You go to the cinema and you realize you're watching the third act. There is no first or second act. There is this massive film-making where you spend this incredible amount of money and play right to the demographic. You can tell how much money the film is going to make by how it does on the first weekend. The whole culture is in the crap house. It's not just true in the movies, it's also true in the theater.

It isn’t a big jump in the imagination to see yourself living alone like Mr Hoppy.

It's true what they say about failure. You don't learn from success.

A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution.

I think right now television is the best that it’s ever been, and I think that it’s the worst that film has ever been.

I knew I finally made it as a performer when I began hearing rumors that I was gay.

In terms of the stars, the only ones I cast were Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins. I was in Los Angeles working and a lot of this took place on the telephone. I'd met Maggie [Smith] once and I'd come back-stage, which I'm usually loathe to do because as an actor you don't want people coming back because you want to get home [laughs].