EXCLUSIVE: When Paul Biddiss left the army more than a decade ago, he could never have known that 10 years on he would be at the center of one of the viral Hollywood moments of the year.

Biddiss was espionage advisor on Peacock and Sky’s The Day of the Jackal, a role that was lauded earlier this month by Eddie Redmayne on the Graham Norton Show before the discussion led to Saoirse Ronan‘s withering – and mega-viral – putdown of her male sofa-sharers during a chat about the use of mobile phones for protection.

Paul Mescal, who had also worked recently with Biddiss on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, joked about the ridiculousness of using a phone for protection, before Ronan shot him down, saying: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right ladies?” The incident has generated clicks aplenty and kickstarted a wider conversation about protection