I remember, when I was doing 'Nicholas Nickleby', James Archer came to see me at the interval and said, 'My father would like to see you after the show.' It felt rather as if I had been summoned by the Queen, and I was cocky enough to think, 'Who the hell is he to summon me?'

I think you can't be really posh and be an interesting actor. I'm a bit of a posh rough.

There's something important, as an actor, about allowing yourself to be approached by people to do roles. People see different things in you.

It's good to be busy on a film set because there is a lot of sitting around, so if you've got two roles to play at one time, then that's great to do.

You can't be sent away to prison for life and feel OK about it.

Writing and directing might be a red herring, and really I'm just re-examining what it is to act, to do it well and do it properly.

I've discovered just how symbiotic the relationship is between writers, directors and actors. They ask the same questions and strip down texts in exactly the same way.

Acting can be a narrow and isolated experience, because you only examine your particular part.

I'm very lucky.

I'm very lucky.

Producing is a world of compromise and actors are utterly spoiled all the time.

Temperamentally I'm not a natural producer, because I don't have the patience.

No Western government has ever played the long-term in terms of foreign policy.

You know, this idea of going around the world imposing democracy by growing a middle-class, a trading merchant class that is independent of your faith, is a good notion, but we're all partially different - it's no good imposing systems on people that it doesn't suit.

I'd feel guilty just doing gags.

In the end, there's something of the puritan work ethic about me that roles really must sustain me on an intellectual level.

It's an unfair comparison because when things are developed in the UK, they're developed at script stage only.

When I'm working in America, I wake up with an American accent and stay with it all day till makeup comes off. I just want everyone to be at ease, and not have the show's creators think, 'Oh my god, he's so English, why did we hire him?'

What I do believe in is the moral code of Christianity.

I love going for a swim. Growing up in England, anywhere with a pool seems like the height of glamour to me.

I love playing sport.

I'm a slow starter.

People need revelation, and then they need resolution.

I want to make a clear distinction between people who take acting seriously and people who call themselves actors because they've been on reality TV or something.