Saturday with Baz Ashmawy: 'Being part of a big family is just good fun'

Baz Ashmawy: "I’m quite a selfish person so if I get to have a little sauna, breakfast, and a coffee then I’m ready to give up my day to everyone else"

07:45

I try to get up early on a Saturday and out to the gym. If I don’t get to the gym really early it doesn’t happen so I try to be there for 8am.

I’m quite a selfish person so if I get to have a little sauna, breakfast, and a coffee then I’m ready to give up my day to everyone else.

Because I’ve so many people to think about and to look after and so much work on, I realise I need to do little things for myself — they don’t have to be big things — they can be a simple as having a coffee on my own or a sauna and then I’m OK to give myself over to my kids.

My wife is now getting a good insight into me skiving off on a Saturday morning.

10:15

I’ll probably be home by around 10.15am. 

On the way back I might pick up some pastries or other food. 

I am not a great cook, Tanja is the chef in our house, and I don’t do much cooking, but I can cook a fairly decent fry.

12:30

My 12-year-old might want to go to her friend’s house or there might be a party on later that day so I’ll be in chaperone mode.

Then again I might have her to myself — she still likes me so we still get to do things together.

I go through long bouts of being incredibly busy and working seven days a week sometimes for months on end and Tanja has the kids a lot during the week, so I try to give her a bit of free time and I spend a lot of time with them at the weekend.

When you’re working on a show like Faithless, you go from writing it, to casting it, to acting in it, to doing the publicity for it. 

It’s like having a baby and by the end of it all you’re ready to let it out into the world.

Baz Ashmawy’s comedy-drama Faithless airs Wednesdays at 10pm on Virgin Media One. Stream on Virgin Media Play.

14:00

We like to go to parks or galleries — sometimes you have to force feed culture to your children.

I try to make the time I have with them a bit special because I work so much but they’re fairly easy going so we’ll find a new place to eat in town, we might go to Bunsen which they love or we might go to Johnny Fox’s for mussels which one of my daughters loves.

The best times we have are when we all meet up in St Stephen’s Green or Herbert Park. 

When you’re part of a big family and you have six kids and everyone is doing their own thing it’s nice to just hang out. 

Being part of a big family is just good fun.

18:00

There’s a place on Shelbourne Rd in Ballsbridge called Sasha’s Pizzeria that we love so we might go there for a bite to eat.

How the evening goes just depends on the day — we are quite simple shall I say — Saturday is a chill day for us.

19:00

Monday to Friday we go to gigs or to the theatre — we might go to see a show in the Bord Gáis Theatre, the Gate Theatre, or the Abbey Theatre. 

We don’t go to shows that often on a Saturday — I think the last gig we went to together was Oasis.

We might go to the cinema in the Omniplex Rathmines or to The Stella Cinema which feels like a treat with the fancy popcorn and nice leather chairs.

Usually on a Saturday night we are just chilling. Between the mums and sisters and brother-in-laws usually people navigate to us. 

Myself and Tanja sometimes meet up with friends. Usually there’s something social going on — people are coming to us or we’re going to them.

23:00

Tanja is an early bird but I’m a total night owl so we’ll usually watch something together, she’ll hit the sack and then I’ll have no problem watching a movie for a few hours.

I like to watch anything and everything but I probably watch older and more violent films than the ones Tanja likes. 

She loves true crime series too which I cannot stand.

03:00

I could stay up till 3am enjoying the time to myself. I’m brutal when it comes to sleep. 

I’ve magnesium, I’ve ashwagandha, I’ve an eye mask … I go to bed with a silk eye mask on like Top Cat.

I have found in the past couple of years that my sleep health is a lot better but it has to be a ritual.

I have to click off my phone and read a book for half an hour. 

Monday to Friday I’m happy to get about six-and-a-half hours’ sleep.

At the weekends, depending on how good I’ve been, they might let me sleep on a bit but I’ll get dragged up fairly fast if something’s going on.

• Baz Ashmawy’s comedy-drama Faithless airs Wednesdays at 10pm on Virgin Media One. Stream on Virgin Media Play.