelength.

“You do your best work when you feel comfortable in the environment, and you feel safe to put on a silly voice or do a silly dance or whatever it is that’s been asked of you on any given day. It’s in that space that good things happen.

“So, I am sort of making it a bit of a goal in my career, as long as I have a career, to tell stories from home.”

He added about working back in Northern Ireland, where the film business has been booming thanks to shows such as Game of Thrones filming here: “It’s somewhere I really like to be.

“Even though I’ve been in England 22 years now and there’s a strong version of home here with my wife and my three kids, I don’t think I’ll ever get away from calling Ireland home, particularly the north of Ireland.”