I always thought communism was crap, really.

Most of the Communists I knew were nice people.

I think that my ideas of the world are that it's random and cruel but kind of quite comical really, and therefore the humour, in a sense, springs from that.

If I won the lottery I'd start a charity that helped little family hardware stores, cobblers and fruit shops open in city centres.

I did six series for the BBC and that was enough. I've been writing for ten years, which is more challenging artistically.

But as in all cults, what's central to the Communist Party is the belief system and the elimination of nuance. From there you're very slowly led down the road to fanaticism and mass murder.

If someone starts agreeing with me, I don't like it. Out of pique, I become something else.