Tom Hardy reads Cbeebies bedtime story on Mother's Day - watch the trailer

Despite playing the villainous Bane, both Kray twins, and The Revenant’s murderous John Fitzgerald, Tom Hardy has proven himself an excellent bedtime story teller.

Last New Year's Eve, the actor appeared on the last CBeebies Bedtime Stories of 2016, reading You Must Bring a Hat, by Simon Philip and Kate Hindley, alongside his dog, Woody.

Earlier this year, he returned once more, time reading The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin. Appropriately, the episode aired on Valentines Day.

Later today - notable for being Mother’s Day - Hardy will once again appear on the children’s television channel, this time reading There's A Bear On My Chair, by Ross Collins, the "hilarious story about an angry little mouse who is desperately trying to move a bear from his chair".

For those not patient enough to wait around until 6.50pm to see Hardy once more, CBeebies has released a 25-second teaser trailer for the event. Watch below.

“Well, I think there’s enough room for our mouse and bear to sit together here,” he reads in the clip. “Because it’s good for a mouse and a bear to share.”

After posting the clip on Facebook, the BBC received a torrent of swooning messages, most of which thanked the broadcaster for ‘putting the grown-ups first’.

Having only appeared in Peaky Blinders and The Revenant in 2016, Hardy had a relatively quiet year. However, already in 2017, the actor has appeared in Taboo - which he co-created with his father and Steven Knight - and will star in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.