When I first speak to the actor Alfie Allen, he is in the back of a taxi and winding his way through country lanes on the outskirts of Frome in Somerset. Judging by the startled look on his face, I’m guessing he has forgotten all about our interview, though, talking nine to the dozen, he is doing his utmost to style it out. Then, just as he is waxing lyrical about Somerset – he spent the early months of lockdown there and loves its proximity to the Glastonbury festival, and to his dad, Keith Allen, who lives in the nearby Cotswolds – the screen freezes. After shouting that he’ll call me when he gets to the house, everything goes dead.
Half an hour later, he’s back and full of apologies. Parked on a zingy yellow sofa, and dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a hoodie, he talks about the hectic schedule that has seen him zipping back and forth between the UK and America. Home is officially London, though his house is rented out since he is there so infrequently – “So I’m being a bit nomadic, which I like.” He says much of the last year has been spent either visiting his four-year-old daughter, Arrow, who lives with her mother in Los Angeles, or working in New York.
