JAKE Abraham was at the top of a mountain in Croatia when he received his biggest compliment.

It gets stranger still – he was meeting the co-creator of Game of Thrones at the time after getting a small part in the multi award-winning HBO series.

The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels actor has just been flown over to the city of Split and met David Benioff over a haircut when the pair were interrupted

Jake said: "One of the camera loaders came over and said in front of David: 'I love Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. You’re my favourite actor’.

"It was like I’d paid him to do it. It couldn’t have happened at a better time so maybe they’ll invite me back in. You never know."

Jake was in the fifth season of Game of Thrones and met some of the fantasy show's stars including Peter Dinklage and Emelia Clarke.

The 50-year-old added: "There was a 1,000 actors at the top of a mountain. It was an amazing job.

"But because they work so hard to avoid any spoilers they only give you the script two days before you go.

"So I was on the plane frantically trying to learn Valyrian (a fictional language from the series).

"I looked across and there was a woman trying to do the same thing with a piece of paper and her headphones in. It turned out she was playing my wife.

"Then you get there and you meet a voice coach who’s an expert in Valyrian.

"Just to be on the set of a massive production like that was like nothing I’ve ever known. The costume department was amazing too, especially when you think about how many extras there are."

Now Jake has swapped the epic scale of the biggest TV show for the intimacy of the stage to appear in Twopence To Cross The Mersey which is at the Parr Hall on October 28 and 29.

Helen Forrester's much loved account tells the true story of a young girl and her formerly wealthy family as they are suddenly thrown into poverty during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Jake said: "I love the novel. It’s just a fantastic, warm story about Liverpool. They come to the city and they’re penniless but eventually they get back on their feet with the help of Liverpool people.

"It begins with a speech about everyone tightening their belts and so it has a lot of overtones that people can still relate to today with austerity and everything like that.

"What gets me in the story is about the need for education. Growing up I didn’t get the best education so I sort of identified with the girl."

Jake plays a number of roles including Frank, from the unemployment service, Mr Ferris, who lives in one of the squalid houses, and an old man who can speak 11 languages

It is like coming full circle for the actor as one of the first plays he did when he was 13 was Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies and Scouse for director Bob Eaton at the Everyman Theatre.

Now the pair have finally reunited for Twopence To Cross The Mersey.

One of his most memorable performances of the play was at the Epstein Theatre due to a chance encounter.

"During the interval I saw this guy pacing up and down in tears," Jake added.

"It must have been amazing to look at how successful his grandmother was.

"But he also got to see her as a kid on stage penniless and starving. It must have blown him away to watch that and see how far they’ve come as a family."

Jake said the play also reminds him of his own childhood.

He said: "All the old stuff that comes from my childhood like the milkman and how they used to do the washing is pretty close to what it’s like in this story.

"I must be getting along a bit mustn’t I? It just reminds me of my grandmother Mary who I adored. When I listen to the play it is like her speaking about her childhood."

Jake is best known for playing Dean in Guy Ritchie's cult film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. During the shoot he shared a dressing room with Sting and Lenny McLean.

He added: "There was a struggle for money and then we waited a year for the film to get its distribution deal and then it went massive

"I think even Guy would say he didn’t know how big it was going to be.

"One of the highlights for me was being able to say to Guy: ‘I have an idea. Can we do it?’

"And he’d say: ‘Yeah, we’ll give it a go’. So all that stuff in the car where they get the guns, that’s all improvised.

"Most of the stuff we did he used. He was so collaborative and that’s what makes the best directors as they get the most done. It was a really good atmosphere on the set."

Jake's 19-year-old son Connor is also following his dad onto stage – as a musician.

"He’s doing really well," said Jake.

"He’s being produced by James Skelly from The Coral. He’s just been on tour in Europe, Liam Gallagher went to see him, he supported The View and he did one of the tracks for the campaign for Pretty Green’s new clothing range.

"He writes all the stuff and he’s in the studio now. I’m so proud of him. That was my dream originally – to be paid to be in a band and play – and he’s actually living that now.

"I’m not a pushy parent. He grabbed my guitar one day and he flew with it. I give him advice and he gives me advice. We’re really close because of it."