'Sherlock' fans are, by and large, an intelligent breed, so they've gone through my back catalogue and got what I've done, why and how I've done it. There is some obsessive behaviour, but I worry for them rather than me.

As an actor, to be part of that story's [Marvel univerce ] terrific. I've enjoyed it so much as a fan and now I'm getting to have a go myself.

I realised quite early on that, although I wasn't trying to make a career speciality of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.

I'm always playing characters with intellects profoundly superior to mine. That's great fun, even though it's as much a fantasy for me as for the people watching me.

Kevin Feige said to me: "I don't think we've ever put an actor through quite as much as this, physically and mentally." I'll wear that as a badge of honour. It was endless.

My dad read The Hobbit to me originally when I was young. So, it was the first imaginary landscape I ever had in my head from the written word. It gave me a passion for reading, thanks to my dad's performance of the book.

That's something I have to work on: to separate what really matters, to conserve energy by not worrying about what other people think.