It is so painful watching yourself act, particularly because you can't do anything about it, it's all done and dusted.

You always think that 70 is the end of the road: 'Somebody died when they were 73; good life'. You're closer to death, and you better make sure you don't waste too much of your time doing things you don't want to do. No point in saying things you don't believe in.

My reaction to 3D is subtly. Things don't come out at you, but rather you - The audience come into the film.

My acting stopped being about disguise and became about truth which suits the camera, so my film career took off when I came out.

I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else.

In the theatre, the actor is in total control. The director wasn't in the house last night, the designer wasn't there, the author's dead. It's just us and the audience.

I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887-1976) lived and painted.