I've worried more and more as the years have gone on. The more you're seen to be doing well, the more stress there is. You feel you ought to consider things more, and be more fussy - there's further to fall. All these little worries.

People like to think that actors are terribly worried about ghosts of other actors in the parts they play. But you just have to get on with it.

I did four or five years in telly, and by the end of it was drained. I was a bit sick of myself. I didn't feel like an actor anymore. That sounds silly, but when you're doing a play you're using different muscles, and it blew all the cobwebs away.

There's always a concern as an actor that you'll be boring unless your character is swinging from a chandelier.

The actor in me would always like to be more dashing, or slimmer, or have nicer hair.

I try to be fussy about the parts I play. I think that's quite prudent, it means you're stretching different muscles, and you're scaring yourself by doing something which is out of your comfort zone.

What's exciting is there's a curtain that divides the audience from this other world. You want to see behind.