Adults across the nation have confessed to switching over to children’s TV channel CBeebies to listen to a bedtime story read by Taboo star Tom Hardy.
The actor delighted viewers as he read Tom McLaughlin’s The Cloudspotter, a tale about a lonely little boy who makes best friends with a dog.
In the show broadcast on Tuesday, Tom was joined in his rooftop nook by his own pet dog and “best friend” for a second time after his appearance on the BBC channel in December.
One viewer posted on Twitter: “Is it weird that my kids were already in bed so I watched Tom Hardy tell a bedtime story without them.”
Another wrote: “Yes I put the baby to bed and then watched the CBeebies bedtime story with Tom Hardy by myself with wine, what of it.”
One of a number of posts that described the short show as an ideal watch for Valentine’s Day added: “Bedtime stories on cbeebies with Tom Hardy. Times I wish I had a toddler. #happyvalentinesday.”
But it may not be the last fans will hear of Tom’s soft story-time tones.
As he came to the end of his story, the Mad Max star teased: “Get yourself tucked up and I’ll see you very soon for another bedtime story.
“‘Til then, night-night.”