I think you're bound to get a sense of any character that you play. It's not something you often do in comedy.

The Maigret stories are all very different in terms of the content and the way that the stories are told. They're not what I would call formulaic.

The older you get, the more you realise how happenstance... has helped to determine your path through life.

Art is something that nobody laughs at and nobody makes any money out of is the attitude, which I would dispute.

I think in many ways Johnny English is a more believable character.

What is wrong with inciting intense dislike of a religion if the activities or teachings of that religion are so outrageous, irrational or abusive of human rights that they deserve to be intensely disliked?

What 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.