If young actors ask me things, I always tell them to get on set and watch how it's done. If you can, watch the people that you like, how they work.

Approaching a part or thinking about taking a part, I never think, 'Is that person like me?'

I love Doctor Who and I remember the first one, which was wonderful in its low-tech quality. I also loved the theme song, which sounded like The Cure to me. Which character would I like to play in Doctor Who? Who's the bad guy? The Dalek? OK, I'll play him.

It's hard to find scripts that know what they are from page one to page 115.

I mean, you always want everybody to pat you on the back and tell you you're wonderful every time you do something; I think that's human nature.

The only episode which was completely my idea was for Mitch Pileggi, the actor who portrays Skinner, the Assistant Director of the FBI. He appears often in the series, but only for a few scenes. You know virtually nothing about him. I wanted him to have an episode that was his alone, so I wrote Avatar for him. He even has a scene that's pretty . . . hot [knowing smile]. He was very happy.

As we age, there are different things that become important to us and that means that different aspects of our character come to the forefront; certain aspects recede. And that's fun. It would be shitty to have to imitate myself.