It was the challenge of that that I found daunting, but also engaging and interesting [to play Maigret].
Rowan AtkinsonWe still have a tradition certainly in English television; it's faded a bit in the last five years, but we still have a tradition where the important thing is the quality and the challenging nature of the programming.
Rowan AtkinsonA law which attempts to say you can criticise and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed.
Rowan AtkinsonThe one thing I would never wish it to be thought is that you play serious roles in order to achieve some sort of respectability which you can't if you're playing comedic roles.
Rowan AtkinsonWhat directors of television drama constantly tell you is 'Don't act it. Don't try. Don't emphasise that word'. Whereas with someone like Blackadder, even though he's a relatively low key character in a way, he did relish the lines that he had and the words that he was given, with a lot of inflection.
Rowan Atkinson