For Firth, The King’s Speech was the second time he would be required to act with a stutter, having played a chronic stammerer in Three Days Of Rain.

“I've twice played a character with a stammer,” he says, “but it was different every time. None of that helps. It's a different guy, he has different issues he has a different way of dealing with things because he was a different person.

“You have to find something which is not only authentic and expressive, but which is also very specific to this person. You also have to find something that doesn’t alienate the audience, that doesn’t slide into some sort of pastiche. This is where I had to work very closely with Tom.” As well as a speech therapist…