I like people like Robert De Niro and Anthony Hopkins. And Gianfranco Zola, who played for Chelsea and Italy. He's an artist with his feet.

When I was a kid doing television, they'd stick a leather jacket on me, and I would be the thug.

I found that golf saved me from going to the pub every day so instead I play golf with other unemployed actors. I'm a member of the Stage Golfing Society and I play golf with all sorts of people.

I had a weimaraner for 11 years called China, and he was a great dog, a bit mad. They're massive, weimaraners; they've got big floppy ears. They look like a pointer, but they're liver-coloured.

It's great to do small plays in the theatre and then go off with Blur and play in front of thousands of people.

It's never gone so far as me wishing I'd never done 'Quadrophenia,' but there was a time when I wouldn't talk about it because I wanted people to be interested in me for other things as well.

Doing 'EastEnders' wasn't exactly suffering, but my soul's not in quick-fix TV. Theatre doesn't pay like TV work pays, though. We all have to live, don't we?