Daniel Portman is "preaching positivity" at the moment.

He has every right to feel positive: his on-screen persona Podrick Payne has endured five seasons of backstabbing, betrayal and and downright brutality making him one of the longest surviving characters on multi-award winning Game of Thrones.

The relentlessly gripping show, based on George R.R. Martin's best-selling books, is about to launch its sixth season on Monday, billed as the most talked about programme in the history of television.

The 24-year-old Glaswegian, who has become a fan favourite since his introduction as the doting squire Podrick, is taking it all in his stride.

"I'm not going to tell you where I end up," he says.

"Season six might be my last season. I might die in season six or I might not. You'll just have to tune in.

"Career-wise it's been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm incredibly thankful to have been given an opportunity to build a character up over this amount of time and to allow an audience to really invest in him.

"He's become a real favourite of people because he's so pure hearted and such a good guy, and I've actually learned a lot about myself from playing such a nice bloke."

"I say the same thing every year: I can't tell you anything but I want to because it was amazing. Shooting it was amazing.

"It's the best one yet by a mile. It genuinely is. There's most twists and turns, more shocks, more things you won't expect and I think a lot of characters you'll see a much more human side of, so I will leave it there."

Daniel is sitting at the back of a bar in Strathbungo in the southside of Glasgow, just round the corner from his parents' house, during a short trip home to Scotland from his base in London.

"It's been a crazy journey," he explains. "Because I started out as a really small part , who has grown into one of these regulars that everybody knows. It was a very gradual journey for me.

"I originally auditioned for two other parts and they were both killed off in the second season. Then I was brought back in to read for Podrick and I totally didn't think I was right for it but they did.

"A couple of days later I was on a plane to Belfast. And here we are five years later.

"It's so nice to be involved in something that people love so much and in terms of the work, it's a really high standard.

"To be surrounded by so many great actors it's very humbling to know that you must be doing something right to be surrounded by that company."

With no formal training and only a couple of jobs under his belt (a few episodes of River City and a small part in The Angels' Share), landing a role on the biggest show on TV has opened up a lot of doors for Daniel, who is brimming with ideas and ambition.

"I've adapted Romeo and Juliet into a modern setting and have been speaking to production companies in London about making that film up here with a Scottish cast," he explains.

"Essentially making the best Romeo and Juliet anybody's ever done. It's about as far away from Baz Luhrmann as possible. It's as Glaswegian as you can imagine, no Celtic no Rangers, no Protestants no Catholics.

"People who don't live here think Glasgow's rough and that's it. But the rough comes from passion and it comes from heart and from caring, and that's where love comes from as well. Anybody's who's angry, it all comes from fear of losing something, and that's what the film is all about."

Daniel, who says he is thriving in the hustle and bustle of London, is not sitting back and waiting for the work come to him.

"I've written a short film," he says. "I was coming up here anyway for a weekend and thought I may as well do something productive instead of sitting around.

"I've got a lot of contacts up here in terms of film crew and actors and they were all willing and able ... and able to work for pizza and beer.

"We're just going to shoot the film in a day and edit it that night and then I'm going to start sending it out to film festivals. Old Friends, it's called."

Although he may not have trained at the Royal Conservatoire, Daniel did benefit from having a prolific actor as a father - Ron Donachie, who starred in season one as master-at-arms Rodrik Cassel before meeting an untimely death at the hands of Theon Greyjoy during the fall of Winterfell.

"My old man is a wonderful human being and a phenomenal actor and has been a huge influence on me," Daniel says.

"Partly because I didn't want to do it for a long time because I wanted to carve my own path, not that I didn't want to follow in my dad's footsteps.

"He's been incredibly supportive and has taught me a lot. I never really felt like I missed out on the education of drama school because I was reading all the things that you read at drama school at home."

Despite, his father had no hand in getting him a job on Thrones.

"He was finishing as I was starting," Daniel says. "So we got a couple of nights out in Belfast.

"He'd been on it since the pilot. I was never on set before that and we've got different names, and the boys didn't really know until I'd already got the part.

"My dad mentioned to them when they were on set - 'you've just cast my boy'."

Daniel confirms he's been soaking up as much as he can from a large and talented cast, but who are his favourites to work with?

"I think Alfie Allen is a genius. He is one of the best actors I have seen in my life and that character (Theon) has been phenomenal. He's been to some pretty dark places.

"In terms of working with folk, Conleth Hill, who play Lord Varys, is the funniest man you could ever hope to meet, just a real gentleman. Peter Dinklage is great, great fun - charming, witty - and Jerome Flynn has become a very dear friend of mine.

"Gwendoline Christie, who I work with now, is infectious and massively positive and she has this amazing laugh. She does a wonderful thing, because she is stunningly beautiful, and the transformation that she has managed is just great."

Does he think there could be any romance on the cards between squire Podrick and Gwendoline's character Brienne of Tarth?

"I think it's highly unlikely and I think it would ruin their relationship," says Daniel.

"It's so sweet and innocent, and he's not a very sexual guy despite what happened in that brothel, and she's almost asexual.

"The show is so sex heavy, to have a really innocent, pure friendship between a man and a woman in the show is really nice and I think sexualising Brienne would really bring up issues with the character."

So with the sixth season imminent and expectations high, is it getting harder for Podrick and co to keep upping the ante?

"There's a little more pressure now because season one and two, it was just this show on HBO and it wasn't massive," Daniel admits.

"Now every year the pressure is greater, and now that we're coming closer -the show is at season six - we're on the downhill now.

"It's all about kee ping that level high and nobody wants it to be a show that peters out and people wished it ended sooner than it did.

"All the Starks are wiped out that had any sort of power, the king is dead, and then the guy that you thought was the hero is gone. So who is going to step up? That's what season six is all about.

While many young stars are easily swept up in the fame game and seduced by the bright lights of London, Daniel is something of an old soul.

"I've sort of stumbled across a new outlook on life," he says. "I'm trying to preach as much positivity as I can at the moment, from how I look after myself to the kind of stuff I put out into the world as a person.

"If you're good to the world and you work hard, if you're at peace with yourself and your intentions are good then everything else will fall into place.

"I've never been one for fast living, I think it was waiting for something to happen rather than making something happen. Saying I was going to do things rather than just doing them.

"I think there is quite a lot of stigma around your age, in terms of your 20s are for mucking about and going out and getting pissed.

"It's all about how long it takes you on your personal journey to get to where you want to go. And if you find out at 23 that you know exactly what you want from life then go for it and do it.

"That's where I am at the moment. I've got my plans very clear in my head and watch this space."

Game of Thrones, Season 6, starts Monday 25th April on Sky Atlantic.