ACTOR Colin Firth is one of Britain's most versatile leading men, but the dashing star has resigned himself to the fact he'll always be remembered for wearing the most famous wet shirt in TV history. 

"I know a lot of actors hate being reminded of something to which they've been closely linked, but I have absolutely no problem being known for the part of Darcy," says the Hampshire-born star. Happily for his many adoring fans, the 42-year old actor is back in period costume for his latest movie The Importance Of Being Earnest.  

The movie, which opens this week and features an all-star line up including Judi Dench, Rupert Everett and Reese Witherspoon, is a big screen adaptation of the classic Oscar Wilde play and it was the chance to utter the great playwright's words which drew Firth to the role. 

"You can't get better writing," he says. "If you're talking about comedy, Wilde is the pinnacle of English wit. The original play is brilliant. When you scratch the surface it's very cheeky and wicked. But society back then was actually very corrupt and decadent. The Victorians were just as known, really for all their perversions, as they were for their austerity." 

As well as getting Firth back in elegant period costume the film also reunited him with his first ever big screen co-star Rupert Everett. The pair both made their movie debuts in the 1984 film Another Country but Firth admits they weren't exactly the best of friends. 

"I had just come out of drama school and I must have been very dull. He did not have much patience with dull people," he recalls with a wry smile. Eighteen years on, however, the two stars seem to have resolved their differences, admitting they had great fun working together this time round, especially when it came to singing a duet. "We have to serenade Cecily (Witherspoon) and Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor) during the sequence where they reject us," explains Firth. "I did study the guitar part, hoping that some kind of ability on the guitar might make up for my vocal shortcomings. But I'm afraid it all added up as one big shortcoming," he laughs. 

He hasn't done too bad with his contemporary costumes either. He won acclaim for the slovenly-dressed football obsessed teacher in Fever Pitch, and who can forget that hand-knitted reindeer sweater he wore in the smash hit comedy Bridget Jones's Diary? The movie helped raise his profile further in Hollywood and the star has been inundated with offers since. 

He's no stranger to Tinseltown however, he makes regular visits there to see his 12-year-old son William by American actress Meg Tilly. The couple met when they both appeared in the 1989 movie Valmont, but separated after five years. Two years ago Firth became a father for the second time when his Italian wife Livia gave birth to their son Luca. Now the star says his two boys are his main priority. "They're the best thing and the main thing. My life revolves around them, everything else matters".

Even so, career wise the star is more in demand than ever. He has three big up and coming films, including Hope Springs alongside Minnie Driver and Heather Graham, and American Girl [What a Girl Wants] with John Travolta's wife Kelly Preston. "She's a real ball of fire," he grins. "And very down to earth considering what her life must be like." 

He's also set to reprise his role as Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones sequel Edge of Reason, but admits the part he really hankered after was the one which went to Hugh Grant in the recently released About A Boy, based on the Nick Hornby novel. "I even went as far as calling Nick a few years ago and telling him his story would make a great film," he recalls. "He told me it had already been picked up for a film. "It turned out the whole movie world had already fallen over themselves to get it, and of course they needed someone far more bankable than me. I don't command anything like the astronomical box office that Hugh does." 

But judging by the way he's going, that could well change pretty soon.