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His features are instantly recognisable from his iconic聽TV and film roles including聽Star Trek: Next Generation and聽X-Men.聽His voice is rich and聽robust and his stagecraft聽is聽admired by theatre-goers聽and critics.

But there鈥檚 another side to actor聽Sir Patrick Stewart. He鈥檚 a聽passionate campaigner on social justice, domestic violence and war veterans鈥櫬爉ental health issues.

In a special 45-minute episode of her Better Angels聽podcast series, sa国际传媒 President聽Sarah Brown聽talks to Sir Patrick聽about his career and the causes that聽are very personal聽for him, including the British charities and .

鈥淚 like to think that the feelings that I have when I talk about Refuge or Combat Stress play聽a quite strong role in how much I can affect people and get them to support the campaigns,鈥� he says.

He tells Sarah how his father鈥檚 drinking and violence towards his mother when he was young聽led him to become a patron of Refuge, which supports domestic聽abuse victims 鈥� most of them聽women and children.

Sir Patrick adds: 鈥淚 do this activism for my mother because I couldn鈥檛 do it for her there.鈥�

The actor said his father had 鈥渁聽very bad press from me over the years鈥�.

Then two years ago聽鈥� while featuring on the BBC TV genealogy聽series Who Do You Think You Are?聽鈥� he discovered something startling聽about his dad. He had returned from action in聽the Second World War suffering from severe shell shock.

鈥淚 had absolutely no idea,鈥� says Sir Patrick.聽鈥淣obody in my family ever mentioned it, he never talked about it聽and we now know what shell shock meant. It meant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

鈥淲hen I talk to experts about this and describe my father and his behaviour, they said without doubt, these are classic symptoms of someone suffering severely all their lives.鈥�

This led Sir Patrick to become an ambassador for Combat Stress, the mental health charity that helps military veterans.

鈥淚t campaigns for more care to be taken care of ex-military men聽and there鈥檚 so, so many of them,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 even worse in the United States.

鈥淚 have an emotional connection to both of these organisations.鈥�

Sir Patrick talks about his childhood and how the conditions he experienced helped to shape his views on the world.

鈥淚 knew that we were quite poor,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e had one room downstairs and one room upstairs and there was a partitioned-off corner where my brother and I slept and a stone step and a door that opened on to a yard and that was it. No hot water, no bathroom.

鈥淚 came very early on to understand about the inequalities of life and the unfairness of it. It was elements like that, which actually still mean just as much to me today.鈥�

In a , Sir Patrick was one of several interviewees who聽talked聽about the art of speaking in public.

In this more in-depth chat, he covers a variety of subjects 鈥� including聽his first ever stage role at school, his support for various social issues,聽which public speakers he admires 鈥� and聽how he met Nelson Mandela in an elevator.

Don鈥檛 miss an episode 鈥� subscribe now

If you want to get the Better Angels podcast each week you can subscribe and get every new episode delivered directly to your phone, tablet or computer. You鈥檒l also be able to access full-length interviews with some of the podcast interviewees too.

Sarah talks to politicians, entertainers, activists and world leaders about their inspiration, their hopes and their dreams at a time of enormous international upheaval.

There are different ways to subscribe. If you have iTunes or another podcast player on your device, search for 鈥淏etter Angels鈥� in the player on your phone, table or computer and when you鈥檝e found the series, hit subscribe.

To subscribe via iTunes from this page, hit the iTunes icon above.

If you are on a desktop, you鈥檒l need to select 鈥榁iew in iTunes鈥� and once the iTunes programme is open, you鈥檒l be able to switch on a subscription.

Alternatively, if you have a podcast player that subscribes via RSS, you can click the RSS icon on any episode or use this link to get a full feed of all the episodes.