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

The inventory process and stepping back in your life can sometimes be a very dark process. But it also can be extremely funny and surprising.

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

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.

My life has been, I suppose, the most incredible series of highs and lows.

There was never any career plan. When 'Red Dwarf' started I thought we were doing a curious little sitcom on BBC2, I didn't think I was becoming an actor. I didn't see that 21 years later I'd still be talking about it, let alone filming a new one. For me everything's always been an accident.

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