Brian Cox is finding homeschooling his sons ''tough''.

The 73-year-old actor says he was ''thrust'' into fatherhood ''late in life'' when his wife Nicole Ansari-Cox gave birth to sons Orson, now 18, and Torin, now 15.

And now the teenagers are home from school amid the coronavirus pandemic, Brian is having to homeschool them, which he is finding ''difficult''.

He said: ''They're difficult, not easy, it's tough for them. We have to do homeschooling.

''I have to get my young lad to bed as he's always up late on his video chats. I didn't expect this, a lot of the time I'm not here, so fatherhood has been thrust upon me late in life.''

The 'Succession' actor - who also has son Alan and daughter Margaret with his ex-wife Caroline Burt - is currently staying in New York, which is the epicentre of the virus in the US, but has insisted his wife is making him ''stay at home'' because his diabetes makes him ''high-risk''.

He added: ''I'm in a rural environment, my house is down by the trees. I have diabetes so I'm high-risk, my wife makes me stay at home, make sure you wash your hands!''

Brian - who hails from Dundee in Scotland - also praised the UK's National Health Service (NHS) for the care they are providing those suffering with coronavirus.

The 'Churchill' star explained: ''I've been here in NY for ten weeks. Without the carers, we'd be lost. We have to make sure their stress is reduced to the minimum.''

Currently, Brian is starring in an online pilot episode of 'Little Room' - which is a murder mystery series filmed during lockdown - and joked he is ''owned'' by HBO.

Speaking to UK TV show 'Lorraine', he said: ''I'm locked into just doing that, I'm owned by HBO, I had no idea it was just an online pilot. I'm getting my wife to talk for me as I'm too shy.''