No. 4 in the franchise, On Stranger Tides, is out on DVD Tuesday.

The stage-trained actor, 61, never thought during Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003 that he’d still be on the ride, but is pleasantly surprised. He even thinks there’s a good possibility of a fifth.

The movies’ star Johnny Depp, who plays Capt. Jack Sparrow, has a lot to do with the appeal.

“Most films have a goodie and a baddie,’’ says McNally, who plays Gibbs, Sparrow’s right hand man. “But few have this amoral character who snips at authority with this childlike lack of responsibility. He is Johnny’s creation.’’

McNally says off-set Depp couldn’t be more opposite than the hard-drinking, eyeliner-wearing loon he plays.

“He’s an absolute joy, a great colleague, a fine actor and a family man of very balanced values,’’ he says of The Rum Diary star. “I couldn’t have wished for a better man to be shackled with for 10 years.’’

Though shooting the grand-scale adventure tale — searching for the Fountain of Youth — was a lot of work, the cast got to enjoy the benefits of geography. While the first three movies were filmed in the Caribbean, No. 4 was set in Hawaii.

“It was an exciting and beautiful paradise and the logistics were a lot easier, being in the U.S.,’’ says McNally, who is married to Scottish actress Phyllis Logan and has two kids. “Plus great for me. English people don’t get to go there very often because it’s so bloody far away.’’

Acting in Pirates has gained McNally — who first hit it big in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me — some new alliances.

“Over the years, I have people coming up to me in the street saying, ‘Oh God, the kids are acting up again. Can you lend me a copy of the movie?’’’

Though most of his fans tend to be on the shorter side, many giving the sometime buccaneer weird looks in the supermarket. “I’m OK if I’m clean shaven, but the mutton chops do excite the children,’’ he says with a laugh.

His kids are definitely happy about their father’s career choice. McNally’s now-teen son came aboard the Black Pearl in the first installment. “He’s a little more blase now, but he still remembers that day as one of the best of his life.’’

Next up for McNally, who splits his time between London and California, is a darker project: The Raven, an imagined account of the last writer-blocked days of Edgar Allen Poe, played by John Cusack.

Apparently, McNally’s most current costar has a very different style than his seafaring friend.

“John is very serious, very intense and doesn’t have time for anything else but the work,’’ he says. “I tend to be very laid back as an actor, but he upped my game somewhat. I thought, ‘I’m going to have to go for this big time or I’ll be eaten alive here.’’’