In the late '70s, maybe just before I started, there was still an attitude that if you did film you didn't do TV and vice versa, but that's gone now.

I don't take a great deal of interest in party politics. Social politics interests me a great deal more.

There's a kind of unwritten rule: Don't say anything at all, and everything will be fine. It's a producer's medium. The directors aren't there to make any decisions. They're not going to change anything.

In troubled times the last thing you want to do is to stick your money into a film. It's such a gamble.

The thing I miss the most about Scotland is the football.

For me, it's a voyage of self-discovery. I'm able to go on a set and to explore situations, personalities, people and characters that are close to me, or maybe not. Through going there and experiencing these different people and their situations, it helps me to get oriented and develop as a human being. So, acting is fundamental to who I am.

I think I have a natural, if I can say that, got a kind of natural ability in comedy.