I think people like to be scared. I think people like tension and suspense in a movie.

I guess I'm just good at playing repressed individuals. I'm lucky because those are often the roles that catch people's eyes.

You know, I think I am faintly spiritual.

Seeing a man praying to Allah is enough for some people to assume he is a terrorist.

We are not telling Tudor history; we are creating ' Wolf Hall ' from novels, which are already a rereading of Tudor history.

The best shows succeed because they tap into a national conversation.

You never know when you're taking a job, ever... but you try to take good scripts. That's all you can do as an actor - take the best thing available. Even then, it's not [really] in your control. Certainly not in film and TV, because there are so many other elements. You just have to take control of your own performance.