From pages 106-107:

Words James Swanwick  Photos Austin Hargrave

Dominic Monaghan

He may have been Lost, but loaded finds the former Hetty Wainthropp star bursting with stories about drink, drugs and getting slapped by girls...

Aside from the glory, why are you a bigMan Untied fan?

I became a Man U fan because we lived in Germany when I was young and my uncle supported them. He would come over and bring shirts and badges for us. As a kid, the only two teams that travelled to Germany were Liverpool and Man United.

Who was your favorite player?

I was a huge Mark Hughes fan. He was so flamboyant and scored some beautiful goals, but ultimately my favourite player has to be Ryan Giggs. I admire how he changed his way of playing so he could stay in the team. He had a great way of holding himself and is still a superb player.

You're in the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine flick -- what's the deal with it?

I play a mutant with the power to control electricity -- if anything is around me that is electrical, I can make that work for me. My character is a young guy named Barnell, who's in a platoon with Logan, before Logan becomes Wolverine.

Thinking of claws, remember when Michael J. Fox got overexcitied in Teen Wolf and ended up clawing at a girl's clothes?

I've had girls do that to me and played those types of games at parties, but it's more me trying o get girls to be rough with me.

Are you a bit of a sadomasochist, then?

In my single days, a way for me to work out whether I was into a girl would be to ask her to slap me across the face. If it was rough, then I would be into it, but if it was a soft one, then I wasn't into her.

What happened if you got the girl home?

There'd be a lot of slapping going on, a lot of scratching, biting, all that kind of stuff. But it's not really my thing now. As a young man you're a bit more self destructive. I was quite drunk when all this stuff was going on. All these situations were usually associated with a lot of alcohol.

Have you ever been so wasted that you had no control over what you were doing?

The most drunk I've ever been was when I turned up at an event where a girl I was seeing was performing. The drinks were free, so I had a bottle of vodka to myself. As she was on stage playing, I pushed this table away from me, puked all over the floor and pulled the table back.

What happened next?

We went outside and I was waiting for my friend to get his car, when my girlfriend said she watched me pass out mid-sentence and flop onto the curb. She was worried that I would hurt myself, but because I was so drunk, I didn't tense and brace myself, so I didn't get hurt much.

Lucky you. So you're a binger then?

I don't drink as much as I used to. I used to drink just to get drunk. It was my sole reason for drinking.

What is  your tipple of choice?

Now I like sambuca with ice, or vodka with cranberry or grapefruit.

Your character in Lost, Charlie, was a heroin addict -- have you ever been tempted by hardcore drugs?

No, just smoking. When you're young, you get a taste for a cigarette after a few beers. I've done that and used drugs, but I've never abused drugs. I've had a healthy relationship with them in my life and there's no regrets and I've thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

Were you gutted when Charlie was killed off in Lost?

No, not really. My character had the best exit of anyone who has died on that show. The writers still hint at him coming back on the island. Fans stop meon the street andare like, "When are you coming back?"

Are you going back to do a cameo?

If they want me, they can call me up and we'll see. But in terms of the near future, there is nothing on the cards.

How did you feel on that last episode?

It was a hectic last six weeks where Charlie was going through hell and, as an actor, you go through a little bit of that hell with him. His drowning death was pretty emotional.

You were on Hetty Wainthropp Investigates for a few year -- what the fuck was that like?

Some of the stuff that they made me do was not fantastic.We had a scene in a shower where I got trapped in a mine and covered in dirt -- it was fucking bizarre. I was 18 and there's me in the shower with no clothes on. I was a little embarrassed about that.

Did you get the full tackle out?

No, just my arse. At that age you think you're as cool as shit, so I had these really long sideburns going down and across my face. In hindsight, it wasn't really that cool at all.