I have always believed that there should be no subject about which one cannot make jokes, religion included. Clearly, one is always constricted by contemporary mores and trends because, after all, what one seeks above all is an appreciative audience.

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

It was the challenge of that that I found daunting, but also engaging and interesting [to play Maigret].

Having spent a substantial part of my career parodying religious figures from my own Christian background, I am aghast at the notion that it could, in effect, be made illegal to imply ridicule of a religion or to lampoon religious figures.

When I was doing Bean more than I’ve done him in the last few years, I did strange things - like appearing on chat shows in character as Mr. Bean.

I find his films about as funny as getting an arrow through the neck and discovering there's a gas bill tied to it.

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.