To look in the eyes of audiences and see the kind of naughty glee that they got with being on the inside, the audience becomes your co-conspirators.

In film, movies schedules are based on three things: actors availabilities, when are sets being built, when you can rent the place youre going to film in.

I have long been a supporter of The Princes Trust, and so when American Express asked me to launch Amex Be Inspired and help young people build their confidence and fulfil their potential, I was delighted to get involved.

Its interesting to play a politician who gets stuff done.

Directing a film was something I was yearning to do. I always wanted to see if I had the capacity to be a good storyteller.

Over a spell of about three years, I played a series of roles that were, for me, all very different, but most of them came out within a six-month period. They all dealt with a kind of dark territory that in some cases had been mined before in movies.

When I look around at Broadway and the West End, theatre is becoming an exclusive club.