Filming is like a long air journey: there's so much hanging around and boredom that they keep giving you food.

The Americans all love 'The Holy Grail', and the English all love 'Life Of Brian', and I'm afraid on this one, I side with the English.

I think it's because in America you always get the sense that if you fail, you can just pack up your things and go somewhere else and try again. But in England, it's so geographically small that if somebody succeeds here, it reduces your chances of succeeding.

My mum died about three years ago at the age of 101, and just towards the end, as she began to run out of energy, she did actually stop trying to tell me what to do most of the time.

Yes it's her husband. She hasn't got over it. Died thirty years ago.

Oh, I could spend my life having this conversation - look - please try to understand before one of us dies

I've always called myself a writer/performer, not an actor because I basically write what I perform.