At acting school people didn't speak like me. It was all received pronunciation - 'ow now brown cow.'

Elaine and I got married in summer 1979, we went on our honeymoon and came back for the premiere of Scum. All of sudden my face was on billboards in Leicester Square and people were crowding outside the cinema, going mad about the film. It was a complete shock.

I think I became an actor because I couldn't sing.

You've always got to have an imagination in the game we're in but it explodes on this. You get to try the costumes on before you start and feel the weight of them, which is great. But then you're opposite some of the greatest actors in the world and away you go. You find your imagination takes over without you really even thinking about it.

Playing with guns you revert to a little boy sometimes. But they're not great things to play with, so it's just making them look real. When it comes to shooting guns or using any prop, you've got to make it look like you know what you're doing with them. It's called acting.

I pile on the weight when I work. All that location catering's not good for the love handles. I lose a bit when I'm not working, but I love my food and the occasional snifter.

I love to be the lead, but you can't always be the lead.