People get distracted by box-office figures and take jobs because they think it will advance their careers.

I had a really fantastic dialect coach that I worked very well with, and I was constantly surprised by the different intonations that the Russian dialect has.

I do sometimes play characters that are a bit ambiguous. You've got to be brave about that sort of stuff. I like the sense of people not feeling too secure, not immediately knowing what they have in front of them.

Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that.

It's a thrilling world, and people really like stories about secrets, which is the essence of a spy drama.

I think in my job, it's quite difficult to find work on television... you don't necessarily want to get a profile for something that you don't fully believe in.

I can totally understand why people say: 'I'm going to do this T.V. series so that I can buy a flat'. But you've got to see what's of value to you as an actor.