At 19, you know everything; by the time you're 40, you haven't got a clue.

We were all expecting to finish [Downton Abbey] after Series 1, actually. And then, it got extended to Series 3, and that's when two of our much loved and much missed friends left. And then, it was going to be done with Series 5, but Julian Fellowes said, "I'd like to do one more." So it's been a series of extensions, rather than wondering how much longer we can go on for.

The press mainly want to destroy a program by revealing what's coming up. For some reason, soaps like doing that.

Certain stories that you want to see resolve in certain ways are, and some aren't, but that's life.

You have no idea what's going to happen [in Downton Abbey] until you get the script. We roughly knew a couple of the key points that were going to happen, but when I got the last episode, I turned to the last page to check that I was still alive.

I always try to look for the best in most places.

I've often been the guy who doesn't get the girl.