Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan tells BBC's Desert Island Discs he went into 'hiding' to avoid ridicule after film's release - but The Fall actor still doesn't regret playing Christian Grey

Jamie Dornan went into ‘hiding’ to escape the ridicule heaped on his starring role in the erotic thriller Fifty Shades of Grey.

The Irish born heart throb has today revealed how he and his wife shut themselves off from the world in a bid escape the near universal ‘damnation’ which greeted the film’s release in 2015.

Dornan, 41, who had previously won rave reviews for his role in the BBC drama The Fall told today’s edition of Desert Island Discs: ‘I think I hid. I am coming off the back of career altering reviews for The Fall to just ridicule almost.’

Dornan said he and his wife Amelia retreated to the country home of the film’s director Sam Taylor-Johnson and her actor husband Aaron.

Jamie Dornan went into ‘hiding’ to escape the ridicule heaped on his starring role in the erotic thriller Fifty Shades of Grey

Dornan, 41, had previously won rave reviews for his role in the BBC drama The Fall

He said: ‘They let us have their place in the country and we sort of hid there for a while and just shut ourselves from the world a bit and then sort of came out the other side.’

The star who went onto make two more films in the series said: ‘It [the film] made so much money that two or three were like greenlit overnight.

‘It was a strange thing because then you are like there is a bit of ridicule here and I’m now contractually doing two more of them and knowing that there would be more of that damnation to come.’

Fifty Shades of Grey just like the 2011 novel on which it is based explores the sadomasochistic relationship between college graduate Anastasia Ana Steele, played by Dakota Johnson and the enigmatic tycoon Christian Grey, played by Dornan.

Although the film was a huge commercial hit taking more than five hundred million dollars at the international box office it was savaged by critics.

Dornan who subsequently went onto to win rave reviews for his starring roles in Belfast and The Tourist said he had no regrets about making the thriller even though he was constantly being reminded of its failings.

He said: ‘I have just had very glowing reviews for recent work and there wouldn’t be many of them that don’t mention ‘Fifty Shades’ in them. A lot of reviews are like he’s great but lest we forget when he wasn’t great…But regrets that I did them, no.’

Fifty Shades of Grey explores the sadomasochistic relationship between college graduate Anastasia Ana Steele, played by Dakota Johnson and Christian Grey, played by Dornan

Dornan who grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles recalled how his father Jim, an obstetrician and gynaecologist would have to search under his car for bombs.

But the star also revealed how prominent figures on both sides of the divide assured his father his family would be safe.

He said: ‘Dad got letters from – I can’t really name names here – but from prominent figures from the loyalist community and prominent figures from the republican community both based on difficult pregnancies that someone close to them had and dad had sort of helped them through and everything and basically saying from our side it’s all good and then from our side it’s all good.’

He added: ‘Mad, like just mad, but comforting at the same time and probably less checking under the car.’

Dornan fought backs tears when he recalled how his father and two sisters helped his sixteen year old self cope with the death of his mum Lorna from cancer.

He said: ‘It’s a funny thing. I sometimes feel guilty saying this but there’s a lot that I don’t remember about her. You are not expecting any of that to be taken away… The next Summer another tragic thing happened in my life and four of my mates were killed in a car crash and in many ways that had a bigger impact on me.

‘Whereas with mum there was an inevitability about it with the boys it was just total shock and denial.’

The star who lost his father to complications related to Covid in 2021 also highlighted the ‘unimaginable’ pain he felt not being able to say goodbye to his father.

At the time he was filming The Tourist in Australia and unable to escape that country’s strict quarantine regulations.

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 11.15 am and available via BBC Sounds.