HIS STORY Kris Marshall, 41, actor
I first came across Laurence when we both auditioned for The Hole. My immediate thought was that he was younger and more handsome than me and would steal all my parts. He got the role. But we worked together not long after that, on a film called Deathwatch. It was a cast of 10 blokes and was filmed in Prague so they gave us the entire floor of a hotel for two months. You can imagine what that was like – my abiding image is of Laurence in the hotel bowling alley with his trousers down.
We became quite good friends, the sort who would pop round to each other’s houses now and again. Then in 2007, we were both cast in Treats with Billie [Piper], who Laurence went on to marry. They actually got together on my day off. I went to film something else during rehearsals and when I came back it was all on.
There were only three of us in the cast so I could have become the world’s biggest gooseberry. But we actually had an amazing time. We hung out every day and at one point even lived together on a farm in Malvern. I invited my girlfriend at the time along to balance things out. You could see Billie and Laurence were made for each other early on.
We’re both fathers now so we’re slightly more sensible than we used to be. The last time I went to Laurence’s house he was doing Daddy Daycare so he played me a few songs on his guitar – he’s currently writing music. But traditionally it’s been a baseless relationship forged on drinking and stupidity. We have a similar sense of humour, it’s quite fatalistic, and Laurence usually lets me call him Losbian, which is always a treat.
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HIS STORY Laurence Fox, 36, actor
I think I staked my claim on Billie after about 25 minutes, with a hand on the leg! So, looking back, that must have been pretty difficult for Marsh. A lot of other actors would not have taken that well, but he was very generous and made us laugh, and for that we’ll always be grateful. Billie had just come out of Doctor Who so it was a weird time – the paparazzi were hounding her and I think Marsh even became our getaway driver a few times, the poor man.
He’s a lovely human being, but I think around 95% of our relationship is unprintable because we’ve done some very naughty things. We’re both quite joie de vivre personalities so if we spend more than six hours together, there’s usually some sort of federal crime. Unfortunately for him, I just think he’s been caught out more times than me...
A lot of people assume he’s like his characters in Love Actually and My Family, but he’s more intensely thoughtful than that. He’s not really gawky, although he will laugh his way through anything. The year after we did Treats Marsh was involved in a bad accident – he was hit by a car which threw him about 30 feet and I think he even joked his way through that. I remember going to see him in intensive care. He shouted “Losbian!” and showed me his willy under his hospital gown.
We should probably see each other more. There was a time when we went to parties a lot and did funny pitches to industry executives – things like TV shows where we both played Nazis. When we were doing Deathwatch, he even convinced the director he should masturbate on camera, so they put it into the script. He’s very funny and rarely talks about acting, which is a bloody relief.
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