Someone said to me the other day: "Well, you're eventually going to live until 110." And I said: "Well, who's going to keep me? What age do I retire? 100?" How are you going to live all those years and who is going to keep you doing it? I have a couple of grandchildren now so I'm banking on them.

Just because I have made a point of never losing my accent it doesn't mean I'm an eel-and-pie yob.

I started with the firm conviction that when I came to the end, I wanted to be regretting the things that I had done, not the things I hadn't.

Comedy is underrepresented in every actor's life, because it's so bloody difficult to write.

Anyone can write. But comedy, you've got to do some writing. You get one comedy script to every 20 dramas.

I was so poor for so long that I didn't use anything. I didn't drive cars, I didn't eat very much. So, I figured the world owed me a debt, so I've been eating very well and have had a very big car for a long time. But I still haven't caught up with my youth.

There is no point in competing with young talent...I just concentrate on getting better each day.