We were the only black family in an estate with 1,000 white families. Liverpool being quite racist in the Sixties, it was a bit grim growing up.

I've got wealth and fame but I haven't changed my roots.

I've been very lucky, this is my 30th year on TV.

Critics called me 'egregious' - I had to look that one up - and 'creepy', but now I don't read them, I weigh them.

It's not supposed to be easy, if it's easy, it's no good, that's the way I look at it.

Who needs drugs when you have Takeshi's Castle?

British fans are exceptional, but the American fans are something else. Some of them fly 500 miles to stand in line for three hours, just to meet me, then when they do they collapse.