All my good friends are actors, really. It's different when you have a family, but they're still the people I meet most often. My best friend is Ian Hart, but then I've known him since I was five.

I love telling stories. I like the challenges presented to me on a daily basis. There's nothing resting about acting.

Liverpool will always be my home.

I'm no good at down-time. I panic slightly and then plan a project or set up a meeting about starting a project.

You look at any war zone and you talk to any soldiers and they have to blank out - in order for that to work for them, in order for them to survive they have to blank out something in themselves in order to do it.

I think the corruption of power is very interesting, and I think the idea that power is something that... You know, when people want power, they're a certain individual. When people acquire power by accident, they're different again.

In all honesty, we all want our fantasy selves to be the best people. We all think in a time of crisis, we will react heroically and with humanity.