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.
Rowan AtkinsonLook, if I'd wanted a lecture on the rights of man, I'd have gone to bed with Martin Luther.
Rowan AtkinsonFunny things tend not to happen to me. I am not a natural comic. I need to think about things a lot before I can be even remotely amusing.
Rowan AtkinsonIt's the demand in many ways of modern television drama - it's very low key and naturalistic, and, generally speaking, the characters that I've played have not been low key and naturalistic.
Rowan AtkinsonAnd, we put a lot more value, or at least I personally put a lot more value, on the creative values and creative challenges of something than the commercial necessities.
Rowan AtkinsonIt certainly helps, I think, with some actors to understand the process of acting. You see what extraordinary pressure they're under, there's a huge circus dedicated to a particular moment and they're got to deliver and it can help that you, even if empathetically alone, understand what they're doing.
Rowan Atkinson