I don't really have plans like that [move towards more dramatic acting].

The clear problem of the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such. Criticism, ridicule, sarcasm, merely stating an alternative point of view to the orthodoxy, can be interpreted as insult.

I enjoy racing historic motorcars from the '50s and '60s. The seed of my interest was planted when I was about 12 years old and took over my mother's Morris Minor. I drove it around my father's farm. But my favorite car is still a McLaren F1, which I have had for 10 years.

It was the challenge of that that I found daunting, but also engaging and interesting [to play Maigret].

Without wanting to claim that I'm really like James Bond I would certainly prefer to be thought of as closer to James Bond than Mr. Bean most definitely.

[Georges] Simenon could be very brave like that. You never quite know what you're going to get or how the story's going to be told.

I'm not looking for anything other than an interesting role to play.