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.

Feelings come and go, unless you don't feel them. Then they stay, and hurt, and grow pear-shaped and weird.

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.

If you have Darwin, Christ and Nietzsche, they're all going to talk at once. You need somebody who listens.

Most journalists expect me to answer all their questions about aliens and spaceships.

One of the great things about doing series television is the guest actors that you can have come on and play around with.

I really enjoy taking an outdoor shower.