I was just interested in directing. So I just kept having a go at trying to write little scripts and get things together, and my wife just had a slip of the tongue and said, "Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life" when she meant to say "Frank Capra's." There it is right there. That's a gag that we could make into something.

The older I get, the more I think lightness of touch is an incredibly difficult thing to do.

Chris Addison is a stand-up comic, but his ability to act is extraordinary, to be so natural, I've taken 25 years just getting to that level.

It'll be sad not to be Doctor Who anymore because that's an incredible thing to wake up in the morning and go, 'Oh, I'm still Doctor Who!' And you can go and blow up some monsters, and that's how you spend your day. And also when you walk around people don't see Peter anymore, he's not here, it's Doctor Who they see and he gets many more smiles than I do. It'll be sad to say goodbye.

I knew Richard E. Grant, and I went to him and said "Would you like to [play Kafka in the film]?" and he said yeah, and then suddenly I had all these people who were happy to come along. We got a little bit of money from Scottish Screen to pay for it. I got so many favors because I knew people in the business. I was in a remarkably good position. I got so many favors from people. I got the Monty Python technical people.

A girl once came to my beery flat in Kensal Green, opened the blinds and cooked me breakfast. I married her.

I haven't played Doctor Who since I was 9 on the playground.