He could dismiss several schools of philosophy by shifting slightly in his chair or toting his whisky glass.

Its not easy being a man you know. I had to get dressed today… and there are other pressures.

I think that women just have a primeval instinct to make soup, which they will try to foist on anybody who looks like a likely candidate.

I grew up in a house where there was lots of teasing and language play and laughter; it was very important. When I was a teenager, you wouldn't go to a bar and find lots of televisions everywhere. People were talking. Talk was the mental fire you would gather around in the evening. It occupied a big part of your existence.

Black Books adheres to a more old fashioned, traditional sitcom format, which I think works, because in its own way, it's quite theatrical.

When you say 'Bedtime, bedtime, bedtime!' that's not what the child hears. What the child hears is 'Lie down in the dark... for hours... and don't move... I'm locking the door now.'

You achieve the surreal jokes through the realism by making it elastic.