Christopher Eccleston: ‘I am anything but macho’

The actor, 57, on having a breakdown, aiming high and moving through life gently

My first memory is cycling to the top of the path outside my childhood home, on a yellow kids' bike with fat grey tyres. I turned on to the road and said aloud: I'm me, doing this, now." I was heading away from the home and people I loved, off on my own adventure.

The love I felt as a child was unconditional, especially from my mother. I loved Dad deeply, but was wary of him. It was idyllic, our gang of kids playing out on a Salford council estate. My children are middle-class Londoners, but I sit on the porch and let them play in the street just like I did.