The decision to do it [play Maigret] was related to the fact that the character is a very ordinary man, and generally speaking I haven't played very many ordinary men.

Get that right, then- if you get the quality right, then the marketability or whatever; your ability to sell videos or your ability to earn money or whatever, will follow naturally. But try to be creatively lead rather than market lead. And that's important to me.

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 tend to play rather odd men. People that are slightly odd or eccentric, or have a more particular attitude to life.

It's not easy to take a sit-com and turn it into a feature.

I want to express myself in a different way. I have a performing inclination.

Mr. Bean is at his best when he is not using words, but I am equally at home in both verbal and nonverbal expression.