I did pick up a guitar once, but the strings hurt my fingers so I put it down again.

One of the things that is assumed about actors is that they are extrovert, which is almost never the case, in my experience.

I'm not a financial expert. The Robin Hood tax seems to me a very simple and beautiful idea. I don't see the problem.

In life, if you have an enthusiasm for what they call 'good manners,' sometimes people don't quite believe you. I've had that once or twice before, where they assume you can't be for real.

I don't spend a lot of time with anybody.

Opening a play is just tough. The idea that actors are weirdly protected from it is a myth. If you imagine yourself having to spend two and a bit hours cooking bolognaise, remembering a whole major work by David Hare and speaking it at the correct moment between chopping carrots and stirring the onions in front of an audience - the normal human response is 'Please, can I go to the airport?'

I'm not famous for my back story investigations; I'm lucky that I work with good writers and it's usually in the script.