My father was a fish market porter. So I grew up on fish, because he used to steal one a day, I grew up on the very best fish that money could buy, 'cause he only stole the good stuff.

I am often asked which of my films has come closest to my own ideal of performance, and I always answer, 'Educating Rita.'

What it is is that comedy is underrepresented in every actor's life, because it's so bloody difficult to write. Anyone can write, and then you leave it to special effects to make it look good. But comedy, you've got to do some writing.

My mum never understood how much I earned. When I told her I earned a million pounds a film, she said, 'How much is that?'

I don't meet stockbrokers or carpenters or coal miners; I spend all day with actors, composers and photographers.

I don't see myself as anything. I just wander around getting on with my life.

No English director would've cast me as an officer, I promise you. Not one.