I'm more critical of the films I make than anyone else.

In the modern media age we are rarely surprised by what we see. Whether it's on television or film or in the theatre, everything is so advertised, so trailed, that most entertainment is merely what you thought it was going to be like.

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

I like to juggle with one ball at a time. Then I put the ball down and do nothing for extended periods of time.

ITV and the production company contacted me and asked if I fancied playing the role [of Maigret]. It took me a long time to decide to do it. In fact, I decided not to. I thought about it for some weeks, and thought 'perhaps not' and it went away for a while, and then it sort of came back. They said 'Are you sure you don't want to play him?', so I thought about it for a lot longer again, and eventually decided that I would.

[Maigret] is more internal. I think if we made more of these I might let him out a bit.

I'm not a naturally funny man. I find that I can only be funny, if I become someone else.