When you've been going on about something for a while, it is always satisfying to discover that other people agree with you.

I'm lucky that I get to play a wide variety of parts.

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've always slightly worried the kids who play football around my house. They know I'm an actor, but felt sorry for me because they'd never seen anything I've done.

The degree of notoriety I have is fine and easy. There's nothing hysterical about it.

The way the elderly are treated, and in some cases warehoused and medicated, rather than nurtured and listened to, is distressing.

I'm always happy when actors get rich, because the odds on it are so long!