Few Hollywood stars were spared blushes when Ricky Gervais hosted this year’s Golden Globes ceremony.

But while the likes of Johnny Depp was seen howling with laughter, others, notably Angelina Jolie, looked less impressed.

Menston actor Christian Cooke, who starred in Ricky’s coming-of-age film Cemetery Junction last year, believes the comedian may have gone too far.

“I love Ricky, but people are going to tell him where to go eventually,” he says with a smile.

Maybe Ricky doesn’t care what people think of him? “No, I think he cares terribly,” says Christian, 24.

“I think with his work he doesn’t care. He believes he’s his biggest critic, so he does that for himself. If he’s pleased with it, he doesn’t care if people slag it off, but in terms of his personality I think he does care what people say of him.”

Christian began his acting career at the age of ten when he appeared in a production of Bedazzled at Bingley Arts Centre.

But the former St Mary’s School pupil first came to prominence in Where The Heart Is, and has since played leading roles in Demons opposite Philip Glenister and in Trinity, opposite Charles Dance.

Now he’s scored his first serious grown-up role in The Promise, an epic four-part drama set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Set in two time periods, it tells the tale of Erin, played by Little Dorritt’s Claire Foy, an 18-year-old Londoner who visits present-day Israel for the first time, and her grandfather Len, played by Christian, a soldier in the British peacekeeping force in Forties Palestine.

“Without blowing my own trumpet, I think every actor in Britain auditioned for The Promise,” says Christian, flicking back his fringe.

“All the really good projects you’ve really got to fight for because they come along so rarely,” he says. “I ran outside in my boxer shorts down the street when I found out I’d got the part!”

Created and written by the Bafta award-winning Peter Kosminsky, The Promise is a fictional tale inspired by true life – and one that involved seven years of research by Peter and his team.

“My fear for The Promise is that not enough people will see it, that they’ll think we’re just trying to provoke,” says Christian.

“It’s not just something that’s good but something that’s important for people to see, and understand and learn about.”

Although key political events are explored, The Promise is also a story of human relationships. Erin, who’s staying with a friend in Israel, is awakened to the political situation. She goes on an emotional journey as she builds a relationship with her grandfather, who’s lying ill in hospital back in England, by reading his diary of his time in Palestine.

“Old people are the most interesting people, I find,” says Christian.

“Just before going to Israel, I sat with my grandmother who was a little girl during the war and had a conversation with her about what it was like.

“She said they used to find it really exciting when the sirens went off and they used to go the air-raid shelters and see all the American soldiers hanging around Leeds market.”

Christian also spoke to a friend’s grandfather who was out in Palestine at the same time Len is depicted as being there.

“That was a really lucky find for me,” says Christian. “Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for me, he wasn’t involved in any of the trouble and he had a great time in Palestine,” he laughs.

It was important not to do too much research, though, because, as Christian adds, “my character’s coming into it completely ignorantly. He probably went through the whole of the Second World War not knowing what was going on.”

Christian had travelled to Israel twice before he began filming.

“My dad’s wife is Ukrainian but grew up in Israel, and I’ve been there twice on holiday,” says Christian.

He won’t be returning any time soon.

He recalls sitting on the beach and suddenly seeing an F-18 jet flying past. Another day they were filming just a few miles from the Lebanese border and fighter planes were flying over every ten minutes.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re in a war zone, but you are,” says Christian.

He wouldn’t be so arrogant as to assume he understands the conflict fully, but Christian does say: “I can have a discussion about it now and hold my own and give someone a slightly-informed opinion.

“The Promise has been an education for me as well as artistically fulfilling. Does that sound pretentious?”

He’s laughing, but you sense it’s all about the craft for Christian – at least going by his reaction to the notion of celebrity.

“I remember Ricky saying to me that kids nowadays see George Clooney and forget all the hard work and all the rejection he went through. They don’t see the 30 years previously.

“People are obsessed with celebrity, but it makes me sick, to be honest.”

The Promise is on Sundays at 9pm on Channel 4.